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I don’t mean to sound rude, but in my opinion this kind of thinking is plain dangerous.
Please tell that to my very cautious retired neighbor who was slowly driving his ATV off the lake just after dark only to hit a fresh crack flipping him over the handle bars. By the way there was over 14″ of ice when this happened.
This is only my opinion (although physics is strongly on my side) but I feel a snowmobile will allow you to safely cross these sporadic cracks that appear out of no where.
I need to stress that in no way am I saying a snowmobile is safer on thin ice than an ATV. I’m strictly referring to stress cracks on thick ice. The fact is snowmobiles glide over cracks and ATV’s will drop in cracks if they are not avoided. I like to explore new areas throughout the winter so I inevitably come across fresh cracks. I can’t count the times I’ve crossed a crack and thought wow I’m glad I didn’t have an ATV.
For those of you that ice fish with an ATV, that’s 100% your decision I just thought with all of the ATV’s that fall in every year it was worth talking about. Main thing is just be careful. Take care
I hope your neighbor was OK. I’m not bothered by the assertion that a sled can safely cross small stress cracks more easily than a quad. The fact that these vehicles have 4 small points of contact with the ice makes them a bit dicey in any number of situations, no doubt. What scares me is that for some people, running a sled on the assumption that it is safer in this way can create a dangerous false sense of security.
In my opinion, you take your life into your own hands when you take any vehicle on to any amount of ice. Period. The fact that I will or will not drop into a small stress crack doesn’t mean I can go any faster or feel any safer because there are still many other hazards. To me, this is what justifies running whatever you want. Still not gonna say that a sled wouldn’t be the ideal dedicated ice vehicle, I’m just too cheap 
