Looking at buying my first ATV. Primarily will be used for plowing the driveway, ice fishing and light trail riding. Considering Yamaha Grizzly and Polaris Sportsman in the 550, 700, & 850 sizes. I’m thinking the 550 is all I need but I’m looking for user feedback on these machines. Thanks, Jason
Maybe consider the Sportsman 570 EFI. It’s in their “value” line, so it does not have all of the bells/whistles of the XP line, but the price is fantastic. It’s also available with or without power steering.
Of the machines you mention I know the Yamaha has a great reputation but you see a TON of Polaris on the trails. My only advice is to buy new if you can. Its a real gamble buying used quads.
Was in the same boat last summer. Advice people gave me appears to be right on as far as don’t buy more power than you REALLY need because it just makes for a bigger, heavier, and thirstier ATV. I can understand where guys out elk hunting above 9000 feet need more power because altitude gobbles up HP, but here in MN…
Ended up with a Sportsman 500 bought used and it’s more than enough power. I pull a 400 pound 4 foot food plot disc with no problem whatsoever, so for what you mention, IMO you don’t need to go any bigger.
The used market kind of depends on where you live. In the cities, I found a lot of machines that guys used once or twice a year for hunting camp or whatever and then they sat around in the garage or shed for the other 360 days a year. Like somebody pointed out with the 2009 that I bought, the total mileage on the machine was = less than one trip to the mailbox per day. So relative to the cost of new, used was a good deal to me anyway.
Grouse
My previous ATV was a sportsman 500. My current is a grizzly 550. I had lots of issues with the choke on the sportsman, but other than that, it was a good machine. Took a bit to get warmed up, but once it was warm and you didn’t need to choke it anymore, it was great. Plowed a 300 yard driveway with it for 3 years. It had 3900 (yes, three thousand nine hundred) miles on it when I got rid of it. They certainly last. My grizzly is fuel injected, so no more choke issues. My only complaint is the factory tires suck. Aside from that, it has been a great machine and plows snow and tills food plots without issue. Good trail and ice fishing machine as well with different tires. Only had it a year and a half so can’t speak to durability yet, but my buddy has used grizzlies for his plowing business to do sidewalks for years and has always had good luck.
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