Just saying, if high speed wide smooth gravel road cruising is your thing,there no way a 40hp 550 single would keep up with a 760 twin with a 8 to 11 hp advantage, and a big bore twin will cruise at 60 mph smoother with littler stress all day long than any mid bore single cylinder can .

There not close in power or speed as some people here are saying.

 

I'd go with the 550 for the same reasons everyone else would. Then again, I don't do a lot of cruising at 60 MPH.

 

OK, first off i would like to thank everyone for their great advice, i really appreciate it and have been taking everything into consideration. What im getting from this is that these are really two completely different machines, the 550 is more sport and trail oriented with the capability to cruise at high speeds and the 800 is the opposite, it is more utility, has a lot more hp and is better for cruising but can also handle the trails, but not as well as the 550.

Some other things i would like to know is how well the 4x4 works, as i am not very fimiliar with polaris i am not really sure how it works like when it engages, is it a fully locked differential like most 4x4's or does it send power to the wheel with traction like the can am's. Also when in reverse do you still have to push the overide for 4x4 like the old sportsman or did they fix that probleme yet.

Also just out of curiosity, how fast has your atv's toped out at.

 

4x4 is almost instant and to all 4 wheels. The newer CanAms are said to be much better than the older ones also. The XP line, you don't need to push the override button in reverse for AWD, but you do need it to go over a certain RPM.

The 800 is faster and has a much bigger seat. I think most of the other differences have been noted. The 800 will also only get about half the mileage of the XP (550 or 850) with of course the 550 getting an edge over the 850 in that department.

For resale, I would think the XP550 will do better. It doesn't appear that the older sportsmans will be built anymore.

This comparison often comes up because the prices are similar.

 

I'm just about done breaking in my 2010 550 XP EPS at 16 hours. It does an easy 60 down a rutted, potholed nasty old railroad grade. Handles like champ in the tight, twisty trails. My son just spent 3 hours chasing me on his 800 and was pretty impressed with the 550's power and speed (not to mention his old man). He couldn't hang with me in the tight stuff and could only best me in the smoothest, long straightaways.