I am a complete Newbie to this forum and to ATV's. I just ordered a 500 HO last week. Here in NH the 2002 models are pretty hard to get. My dealer pretty much asked for and got nearly list price, offering only about $400 off the list price of the machine-plow package. However, this dealership is basically a farm implement dealer withwhom I have dealt with for 25 years on other equipment and has good service (which it sounds like I may need if I get one of those lemons (mine's gonna be yellow, scary, huh).

I decided I wanted an ATV to get up the steep skidtrial behind my house which I use as a link to snowmobile nextwork, and to plow. Not having been introduced to this forum at the time, and barely having seen an ATV close up, I visited a few dealers and kicked a few tires and read a few specs.

Here's what I liked about the Polaris Sportsman. 1. Good, big, local farm equipment dealer who I trust and who gets things done (unlike some cycle shops in the area). 2. Nice big seat. I wanted to be able to take my wife up into our backwoods. I liked the Honda transmission technology, but the seat was tiny. The Sportsman has a big comfortable seat with rear seat handholds in the rear rack (along with the warning not to ride a passenger, but hell, its my land and my responsibility. 3. Automatic tranny. I can't deal with shifting anything anymore. 4. Most of all: HEAVY. I thought heavy would be good because it would provide good traction for plowing. I was immediately impressed that the Sportman was the heaviest. It seemed to me that for plowing and other work stuff the more weight on the wheels the better. That's not how I feel about my snowmobile where I want light and powerful (I'm an Artic Cat man, I must say, and switching to Polaris was a little hard. 5. The rear suspension impressed me. Even though I hear they may break down a lot, there seemed a lot of meat in the Polaris compared to the other ones I looked at. Some brands looked pretty flimsy and cheap from the back end I must say. 6. Style, and finish. I really liked the looks of the Sportsman. The plastic seemed shiny and I loved the yellow. The style was nice. I though it looked Sporty. Some of the other brands looked a little worn looking even when they were new, though I don't know why. I also liked the instrument pod with the analog speedo - I don't really like the digital - hard to see sometimes. So, I'm a little stressed over all the $$ I spent, cause I bait and switched myself up from a Magnum 325 one step at a time, but I'm pretty excited too. Hope it comes soon.

 

you won't be sorry

 

You'll like it. Just be sure to use Low range whenever you aren't going to sustain over about 10-15 MPH or when towing. Helps belt life.
Don't worry about the rear end, they hold up VERY well if kept greased. About the only problem they have is if a stick or something pokes a CV boot. Just keep all the zerks greased often, and the chassis should go a long way before anything works loose. I hope to get a HO someday, myself, when I save up the $$$ About the best farm work & running around machine out there.
Yes, sometimes heavy is good. That is why you don't see ads for tractors touting their 'lightweight' design. HP + weight = pulling ability.

 

HILLCAT from keene, NH
HILLCAT1 from alstead,NH

same or different people?

 

Same. Wanted to enter this discussion from my home computer, and couldn't remember the password I got at my work computer, plus my email address of course is different if that matters. This is my first taste of a forum and this one is great. I have been on a list-serve once on a different topic before but got too much e-mail. Haven't got my machine yet so I am enjoying the sport from a virtual meadium and learning a little something on the side (though some of the stories on broken parts on these machines is a little scary).

 

It all depends on how you ride it if it will "break" down I got a 2001 Sportsman400 and I love it.
So will you I take my parents freinds for ride the front gets alot lighter but I put it in 4X4 and its fine.
Check out my pic page for some pics of my spoortsman400.\

 

Hillcat1
in response to the plow question:
i have the 60" Moose plow and love it!
76 miles of heavy plowing and it's been great.
my tire chains however are pure junk and a waste of money. the links that made contact with the ground wore-out paper-thin and kept snapping.

the 60" blade just covers the tire track so don't go with a shorter blade.

i use the winch to raise it.

i did freeze my *** off last year, so this year i bought a new wrangler a had a new Fisher plow installed. (if you do a lot of plowing, the cold might take its toll on you)

just my 2 cents and i hope you love your new sportsman!
GREAT CHOICE!

MT

 

I also bought my Sportsman 500 because it was the bigest and heaviest. Here's another arena where I think heavy shines. MUD! I ride with many different brands and models of ATV's, all of which are bone stock. My SP500 will go thru pits that others will get stuck in. Here is our conclusion: My Sportsman is 700+ pounds and I am also a Big Boy. This weight combo is truely a factor in mud. If my skinny pal runs the same pit on my 500 he cant get as far, likewise when I run the pit on his new Grizzly, I can get further than him. Sometimes it's good to be the Big Dog. Will the new 700 be the KING o' MUD??