I had to sell my 04.5 500ho last year due to job loss, but am ready for a new one now. I'm having difficulty deciding between a 550XP or A 850XP. It will be used for hunting/food plot working, but mostly for trail riding. I also have never ridden a atv with power steering, I have heard some riders say that it makes trail riding difficult because the steering is so touchy. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, nice to be back on here also.

 

i have never ridden a quad with power steering either, but i would get the 550xp without it and save some dough. i prefer a single cylinder thumper over a twin on a quad, lot less money and time in maintainence and if u go to modify. the only thing ive heard that wasnt good was from dirtwheels (take that for what its worth) saying in a round about way they still like the 500 as much or more then the 550. and they mentioned the longitual engine makes tyhe belt hard to get at. if u were happy with ur 500, id say get a new one of those instead. i have an 07 efi and my father has an 04.5 (was mine) and the ride is better on the newer one because of the changes in 05

 

My wife rides the 850 with power steering, I ride 1 of our 2 '02 500HOs. The 850 is great but I have never needed more power than the 500 and I prefer the 500 for hard fast trail riding. The 550XP is said to steer easy compaired to the other models even without EPS. I bought the 850XP LE EPS to give my wife a top of the line quad but for me I would be very happy with a 550 without EPS.

 

No replacement for displacement I always say. My vote is for the 850!

 

sure there is, its called handling! also a lot less money, an 850 is overkill. a 500 used to be a monster, and its still good enough today.unless ur towing a boat (in which case get a suburban) then get the 550 or 500. i can pull a car right now with my 500, i used to all the time on my old foreman 450. o and there is another replacement for displacement: engine design and tuning. the hp isnt very impressive on these bigger machines for how big they are. they make a jumbo engine, the detune it to heck so its suitable to the public. so now u need even more money to get it running like a REAL 850

 

i'd go with the 500 to. the 850 is an extra although you could go for it!

 

850. Better to have more power and not need it than to not have enough power and need it.

 

The question you have to answer is, if you get the 550; will you never say" I should have gotten the 850"?.

 

This is all you need to hear.

YouTube - 2009 Polaris Sportsman 850: HMF

 

I know my 800 club brothers are going to send me HATE MAIL (lol) but to do it all over
again I would opt for a 500 or a 700 at the most. Now that we have the 550's with all the extra features and handling I would prefer that. Its just my opinion, no CC's debate here, they're there for different reasons. For me I don't work on a farm and only MUD occassionally and hunt seasonally. So I would go for the 550 next time around. NOW I AM STUCK so to speak, I put alot of money out for my setup with a few customs and still really like my ATV so I will be happy with it......:-)

Either way my friends its POLARIS!

Cheers,

R'