I am looking at both a Honda 420 4wd and a Polaris - I want to know why the Honda people think the Honda is a better machine.

 

From a Polaris owner the Honda is probably more reliable. That said, the only other advantage of the Honda is it's lighter. Polaris has a very strong frame and generally more power per cc than the Hondas. Honda has a limited slip front where Polaris has true 4wd.

 

We don't "think" they are, we know they are.


Today, 13,035 miles and 1381 hours, all with less than $500 in repairs.

I can't speak for the Rancher 420 but with mine I'll take both the stability and dependability any day.

 

The Rancher 420 is an excellent machine. In that displacement class I'd also look at the 450 Griz.

 

Hard to answer since you don't say how you plan to use the machine. I will say that in my opinion the 420 Hondas are the class leader. If you are looking at bigger utility quads maybe not. Others offer more features and HP. I buy Hondas because they easily do every job I need them to accomplish and I know from reputation and personel experience that Hondas do hold up better than any of the others. I sold a friend of mine my 2004 350 Rancher a couple of years ago. Last I heard it had over 11,000 miles on it. The amount spent on repairs on that quad is exactly $0.00, nothing but routine maint and tires and it still runs perfectly. I hear stories like that about Hondas all the time, don't really hear about any of the others holding up that well.

 

The Honda is more reliable yes. We have a old trx300 fourtrax. I call it the tank. Always starts and have never had a issue with it. But ff you are into comfort & power like I am the Polaris is the way to go IMO. I love the ride of my Sportsmans.

 

I got a neighbor that rides Polaris quads.. And I will tell you...he will go through 3 of those to my one Honda. But he's older has the cash to plunk down on a new quad when he wants and he likes the ride of the Polaris..

 

I just ticked over 2500 on my Polaris Sportsman X2 with only one minor issue. Like Specta I take it over nasty terrain and through snow, mud, sand, hard pack, rocks, etc. I've also only needed regular maintenance so far. I have 3 friends who ride Polaris' machines too and they've all had good luck. I think a lot of it with any machine is doing the maintenance and riding it the way it should be written. Any belt driven machine will eventually melt a belt if you ride in high gear at low torque intensive speeds. I still haven't changed my belt. My son had a Polaris ATP 500 and he tended to ride it in the slow sections in high so he could just blip the throttle and get up to high speed when the road opened up. Toasted his belt around 1000 miles or so. Not a big deal.

 

my 2005 racher is flashing an error code 12, which i know is the ecm problem code. I've went through the steps in the manual and thought the problem was the control motor, I replaced the motor and still the same code, then replaced the ECM and attempted the initial setting procedure and could not complete the process stoped at step 8.

I took it to honda after placing the original parts and provided them with the new ECM. They're saying that the new ecm went bad when the cotrol motor was replaced. Is thier a way to check the ECM does anyone have any suggestions. I did notice that while preforming the initial setting procedure I saw a little smoke coming from the handle bar area.

 

Luck of the draw, ride both and pick the one that your *** feels most comfortable on.