I am almost sure that I want the sportsman 400. I was looking at a prarie 400 and arctic cat 375. However, I have a few questions.

1. Does it have good top end speed
2. I like to jump a little and mud some (only about three
feet),is this bad?
3. Did I make the right choice of mid-size ATV's?
4. Does it have good acceleration?

Please tell me everything you know about this quad, or other mid-size ATV's. By the way I live in South Texas, so there is a lot of sand.

 

I own a 400 and a 500, they are both great machine, but if I had a chance to do it over again, I would have gotten another 500. The main reason is the EBS, the 400 doesn’t have it. Other than that the ride is about the same. I’ve had the 400 up to 43 mph then I backed off…doubt there was much left though. As for jumping with it, we have gotten it about 2-3 feet off the ground. The front end is a little bouncy; you might want to consider a stronger shock if you’re going to jump more than that. As for MUD…heck our cat’s name is MUDDY. Polaris makes a great machine for getting through the MUD. We have winches on both of them, but use them more pulling out other machines. The acceleration probably is as good as can be expected, it’s a heavy machine. If you’re looking for speed look at a sport quad. Hope that helps.

 

I would rate it as a very good machine, on the condition that you don't have to be fastest everywhere. It will NOT keep up with the 500s, but in the 400 class, it is a solid performer. I THINK they will about eke out 50 MPH top speed, but take a while to get there. In my opinion the Prarie will out accelerate it, but it will outperform either it or the Cat in the mud.
Can't tell you much about jumping a Sportsman, other than they are heavy, so be sure it doesn't land on top of you [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

That is about all I know.

Oh, yea, the Sportsman will require greasing over 20 zerk fittings (although in my opinion they are easy enough to get at) MUCH more than either of the other two. If greased, I don't think they wear out any faster than any other, though.

 

Test ride the 500HO before making your final decision. I have ridden both and the 500 HO is like comparing a Chevy Cavalier to a Corvette in performance. I found the 400 to be a DOG.