I am going to buy a new A.T.V. next month. I have looked at all of them and have decided to get the Polaris Sportsman 500 H.O. Do any of you folk's own one and how do you like it?

good choice!

You will hear alot of people badmouth Polaris, but they are a great machine and they stand behind them, you just need to find a dealer that will too.

Polaris is an all around machine. You will hear guys saying they are slow or they are to heavy whatever, but if you look at em all, no machine can be or do everything but Polaris is close.

Polaris is an all around Trail/utlitly machine, and that is what it was made for and that is what it does-very well  Especially the Sportsman 500 -it is almost impossible to get them stuck, I have seen them up to the handlebars in crap and still going!!

If you look at the repair/breakdown comparison on any ATV, you will notice that the rate is about the same and of course look at what the idiots are doing with them in the first place! Like trying to race or jump a Sportsman or go mudding with an race machine!

Check out [url]ATVConnection.com[/url] boards and the polaris forum for lots of good info

Later

I have owned both Honda and Polaris and I use one almost every day for work and my company now only buys Polaris. They get the job done better and run like a sewing machine.

PS look in to buying some stock it is a great investment.

[spank]

I don't own an ATV, but I do get the chance to test ride them several times a year and also talk to different owners. While I've spent most of my time on the Japanese machines, I've heard lots of satisfied Polaris owners.

Grasshopper, what sort of use do you have in mind for your ATV? Hunting? Industrial/farm? Weekend trail rides? Combination of above?

Those who I've talked to love that Honda Rubicon. Also, I spent a day on the new Kawasaki 650 Prairie V-twin 4x4 at the press intro in San Antonio at the end of February and was really impressed. Seems like the guys at Kawasaki have done their homework and come up with an ATV that combines plenty of sport as well as utility into one machine. It was a blast to ride! Great power, excellent suspension for a 600-pound "utility" quad, yet it was perfectly willing to putt around and would carry or tow quite a load as well. [^]

Okay, here's the deal.  Decide what you want to use it for and they type of terrain commonly encountered.  Is this your first ATV? Is it for fun or work?  Do you ride with others?  What type machines do they have?  These are all important questions.  If you are riding for fun and hit the sand dunes or tight trails that Polaris is not going to do much good.  If you're a mud rider or farmer it's just the ticket.  Do you run with sport quad riders and hope the 500 HO will make up the diferrence?  (it wont)  Do you really want an automatic transmission or would you be willing to learn to shift?  (both systems have their advantages) The most important thing here is to get the quad that fits your needs, and to do that you first have to know what your're doing with it in the first place.  And YES that Polaris SP500 Is one helluva HEAVY machine but almost ALL 4x4's are.  This could go on and on, I suggest you check out www.atving.com as mentioned earlier here.

I just bough a Polaris Magnum 500 back in November.  

I did not really need the Indep Rear Susp of the Sportsman but the HO would have been nice.

The Mag 500 is one tough and very serious machine.  I added a 20o0lb Warn winch with twin tube front bumper and rack extenders to keep stuff in place.

I ride primarily on trails and there is a lot of real steep climbing where I go.  The 500 is super powerful so I imagine the HO would be a real hoss.

I added some KN perf parts and will be replacing the stock muffler system with a SuperTrapp IDS II as soon as possible.  These mods basically put my 500 MAg up to the specs and performance of the HO

Polaris is rock solid and the ride is great.

I am a power freak and my 500 never lets me down.

I worked in Rouseu MN where the Polaris factory is located. The people in that small town take lots of pride in their company. I have several friends that have worked there for 10+ years and still enjoy it. Almost every vehicle in that town has a POLARIS sticker on it.

We've had no trouble with the 4-wheelers we've purchased over the years from Polaris. My younger brother just bought another new one last summer for trapping. He bought the bare-bones 250 and still gets 53mph on the gravel roads.

I seen the opposite true at Arctic Cat(ARTCO), which is about an hour away from Polaris. They hire a large amount of part-time college students from the Theif River Falls Technical College. It seems like they just don't care. My brother-in-law worked there, so we got a good discount during the 90's. Our family has bought 3 new sleds through him and we've replaced about every part on each.    

Before you buy, check out the prices across the border for the same machine.  Bet they are several hundred dollars cheaper.  With the free trade agreement, you can't be charged import duties.

Don't call me anti-American.  Good luck trying to pin down how much of the content of a complex item is really domestic.  Don't let the label fool you.

I drive a Toyota that has a higher US parts content than GM's or Chryslers.  I work for a Canadian company financed by the Japs for a higher wage than I could expect from the equivalent American companies - most American mining companies were driven out of business by our very own government or vindictive unions.  

I will buy any product that has the best quality for the unit cost, regardless of where it was made (except for Toshiba, American Express, and now China).  Union or nonunion, I don't care, but compete on the level or die.  

Okay here I go, I resisted but.....  Why buy a heavy Utility oriented monster 4x4 heavy machine (did I mention heavy)???   Sport quads are alot more fun and will suprise you as to where they can go.  I just bought a Raptor 660R and my god this machine is fast.  I started out with a Utility machine (Suzuki) I didnt want to do any work with it and it was for play only.  It was a total let down.  There is no better fun (except maybe a class 3) than you can have legally on a sport quad.   If it's work you need then forget the sport quads, for play nothing beats em.

Mark
'98 Yamaha Warrior
'01 Raptor 660R

I think you will be happy with the Polaris.  I've got a Honda Rancher 350 and my Brother-in-law has a Polaris 435 4X4.  I will get stuck in a hole and he can go through it, backwards, sideways and whatever.  The Honda has only one wheel on the front and back pull full time.  The other two kick in when the others start slipping.  The Polaris has pushbutton 4X4 so when he hits the button all 4 wheels lock in and start pulling.  When my wheels start spinning then they lock in.  By then I've lost momentum and usually get stuck.  He hits his button before he gets in the hole and pulls through.

I wish I had bought a Polaris.

WOW, Got more people riding these things than I thought. I am purchasing the A.T.V. for trail riding and for hunting mostly.I have ridden dirt bikes and street bikes and the idea of going fast at this point in my life is not appealing, since I have to go to work on Monday!
The machine appears to have plenty of power for pulling the hills of the Adirondack's and the 11" of ground clearance is killer for going through the woods.I rode a buddy's machine a couple of weeks ago and went through snow like it was not there. The four wheel drive system works very well, the machine felt like it had an excellent foot print and the rack's are big enough to carry a lot of gear.The automatic transmission is great for the hills with mud, because the machine is already on the pipe. If shifting a standard, the chances of getting stuck or high centered due to the loss of momentum is much greater.Eventually (more like next winter) I will probably add a plow to it for snow removal.I certainly will appreciate not having to drag deer through the woods anymore, as I am getting to the age where people die of heart attacks suddenly from this sh**t.The Honda was a nice machine as well, but it is not a true 4 wheel drive system.
X-Kill, from the literature I read , the difference in the 500 to the 500 HO is a bigger carburetor throat and different camshaft. You might want to see if those parts are interchangeable and save up for those go fast parts.
The funny thing about this, is that I just wanted a 4x4.I went to look and found that the smaller ones had no independent rear suspension, the Sportmen 400 was the correct machine for me with the correct options. Well by God, its only a $500.00 price differnce from the 400 to the 500ho. Well while I'm at it, might as well add the rack's tube bumpers and the next thing you know, I am pricing out a way more expensive machine then I had anticapated. This is the same thing that happened when I started buying Ar-15's. I don't think the the wife is going to believe me when I tell her that one is pre-ban and the other is a post-ban and I really do need both of them.
Thank's for all of the replies guy's , you really are a wealth of knowledge on this board.
Jeff

I hate to admit it, but I have a Yamaha Grizzly 600 and my riding buddy has a bone stock Polaris Sportsman 400. Mine has more horsepower, but in the mud he always leaves me behind and seems like he is always pulling me out when I get stuck. I'll be getting a Polaris next time.