I know this question is asked often but all the posts I read were just bashing. Can you please give me an honest answer? A lot of the posts that came up in my search were old and I want opinions on the new versions of each. I am going to buy one or the other this weekend.

I am looking at a 2004 Sportsman 500 or a 2003 Grizzly.

I want to know if the Grizzly really is tippy?
Is the extra 100 lbs. of a sportsman that noticeable?
Should the fact that the sportsman has much better tires be a factor?
What about the Grizz being so narrow?
Is water still a problem for the Grizz in 2003?

Any other info would be appreciated.

Please don't tell me to buy a Honda or a Prarie. I only want to know about these two machines. And please don't let this become a brand-bashing session.

Thank you all very much for taking the time to read this and post your opinion.

Cheers,
INKMAN

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Hey Inkman,I bet you're exited. I've had a little experience on the Griz, riding on BLM land in The high desert country in Ariz. Also a SP 500. But if i may make a suggestion, in your post
tell us a little about yourself, ex. are you 5'5" & weigh 130# or are you 6'2" & weigh out at 220#, you get my drift. O.K., now lets go to intents & purposes. What are you looking for in a
quad & how will you be using it. What kind of terrain will you be transversing. Do you like mud riding, trail riding, etc. Either one of your choices will do about anything the other one can. But there are differences. Above all, try both of them out before signing on the dotted line. Then it may be just a matter of which one appeals to you the most. Read all the forums on them, & sort out the wheat from the chaf. Also your age & state of mind might come into play.
Are you still a rip snortin , bat out of hell rider , or have you mellowed out in your later years.
Anyway Inkman , i could go on & on , but you're here asking for advise , so here's mine . Myself , unless i knew something about the person & his desires , i would hesitate to say one is better than the other. ( BETTER AT WHAT?) Let us know about you , then we'll be better able to let you know how one compares to the other.
Regards,
Jerico1

 

I'll try to help you out a little bit Inkman. I currently own a Grizzly and I had a 500HO for awhile too, and my buddy's Ducks Unlimited is in my garage right now. The Sportsman is a great machine, rides very nice plenty of power, reliable motor, easy to work on. You don't really notice the weight so much when your riding, but if you get stuck you will or just pushing it around in the garage, try lifting the back end once. They are spendy to maintain, I just changed the oil and filter on my buddy's and it was almost $25, that's a minor gripe though, my Grizzly by the way was $12 just for comparision. I had my Sportsman in water up to the seat and no problems with belt slipping or anything. Mine topped out in the high 50s for speed and they accelerate good. My Grizzly i've only had for a month and about 150 miles so I don't know alot about it yet, I haven't been in any water or mud yet, it's still ice around here. So far I can say that it rides on par with the Sportsman as far as being smooth, it does seems a little tippier than the Sportsman, but not bad. I've had mine up to 62 so far and I think it might get a few more out of it maybe 65 according to the speedo. Personally I like the looks of the Griz better, the 04 Sportsman looks a bitter better than the 03 but the headlight pod still bugs me. Both machines will pretty much go anywhere as long and you can hold on. Hope that helps out some.

 

Thanks to all who posted honest opinions. I am leaning toward the Sportsman but that could change after this weekend. I am going to wait one more week to buy. I am borrowing my buddies Sportsman this weekend and I will be riding with a couple Grizzlys.

I am impressed that I am not hearing a lot of Polaris bashing. Thank you very much for that.

As far as me (per Jerico) : I am 31, 5' 9", 165 lbs. I ride hard. I like trails, mud, rocks, and evrything else. I now ride a King Quad but when I bought it I was going to use it for more yard work than I ended up doing. It is not, by any means, a trail machine but I have made it work for 3 years now. So anything would be better, but I don't want to regret my purchase in 3 months like the King. Don't get me wrong, I love my King but I need a trail machine.

The tires on the Polaris are a definite factor. I know the Grizz is lighter, but once you put real tires and rims on it the weight is right back up there close.

Cheers,
INKMAN

 

Hey Inkman I would like to say that I was about to buy a Sportsman 500 and after I rode my buddies I can tell you that I wasn't to happy with the throttle response or the ability to pull the front end off the ground. I have three friends that have 700 sportmans and I just wanted to be a little different so I test rode a 660 Grizzly and I was hooked. I honestly have to say that it felt like it had quite a bit more power. I had to be different so I bought the Grizzly. After much bashing from the three of them we had a chance to ride them together. One by one I picked them off, I've only been beat by a Prairie and if I had to ride one of those I would have to wear a helmet so no one could see my face. My Grizzly has a much quicker throttle response (they agree). I always take them up to 65mph, then they catchup and we run even. The only place I can't beat the 700's is in the mud (tires). After my buddy w/the 500 rode mine he seriously admitted his was under powered. If you are going to do any jumping (not like a Raptor) we noticed a difference with the extra weight (140#) on the 700. Please let me know what you end up with. If you are looking at the 660 you should compare it to a 700 not a 500. The 660 and 700 are about the same price. Good luck.

 

Bump.


I've been trying to figure this same thing out for years now. I don't own an atv yet but have hopes to someday. I think my biggest obstical is to convince the wife that we "need" one. I have been set on a Sportsman until now. The 2003 Grizzly has a lot to offer which makes the old comparrison between the two very difficult at this point. I'm going to be watching this thread closely in hopes that I can be swayed either way. The next issue then for me to over come would be to make the dream of owning a dang atv a reality.

More responses wanted....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Inkman, my personal opinion is with the grizzly. The reasons why is that you need to look at the 4 wheel drive systems close. Polaris says they have the only true 4 wheel drive system, but you don't have the control of when it is engaged or when it is not. Once you put it in 4x4 it does not actually kick in until "you need it", according to Polaris. Sounds like just one more thing to go wrong. With the Grizzly you have diff lock. Also if you ride hard I would go with the grizzly. The polaris has alot of extra weight. One of the guys I ride with has a 500HO and he has problems with his tires, his walks alot on hard surfaces, even dirt if it is packed down. If you ever drove a tractor at max speed then you know what i am talking about. He has also tipped his over 4 times on off camber situations. The throttle response lacks quit a bit on the 500. The biggest key is price to maintain, Polaris is a high dollar machine. If you want to just put around on wide open trails then the Polaris would'nt be too bad. This is just my opionion, I think they are great when they are running, and they all suck when they are not.

 

Very good responses here. Thanks to all and keep them coming. Hopefully this thread won't end up in a downward spiral of drivel like I see others do often. I'm here in these forums doing research on these two products in order to learn the pro's and con's of each. I've also read the reviews here but they were on the 2002 models and I don't know the difference between the 2002 and 2003 models but thats fine for now. Both reviews were very informative but did not sway me either way. I know its largely a part of personal preference when it comes to choosing an item such as this. All opinions are appreciated no bashing required.

My plans on use. Because of where I live (in the Detroit area) the use of an atv for me would be limited to weekends where I could trailer it wherever. So mainly trail riding with some minor abuse involved. Being a utility atv I would also use it to do work around whenever possible. I will also take this machine icefishing so the way it deals in the cold with snow and ice is also a concern. Oh yeah, someone mentioned rider attributes also. I'm 6'2" 240lbs and have road quads and three wheelers alike while growing up. I haven't rode a darn thing in quite some time because everytime I convince myself that I'm going to buy an atv it never comes to fruition.

Again thanks for the input and keep it coming.

 

IMO go with the Polaris. But get the 600 or 700. I know that $$$ may be an issue cause it was with my decision, but take the time like you are here and save allittle more $$. Both are very good quads the one thing you may want to consider is your local dealers. This will have alot to do with your decision later. ie: if the yamaha dealer isn't that great, you may want to go with the polaris, or vice versa. Noone wants to have to go back for anything but we all know it will happen sometime. A good dealer means alot to quad owners.

 

Good Dealer = Very Important. I agree one hundred percent, I'm also a big fan of warranites and extended warranties. I have a dealer pretty close to me where I have done my window shopping and such. They seem pretty cool there and have some decent stock. The sell Polaris, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and suzuki. Its nice having all of those bikes in one place. I guess I should talk to their mechanics and get some 411 from them on what they see back and for what. I hope not to offend any sales people out there but I just don't like them. Not all of them of course but I will not buy from someone who is shady and that is an issue to me since I've been burned in the past.

TEST RIDING: I see a lot of people telling others to test ride. This is a great idea but what if you don't know anyone who has what you want? Do dealers allow test riding above and beyond the 100' in the parking lot? If so I need to find one because where I have been going does the parking lot thing.

I was just reading a thread talking about solid axle and IRS and I have always leaned towards IRS because of the comfort and obsticle factor. One thing I always invision myself doing is a powerslide/turn in 2wd but see that IRS sucks for that sort of thing but I guess I'm just thinking out loud here so nevermind...