What ATV

I am retired and moving to northern Wisconsin thinking about buying a ATV and have very little experience with them.I see some with plows on them are they really any good for deeper snow?And if they are how big to they have to be.I also ice fish will they go through a decent amount of snow,how about chains on them.I also have lots of trails in the area and would want to use them if possible so what size for that?One other thing with a double wide (ATV) can they be used on public trails?I guise I am looking for the best machine for what I am going to use it for.Thanks

Lookn, good to hear you got it out on the trails and had fun!! we wont get out till june, too many hobbies and not enough time and your assessment on machines is spot on.

Took the Grizz on a 120 mile adventure Saturday with a good group of guys and gals. Left Green Valley and ended up somewhere north of Lakewood. Hit the pipeline "fun area' and some other side trails along the way. Very happy with the quad. For a stock machine it had plenty of power for me and handled the mud and water as good if not better than any other machine we had in the group. I actually thought all the quads in the group were really nice and handled everything well. No breakdowns and we only swamped one Honda but managed to get her going to finish the trip. I can see why you guys trail ride, it was a blast. A few observations I made about machine choice. If you want to go as fast as possible all the time, buy a sport quad. If you want to go through the deepest mud holes on the planet buy at least a 700cc, put on giant tires, skid plates and snorkels. IF you just want to fart around the yard and enjoy an occasional trail ride, any old machine will work very well for you.

Lookn, why would you wanna drive around this? 12 loves these things lol!this one wasnt bad this time about 8 " less then last spring when he got stuck in it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhM_jFgexDQ

I have not pulled the trigger on a atv yet.Just closed on the house and have been working on that plus the county decided to cut some trees down along the high way on my land,so I have lots of wood to cut up before it gets to hot.I have priced a Grizzly 550 and a honda and will look at a can am before I make my decision.I am hoping to buy one by mid summer I want to thank you guys for the input.

Lookn, we hitting the trails this summer or what? thats a great machine If we can ever get some time off at the same time, you bet. I have to admit buying a "new" quad is a stressful decision if you are not already brand loyal. So many opinions and "experts" out there it is hard to sort through it all. I pretty much went to every brand specific atv forum and went straight to the "hey, this broke threads" Polaris had far too many electrical problems for me to spend my money on one. Honda had many dealing with failing transmissions. Suzuki seems like they make a nice quad. Everyone hates AC and Kawasaki's are butt ugly. I was left with Yamaha and Can Am and quite frankly the limited difference between Can Am and Yamaha was not worth the several thousand dollars for me. Every you tube quad battle features quads that are nothing close to stock so to me they have no relevance or worth. Had a couple different dealers tell me Polaris Can Am and Yamaha were cream of the crop, but Polaris had the most failures. I don't know crap about quads other than what I have read and if I were buying a working machine I would own a solid axle Honda. If I were buying an versitile machine I would buy what I bought. I don't care if yours is faster, don't care if you made through the deepest puddles, have the loudest exhaust or your snorkel kit is bigger than mine. I will be the guy driving around the puddles and pulling you out the on other side, with a cold beverage of course. Basically my point is if you have an intended purpose for your machine you can really narrow it down before you start looking. If you just want a quad for tooling around the yard, ice fishing, and an occasional trail ride you have more good options than you will have time to look at. I got a great deal on what my research told me was a great quad, I liked it and bought it. I will shut up now.

Drummer boy, Can Ams have way more power in equall class to Hondas, check out the forums on the Atvnation.com. alot of Wi people who do nothing but ride and will steer you the right way if you havent pulled the trigger yet.

Lookn, we hitting the trails this summer or what? thats a great machine! Hondas make great machines but they are behind the times and before anyone slams me i own one, lack of ground clearance,rough on the trails,4 wheel drive or 3 wheel drive leaves little to be desired, my 2 Polaris's own it in the mud, ever review in a ATV Magazine or online say the same thing, BUT are probably the most reliable and take the most beating of any brand, would i buy another Honda? yep!!! Rubicon! (because of relibility) But if any of have driven Can Am's they pretty much blow everything else away! rode a 800 Gade and almost sheet myself! so if i come into about 10k I would probably buy a Gade! Eveyone makes a good machine and they all have there downfalls, they all will have issues if you ride them hard! and we ride hard! Think the worst thing about Cats is the Handling very rough and alot of body roll on corners, no matter where you set the shocks, alot of big time riders are switching over to fox gas shocks on Cats with great results...but ther costly! getting close to trail time!

my choice has been HONDA ,just are dependable atv 's , not keen on those electric golf carts others call atv's...

POLARIS is hands down the most comfortable mach. for all day riding. Over 4000 miles and reg. maint is all ive had to do. No need for bashing someone elses preference. Majority of my riding is in U.P.

I would Never buy a Polaris, if I was giving one I'd sell it. Never had a problem with my Honda.

Just picked up my 2011 Grizzly 550 last Friday. Pretty good deals on the year old machines right now. Power steering is worth the extra cost.

Something like this.

I have owned 4 ATV's used in the past years But I just finally bought a brand new Suzuki 500CC Kingquad as I had done the research and they were best in my eyes and mind and on top of that when I went in to ride one and consider to making the purchase they had 0% finacing for up to 5 years How can I go wrong with a deal like that SO I left my money int he bank which I had already saved up to buy it cash and am making payments with no interest which is a great cash flow thing for me and I can save my cash for an emergency if it comes up

If your going to be doing mostly work, and a little trail riding Honda is the way to go. You can't beat a solid axle machine for work. They just aren't the cushiest tide on the trails, I think you would also be happy with Yamaha or Kawasaki.

I would agree with getting the 48" plow. You get the wet heavy snow and a 60" plow is just to much for any fourwheeler. It may not seem like a big difference but plowing that extra ft can be allot more weight and you can't always plow midway threw the storm when it hits at midnight.