Polaris Sportsman 700???

[NorthernRedneck]

Just got back from looking at a used one with fairly low miles for the year and all around in good shape for a good price. Are these good atv's?

My other option in my price range is a Yamaha 400 4x4. It's 2 years older with more miles for the same price roughly.

I'm leaning towards the 700 simple because it's closer. The 400 is 7 hrs away. I also looked at an older 400 sportsman but one walk around it and that was enough for me.

 

[AAUTOFAB1]

Polaris makes great machines(very durable but not as fast),do you have a dealer close buy? the ability to get parts easily is always a concern to me. some thing to think about if the closest dealer is Yamaha.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

The polaris rode like a dream. I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. Dealers aren't a big issue. The yamaha dealer is closer but there is also a polaris dealer within a couple hrs each direction.

 

[thcri]

I have a 700 and had 2 500's. If I ever buy again I doubt it would be a Polaris. My 500's had lots of trouble and my 700 I am not sure was any better. My 700 had a defective water pump from the factory a recall was made and fixed but until after I believe the motor was wrecked. The water completely leaked out on it three times and the hot light if no water would not detect it. At the end of the first year the motor started knocking really bad after using it for two or three hours and totally lost all power. Polaris would not stand behind it. I have the rig yet today and only use it at my cabin for moving the dock in and out of the water. Mine was a 2002

 

[BigAl]

I have a 2006 500 and a 2008 450 Sportmans and love them . The ride is excellent and I love the independent suspension .On my bad back it is very easy . I have had very little trouble with any of my machines and would buy another in a heart beat .The only way it could be better would be with power steering .

A good friend has a 700 sportsman and the amount of power is scary !!! He also has had very few if any problems that I know of . A 700 can not be pull started if the battery goes bad , which you can do on a 500 or 450 .

 

[NorthernRedneck]

I plan on getting a plow for mine this fall and putting it to work this winter doinng my driveway. This one looks to be in very good shape. I couldn't beleive the ride. Like sitting in my lazyboy at home riding that thing.

 

[thcri]

If getting a plow get the good Moose Plow. We had one of the Mooses and a standard. You could move a lot of snow with the Moose. Another thing to keep in mind when plowing snow. Once the snow has set after moving it the ATVs have a tough time of moving it a second time. Starting out push it as far back as you can.

 

[AAUTOFAB1]

If getting a plow get the good Moose Plow. We had one of the Mooses and a standard. You could move a lot of snow with the Moose. Another thing to keep in mind when plowing snow. Once the snow has set after moving it the ATVs have a tough time of moving it a second time. Starting out push it as far back as you can.

Now i know why you polaris stared knocking after a few hours of running.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Thanks for the tip. When it comes to plowing, I'm knnda lucky where I live. I have an open emtpy lot across the street where i can push my snow. the whole block across the street is open and everyone pushes their snow there so it makes it handy.

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

i own a sportsman 550 and work on some of the other models here where they are used quite a bit polaris has a great ride but they arn't built like a yahama honda or a suzuki and i wont even try to compair the bombadier quads i find the polaris built cheap the 700' are prone to cracking the y pipes and carb boots also the rear axles arre at too much of an angle the 4x4 system with electrical actuated sprags are a cheap way to get 4x4 wth out a locker and you must hold down a button to get the 4x4 to work in reverse the plastic over the exhaust gets melted on hot days and on the 700's darnd near impossable to change pluge with out dissassembly save your money buy jap or canadian don't know much about the new a/c products but i have an old 300 that cost me nothing more than gas and 1 cv boot in the last 10 years but now the engine is wore out

 

[thcri]

Now i know why you polaris stared knocking after a few hours of running.

Sorry but the 700 never saw a plow. My 500's each had plows.

My 700 had a piece of shit plastic water pump the would allow the coolant to leak out after it got warm. The temp sensor would not detect it thus running the motor under extreme hot temps. This was a major recall for Polaris for that year. Unfortunately Polaris would do nothing about it leaving a bad taste in my mouth over it.

 

[Doc]

Given the choice I'd go Yamaha. Mostly because of my experience with Yamaha's. Like Honda's they are bullet proof. I've known folks who have Polaris and after hearing of the issues they had I stayed away from them.

 

[thcri]

Given the choice I'd go Yamaha. Mostly because of my experience with Yamaha's. Like Honda's they are bullet proof. I've known folks who have Polaris and after hearing of the issues they had I stayed away from them.

I think if you are going to go easy on it and use it for chores around the place it will be fine. It is a nice riding rig. Maybe I was just too hard on them. But of course the others would have been also.


Upnorth

 

[300 H and H]

I have an Artic Cat 400 4WD an 03 I think. It has been good to us so far. My daughters ride it much more than I do however...

I just know that other than maintanance, I rarely have to do anything with it. So far anyway, so good. Your milage may vary however.

Regards, Kirk

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

the other thing is all the electrical connections are small computer looking contacts that once corosion sets in they melt away you have to remember uphere in the bush most familys don't own cars they all have a snowmachine and a quad and polaris quads just don't ho;d up to every day use the local chief mechanic even said the stupidest thing ever did was tru to put wheels under anything he has owned yamahas up until last year when he got a new shaft drive 6x6

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Here she is. A couple from when I picked her up this morning and one after I took her out for a mud bath in the feild across the road.

I don't plan on giving her a hard life. Mainly for hunting and trail riding. Also plowing snow. So I think it will last for a long time barring mechanical problems. I'm not one to pound my equipment. My snowmobile still looked like the day I bought it 9 years later.

 

[bczoom]

Congrats!

Now that I see it, I believe the guy up the road has the same machine. It seems to work well for him. I do recall something about be careful when you replace the belt. I'll check with him but as I recall, there's 2 different belts for that particular machine (depending on year?). If they put the wrong one in, it won't be right.

 

[Dargo]

I have a 700 and had 2 500's. If I ever buy again I doubt it would be a Polaris. My 500's had lots of trouble and my 700 I am not sure was any better. My 700 had a defective water pump from the factory a recall was made and fixed but until after I believe the motor was wrecked. The water completely leaked out on it three times and the hot light if no water would not detect it. At the end of the first year the motor started knocking really bad after using it for two or three hours and totally lost all power. Polaris would not stand behind it. I have the rig yet today and only use it at my cabin for moving the dock in and out of the water. Mine was a 2002

There used to be around 6 guys riding Polaris machines when we went riding. Now there aren't any. Every one of the guys had problem after problem until they finally dumped Polaris. IMHO, it seems Polaris is a leader in innovation but has a severe reliability problem with their new technology. Based on what I've seen and resale value, I can't see me ever owning a Polaris made machine of any sort. Just based on my observations of others loosing their ass with them. I'd be extremely hesitant to use one to plow snow. We don't get much snow at all and none of the Polaris machines guys have in our group have survived plowing our average of 14" of snow per year. I suppose if any had one, they would have survived this last year. For the first time in around 60 years we had zero snow over the winter and it never even got cold enough for any of the lakes to skim over with ice. Very much out of the ordinary. I blame it on me buying a 10' blade for the front of my tractor this last fall. We've been having far heavier snows in the winters and I've made nice side money plowing. Not this year. Hopefully your Polaris is an exception to what I've seen.

 

[Dargo]

A 700 can not be pull started if the battery goes bad , which you can do on a 500 or 450 .

I can pull start my Suzuki 750 King Quad, but it's not something I'd like to do often. When it yanks back, it will try to take your arm off!

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

the other cold weather issue that polaris products have is they are dry sump engines and more than once the oil foams up in the oil tank and ruptures the tank so if using it in the wingte good advice is keep it in a garage kind of like Big Als krusty

 

[NorthernRedneck]

That thing has Balls! Just to see what it had, I got a slow rolling start on it earlier and decided to pin it in 2x4. It spun the rear tires for 100 ft. The ride is amazing!

 

[muleman]

That thing has Balls! Just to see what it had, I got a slow rolling start on it earlier and decided to pin it in 2x4. It spun the rear tires for 100 ft. The ride is amazing!

You been around Zoomer too much! Lets have a lotto on which bone you break first!

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

That thing has Balls! Just to see what it had, I got a slow rolling start on it earlier and decided to pin it in 2x4. It spun the rear tires for 100 ft. The ride is amazing!

no broken bones comming polaris quads are like krustys and will break down shortly if it ever dies after crossing water there is a drain plug in the bottom of the magnito case

 

[BigAl]

no broken bones comming polaris quads are like krustys and will break down shortly if it ever dies after crossing water there is a drain plug in the bottom of the magnito case

I'll have you know, you "wingnut", that my Krusty has never broke down on me when running ,Of course I have never had the KT3 out of the shop yet

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

I'll have you know, you "wingnut", that my Krusty has never broke down on me when running ,Of course I have never had the KT3 out of the shop yet

you never drive them i took another party in to the hills last night to look at musk ox and now i'm getting ready for another 50 mile trip 1 way towing up 500 gallons of gas for the university of alaska fairbanks have fun trying to keep up with the krusty

 

[BigAl]

you never drive them i took another party in to the hills last night to look at musk ox and now i'm getting ready for another 50 mile trip 1 way towing up 500 gallons of gas for the university of alaska fairbanks have fun trying to keep up with the krusty

Well .....I had good intentions , but then all these naked women started wanting me to take them . I just could not say No ! So here I am , stuck helping naked women feel better . It's a thankless job .

 

[Snowtrac Nome]

ok Al maybe thhats what Groomerdude will do with his polaris i still think you need to come north with it we can go down to the local bar and pick you up some big ones to shoe horn into it that way you can demonstrate the top secret heavy weight capabilitys of the krusty

 

[bczoom]

That thing has Balls! Just to see what it had, I got a slow rolling start on it earlier and decided to pin it in 2x4. It spun the rear tires for 100 ft. The ride is amazing!

You been around Zoomer too much! Lets have a lotto on which bone you break first!

Lean forward, very far forward. I did that on my Kaw 700 when I got it. It had so much torque it flipped over backwards in about 1/2 second. I had no time to react (and wasn't expecting it), so I went over backwards with it.

 

[NorthernRedneck]

Lean forward, very far forward. I did that on my Kaw 700 when I got it. It had so much torque it flipped over backwards in about 1/2 second. I had no time to react (and wasn't expecting it), so I went over backwards with it.

I finally got out for my first real ride with it. I love the ride this thing has. We only went out playing for an hour riding over a swampy muskeg trail. (yes, there was mud flying)

At one point I was buried in a muskeg hole almost up the fenders and it never stopped. I'm very happy so far. Quite the improvement over the old trike I was riding the past 2 years.

 

[Doc]

Sounds good. Glad it is working out so well for you.