Well I am still debating these 2 quads. Family member jsut got a Grizz 700 and it is a great bike. I was surprised by its power and acceleration. I love the looks and build of the Black Stealth Sportsman LE. An they say it has more power on the bottom than the 06 sportsmans. I am a bit leary of the Outlander because of all the reports of problems, excessive heat, warped CVT, Frame issues etc.. I am leaning towards the Stealth right now. How big a difference is there? Some who have both say its not really that big a difference that the Polaris is close in terms of speed and power.

I am wondering how the Polaris will compare to that 700 Grizz in terms of acceleration and speed. I have ridden them all only briefly except the Polaris which I have not got to try yet. There is a dealer in VA that sells bot the Polaris and Can Am I may be going up there to try them both out. For the money the Sportsman looks like a better deal to me. Its ruff where I live with lots of mountains and old trails and logging type roads. Also its really steep here thats why I sold my Rincon this summer and don't want to make that mistake again. I am a trail rider in the moutians and won't be mudding or adding larger tires or anything like that.

 

The 2007 Sportsmen have the optional "Active Decent Control" down hill all wheel engine braking. I have seen Polaris riders having problems trying to handle steep downhills with older rear wheel only engine braking. I love the amount of engine braking on the 700 Griz. On fast trails when in 2WD drive high just a roll off will usually slow you down just enough to make corner without brakes. In very steep and loose situations I go to 4WD low without diff lock and seldom even need to use brakes while staying in complete control. The Polaris rear wheel engine braking when in 2WD high just seemed too aggressive for me and slowed me down much too fast and then just locked up rear wheels and slid on the steep situations. So if you get a Polaris I would get the optional ADC for sure.

 

Search in the Polaris & Can-am forums for a relative topic like this... You'll find some bible long threads on this topic.

 

I can't comment on the Outty, but bwtween the Sportsman and the Grizzly, my stock Grizzly is faster than my brother-in-laws stock '04 700 twin from start to finish. To make it easy, the only things I like better about the Sportsman is the ergonomics and the stock tires. It feels slightly lower to the ground and the rider position is more comfortable. Adjusting the Grizzlys' handlebars toward the rider 3' made a huge difference for my wife and I. The Yamaha is a nice trail machine, but the shocks and tires could be better in stock trim. I ride it hard and have almost been bucked off going into corners too fast...partly from the soft suspension, partly from the engine breaking (it's that good). But, the suspension is very nice if you are cruising.

P.S.- Sorry for the rant, but I just saw the Sportsman was an 800 not a 700 [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

 

Well I have researched alot. Its hard to get the skinny on these machines. I have talked to several different groups and dealers, owners etc... Everyone has an opinion. Half of them said that the Polaris was the king of the smooth ride. Then the dealer that sells both turns around and said the Can am had the smoothest ride and that the rear end was alot better than the Polaris but the front end was not. The 2 guys that work there one loves Polaris and the other the Can Am so?????? Some claim the steering is easier on the Po Po others say the Can Am has better steering. Some say the Can Am and the Po Po have a big difference on the bottom end power with the Can Am winning on top. Someone else then says they are about the same on the bottom and that actually if ran long enough the Popo will catch the Can Am on top end while others say just the opposite. I would expect the 800 to be stronger than a 700 Grizz myself and faster.

So its very hard I am just gonna go soon and ride them both back to back it would be good if I could ride'em here on these trails.

Engine braking would be very important to me also here. One reason I sold the Rinny and the Stealth models currently available don't have this feature.

No one can really tell me just how much difference there is in power between these two and I have asked several times about the Ride of the Sportsman compared to my Rincon. Because I know how smooth the Rinny rode and noone can really tell me if the Sportsman is smoother than the Rinny either. The Grizz rides good but it is not quiet as plush or forgiving as the Rincon IMO. I like the 700 Grizz better however with all the beter features like low and engine braking and the seat is super soft. There were downfalls to the Rinnys suspension it bounced like a basket ball from side to side on ruff trails all over the place.

I am gonna see if I would like the extra weight of the Sportsman I would think it would add to the stability.

 

i would say w/out a doubt the sportsman has the best ride. the outty is the fastest, one reason its alot lighter w/ more cc's. i do know a guy that has one thats had it back to the dealer about 7 times to fix differnt things. the last one was to replace the wiring harness, and they replaced the charging system which wasnt strong enough to run the bike w/ any acces.

 

if your worried about the frame issue a belly skid is your answer on the can am's. the cvt cover isnt anything at all, run a bead of silicone and its done. plastic warps it happens, but if your not going to be swamping the bike in water you shouldnt worry about it. the over heating is b/c of mud getting packed in the radiators and the owners not washing it out. i have ridden the polaris's and can am's and i wouldnt trade my outty for the poo. the outty has more of a sporty ride and handling than the polaris.

what kind of "accesories" was he trying to run on his outty? i know a couple of outtys from around here with hid lamps, winches frt &rear, theres a guy with a stereo system on his and doesnt have problems.

 

The outty is going to have much better engine braking/downhill decent control than the sportsman. Even a new sportsman with the optional active all wheel decent control isn't all that great from what I've heard from guys that have it. The outty will also be faster if that's your bag. The outty will need skids before you ever take it out in the rough. The sportsman will ride awfully nice. They're one of the most comfortable ATVs I've ever put my butt on. The outty is good though. I think the outty handles much better and for me was just easier to maneuver and ride on the trails. Don't get me wrong though the Polaris was a decent machine just wasn't as agile as the outty.

In the end, as difficult as a proposition as it is, you have to get your butt on them and get on the terrain you will be likely to be operating on and ride them both. Unfortunately that's an extremely difficult thing to try to do unless you actually know people that own them.

 

I own an Outty 800 Max and have a very good friend with the Polaris 800 EFI. I've got about 100 miles on his Polaris and 1000 on my Outty. Both have plenty of power, so unless you are into racing your buds on straight and flat roads this isn't going to be an issue. I believe both have excellent ride quality. When I initially rode the Polaris I thought it had the better ride. After riding my Outty awhile then again riding the Polaris, I'm not sure anymore. They're pretty close ride-wise. The engine in the Polaris has a different "feel" to it than the Outty, but that's because it's a side-by-side twin and the Outty a V-twin. I don't like to carry extra gas as it takes up rack space. The Polaris is a major GAS HOG. I mean major gas hog. I like the idea of Polaris? front rack storage but it?s very poorly executed. With a little redesign it would be great. The Polaris AWD system is flat dangerous on down hills. Now, that said, I haven't driven one of their Downhill Decent Control machines. You'll want to do that before making a decision since you also ride in a lot of steep hills. I?m not a big fan of Outty's Visco-Lock 4x4 system because one of the front wheels must slip prior to engaging the other in loose traction conditions similar to a car/truck limited slip rear axle. It?s fine for most situations, but I prefer my AC 650's locking front axle. That said, I don't care for the Polaris's AWD system either. The rear wheels must slip before the fronts engage. I like a positive connection between the front and rear axles. Heat. Big engine. Big heat. Outty certainly has this and the new models are said to have this resolved. The fix does not lessen the heat, but reflects it. Some machines have the heat issue, some do not. There seems to be no common denominator, but it does not appear to be related directly to the dirt in the radiator, although that will clearly cause overheating. Squat down in front of both machines and look at the radiator placement. If you are going to ride in an area with a lot of dirt on the trails that could get into the radiator, the low radiator in the Polaris may be of a concern to you. The heat is also the reason the CVT cover warps on the Outty ? if there is warping. Cost. Both these machines are pricey, but if you are going to live with this machine for a number of years, buy the machine you want regardless of the cost. You'll be happier in the long run. Look around on the net and you can go to your dealer with a price. With luck he'll match or better it. I paid way under $9K for my Max by doing so. A couple of more things. The frame (get skid plates) and wiring issues noted are only suffered by a very small minority of Outty owners. And finally, if you EVER ride two-up, buy the extended WB model. I've experienced NO problems in tight trails because of the extended length on my Outty and the machine is much more stable over-all than the short WB models and much more comfortable. It's worth every penny of additional cost.

 

Boy you ain't kidding about the price tag. I talked to some dealers again today. They blah blah back and forth but basicly in a nut shell he said, 9600 for the XT Outty minus the bumpers which I don't like with the new front springs and shocks. And then I would have to add skid plates for another 300+ he said. So you may as well say 10K for an Outty XT with Richochet skids and new front springs installed minus the ugly as* bumpers. Yeaowww!!!

Then he said I could have the Polaris Stealth 800 LE all stock for 8500$. So thats basicly the deal. I am leaning more towards the Sportsman anyway because I like the styling a whole lot better and he said he wouldn't lie to me the OUtty had more torque but he said it wasn't a huge difference. He said come and try them both. He said I usually tell my customers like you who are in the mountains if you can't run 65mph. He said you wouldn't notice any difference other than in a strait line drag race and really up here I don't have any where I could top the Grizz out other than on the black top highway.

I must say I don't k now if its 1500 worth of difference. The Sportsman seems to be the better value for the money by far. And it comes with skid plates. He also said the Sportsmans Awd was better than the Visco lock in his opinion. The only thing that really concerns me would be the engine brake issue. I had problems with this before with the Rincon and I don't know how big a prob it would be with the Sportsman. But it is supposed to be alot better on the 07s. He said hands down the Outty had the better engine braking.

I guess I will just have to go up and look at both bikes closely and ride them at the dealers. There is alot of issues to be concerned about also and the Sportsman seems to have the least amount of them in terms of having the bugs worked out. So I am kinda looking at it like this, 10,000 for the complete deal that you should get all stock anyway for the Outty VS 8500 for the Sportsman. I have also read now there is supposed to be some more LEs comming from Polaris and that the Black Stealth will have the decent control feature later. Lot of questions here guys for that kind of money. You can't be too careful.