Just wondering what made you switch to the Yamaha? I really like the looks of their machines myself. I'm a Honda man really but selectable 4wd and a locking front differential are things I really like having, but only the newer Hondas have selectable 4wd and none have diff lock. If I were buying new id really like to have the foreman 500 manual shift but the lack of a locker might would push me to the grizzly or Suzuki king quad. I'm still on the fence about IRS as well. Great sometimes, but sometimes a solid axle is better too.

 

I just thought I'd try something a little different as I really did not want another 500 . After 4 years on it it was time for a change . There's nothing wrong with the Polaris awd system I think it works good . I would not buy a machine tho unless it was true 4 wheel drive and had power steering .

 

Did you do oil changes by hours or km's? What about other maintenance? Never pulled the screen, eh? Where did you get the temp guage kit?

 

I changed all the fluids every 1000 miles ( front diff , tranny , oil ) and yep never pulled the screen not once . I cleaned the pre-filter weekly and replaced the paper filter when needed . Valves were checked / adjusted I think two times . Other than that I replaced wear items as needed basically just regular maintenance is all that was done . I ran the stock tires the first year then switched to itp terracross which were still on it when I sold . They had over 10,000 miles on them not one flat . The guage is from Koso North America its a very easy install . Here it is just before I traded it in .

 

Thanks. What brand of fluids did you use? What did you dump in the fuel? I hope mine is just as reliable.

 

I used Amsoil oil 0w40 and for the rest front diff and tranny I used the Polaris fluids which it called for . As for the fuel I mostly filled up at home which allowed me to use a Mr.Funnel almost every time . Even with my new grizzly 95% of the fuel it gets runs though a Mr.Funnel first . The only time I treated the fuel was at storage time when I would fog the engine and use Star-Tron in the tank . Fuel don't sit long before I burn it , I'v see me go though 20 gallons in a week Most rides I average 65 to 85 miles , most in one day was this year on my grizzly doing 154 miles almost non stop . I shut it off once for fuel

 

Thanks. I plan on using mine allyear round too. So, I will pick up somestartton at CDN Tire.

 

I don't use mine year round , I use it about 7 months of the year . It get's fogged in the fall and put away then the real riding starts Sled Season . I'd rather Sled than ATV it's so much better .

 

Thank you Cummins Driver. I tried to be as unbiased as possible - told what I liked and what I didn't like.

Prior to riding them I would have never considered buying a Polaris for 1 second - now I would at least consider one.

The only Polaris I would consider would be an 850 Touring with EPS and the single biggest reason is the passenger seat that you can take off and replace it with a small trunk. The added wheel base makes it very stable and I enjoyed the power.

I wouldn't own a 550 XP or a 550 Touring.

I like the 4-wd for going forward and don't like it at any other time. I do like that all 4 wheels are locked without having to hold a lever to lock the front diff and I like the fact that there are no "limiters" with all the wheels locked like all of the other ATVs with the exception of the CanAms.

The ADC is just about worthless even when it does work. The engine braking works better on the 850 than the 550. When descending steep loose trails and the rear wheels lock up and it start sliding down the hill the clutch on the 850 bangs and clanks soo loud you would think it’s broken or going to break – very annoying to the point I would catch myself swearing at it.

The dealer was/is an issue but both machines had similar problems right from day one.

I got the 550 with 7 miles on it and put the other 1493+ miles on it. I got the 850 after Doug put 77 miles on it and I put the other 1123+ miles on it.

I couldn't wait to give the 550 back to Doug but would have liked keeping the 850 longer.

If I were to buy new with my money I would consider an 850 Touring but $11,000 seems like way too much money to me.

I'd look really hard at either a new Honda Rubicon (mine currently has 16,300 trouble free miles on it) or a Suzuki 750 King Quad. And I would never buy a new ATV without EPS.

I'm hoping they send me a 2013 850 Touring EPS or an 850 XP EPS, preferably another Touring but I'd take an XP too.

And if they do the very first thing I’ll do is remove the rear sway bar so it really does have IRS. What a HUGE improvement in wheel travel for climbing over fallen trees and boulders and when the going gets rough. It leans in the corners a little more but well worth the trade off to me.

Here's Doug’s rap-up of the 850: 2012 Polaris Ranger RZR 570 test review. ATV Television. ATV. UTV. SxS. Tests Videos and Information. Latest News. Product Reviews. Ultimate Adventures

PS: I'm the Kenny Doug mentions in his review.

I've moved and have a new job so I've been pretty busy and haven't been here for a while. I'll post a few pictures in the picture forum as soon as I get a chance.

 

i dont remember you mentioning this(i could have missed it tho) but did you have any problems with the actual throttle lever? i have looked at a few sportsmans at the dealerships and apparently on the newer polaris models they have replaced the lever with a piece of plastic for the lever. the plastic seemed flimsy to me when i was inspecting it at the dealership.
i am picking up a new sportsman today and was just wondering what to expect?