I am new to ATVing. This will be my first ATV purchase. I will be using it for mainly hunting and some pretty calm trail rideing . I
am being steered to a new 2003 leftover Polaris Sportsman 500 HO by a friend of mine who swears by them. I have also looked at the Yamaha 660 Grizzly.
Any comparison thoughts and your bias's will be much appreciated. Thanks Frank.

 

My brother in-law owns a '02 Yamaha 450 Kodiak 4x4 and I own a '02 Sportsman 500 HO. I think that his is a smoother more refined ride and mine is more torque and power. In my limited experience I would generally say that Yamahas are more refined.
My.02
-Jared

 

My buddy owns a 2002 Sportman and my other one owns a 2004 sportsmAN BOTH 500 HO's. I like the grizzley alot but for what you do get the sportsman they have a much nicer ride. If you take care of them you shouldnt have much problems. The 660 grizzlewy is a very nice quad by the way. Pick what you want this is just my input.

 

JoeUgly,

About to purchase my first atv as well... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]
Read a string or two over at the Yamaha forum. The Griz has had a few problems with vapor lock. Something about the exhaust, carb and gas tank coming together under a shroud and causing problems with low-speed riding. Yamaha hasn't given much support from the sounds of it. Don't know if they have tried to remedy the situation or not.

Let us know what you decide.

 

I have an 01 HO with about 3,200 mostly trouble free miles on it. The 03 HO has the exact same engine as 01. The only things replaced are suspension parts (bushings, strut cartridges, tie rod ends, etc. All covered by ext. warr.) Nothing broke, just began to get freeplay. Besides, with ext. warr., it's easier to justify replacement with much less wear than if I had to fork out my own money. These miles are pretty rough miles put on at windrock mtn. in TN. Trails are very rocky and at considerable speeds the suspension takes a toll. The engine has been trouble free. I just purchased an 03 700, but have only ridden it about 200 miles. I ride with 3 people on a regular basis who own 660 grizzlies and they love them. One guy has 2,500 hard miles on it and the only problem he has had was needing to adjust the valves, but that's just maintenance. He has never had the vapor lock problem, but I rode with some folks in Colorado last summer and of the 3 grizzlies there, they all did it. The owner of one of the other 660's that I ride with regularly has modified his side covers to allow the heat to escape. They have had some sputtering issues while under load, but the guy with 2,500 miles on his believes that the valves need adjusting to fix that problem.

After owning a very reliable 500 and now a 700, I would most likely go with the grizzly over a 500 mainly for the extra power, but as you can see, I chose the 700 over the grizzly. The 500 is powerful, but there is a noticeable difference in the 660. The 500 will most likely ride better than the 660. My experience has been that the sportsmans have a more plush ride than the grizzlies.

They are all great machines and you should be extremely happy with any of them.

 

look at a 600, you get performance simliar to a 660 and all the perks of a sportsman.

 

ummm, not tryin to be disrespectful of an earlier post... but a Griz has a more refined ride???? I couldn't disagree more... I've always had sportsmans,.. and loved the fact that my old fat *** can still feel great after a 50 mile tour... when riding a griz it was a much more aggresive feel and wore me out faster. They are BOTH excellent quads. I just prefer the sp's ride to the Griz. performance wize, the griz is (i think) lighter, but my buds with them dont go anywhere that I cant go. We do a lot of muskeg/mud/bog/hill stuff. The Griz drowned a few times when the SP didn't. (but might have been due to operator, hehehe)
either way you'll be happy,.. but my alliance still lays with the sportsman. Only reason i stay 500 HO instead of 600 is because of no recoil backup on the starter. When u ride thru as much H20 as i do (and often alone), i wanna make sure i can pull start it just in case.

 

I'm not sure why polaris didn't put a recoil on the 600/700 most likely to save weight and cost. You can retrofit a recoil from a 700 snowmobile. I've resigned myself to carrying a light weight pair of jumpers in my emergincy kit ( along with the brandy etc [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I have a buddy with the 500 ho, and I've got the 660 Grizz. He likes his, and I like mine. I really don't think you can go wrong, either way. One thing though, if you plan on riding very hard, to borderline, abuse, I would go with something with a staight rear axle. Broken axles. I have not this problem, but have read of those who have. Both on the Sportsman's, and Grizz. The gas boiling issue, is very easy to fix, and now I have noticed it only happens when I'm just about ready to go on reserve. I fill up, and no problems. Yamaha, must not have tested it on reserve. It's not a valve problem as someone stated.

 

re: the broken axle reply,... i too had this prob,... as did a few of my buds,.. after removing the highlifter kit the prob disappeared.... i loved the look and feel of the taller machine,.... but the busted up CV's wasn't worth it.