Hey all

New to the forum and to ATV's I ride dirt bikes. Anyway looking for a quad for my wife, and maybe a little 2-up action.

I'm looking at the Polaris Trail Boss 330 and the Rancher ES. There will be no towing no utility at all just trail riding.

I'm worried about the belt of the polaris because we will be rididg alone most of the time and I don't think my bike would pull the polaris out of a water crossing. If you go slow (theonly gear my wife knows) through shallow water will the belt stay dry and slip free?

There is only about a $500 differance in price so that isn't much of a concern. It seems like the honda has more than $500 worth of advance features, but I don't know. I don't know anyone with these quads so riding them under similar conditions really isn't an option.

So which one would you buy and why???

Thanks Mucho,

Roman

 

I had the same decision to make last month. The Polaris or the Honda? I went with the Honda. Previous experience with Honda auto and motorcycle. Both dependable as hell. Both guys I ride with ride Hondas. Both quads are 1997 models and they have never had a wrench turn on them save for oil changes and spark plugs. Enough said for me. I bought a 350 Rancher ES. I am more than pleased with it.

 

From what you are saying, it sounds like the Polaris would be the way to go. The Polaris would be far more simple for her to ride, and would be more comfortable for long rides. As far as the belts go, idk about a TB 330. I have never had a belt problem on my Sportsman, and I have been through some deep water/mud. No doubt, the Honda has a good reputation, but for what you described above, I think the TB is the way for you to go.

 

I have a Rancher 350ES and a Polaris Trailboss 350.The Polaris is falling apart.It always makes some weird noise you cant figure out belt problems etc.The Rancher just completly ownz the Polaris.Unless the Trailbosses got better since 01.
The Rancher ES shifts easily on the bars.I got it for my mom and she adapted to it nicely and loves it now.Her first quad at 51.

 

i am not a fan of either but i like honda much better than polaris. they are really bullet proof

 

Bump.

Common lets hear from some more owners.

 

The newer polaris's seem to have no problems like they did in years past...TrailBoss being an auto would work good, belt does stay dry in the water... I have had my Sportsman in water up near the bottom of the tank, near the belt exhaust...never had water in belt

I just rented an 04 rancherES last weekend at hatfield/McCoy.....put 204 miles on it...electric shift as well as an automatic mode....to me shifting on the handlebars is awkward...i kept it in automatic 99% of the time

I think both would be an exellent choice...its gonna boil down to personal preference

 

First, Kushman, if the rancher you rented was an auto and thumb shift it was an AT, not an ES.
Second, for years I have heard that the newer Polaris' were better than the previous ones. I can remember hearing this back in 1995 when I first started looking for one. But everybody I know that has owned one knows their service guy very well. I had a friend who was making trips to the dealer twice a month. He wasn't that upset but why does a year old quad need to be in the shop that much. At that time I owned an 88 230 Quadsport. I didn't put a tenth of the money into my quad as he did his for repairs. I didn't need to, nothing was wrong.
Listen, I am not saying that Honda is the only quad out there as far as reliability is concerned, thier are others to consider. But I'm not sure Polaris is one of them.
The Polaris may be easier for your wife to ride, but it will be even harder for to ride when it's at the service garage and not your garage.

 

my grandma owns a rancher and she loves it(if my grandma can drive the rancher your wife should have no problem driving it). very reliable machine and goes throught alot. my friend is having a bad experince with a polaris right now so i think i would stay away from a polaris not too mention my grandpa had one too and it was nothing but problems.

 

We bought a Rancher ES 4X4 for our daughters. We rented them a 2-wd ES to ride the Paiute trails and they had no problem with the shifting.

I like that it is in 4-wd all the time, it goes everywhere they point it without them only making it 1/2 the way up the hill and having to stop and shift from 2-wd to 4-wd. Easy to drive, easy to shift, great display, great park brake, two brake levers plus a foot brake lever, nimble (for a utility), and inexpensive to maintain, and great 4-wheel engine braking for coming down hills. Good engine braking in 4-wd is very important to us. Nothing worse than sliding down a steep loose hill with just the rear wheels locked up.

Some of these features mean little to nothing to more experienced riders, but they are important to me when my daughters are riding. Just one more little thing, I have no problems sending my daughters off to a day of riding on a Rancher, I know it will bring them home. We only have 1100 miles on ours, not one single tiny little thing has gone wrong with it, nothing.