I guess my biggest concern is the long term reliability of an EFI system in a quad. Cars and trucks are not buried up to the hood in water and mud, run in extreme dust,dirt and abused like quads. Makes me wonder what all those electrical connectors and sensor will be like after several years of hard use. I like the idea of easy starting, no rejetting, but the idea of a random CPU fault or faulty injector leaving me stranded when a carb can be pulled, cleaned and even jury rigged to limp home makes me hesitant to fully get behind EFI. I am not saying it is bad, I tend to look at worst case scenarios, and will probably wait a while to see how it holds up in the real world of ATV riding, I know a lot of you put your quads through hell, and I value your opinions and experience with what works and what does not. I am considering a new quad in the near future, and often look over these forums to get a feel for what is good and bad on the new models out there. Keep up the good work, keep posting your results.

 

That's why a 5 year waranty is a great thing to have... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I think alot of the innovations is for marketing purposes so you can say you have something new not necessary better . I had a ATV with drum brakes and they did there job to stop the machine, I had non liquid cooled ATVs motor and it never stopped because it was running to hot. The same with EFI,I rode a EFI 500 SP and it did not start better or run smoother or have more power, but the guy could say "I have the new EFI model".

 

TLC, your points are certainly well taken and in many instances, marketing is the issue for the mfgr. Getting folks in the showroom and selling them a machine is what it's all about. There are, however, some things that come down the pike having worth and EFI is one. This is particularly true for those that ride at various altitudes. It's also true for those (like myself) that go for long rides (>80-90 miles) and don't want to carry extra gas. I can go well over 100 miles on a tank (5.3 gal) with my OL. This is not true for many EFI machines (Polaris a noteworthy exception), but ATV EFI is only going to get better as time goes on. As pointed out, current EFI is pretty crude, but to remain in the market (as you pointed out - it's marketing) more advanced EFI units will come. I won't presume to speak for others, but for me it's about firing the machine up, and riding. I don't want to be screwing around with jets or tweaking the carb because I'm going to ride at a different altitude, I just want to ride. I believe that to be true for the bulk of utility machine riders. Clearly, sport machine riders don't feel the same, but that's what's great about this ATV thing, lots of great machines and lots of people bragging on theirs and it's only going to get better. For utility riders, EFI is one of those things making our riding that much easier and better.