I am not all that worried about the electric start failing, but I intend to buy one of the small emergency jumpstart devices and keep on the ATV. It might be a handy thing to have anyway. The battery on the 600 and 700 is a large one, it looks like the same one on my Harley Davidson Electra-Glide, (it also came from the factory with no kick-start). I will always have the engine running when I use the winch, it is possible to pull down a battery with an electric winch pulling 100 amps under a load.

 

Does the 600 or 700 have something that indicates how charged your battery is on the instrument panel?

 

I found a mini set of jumper cables at Northern Handyman (cheap import tools etc). I keep them in the front Polaris trunk. I've used the pull start once when I didnt want to walk 50 feet to get the cables and jump start from the truck.

Speaking of which - I have two new front Polaris trunks. One green and one black for sale. $90 each + shipping - hey no sales tax!

 

my 700 has scared me several times by cranking real slow, after it has sat a long time and also while using the winch a lot lifting the snow plow up and down constantly. It has yet to fail on me, but I suspect that it will sooner or later. As a matter of fact, it eventually has to die, because batteries don't last forever. I am going to put a set of little dinky jumper cables in my storage box, because when it dies it probably won't be in my garage next to the battery charger. And to answer the other question, yes jumper cables will work from atv to atv. Somebody mentioned that they are hard to pull start; How can you pull start a belt drive automatic?
The lack of a pull start is about the biggest flaw in my opinion.
I rode a 400, thought it went great, just a little less power than the 500. My wifes 500 HO is so close in performance to my 700, I can't imagine that there is room in between the two of them for the 600 model. The 600 just seems redundant to me. I would recommend the 500 HO to anyone, I wish I had bought one instead of the 700. Once I put the 28s on, maybe the twin will start to earn its keep.
And they don't tow that bad. My wife towed me back to camp with her old Scrambler 500 without a bit of trouble. I had to keep using the brakes to try to slow her down!

 

i think the 600 plays an important role in the Polaris line-up.......especially when the 700 gets bumped to an 800EFI.
also, i think many view the 700 as being too much and the 500 not enough- (old-school, low-tech, outdated). for that buyer, the 600 is that perfect ATV.

-MT[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I was just reading on the Polaris website that the battery for the twins is a great big super duper item with 30% more power than any previous atv battery. That is what they say to keep you from being afraid to buy a machine with no backup starter.

 

Any chance Polaris will add a pull start to the 600 or 700's?
What about Fuel injection?

 

I doubt they will add a pull start to the 600/700 engines. They are already all tooled up to make them the way they are. As for EFI, I have this gnawing feeling in my gut that the 700 is going to gain EFI, giving it a jump in performance, making the 600 a 'budget' twin, but still with better performance than the 500.

If it were me, and this is just me talking, I would go with the 500.
Reasons???

I am getting too mature (OLD) to worry about ever going faster than the 500 HO will go.

The HO has all the pulling power in low I will ever need (spins the tires easily on dry ground, how much more do you need?)

The HO has been around for a long time, it is pretty well 'debugged' and everyone knows all about them. People are still learing of the strengths & weaknesses of the twins.

The HO is easier on gas, cheaper to run, but also will go farther on a fill-up, so maybe I won't need a spare gas can along.

Lastly, but not least, although the list price might not be all that much more, the twins are in such demand around here, that they are not discounted nearly as much as the HOs are. I can get a HO for about $850 less than a twin. Same tires, both come with rack extenders, and to me, that extra 100 ccs just aren't worth that much more.


Farmr

 

Right now here in Phoenix the factory has lowered the price of the 600 twin by $1,200. That is pretty substantial - it basically takes care of all the taxes and dealer add-ons.

Now if I could only talk my wife into letting me use our tax refund.................. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Thanks for the info guys!!! While my dealers around here (central Ohio) haven't budged on their twin prices the 500HO is sounding pretty good! I know the twins have the straight line shifting. Is it much a a difference than the 500's shifting? If so, how difficult is the 500's shifting for plowing, etc?