I just bought the 2000 Grizzly. I was trying to narrow it down from the Polaris 500 and the Grizzly. I live in northern Minnesota and wanted something that would serve basicaly all of the same purpases that you mentioned above. From the research that I did here from actual owners of both machines, I found that the resort owners had traded off there Sportsmans for Grizzly's because of to many mechanical problems. The other people that owned the Sportsmans were split. The ones that just trail rode or very light duty working have been having good luck with there sportsmans. The ones that are haveing a high rate of breakdowns are the ones that either neglect all of the maintenance (There is more maintenance on the Sportsman than on the Grizzly)or use the machine for a lot of work. I have not talked to anybody that has had any problems with the Grizzly. The 1998 did have some problems with water in the belt case but the 1999-2000 relocated the breather for the belt case and moved the oil cooler (radiator) up alot higher. Some of the benefits of the Grizzly over the Sportsman that I really like are (Yes I played with both the Sportsman and the Grizzly quite extensivly before I bought mine) the Grizzly does not sway like the Sportsman does because of the swingarm in the back. It has way less parts to break than the Sportsman. The Sportsman does have a better ride and it will out fourwheel the Grizzly but not by much. A good freind of mine ownes a Sportsman and we go riding together quite a bit. If you really want a true fourwheel drive then buy a locker for the Grizzly in the front. Its about $120.00 from highlifter. The shop that I bought "Grizz" from said they would put it in for $60.00. Then you have the same traction as the Sportsman BUT you dont have the wheel spin sensors to worry about breaking later on down the road. For me I wanted the reliability that the Grizzly can give me over the Polaris. The price was exactly the same for either with the winch. The Honda is the most reliable of all the ATV's on the market (mechanical wise). But I wanted an automatic. If you have any questions or comments I will try to answer them the best that I can. When I was looking for help on buying an ATV I also posted here. See "Buying a Grizzly" by Lyle in this section. I am happy to be able to pass what I found out to somebody else. For the kind of money that they whant for these machines a person can't just jump into buying one. As you can tell I reaserched the machines very well before I bought one.

Lyle