Thats hard to say,if he wants a pure utility atv Id say the the arctic cat or the honda 500,I think the 450 foreman is more utility than the 500.If he wants more sport utility id say the suzuki 500,If he wants more confort smother ride the sportsman 500. In deep mud and snow the ids machines seem to do well.I dont like the sportsmans ebs rear wheel only thats scary. Hondas are dependable. As for the prairie 700 yes it has hp but theres alot of other machines that will dust it in the deep mud - snow because its solid rear end, and on extreme trails with off cambers and slope I think the hondas are hard to beat . I'll put my polaris 700 up against the prairie in deep snow and mud anyday.

 

Hi Markie,
Sorry, but I don't agree on your snow statement. Today I pulled a sp700 and a Bombardier Quest 650 that were stuck on the snow trails with my Prairie 650. And that happens pretty often for theses two machines. And I was happy to help them. Even if the Prairie 650/700 don't have IRS, they're light. Here in Canada in deep snow light machines make it through and heavy ones sink. In the snow, you need a light machine with power and not too aggresive tires that will just sink you deeper in the snow. Here, light 2wd sport quads with pro-wedge tires that have light grooves in them go further in the snow then the mud king sp700.

 

Did the SP700 have the Rawhide tires? It is a fact that thoses tires SUCK in the snow!!! The new radials are suppose to be a lot better

 

atv action said the rincon was the best utitily quad

 

but we all know you can't trust magazines

 

honda foreman. gobs of torque. spins 26" itps easily. All it would need is a spool locker in the front.

 

We have lots of snow here in ut just like you do,i have a honda 450-arctic cat 400 also there both great atvs infact when i go riding on real nasty trails with slopes and off cambers I take my 450 or 400 and leave my 700 home but when theres snow and trails that have lots of rocks and bumps my sportsman 700 fills real good on my bad back [nice smooth ride].the trick to riding the pol 700 in the snow is putting your weight on the rear end and keeping the gas on the front end kinda floats over the snow and the rear end digs down and sometimes you pop wheelies what a blast and sometimes turning your front wheels back and forth helps as im sure you know. I'll bet in the next year or 2 the kaw 700 will give the option of indep susp so you will have the the best of both worlds and then guys like me with bad backs will enjoy your speed machine.And buy the way i think the kaw 700 is a nice machine but every machine is good at something. I did test drive the arctic cat 650 nice but seemed like a stiff ride and hard turning but very complete package.

 

I have a sportsman 500ho and a trail boss for my wife. We bought them about a month ago and after a lot of research I decided that all models have thier pros and cons for me I liked the polaris and the yamahas both had dealers that where local to me the deciding factor was the yamaha dealer was a jerk and the polaris guy treated me like gold. If the opposite was true then I would have bought the yamaha, only time will tell if I made the right decision but for now we are very happy with the polaris.

Dave