Well guys, I think I just became the first person in the United States to cover a Sportsman 700 in mud. It rained 2 inches here last night and I was up at the Polaris dealership looking at it for the second day in a row. First, they asked me if I was going to teach them anything new about it today, which I said probably so. They told me to take her for a spin, which I did with a smile on my face, but only after inquiring that it would be ok, being that their trails were nothing but 4in deep slick mud.
Well, I cranked her up to a unique rumble that I have never heard on a quad before. The first thing I noticed was how it sounds so very different than the old SPs. I had to take it about 40 yards on the wet street to get to the trails, as soon as I pulled out I floored it in high range to find myself fishtailing, so I eased into it a little more. Those of you that say it won't or don't have any more power than the HO are smoking something. The throttle response is instant and the power delivery is much smoother than on the HO. I made it to the trails and the beginning is about a 40 yard run of mud. I floored it and seemed pretty fast, but then I let off and realized that it wasn't seeming too fast because I was slinging rooster tails 20 feet in the air that promptly started landing all over me and the wheeler. I got to a big downhill and decided to see what reverse override/4wd was like. I punched into it and WHOA, it about threw me over the handlebars. The new centralized Hilliard has NO and i mean NO slip. At the bottom of this hill I found a hard spot and raised the front tires in low 2wd relatively easy, although not as easily as the new Grizz. Guys, the new low range is SOOOOO low. I believe that it would pull 28 inch outlaws like a HO pulls stock tires. The torque is amazing. I had to ramp a curve to take it back to the dealership. I eased up to it in low and gave it maybe 1/5 throttle and she easily climbed the curve, where the HO would have struggled. I brought it back rather muddy, lol...you could still tell it was silver at the headlight pod and letters.
This quad is awesome. In regards to what others have said about it lacking performance, I PROMISE you this is not the case. The case is that it was spinning the tires without them realizing it or else it was BADLY mistuned. The sound is indescribable when you punch off in it, and I was able to get it up to over 30 in about a 40 yard stretch of trail.

Bottom line: This quad is awesome. I know this because I rode it for 20 minutes in some mud. Polaris didn't even care, in fact they are offering me a job to sell the things since I have learned more off these websites than ANY of the salesmen know.

Also, the Rep was not there so I did not have any confirmation on the sp700 HO.

 

Extreme Mudman,

I too have had offers from dealerships to work on a "commission basis", but I just can't give up my cushy state job.

I'm glad to hear about the Sportsman 700's power, it sounds like you had a good time with it. When's the wedding?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] If the 700 isn't a candidate for "monster" tires, I don't know what is. Still, I would have liked to see a fuel injected machine with a bigger tank. The milage on a tank full should be slightly more than on a two stroke 400. They should have put a little more range into it, but I'm sure someone could come up with a solution for it. I'm wondering if the 500 Sportsman tank would fit on it? Nothing like another 1/2 gallon of gas when the going gets rough, I sure would hate to pull it out of the woods if it ran out of gas. If they had put the 780 motor in it, it sounds like it would have torn up the drivetrain from too much torque. Besides, aren't there some states with a limit as to how big an ATV can get?

In short, I'm glad you liked it.