Well put 700vtwinman. That makes sense

 

I saw a post on the Windrock site by a guy that apparently was involved in some of the testing. He rides a King Quad but said that during the tests, it was obvious that the Grizzly performed better than the others. I am sure its a great quad and I would love to try out that power steering. I just don't know if I could get used to that front end.

Oldturtle, I will say that this past weekend a I let a friend of mine ride my Rincon. He had just bought a 650 Brute and had his wife on the back. After a few hours of riding, she was getting pretty sore. I offered to switch quads since mine has a softer ride and a box for her to rest against. He was used to riding his and used to the engine braking, so when he went into a curve and just let off the gas he almost nailed a tree.
In the situation you described, I think it would be the same problem. Those guys were used to strong engine braking. Having had a lot of seat time on mine, I have learned to use just enough braking to creep down loose trails without locking them up and loosing control. Thankfully, Honda has put some great brakes on these things.

 

Actually, I think they were correct in rating the new Grizz at the top on this go-round. I am certainly not a brand loyal person (although it may look like it based upon what I currently have), but buy what I want based upon performance, features, fit and reliability (quads with one lever braking automatically go to the bottom of my "want" list). For those that have never ridden a 700 Grizzly, you really should try one out if comfort and ease of use are important priorities in a full featured big bore utility quad.

One of my riding partners (who has a Honda Rubicon) hated my '02 Grizzly (the Rubicon's excellent engine braking was the most important feature in a quad for her). However she fell in love with the new Grizzly on a short trail ride through the mountains around here when I let her test ride it. Mainly because of it's excellent engine braking (substantially better than the older Grizzly) and the effortless steering. The power assisted steering may sound like a gimmick, but what it does for you on a rocky / rutted trail will spoil you quickly. I have ridden many other quads too, including the 680 Rincon, Sportsman 500, Sportsman 800, CanAm 500, CanAm 800 Max, several Suzuki King Quads and lots of other Honda and Yamaha Utes. This new Grizzly is the nicest package (in an overall sense) for a utility quad that I've experienced so far...

 

The 700griz is a well assembled ride. It deserves to be ontop in the 650 - 700cc class. If it was 700 - 750cc class would the Brute Force take the throne if it had EFI?

 

Give it a month or two and they will fo another similar comparison, and all the weak points or something will happen and surprise a different machien will take number one spot. DW and its sister publication ATV action are starting to get real bad about stacking the deck to make whatever quad they want to finish first do just that.