I cant make up my mind. I keep going back and forth. Anybody gone from Cat 650 to Grizzly? Grizzly to 650? If so, why and are you happy you did?

I dont want the prairie or a honda, its down to these 2 so please keep comments to these 2.

Brad

 

I am a Arctic Cat fan. The 650 has more rack capacity, ground clearance, and suspension travel. That V-twin engine is awesome too. Easier to use the front differental locker as well. Plus you can get the MRP racks for it, and a 2-yr. warantee.

I have nothing bad to say about the Grizzly though. Have you driven them both? That would be my next step. Also, see who will give you a better deal. If the Grizzly was $500 cheaper I think it would be hard to pass up. If you can wait, I would see what the '05's are going to be like. Might get an EFI. Otherwise, the '04's will be a lot cheaper once the new models are out.

 

I havent rode neither of them. I ride with a guy who has a Polaris 700. Its ok, but not for me. We re suppose to ride with a guy that has a Grizzly, so hopefully I get to ride that soon.

The main concern I have about the cats are the belt issues. I like them both but sadly I cant afford both. I hope to have something by summer, so the 05s may not be a consideration. I also never buy the first yr production of something, usually has too many bugs to work out.

Thanks for the reply.

Brad

 

I drive an 04 grizz . who is the best dealer , cat or yamaha. both bikes are great pick the dealer

 

Dealer sells them both, so I cant decide that way either. lol

Brad

 

[quote]
Originally posted by: shadowmaker
I havent rode neither of them. I ride with a guy who has a Polaris 700. Its ok, but not for me. We re suppose to ride with a guy that has a Grizzly, so hopefully I get to ride that soon.

Why didn't you care for the Polaris 700? I'm just curious since I just bought one. This is my first 4-wheeler and I have no other experiences to compare it too so I think it's awesome!! Maybe I'm just ignorant though.... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

BTW: I can't imagine anyone needing any more pulling power than this 700 has. Even as much as it weighs, you can't bog the thing down when pulling something heavy like fallen trees with all of their limbs still attached or whatever in low range. I just pulled over a dozen trees on my property this weekend that were at least 30-40 feet long digging into the ground the whole way and the only problem I had was keeping the dirt from hitting the top of my helmet when I got into the throttle too much! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

The polaris like I said is ok, just wasnt for me. I dont like the fact that you cant lock it into 4 wheel drive. It stays in 2 wheel until the rear wheels spin. There are times when riding that I WANT 4 wheel drive. I dont want the machine to decide when I have it and when I dont.

The engine braking is only the rear tires, which causes the tires to slide. Yes I ve been told you can feather the throttle and "learn" to ride it. But why should I have to do that when other atvs out there, this isnt required.

No reserve. Thats the craziest thing I ve ever heard.

You are right though, the Polaris has great pulling power. But it also weighs alot more too. Its pretty fast too. But bc of the above reasons, I just decided that I didnt want a Polaris.

Brad

 

I have heard others mention the 4WD system is not engaged all the time with the Polaris's as well, but if you consider about a 1" revolution of the rear tires before BOTH the fronts start digging unacceptable then you would be right. I did several test in really soupy mud and before the rear tires even started to loose traction both front tires engaged and I couldn't for the life of me get the rears to spin wthout turning the fronts also. It seemed to work completely seemless. If I hadn't read about that before I drove it I never even would have noticed they worked that way. Anyway like I said I have never rode another 4 wheeler so I'm sure I'm biased towards Polaris now. The fact that I got a REALLY good deal on this one from my Dad doesn't hurt either. If I hadn't have fallen into that I was kinda leanin' towards the Artic Cat 650LE cause' they just don't look any cooler than that IMHO!!

I did get to experience the rear wheel only braking when I went to the 32 mile "Rumble on the Ridge" atv ride last weekend in Adena, Ohio and I will concur that for some that might be a bit "un-nerving" but I would defintely rather have the rear tires slide a little going downhill then to feel like I was going to fall over the handlebars. A little throttle going down does help a lot with this, but since I have had a lot of dirt bike experience before getting this quad I kinda liked the rear wheel braking [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]


BTW: No reserver is right! What's up with that? I couldn't believe that when I read it in the manaul. At least it's got a 4.75 gallon tank with a digital gauge to kind of let you know how much juice is left[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Ride On!!

 

What I meant by the wanting 4 wheel drive is ......say going over rocks. I just simply like the front wheels to be pulling also, rear tires may never spin, if thats the case the front would never engage. But from what I ve heard, the system works great. Think its more of a pet peeve than anything.

I m new to atvs too. So the 4 wheel engine braking is a safety thing to me.

Sooner or later, I m just going to go out and buy something. All this read, searching and asking questions is starting to get old.

One thing to watch for on the Polaris is the welds on the frame. Seems Polaris used square tubing which isnt holding together too well on some machines. The welds are breaking. You may never have a problem but just keep an eye on it.

Brad

 

[quote]
Originally posted by: shadowmaker
What I meant by the wanting 4 wheel drive is ......say going over rocks. I just simply like the front wheels to be pulling also, rear tires may never spin, if thats the case the front would never engage. But from what I ve heard, the system works great. Think its more of a pet peeve than anything.

(I agree...Like I said the deal I got was too good to pass up or I probably would have opted for the AC650LE.)


I m new to atvs too. So the 4 wheel engine braking is a safety thing to me.

(It's not as bad as some might lead you to believe. Last weekend was the sloppiest, muddiest stuff you could imagine and the 700SP didn't seem to slide down the hills any worse than any of the Honda's, Yamaha's or AC's that were out there. 2800 quads were registered on Saturday alone...The only difference I noticed was they were sliding all fours down the hills and I was only sliding the rear two [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] )


Sooner or later, I m just going to go out and buy something. All this read, searching and asking questions is starting to get old.

(I too read up alot and it was a tossup between the AC650LE and the 700SP. It mostly boils down to what you can afford and what you think looks the best! Whatever you decide to get you will have a blast! That I'm sure of.)


One thing to watch for on the Polaris is the welds on the frame. Seems Polaris used square tubing which isnt holding together too well on some machines. The welds are breaking. You may never have a problem but just keep an eye on it.

(I'll do that! I haven't heard of this one before. Where did you happen to come across this info? Sounds like it could be dangerous...)

Anyway...Happing hunting and maybe I'll see you out there someday!