After a couple serious snowfalls including our last being a major storm over a foot in some areas I have to say the SPortman 700 w/ a glacier plow gets a great rating. I was extremely impressed with the amount of snow I could remove with the 60 inch blade. I am using the vehicle as a utility vehicle in my side business and settled on the polaris 700 after researching what I thought would do all the work I want and still be a fun toy for kids. It is an expensive machine no doubt but I am a firm believer in investing in toys that keep the kids close to home and not afraid to hang out with dad after puberty. I can't give first hand comparisons with other quads but the performance so far has exceeded my expectations. The 700 is probably more that I needed but it sure is nice to have. I worked the machine all I could and never did the snow become too much. I was suprised how high I was able to stack snow with a small blade (compared to truck and blade). As far as the glacier plow I only found two issues of mention. FIRST, quality of the snow shoes is poor. They are cheap and were mushed with in the third day working. SInce I am plowing mostly pavement I just took them off and get better results with out having them on. I ordered a heavy duty set but now that I have used the blade without them I may just leave them off. THe damage came with the first one when the blade tripped on an offset going from a concrete drive to a paved road. The other came when I was pushing across a dirt road and caught the frozen ruts on the side left with a shoe. The SECOND mention is the part of the plow frame where the winch cable hoods to the frame. It is a small hole that doesn't accomodate the cable hook very well and is subject to the hook scraping and rubbing all the paint off in the area where connected. Not a big deal but why create areas for rust to form when it can be prevented. This was easily corrected by attaching a spring loaded hook to the blade and then hooking the winch to the spring loaded hook(I will take photo to clarify if anyone is interested)
OVERALL machine and blade performed excellent. It has been awhile since I was pleasantly surprised by a product so I thought I would share. I am hoping that with spring around the corner I get the machine up north here in Michigan and test the 700's performance even more.

 

I would agree with you. I actually anjoyed plowing so much, that I did two of my neighbors driveways and half of the road around my area. I even push the big piles of snow that were left by the townships trucks. They never seem to push the snow off the road far enough. I moved an entire 5-6 foot pile at once. The power of my 700EFI is unbelievable. Your are probably correct when you say it may be more than someone needs, but as I have read on someones signature (and I really like it) "The is no replacment for displacment."

The 700 is an awsome quad. I am very happy with my choice.
Happy riding.

 

great write-up DND. my Glacier has exceeded my expectations to. no probs with the shoes but thanks for the heads-up.

i'm thinking about the Razor for the Glacier next. looks kinda funny in person but i like the extra height on the ends for rolling snow higher.

-MT

 

mtpockets,

What is the Razor? I tried to look up on line but didn't see. Does Polaris' site have them?

 

Will these plows spread dirt very well? Like for developing a grade for residential home building and landscaping? I want to get one to clear a lot and spread dirt to even the lot. Is it heavy duty enough for that? Thanks

 

OK, I found it. I saw that blade before but forgot what it was, let us know how efficient it is if you get one.

 

Is that NRH as in North Richland Hills? I think I have heard that they do an ok job on dirt but that a smaller 48" blade works better than the 60". Although I think the razor design was done with dirt in mind. I am sure they can push dirt ok but will never be able to do grade as well as a CAT because of the weight of the blade. You just can't backblade with the ATV blades like you can a CAT.

 

Why yes it is North Richland Hills. What about Swisher products? Like this http://www.swisherinc.com/dump_bucket.html

 

DND nice post- I also have the Glacier 60" plow attached to my 700EFI and have been plowing like a mad man. I have made some cash too! I made up some flyers and posted them at the community mailboxes in our mobil home park and also went to www.vistaprint.com and had some free business cards made, all you have to do is pay $5 for shipping/handling. I too have found myself plowing the neighbors driveways just to get some plow time but now that I have regular driveways to plow when it snows I have cut down on the freebees except for the family discount if ya know what I mean.

I am very happy and impressed with my purchase of the Glacier plow and Warn 2.5ci winch and have not had any problems with either, I too have not been to impressed with the plow slides but I raised them so they don't touch the pavement. I took the nieces around on the two EFI's today with a two place sled tied to the back of the quad. It was a great time.