This will be my first ATV purchase. I will be doing mostly trail riding in the mountains and occasional riding in the sand dunes. I’m trying to decide between the Explorer 400 and the Magnum 500. The Explorer 400 is 2 stroke and chain dive, that kind of concerns me. I have also been told that the 2 strokes are more sensitive to altitude changes. The Magnum 500 is a 4 stroke and shaft drive but it seems kind of doggy compared to the Explorer. At the dealer you can only ride it around the parking lot, it’s hard to get a good fell for how it will preform on the trails. I have been able to find reviews on the Magnum but none on the Explorer 400. If anyone drives either of these bikes please let me know how they preform and their reliability.

 

Well you say you ride in dunes sometimes, I would go with the Xplorer 400 then, There both great, but i can almost gaurentee that the Xplorer 400 is going to be more fun to ride, it has the same engine as the Scrambler 400, its a great blemd nbetween Sport and Utility, you also didnt mention anything about towing, as for the chain, its concentric which means the axis of the front sproket is aligned with teh pivot joint, so not to much maintainene there, as for the 2 stroke, you will get much better power, and if you put any mods on it you will get much better gains in power than a 4 stroke, you dont ahve to worry about the altitude too much, jsut chage the jetting for your altitude, and the difference in altitude for it to be noticeable is in 1000's of feet, so its up to you


You want sportyness, go with the Xplorer you want towing go with the Magnum


Chris

Hope that helps

 

I have 00 xplorer and it is awesome.If you want the speed of a sport and the ability to also do a little work go for the explorer its the best combination I know of, and dont let the chain influence your decision these require very little maintenance.

 

The magnum is a blast.Speed wise I've never ridden a explorer , but mine will go 55 mph.Lots of low end.Yesterday was out with a scrambler 400, and a traxter.I can easily keep up with the scambler.He pulls away at 45, but in woods and hills,I've got more low end.In the thick stuff the mag can crawl through any thing in low.I dont know if the explorer has to be in the power band or not.If your in the mountains the mag would be a lot of fun.Rocks,hills,creeks,ditches.The front end will pull you over,and out of anything,as slow or as fast as you want.If you plan on using it in the cold weather,the magnum has worked excellent.Its a no fus,four stroke.

 

I have a 99 Sportsman.Im thinking that the 125lb [lighter] Xplorer 4x4 400cc might be my next quad.I've heard nothing but good things about the Magnum,I just want something a little lighter,with auto trans and snappier than the Sportsman or Magnum.====BILL

 

I own both a 99mag500 and a 00explorer400. I really like them both but if I had a lot of really heavy work to do I would go with the 500. If you are into trail riding, faster acceleration and just more spirted riding in general, while maintaining almost all of the utility aspects of the 500 I'd think hard about the 400. The 400 is a real rush to ride. The ability to hit the gas and fly the front end on a big utility machine is a feeling like no other. The 400 also climbs faster (not really better just faster) than the 500. The chain is a must on this machine because it has 9.5 inches of rear travel. A shaft would have a tough time handling this much travel.The 400 has roughly ten more hp. than the 500 I really don't know but I would guess the 500 might have more torque. I love both machines but the 400 is a little more fun on the trails and the Mag 500 is a little better worker. I don't think you can go wrong with either of these fine machines.
Good luck on your purchase
Joe

 

Thanks for all the good input. I want the bike for play not for work. I was considering the Scrambler 500 but after riding my brother-in-law’s Scrambler 400 I decided it was not very comfortable for long trail ride. It's a great bike I just prefer the way the utility ATV's are set up. It's too bad they don't put the High Output 500 in a Magnum or Sportsman..

 

i just have one thig to say doooo nottt get a explorer you doo nottt want a chain drive beleive me its a pain in the neck

 

trust me dont get the explorer if you do youll regret everything and your better off not to listen to glock35er ether

 

The two post's before me has obviously never heard of Concentric Drive.===BILL