Few things I like the most are the four wheel engine breaking and better ride over the 2004 models. The steering seems to be slightly liter to. Also the painted blue finish looks assume. They have a new heat shield on the 08 for the melting plastic problems, but mine rattled like crazy and had to fix it myself right away. See they have new CV boots all the way around, more like cars, hop they hold up better. Cooling fan on the 08's sounds like it pulls allots more air then the 04s also, that good for those hot days. Got 30 miles so far. Sean

 

ya i love my new blue paint of the 800(same as the 500) and seems to hold up well form scratches. i had an 02' 500 and loved that so i can just imagine they have done good improvements to make it even better. have fun w/ it and ride safe.

 

Hey sportsman, I purchased a 500 sportsman efi Browning hunter edition in Oct 07. my girl friend loves it. She had a 400 hunters edition (04).She really likes the 500 much better.

Do you let your fan run through its cycle when you stop for a bit on the trails . I do but it seems like the fan runs 2-3 times longer than her 400 polaris used to.

Actuall, Ive been ridding hers alot lately waiting for my new polaris to come in. Thats how i noticed the difference. Any incite would be helpful. Good luck with your new polaris!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

800 mossy oak, so far when stop my fan runs may be 1 ½ minutes or so at 60 degrees outside. My older 400 {04} seems to run allot longer to, the radiator looks bigger on the 08s with a different fan. So for I have 50 miles on it at a quarter tank of gas, i rode some to day. Sean

 

I wish I had that quad because SPORTSMAN ROCKS. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Count me in as an proud new owner. I only have 10 miles but overall it seems to be a step up from the '03 400. So far I'm glad I spent the extra $ on the EFI. It starts right up and idles like a dream. Very happy, now just need to find the time to ride it.

 

Yep, we got 2 of them about 2.5 weeks ago and took our first ride last Saturday, see pics in link below.

So far so good! We are looking forward to a summer of fun!

 

I find the opposite. We have a 97 Sportsman 500 and if you took the plastic and seat off of it and a New 08 Sportsman 500 its scary how little they changed in 11 years.

 

I just Bought and 08 500HO EFI and its great, Not one problem or complaint, I love the Comfort more than anything, That power coming out of the 500 engine id good, My cousin and I traded rides for a couple of hours and he pulled up to me while i was on his bike (a honda 420) and he asks how i like my new Honda 420 LOL . Overall on a scale of 1 to 10 its and 11.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: TLC

I find the opposite. We have a 97 Sportsman 500 and if you took the plastic and seat off of it and a New 08 Sportsman 500 its scary how little they changed in 11 years.</end quote></div>

I had a '97 and a '01 H.O. both, before I got my EFI. There are a lot of things about the frame and suspension that are the same or very close, some improvement to the belt case for one, but there are some big differences too. The H.O. has 1.5 inches more supension up front, and the steering geometry has been changed <u>a lot</u>. It used to make my arms hurt when I rode the old one all day, except in snow it was nice. I felt like I just got done wrestling a bear. I hated taking my new Big Red in for anything because that meant I had to ride old Mean Green. I mainly used it for plowing, and as a spare quad, for 5 years after I got the '01. And the H.O. airbox, cam, clutch, (and carb on the non EFI) are all off of the Scrambler.

The carb went from 32mm on the '97 to 40 mm on the H.O., which even though it's only 25% bigger in diameter, according to my geometry it's actually a 56% bigger cross-sectional area. 56% more air and fuel is a HUGE difference, and I could sure feel it when I mashed the throttle. The EFI throttle body for the fuel injection is 39mm, so that's still a 49% bigger cross-section than the old '97's 32mm carb.

If anyone wants to check my math just Google "area of a circle" for the simple formula. Or if you trust me, Pi x r x r = Area of a circle, where r is the radius, which is half the diameter. Pi = aproximately 3.14 so you just multiply it by the radius and multiply it again. I'm not as dumb as I act sometimes. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]