hey guys great forum, i need some help. i have it narrowed down to the rubicon and the artic cat 500 manuel shift. i will be using it for just hunting and exploring. what are some pros and cons to each? the cat seems like a alot for the money. but the rubicon is good to. i test drove a 700 kawi and sportsman and was unimpressed. the kawi had alot of power but seemed to sporty for what i have planned. the polaris seemed way to far off the ground and vibrated badly. it seemed like it lacked quality big time. any way, great forum here and any help you can offer would be great. oh by the way the rubicon is 6084.00 $ and the cat is 5574.00 before tax. thanks

 

i can't say much for the cat but the rubicon is very under powered. and what in the world could be wrong with the pairie or the sportsman, they are great bikes. i have never heard that kind of complaint with these two bikes right off hand, maybe you should spend alittle more time on the two.

 

i guess i am used to more utility type bikes,lower geared and lower to the ground. i am sure the polaris is the king of the mud pits, but seemed to high off the ground for nasty mountain trails. it also seemed to shake quite abit compared to the other i drove. my style in the past on old formans is slow creeping through rocks and side hilling. i had a 99 grizzly that terrified me on the above mentioned. the automatic wouldnt slow me down enough on the long steep mountain sides here in idaho. so i have ruled out the autos. i have also considered the 450 forman. seems very workman like. as does the cat, and the rubicon.

 

i see were you are coming from now. in that case i would look into a 450 honda. they are great i have heard!

 

If i went out and bought another bike today it would be another 450S. I love the bike, it has taken me everywhere i have wanted to go.

 

I assume the terrain you will be riding in most of the time will be pretty rugged with a lot of rocks and obstacles. If this is the case then I would definitely take a long look at Arctic Cat. All of the machines that I have owned in the past were Hondas from dirt bikes to 4-wheelers. The most recent being a '00 300ex and a '01 Foreman 400 4x4(manual). Both of these were great machines, I have no complaints in any area. When it came to purchasing my new bike I wanted something a little different. I wanted to try IRS, be able to shift from 2x to 4x, and have a hi and lo range, also wanted to try something with more ground clearance. The first time out I was riding with a Foreman 400 4x4 and a Prarie 360 4x4. I know that I have a lot more motor but the ground clearance, IRS, and suspension travel make a big difference when the going gets rough. When those guys had only three wheels on the ground and were struggling to make it through some tough spots I could cruise right through with no problems at all. They would bottom out or get high centered and have to try a different angle and I could go straight thru. I could go places they couldn't simply because of the ground clearance, IRS and so on. The AC has 12 in. of ground clearance-Honda Rubicon 7.8, AC susp. travel 10in. all around-Honda 6.7, fuel tank on AC 1 more gallon, hi/lo range tranny, able to shift between 2x & 4x. I can tell you that the AC ride in my opinion is very good in rough terrain as well. I have not personally been around a Rubicon very much so can't tell you much on those in real world situations. I am not bashing Honda in any way, if they made something with comparable numbers to the AC I would probably be riding one right now-if the price was comparable as well. I don't know if speed is an issue but neither one of these are fast machines. I haven't got on mine through all five gears but low end power and acceleration is very good(I read in a mag. review somewhere that it has more torque than a 660 grizzly by a couple ft./lbs.)-I have been told not good top speed and I am pretty sure the Honda is probably about the same. I am goin to end this book now and I hope this helps in some way. Let us know what you get!

 

Whatever 4X4 you choose look very closely at machines with (IRS) independant rear suspensions. The ride and ground clearance is FAR superior.

 

He got scared by the 700 prairie, all hail the mighty p700[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

i love my cat for all the reasons dirteater said. I ride regularly with polaris 700, polaris 500, Honda Rincon, Honda Rubicon, among others, I wouldn't trade my 500i for any of them! I used to be the biggest honda fan in the world until I drove my Arctic Cat. not to mention they give you the most bang for the buck!

 

I too was a huge Honda fan,in fact that was the only machines my family bought.I then went to buy my own machine and tried out all the makes and models and what it came down to was value and quality.I chose the AC400i.I use my AC 400i for work and play(something you can't do w/a Foreman)and I do both at extreme levels.I have about 2,000 miles on my machine and it hasn't failed me yet.Just something to think about.