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Polaris Vs. Yamaha

idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
edited February 2002 in General Discussion
All other things being equal, would you buy a Polaris or a Yamaha ATV?
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Comments

  • SmokewagonSmokewagon Member Posts: 40 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Polaris. I have a Sportsman Magnum 500. It will pull and haul alot. I pulled my 1000lb Elk off the mountain no problem with mine. Past deer season we loaded 2 deer on the racks + me and my buddy with all our gear. It acted like we werent even there.
    Stf.Sgt.J.Kysela/Oklahoma City Police Dept. F/A Instructor.
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  • reb8600reb8600 Member Posts: 1,110 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Given those 2 choices I would go yamaha. I hear a lot of talk about polaris that they are a high maintenance atv. But my first choice would be honda.
    Guncontrol-The ability to hit what your aiming at.
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  • will270winwill270win Member Posts: 4,845
    edited November -1
    Get the Polaris, I hear they can snatch a bowling ball through a gnat's *.
    If you can't fix it with a hammer, take it to a mechanic. will270win@aol.com ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
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  • instrumentofwarinstrumentofwar Member Posts: 1,545 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Polaris 500 HO!!!! Hands down any day!Hopefully I'll be seeing one of these in my budget before too long. Go with the Ducks Unlimited version, completely dressed out in mossy oak shadow grass and part of the proceeds go to DU.
    "An army without profanity couldn't fight its way out of a piss soaked paper bag!" -Patton
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  • Richie RichRichie Rich Member Posts: 439 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    NEITHER GO Red.....HONDA.Talk to some of the guys who have had the belt slip then grab. Ask them how they like their polaris. personaly try to find a 95 foreman 400 I think that was one of the last years for gear shift control. I like shifting myself and don't care fore the electronic's. But opinions are like ***holes, everyones got one!
    Remember,"your woman may not find you handsome, But atleast she'll find ya handy". I love that show..............
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  • gunnutgunnut Member Posts: 724 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have owned serverl atv's my current ride is a Polaris and I have had no problems in the last two years with it. I have done just about anything you can do with a atv with it and it just keeps running. Water is not a problem I have never had anything slip. I believe that was a problem on the early polaris however this has been fixed. My last atv was a honda and I didn't have any problems with it either however I have a friend that has a forman and if you try to work it hard it gets hot. Here are some things to look for, Ground clearance "polaris wins", True 4wd "polaris wins", and so on. As to the grizzly being so fast, I have a friend that would like to race ya title for title with his little honda 250x trust me you don't want to do it!
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  • LightningLightning Member Posts: 945 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yamaha
    Lower mainteince.
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The Honda dealer in town here absolutely sucks. That's the only way I know how to describe him. He carries lots of used junk--absolute garbage. He never has more than two new models on hand. That's it.
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  • groundhog devastationgroundhog devastation Member Posts: 4,495
    edited November -1
    POLARIS!!!! power, stability, durability!! I don't know where the maintainence comments are coming from but from someone with a Magnum325 that a 12 year old has ridden the guts out of, a 500 Sportsman and a 500H.O. What else could you ask for? As for the Grizzly my best freind has one and I have ridden it. Can't compare to the 500H.O.!! Rider comfort is the biggest plus for the H.O. nce the Grizzly gets warmed up it will burn you up riding it because of the way the heat comes off the engine. Also POLARIS is made here, AMERICAN, THE BIG A, not an import from some country we ought to own!!!!!
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  • anderskandersk Member Posts: 3,627 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Word up here in Canada ... is that we will all be riding a Honda eventually, when we get done messing around with everything else. (I sure like the Kawasaki Bayou 2WD with differential that I rode for a while.)
    Ken
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  • groundhog devastationgroundhog devastation Member Posts: 4,495
    edited November -1
    I will have to add that I bought the 12 year old daughter her own 4 wheeler fo Chistmas, so she didn't wear my old Polaris completely out!! I got her (she did the research and figured out what she thought was best) a Honda Recon ES. I am amazed at the power and vesatility of this little unit! If they made them with 4WD, it would be a virtual mini-tank!! If the bigger Hondas are as nimble and quick and user freindly as this one they might have something there!!
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  • jltrentjltrent Member Posts: 9,334 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have had plenty of experience with them all. When you leave Honda you are at least second best.I just can't recommend Polaris.
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  • ref44ref44 Member Posts: 251 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I bought a Honda 500 Rubicon three weeks ago after talking to numerous dealers and numerous owners in mountainous SW Colorado. The recurring message I heard was that they will all do about the same; but, when the others are worn out, the Honda will still be running. Even had one dealer who did not carry Honda tell me that.A friend who came up from Houston to elk hunt last season brought two Polaris ATV's with him. Neither would run well at the higher altitude without having fuel system adjustments, then having to do it again when he went back to Texas. Hondas require no adjustment.
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I appreciate all the input. I am not looking for a workhorse. I'm just looking for transportation to get me where I want to go. Smokewagon--Not to get off subject but are you in the National Guard? I'm looking at your signature and am curious. I'm a recruiter up here in Iowa but I have a friend who recruits down in in Macalaster, OK who is a 13F. I'm heading down that way next week to do some camping in OK.
    SSG idsman75, U.S. ARMY
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  • SmokewagonSmokewagon Member Posts: 40 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Isman75, no, not in the guard. Police officer here in OKC. As for people talking about belts slipping on the Polaris, mine is shaft driven. Must have been a problem with earlier models.
    Stf.Sgt.J.Kysela/Oklahoma City Police Dept. F/A Instructor.
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Smokewagon--I saw "F/A" and started thinking "Field Artillery". How's work in OK City?
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  • gunnutgunnut Member Posts: 724 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Isdman, yep fomer 13f , and I live about 45min south of McAlester want to do lunch?
    ~Secret Select Society Of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~
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  • idsman75idsman75 Member Posts: 13,398 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    gunnut--email me. idsman75@peoplepc.com
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  • madminutemadminute Member Posts: 68 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Take it from a certified Honda technician / racer who has also serviced Yamaha and Polaris ATVs'.....Yamaha....junk. Polaris..big beefy machine with a weak drive train. If you want to take it 20 miles into the woods, bring a 2 way radio...HONDA...bulletproof. favorite of police departments all over Florida (beach and everglades duty) and I'll tell you first hand, you really have to do some dumb * to break them. They are awesome. Not the fastest. Not the biggest. But absolutely the best. I'd go to war on one any day.
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