First off I'm new here to this forum and have my first question. I'm in the market for my first ATV (to buy for myself) I've been on one all my life (my dad's) so looking to buy a used one of my own I was all dead set on buying a sportmans probably a 500 then with reading about the belt slipping issue it kinda deterred me from them I would be around quite a bit of water and some mud is the something I should be worried about? Or should i look into another make like a brute force which I loved my dads (brute force 650) or a grizzly

 

What belt slipping issue? I've had Sportsman 500s for over 20 years. In that time I've been in water deep enough to touch the rack without the belt slipping. When my headlights starting going underwater I thought I was in trouble, but I was wrong.

 

It's always a good idea to inspect all of the CVT cooling piping for tightness on any ATV. I found a loose joint on one of my Cats. Put a plastic rivet thru the coupling to keep it from ever coming apart again. My brother had water get into the CVT of his Polaris 570, was an easy fix once he found the loose fitting. Especially important on a used ATV to inspect.

 

Never had belt slippage from water and I live in New England where water is always deep on the trails. As said, just make sure your cover and vents are good and tight. If water does get into a CVT cover there is usually a drain. Take the drain plug off, drain the water, and rev the quad for a bit to dry out the inside. Good to go. I've only had to do this to a friends old quad after he dug in too deep in a water/mud hole. Yanked him out after he got good and stuck. Drained out the water (he was in the hole for 10 minutes) and revved it. We were on our way within 10 minutes of getting him unstuck. My group has logged well over 10,000 miles each between the four of us. 1 incident in 40,000 miles of combined riding. Also, only seen one belt snap. Son kept riding in rough, slow conditions in high gear on a hot day. Changed the belt in 20 minutes or so and told him to put it in low gear except for when riding at continual high speeds. Never seen one break again.