Each one will do whatever you want to do, and either will be a blast. The 550 has the same fun factor as the 850, except when you hop on the 850 afterward, it feels twice as fast, haha....I love having the 'surplus of power' to just blip the throttle and slide through a turn, or get the rush from opening it up on straightaways. But through the trails/rough terrain, the 550 can keep up and IMO is a better quad than other 'big bore' manufacturers anyways...its not all about power....polaris went above and beyond w/the XP's

 

I live in Canada in the province of Ontario,and there is a helmet law but where we ride the chances of seeing someone else is slim to none,but we find the helmets help block the twigs from whipping you in the face on the trails and keep the noise down.

You have straightaways on your trails? that would be neat.

 

+1 for wearing helmet/goggles for tree branch deflection

 

Thats when you get any used sled,twice as fast and twice as cheap and go more places other then a ATV with tracks that is.

 

I can say I can keep up, but others may not be able to. The only thing that the 850 has going for it on trails for me would be it's ability to break the rear end loose and slide around the corners quicker. BUT then again I can do that just fine on my 550 with out much trouble. It's all about the rider, probably around 90% rider 10% machine. So I have complete faith that I can be on a small little 300 4x4 and keep up with a 850 on a nice trail not exceding 40mph.

Don't get me wrong the 850 has it's place for sure, it's a bad beast! But then again I would have a 800HP rock crawler when a 300HP rock crawler will do the same stuff on 1/2 the fuel. Remember Fuel milage is the MOST important for me thats why I didn't get EPS

 

Good idea BUT whenever I buy a sled (kid you not) it doesn't snow enough to use it! LOL!

 

Why does ESP make an ATV get less mpg?

 

Because EPS makes the fuel tank something like .8 gal smaller, so less milage not MPG

 

Non-EPS has more room for larger fuel tank

 

My local dealer has about 10 acres worth of trails/test track to ride on out back of their shop and I've test rode both. In the straight aways I was extremely impressed with 850 but when you get back into the woods the 550 did just as well as the 850 since you can never get over 30 mph before you were grabbing the brakes. For me the 550 is plenty, as 75% of my riding is in trails and tight areas. It's all about what you need out of the machine. I like the idea of taking the extra money and putting it towards goodies.