The bomb vid is very biased.
As far as deep snow the 500 HO is the worst of the 3 your asking about.
It only does well in snow it can reach dirt thru.
The ruby and Kodiak450 are both great in the deep snow.

 

Really, then the Kodiak or Rubicon is probaly the better choice since we get pounded.

 

My friend have one sportman 500 ho 2002 no problem at near 16,000 mile just keep maintrain oil change and trans and keep fit grease and keep front hub oil clean will long time if want better other atv brand just your opt hope you like it but not get 500EFI is first model
will change in 2007 hope impress than first model will be better 2 nd model hope help


-----------------------
xplorer 400 4x4 2001
with 26 inch tire and
force reed 2 bit more
bottom end power

 

As far as deep snow the 500 HO is the worst of the 3 your asking about.
It only does well in snow it can reach dirt thru.
The ruby and Kodiak450 are both great in the deep snow.[/quote]

Yeah okay buddy. Some of my dads friends have an 03 kodiak 450 sp ed. that has some hunting mods (rack ext. gun boot, mud flaps exc.) on it and a pipe with itp mud lite xtrs.
A different friends has an 01 stock polaris 500 h.o. that has only has itp 589's on it. Well about 3 weeks ago we all went for a ride the machines were the ones above and our ac 500 with blackwater xt, and my blaster which ended up to be my summit 600 h.o. rev platform 136x15x2 1/2. We had a good 1 1/2 feet of snow on the ground and the ac was in the back (tires) and the polaris and skidoo was making the trail most of the time. But the kodiak was pretty well even with the h.o. I would say they are mostly even, but the 500 has more power, and a better seat. But I dont know how they got there all that snow. But I dont know why you think that the polaris is bad in the snow I mean really and it has more clearence than the others with 11 1/2 in. under there.

 

I ride snow all winter long with all brands.....mud tires are the worst for trying to stay on top of the deep snow I ride in.
In the thousands of snow riding miles I have logged the only Polaris that has ever done OK in the snow was a buddy of mine with the goodyear MTR radials that the AC 650 comes stock with.
His 700 SP carb does well for a heavy quad in deep snow with this set up.
The lighter the quad (4x4) the better it will do in deep snow as it doesnt sink in as much.
Check out these vids.
VID 1
VID 2
VID 3
VID 4

 

i have to agree with kodiak660, the lighter the 4x4, the better in the snow........thats why the polaris doesnt do as well as some others

 

Kodiak 450. Me and 2 buddies all owned 04 and 05 models, and they are awesome! We were hard pressed to ever get them stuck with the dif-lock, and they are pretty nimble for a utility quad. We rode them like sport quads and had a blast. In the snow they really shine!

 

Thanks for the videos Kodiak660. How does your Grizzly do in the snow conditions?

I had similar questions about the models listed in this Thread, with the addition of the Grizzly.

 

The Grizz does well in the snow.
Biggest thing about snow is having a Radial with low air pressure.
I have 5,000 miles on the grizz and I'm just now putting new wheel bearings and front brake pads on it now.

 

In the 5000 miles.. how many times has the belt broken or slipped?

DI