Hi all. Thanks to all who gave me advice for snow running with the Xplorer. As some of you know, we got caught with cows away from home and about a foot of powdery snow on the ground. Over the next 2 days, the snow settled to about 8 or 9 inches, but the wind re-arranged it a bit, so it was from 3 inches to close to 3 feet, depending on where you were. Us and a neighbor both had cows to move, and we coordinated out efforts so we wouldn't meet each other on the road, and to have more help for each herd. Here are my impressions for each mode of transportations. Snow was from 3 inches to 3 feet, with a general covering of 6 to 8 inches. The hardest drifts wern't quite hard enough to walk on, the non-drifted snow was more like hard powder than anything - not sticky at all - very poor snowman snow as my nephews would say. Here goes:

Horse :PROS: The best thing for following cows. Could go anywhere a cow could - through the drifts, and was the only thing that could walk over a 2 foot high fallen tree. The rest had to go around, quiet.
Cons: Got tired right away. The guy on it about froze off important body parts.

Foreman (either 425 or 450 - can't remember which - it was the neighbors)
Pros : Quiet, got around better than walking, not too hard to push out of a drift, smooth engine that chugged well but not zippy, predictable handling
Cons : 3 wheeled wonder (now I really know what you guys were always talking about), low ground clearance, wide turning radius, got stuck easier than the rest, rode rough, slow acceleration, reverse too slow to dig your way out of a drift

Ski - Doo
Pros: best in snow - DUH! , fast, went about anywhere you wanted to, kept the driver warmest.
Cons: Loudest thing out there, turned about as wide as the foreman

Xplorer:
Pros: Good ground clearance, true 4x4, fast, tight turning radius, never had to push it out, rode smooth, lots of power, zippy
Cons: louder than Foreman, driver got cold.

Head to head Xplorer vs. Foreman : Xplorer all the way in about any performance category. Keep in mind the conditions, though. Foreman dragged its belly first, then its 3 wheel drive would leave the driver stranded. Bob (the guy on the Foreman) would get hung up, put it in reverse & push on the rack while running the throttle to get out. He then would wave at me (I was on the snowmobile) to come his way. I would stop, and he would ask if I could go thru the drift & over the hill looking for some more of his cows since he couldn't make it. Brian (the guy on my Xplorer) would see him gesturing up the hill, and while he was still explaining to me where he wanted me to go, Brian would blast thru the drift in a swirl of snow & go on up the hill. This happened several times. In fact, there were a few places the Foreman wouldn't go, even following the tracks of my Xplorer. Drivers had some to do with it, though. Brian was somewhat more experienced.
To sum it up, the Xplorer did circles around the Foreman in the snow. More clearance, and true 4-wd did most of the difference. Another aspect was the transmission. If Bob went in too high a gear, it would bog, too low a gear, it sput out. Shifting in the middle was very hard to get just right. Brian on the other hand, just pegged it & went. When it started spinning bad, he eased up a little until he got traction back. It is quite a sight to see a 4 wheeler plowing thru a foot of snow, rooster tails flying from all 4 wheels.

And just so you know, I had 3500 miles on my tires (rear 1/4 tread left, front 2/3 left) and the Foreman had less than 1/3 the miles I did. Didn't really look how much tread was left, though.

I didn't mean to bash Honda, I was just reporting the differences. I own a Honda & it is a good, relable machine. It just isn't in the same performance league as my Xplorer. A few more yars and mile will tell the reliability differences.

 

Farmr123

I call myself Snowride because 95% ao my riding is done in the snow. I have been riding in snow since 1989. I have probably logged on more than 7,000 miles on 4 different quads. I have ridden with hundreds of others on our trail systems and consequently have seen and experienced what works best. (in the snow, not mud or any other conditions). I have a 99 xplorer and you are absolutley right that the true 4x4 and ground clearance is what it takes. The ground clearance on my quad (stock tire & rims) under the skid plate is 12". If you measure yours you can confirm this. The polaris ground clearance specs say it is 6"or7" but that is at the sprocket which really does not have any affect when riding in the snow. The only other quad out there that can compete with it is a sportsman. Even so the sportsman has only 10.5 inch under the skid plate (measured this off my friends brand new 2001 HO)The suspension setup on the sportsman is more plush and also has irs but the drawback is when the quad is loaded up (such as cargo box or passenger) will lose more ground clearance than the xplorer due to the geometry of its suspension. If polaris does come out with a 700cc twin, 12"ground clearance, swing axle, shaft driven quad, I know where my money is going. Mean while I am eyeing the 650 Kawa. If it comes with 26" stock tires it will have 10"'s of ground clearance. Not that I don't love my bike or the polaris products, but the need for speed on a "utility" quad is there.

Snowride

 

Great shootout farmr123.

LONG LIVE POLARIS!!!!!!

2000 SCRAMBLER 400 2X4

SCRAMDADDY400