I am fairly new to the ATV scene. Saying that, I am looking at buying a 04' Sportsman 600 with 700 miles, or, a 06' Sportsman 500 with 1400 miles. Both have been pampered and both have the same asking price of $4500. Any advice????

 

ride em both and pick the one you like better, newer, but more miles and less power, or older less miles and more power, id probably go with the 600 personally,

both good machines

 

I would go with the 600 [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] LOL You do need to ride both but I love my 600 nice smooth power with the twin vs a single does about the same on fuel vs the 500 the 600 also has a little better towing capacity vs the 500 1500lbs vs 1200lbs. Both are great machines no real winner other than personal preff the 500 has been and is still around today so finding parts for it might be a little easy'r but I have had no issues with my 600 other than the rear master cylinder which is the same on both units! Hope this helps!

 

I bought my 500 HO new in 05 but was looking at the same thing, the 500 or a bigger bore 600 for the same price, just a little older. I went with the 500 because of all the changes for the 05 model. The biggest change is the huge on board storage capacity. All that stuff I had to carry around in a rack pack is now carried permanently in the two trunks which leaves lots of room for more goodies in the rack packs. In the long run this will make lots of difference. Besides a cosmetic change the suspension increased in 05. It's down right annoying to ride my Kawi Prairie 700 now because of the LACK of storage.

 

Welcome to forums rbirch. The 600 isn't even close to being worth that much according to NADA. The 500 is a much better bargain but still a little overpriced if it's a carb.