Side by Side Question

So in the market for a side by side. Really like the Honda Pioneer 1000-5. Will get used 75% of the time for ice fishing. I like the rear seat idea instead of having a school bus sized rig. I know that the rear seats have very little leg room, but my kids are young so they won’t mind. Also, I like the CVT aspect as well.

On the flip side, I really like the Polaris General. The mix between sport and utility looks pretty nice to me, and the 4 seater is not a boat.

Will end up getting tracks at some point, but will just run tires for the time being. Curious what people are using and how they like it.

I have a pioneer 700-4 seat Love it. Mine is not a CVT, but a full torque converter 3 speed automatic transmission with paddle shift, I think the 1000’s have the auto too. Only have a bout 500 miles of trails, ice fishing and snow plowing , so far, so good. Honda has a pretty good reputation.

Do you think a 700 would have enough power for tracks?

I have a Yamaha Viking. The 3 person bench seat is very nice. Thought about getting tracks for the 700cc Viking, but really have never had a problem in the metro area with only having chains.

I have a Ranger 900 XP side by side and love it. The Generals look sporty but they lose the functionality of the Ranger because the box isn’t big enough to be really useful. The clutch system of the Polaris is bothersome. Makes it difficult to do finesse backing of trailers or boats into tight spots.

Honda makes a nice machine and if I ever decide to trade my Ranger in I will give them a hard look. One thing about the Polaris is there are tons of choices in factory and aftermarket options and accessories for it. Not sure if this is the same with the Honda.

Every year I have the should I put tracks on or not debate with myself. unless you find used the investment is going to run 5 grand. I keep coming back to the fact that sure tracks will get you out on top of a couple feet of snow on the lake but then the question becomes what do you do when you get there? Stand in knee deep snow where the bottom 6 inches is slush? Drill some holes so you can add 4 inches of water into the slush? For this reason and for my purposes I can’t justify the cost of tracks. Besides then I would have to also buy a bigger trailer!

piersm2 wrote:

Do you think a 700 would have enough power for tracks?

No clue here, I just have plain old tires

That is one thing that i realized after buying the Yamaha. If wanting to get a full cab or something of that sort, a Polaris Ranger is the way to go, as they have so many accessories for a reasonable price.

Kong wrote:

That is one thing that i realized after buying the Yamaha. If wanting to get a full cab or something of that sort, a Polaris Ranger is the way to go, as they have so many accessories for a reasonable price.

Yeah Rangers are everywhere. Windshield would be plenty for me, considering I just wear my Ice Armor gear on the 4 wheeler now.

I have Honda 1000-5. It is a 6 speed car like automatic trans, Not a cvt trans. I like the size of it. With the Honda roof it is about the tallest SxS out there. If you want to haul it in an enclosed trailer make sure you check door height clearance of the trailer before buying one. When I bought mine accessories were limited. There are a lot more available now but spendy $$$.

If you plan to put tracks on it, check the tracks manufacturers website and see if your vehicle will need permanent modifications to install tracks. I saw the price for tracks $4000+ and decided I don’t need them on my side by side

Bought a polaris ranger 900xp. Boy can sure deck them with all kinds of neet stuff. Have full cab with hard doors glass with heat. Led lights front and rear. Also mounted a 6 foot v plow
Works great for pulling my skid house and keeping drive way plowed

Yep Polaris has all the bells and whistles waiting to get into your wallet. I walked into the dealer to pick mine up from having some repairs done after some jack a$$ hit and run it. I left with this on the back!

How is the space in one of those?

piersm2 wrote:

How is the space in one of those?

Perfect for solo fishing. You can fish 2 but you will only fish one hole each. With it on you can still get a lot of stuff in the box for transport. I get my Striker rod transporter bag in it with heater, propane tank, minnow bucket, chair etc. all in the back under the house fabric.

Sets up and takes down in less than 5 minutes. I leave my wheel house up at Red and will trailer the wheeler up every time I go. I will use the wheeler to take the wheel house out on the ice and leave my truck on shore. Things get slow in the house I can jump in the wheeler and do some hole hopping and if I hit the hot spot I got the shelter right on back.

Biggest advantage for me was once I had the wheeler on the trailer there wasn’t room for a separate sled and flip over so this solved a problem.

My 3.5 year old is getting interested in my wide one inferno, and was planning to pull it around and fish with him. This might be the ticket

Do you have room for a auger ?

have you looked at the kawasaki teryx? i have the teryx4 four seater. plenty of room for 4 people with nice adjustable fox shocks. also come with nice factory doors. there alot shorter than most other 4 seaters. they also come with the best factory warranty at 3 years! and cheaper than most other 4 seaters also. i had a ranger before the kawasaki and glad i switched. polaris has the most accessories but you pay big money for them.

Don Carlisle wrote:

Do you have room for a auger ?

I put my Ion on top of the fish house right up against the back of the cab. I have the carry bag for my Ion so the flutes of the auger can’t damage the fabric of the house. It will stay up there running around on the ice no problem. But when I’m transporting the wheeler on the trailer I either strap the auger down or put it in the back of the truck.

Coletrain27 wrote:

have you looked at the kawasaki teryx? i have the teryx4 four seater. plenty of room for 4 people with nice adjustable fox shocks. also come with nice factory doors. there alot shorter than most other 4 seaters. they also come with the best factory warranty at 3 years! and cheaper than most other 4 seaters also. i had a ranger before the kawasaki and glad i switched. polaris has the most accessories but you pay big money for them.

So this is basically a Polaris General? I do like the looks of it.

piersm2 wrote:

So this is basically a Polaris General? I do like the looks of it

its a 4 seater like a general bot the box is a little shorter. the 2 seat and 4 seat teryx are actually the exact same length (the box on the 2 seater is a little longer and has a little more storage) if you do any trail riding in the summer in the woods like i do then the generals and ranger crews are very long and hard to maneuver. the kawasaki is also about 5k cheaper than a general and like i said come with a factory 3 year warranty!

thats mine

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I’ve got a 4 seat General that I bought mainly for ice fishing. Put a minn-dakota industries auger rack on the front, built an enclosure for the box and it is plenty big enough to carry everything on the machine vs in the sled house. I haven’t put tracks on yet, but may in the future.

I’ll also disagree with the above poster that the 4 seat general is hard to maneuver on the trails. I put over 500 miles on mine in the woods last summer and fall, had zero issues. Rides like a RZR but has a useful dump box.

Ice Cap wrote:

Yep Polaris has all the bells and whistles waiting to get into your wallet. I walked into the dealer to pick mine up from having some repairs done after some jack a$$ hit and run it. I left with this on the back!

Good pic. Makes me want one.