I plow about mile and a half of county gravel road (plows take forever to get out here), a half a mile of lane, two driveways and a mile or so of farm road. When you figure up the passes I make it comes out to something like plowing 6 or 8 miles in a straight line.

I've plowed with a 300, 400 and 425 and had plenty of power for the most part. Get a good set of tires, add weight and use chains if you lose traction. A true 4x4 ATV with a set of chains and some extra weight can push an astonishing amount of snow.

As others have said make sure you have somewhere to plow the snow to and don't let it get too far ahead of you. Once you start getting long runs where the snow is deep enough to flow over the top of the blade you start to have problems. I try to run the plow every 8 or 10 inches or so. I had some drifted sections that were rack high on the ATV last year and they were extremely difficult to clear.

A few tips:
Keep sufficient fuel on hand. If you're plowing a lot you can really go through the gas.

A windshield is really nice.

Those rubber flaps that attach to the top of the plow are great for keeping the snow out of your face.

Use low gear.

Spray down your blade with silicon spray or WD 40

Do as much angle plowing as possible. You can push more and than when you've got it straight and once you get your speed up you can really get the snow to roll off the side of the blade.

Also don't forget to mark any obstacles like curbs or pavement imperfections. Nothing like buzzing down the road at 20 mph and catch a curb or something with the plow. If you get big snows and don't have good landmarks to tell you where the road is put out some stakes or those push in driveway reflectors. First big snow after i rerouted part of my lane I ran the ATV off into the ditch because i forgot where the road was and the snow as deep enough you couldn't see the edges.

Oh and while it is still warm go out and buy a 50 gallon trash can and fill it full of coarse sand. You can get it from your local cement plant or in bags from the store. It's cheap and works great on icy patches and you can keep it dry and unfrozen in the trashcan. Doesn't make the mess that cat litter or oil dry does and it's cheaper than ice melt.

Have fun this winter!

 

Great advise from all the guys. I would add... plow "WITH" the storm. In other words, don't weight for 12" to accumulate be before you plow. When you get 4 or 5 inches of snow... plow it... then plow it again when you get another 4 or 5 inches.

If it's heavy wet snow, plow it more frequently.

 

There's lots of great advice already. When I need more traction I put sandbags on the rear rack. It works so good I don't need chains. The rack can hold 180 pounds (3 sandbags) no problem. Pam cooking spray is another thing that keeps the snow from sticking to the blade. The 500 has plenty of power especially in low.

 

the snows we get here will push around the front of my 45hp tractor, i cant imagine trying to plow with a balloon-tired atv. they just dont have the weight to push any real snow in anything but ideal conditions. put a plow on your truck, and be done with it. youlll be done in 1/10th the time compared to pushing snow with a 4wheeler, the truck wighs 10x as much, and will have plenty of traction, escpecially when the snow is heavy, needs to be pushed back, or begins to ice over and become rock hard.

 

Have to disagree with you on the wheelers not being able to push the heavy stuff zilch. I live in northern MN and my 800's with tires had no problems keeping up with everything that old man winter had to dish out. Now with the tracks I can push up the banks as high and far out as I have to go so I never run out of room to push it. Cost was much better even with the tracks. Had about $10k into wheeler and tracks compared to the over $35k I had into my truck and plow. Granted you can buy an inexpensive truck with a plow but you end up getting what you pay for there.

 

A few additional thoughts, buy some plow edge indicators, they mount on the end of the plow and stick up high enough for you to see where the plow is and which way it's pointed.

Also, make sure the quads lights aren't blocked by the plow when its lifted. If it is, plan on adding additional lighting.

Make sure to have a strong battery for the winch and extra lights, and keep a battery tender on it to keep it topped up. PoPo's need a strong battery, or they run crappy.

Although some will disagree, I wouldn't use my winch to lift the plow. Warn makes a plow lift setup with the gearing needed for constant use.