Anyone have any first hand experience with these machines ? Took one for ride in Iowa ice fishing this winter and was wondering how well they pull sleds in deep snow .
Ice Fishing
Snow dog sleds
me and my son have one I have the 13,5 standard and he has the 10 compact . the 13.5 standard pulled my kids in 14in of fresh snow no issues what so ever. two sleds put together, me 185lbs,son 165,daughter 135 lb. the compact had issues in this snow simply cause of the weight and shorter track . the 13.5 is about 340lb the compact is 265lb. depending on where you live and amount of snow depends what machine to get . also if you get the 13.5hp standard would definety recommend getting the reverse. option. have not used my atv since i purchased these . I have had a few issues with the compact like the cvt clutch .
FYI - I watched a person run one this weekend in northern Vilas county. He had a full sled and another guy that he was pulling around the lake. He certainly didn't seem to have any issues at all. There was 12 inches of snow, 4-6 inches of slush and that snow dog just kept on cruising along. I did watch snow mobiles get hung up in several different spots that the snow dog ran right through.
Sorry no first hand knowledge to offer, never even seen one in person.
Honestly though before I would spend 4G on something like that I would probably buy a track kit for the ATV I already have. If you don't already have an ATV I can see that being a much bigger investment, but I think your ROI would be much better too.
Thanks for the info. Live in northern Wisconsin. Ice conditions on most of our lakes now require foot traffic or long track snowmobile 1 1/2 ft snow on 2 inch ice with 6 inch slush under then around 6 inch fairly good ice Was looking for someone that owns a snow dog and would you buy it again for ice fishing
No experience, but I've watched a few of the videos online and read a number of reviews. Seems like they do pretty well. One video showed it pulling a moose on bare ground and it was like it didn't have anything behind it. Granted that was bare ground and not deeper snow, but can't imagine it having too many issues.
Guess you only have one option. Buy one and find out!