I onlyt have a few amount of posts, but have been on here since 1997.
after 3 1/2 years of daily (7 days a week) viewing and participating in the polaris forums (300 xplorer) I came back on the forums after the purchase of a new quad.
I had spent, many, MANY hours on here defending my quad against people who would come here SOLEY for the purpose of trashing Polaris quads.
AFter 3 1/2 years of being in the polaris Forums, and experience with 2 polaris quads, a 1996 300 4x4, and a 1999 400 4x4. I will say this.
Tie Rod ends, steering stem, steering stem bushings, and brakes are all eaten very quickly. Brakes are understandable, these heavy machines had no compression braking at all and it took alot to slow them down, so I dismissed the brake problem.
However, the fact that I could Never get the steering slop cpmpletely out of either quad even after completely new tie rod ends, ball joints, steering stem bushings, had left me wondering about the quality of Polaris Parts. I would, and still will (even though I Now Own a new Yamaha Kodiak) defend the performance of Polaris quads to anyone. Not too many machines can match the Polaris in outright capabilities.
My 300 xplorer routinely emberassed many machines much larger, simply because of the locked front end. ANd being a 2 stroke, the little 3oo would outrun most400/500 machines.
Neither machine had ever left me stranded, although it got to the point where I was being nickled and dimed to death.
Having been on this forum for a long time, and particularly in the Polaris Forum, I can say that over the years I have seen very few Engine failures mentioned, few transmission problems mentioned.. Not a whole lot of SERIOUS problems, but alot of little things, such as lights, drivetrain parts, draining batteries, etc..
The Newest Polaris I have experience with is a 1999 model, I can not comment on anything any newer. From READING though , I can understand that Polaris has attempted to take great strides in reliability, I think However, Or HOPE I should say they should take as much pride in quality, it seems they are getting better and better.

 

3000 posts
That explains what I'am talking about;take another one that would be 6000.That's why you see so many negatived posts.
I've viewed these forums for some time now we know where the bs comes from.
I have owned alot of atv's they all have there own little problems like brake shoe's on drum brakes after about 2nd set can't keep good brakes.Rear axle bearings wheel bearings drum seals and much more depending on the atv.
The ebs solved the problem on500ho brakes wearing out to soon 2100miles on 1st set steal going strong.

two bad apples don't spoil the whole bunch
Got sick of the bs thats why I started posting.

 

I would give the 500 HO a thumbs up! There are going to be problems with any quads out there. I recently sold my HO and never did have a problem with it.I ride my quads very hard I might add. My strong point about Polaris quads is that they are made in the USA!!! A lot of people are against the Sportsman because of the weight issue. In many cases I have found this to come in handy such as pulling a heavy trailer behind you. I think the main thing with the Sportsman to do is keep it greased,change you oil and filter regularly and use the Polaris oil in them. My .02 POLARIS RULES FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Just a comment .....

I rather get an opinion from a current owner of the atv I'm interested in than a "seasoned forum pro" who doesn't have a clue and just reads about other peoples troubles and relays along with insufficient information and blowing it out of proportion. But my comments here are meaningless because I'm a forum rookie. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

 

Halleluiah Stretcher. I too am only a rookie on the forums even though I have been actively reading for over a year. Constructive opinions are worth while, all others are not!! The BS on these forums is proof of some peoples having nothing better to do with there time. Later!!

 

hi,i have a honda 300 4x4 and a guy on the deer lease i'm on has a 335 polaris.moral of the story is we ride and have fun.

 

I agree. I don't have too many posts, but I have been riding since the three wheelers were popular. Currently own a 2002 RSE Polaris (just traded my 500 4X4 scrambler), 2001 Yamaha Kodiak and a 2001 Rubicon. I would classify somebody with 3000 posts as a blowhard more than anything else.

 

Hey, it would be great to have Kodiakscramble do a little "Shootout" since he owns three of the highly regarded brands according to what I've been reading. So, what do you like and what not about each of these?

 

StitchZR2

nice choice! you should love your new Sportsman!

what year machine are you waiting for? '01 or'02?

i beat one of my sportsmans really hard. last winter 76 miles of plowing/ this spring mud riding with 26" outlaws/and LENDING IT TO MY BROTHER-IN-LAW A FEW TIMES!

i grease it infrequently.

never had any problems!

MT

 

New Sportsman, excellent choice. I had always been a hot rod rider with my street bikes and dirt bikes. When I started with the ATV’s I had a Banshee and Scrambler. After a couple of “high speed failures” I bought a brand new 400-4x4 Scrambler in 2000. I still think this is the best bang for the buck for us old guys that like to “Hot-Rod” from time to time but it’s no Sportsman. After riding a friends 97 Sportsman my brother in-law was so impressed he traded his Scrambler on a new 2000 Sportsman. I liked his so much I bought an HO 6 months later when they came out. The killer is after seeing all the differences in my HO he traded in his 6 month old Sportsman in on an HO as well. It has been more then a year now and close to 2000 miles, no problems. We live in Buffalo, NY and drive year round, dust, mud, snow and sleet (and that’s in the summer)! I did take a 3-year warranty when I bought the Sportsman. I hope to trade next year on a new 2003 “700-HO”. My feeling on the warranty is when I trade or sell my two-year-old machine it will still have 12 months of warranty on it, that will make it very appealing. Keep in mind when buying your new machine the dealers often will give you a break if you ASK! My dealer took 25% off the price of the warranty.

Good luck with what ever you get, they are all fun!

Mark