Quad bike recomendations

I'm looking at getting a quad for hunting. Last time I used one was a Suzuki manual King Quad. Was a great bike around the farm, but hard work on the hills when spot lighting with one hand, and steering with the other, so will be looking for something with power steering this time around. Also, seems like everything these days has CVT transmissions.

So, what are you guys using make and model wise? What's your hunting set up look like?

Best I can see at the moment in terms of dollar for value is the Polaris 570 UTE. It has power steering and decent control. Also a plus is that they have gone for sealed joints and drive shafts which are all greaseable.

Polaris 570 UTE
Thats me
Love it - only fault (which is prob with most auto) is under load it can be a bit tight/sticky on shifting out of Rev into Low or visa versa
Tipping tray is great (had 3 of them now but 1st Ute)
Don't have to tie things on as its a bin and noting falls out
Front carrier I would like a bit bigger but great storage under it
Thirsty bitch - but never used full tit yet heaps of grunt and Power Steering - well I will never be able to go back to one without

PS
Oh - yea and at 9k-ish compared to 13k+ for others
Cost me less than 5K to trade into a New Quad would have cost me at least 10K on Honda etc

suzuki 500 with power steer great bike. nice to ride and even with a big load, front diff lock, hi and lo.I used one at work on hill country for a few years before going to a sxs and never had any issues with them. Still have 3 off them at work.If i had to go back on a bike it would be a suzuki. Good luck with any polaris, The money you save buying one you will need to keep it going (warranty doesn't cover ever thing)and then if you go to trade it in the future no body wants to trade them

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Originally Posted by bigbear

suzuki 500 with power steer great bike. nice to ride and even with a big load, front diff lock, hi and lo.I used one at work on hill country for a few years before going to a sxs and never had any issues with them. Still have 3 off them at work.If i had to go back on a bike it would be a suzuki. Good luck with any polaris, The money you save buying one you will need to keep it going (warranty doesn't cover ever thing)and then if you go to trade it in the future no body wants to trade them

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To be honest I have never had trouble selling my Polaris's
I will trade this Ute in next May (be 2 years old)
If it cost me another 5k to get into a new one - I be more than happy
I have had Honda - with bad issues too
Suzuki - yes had great runs out of the early 4WD 300's (mid-late 80's)

I remember our local Garage in Waimiha become the agent for Polaris
Poor bugger almost gotten driven out of town
The Polaris had literally zero engine braking on downhill

Now - they literally stand on their nose when trottle off on real steep decline - amazing and apparently the best of all at downhill braking - dont need to touch any brake peddles
I do not think I have ever touched the foot brake - hand lever brake has to be used to start it otherwise it wouldn't get touched either

I've got a Suzuki 500 auto with power steer. Great bike, had some bad experiences with Honda's

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Originally Posted by Sarvo

To be honest I have never had trouble selling my Polaris's
I will trade this Ute in next May (be 2 years old)
If it cost me another 5k to get into a new one - I be more than happy
I have had Honda - with bad issues too
Suzuki - yes had great runs out of the early 4WD 300's (mid-late 80's)

I remember our local Garage in Waimiha become the agent for Polaris
Poor bugger almost gotten driven out of town
The Polaris had literally zero engine braking on downhill

Now - they literally stand on their nose when trottle off on real steep decline - amazing and apparently the best of all at downhill braking - dont need to touch any brake peddles
I do not think I have ever touched the foot brake - hand lever brake has to be used to start it otherwise it wouldn't get touched either

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So how does the decent control work? Do you have to engage it before you go down a hill or is it always there?
What sort of maintenance issues and costs have you had with the Polaris?
The Polaris seems to make sense on paper, and to be honest, at the price for a new one, it makes buying a second hand one that has already had the best of its life consumed, a bit of a silly choice.

The engine braking is std on the modern ones. In low ratio 4WD, you can take your hands off the bars on my CanAm 650 going down a pretty steep slope and it just holds speed. It took a bit of getting used to the throttle during normal riding as anything less than a trailing throttle will produce braking. Second nature now and you barely use the brakes most of the time on the flat.

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Originally Posted by hotbarrels

So how does the decent control work? Do you have to engage it before you go down a hill or is it always there?
What sort of maintenance issues and costs have you had with the Polaris?
The Polaris seems to make sense on paper, and to be honest, at the price for a new one, it makes buying a second hand one that has already had the best of its life consumed, a bit of a silly choice.

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horses for courses
This is why I went Polaris - price and could get back into a new one
Got sick of buying flogged cocky hand downs

The downhill braking is amazing yes - you have a switch on right side above throttle, if you forget to flick it on and start getting away down a steep part and then engage it - dog usually flies past you
Its so severe and effective
I run in High near always and the down hill is good even on real step in High - you can literally take hands of steering and roll a smoke etc
As said above the other biggy for me is the rear carrier
We use it for all our stores from town up to batch/home (gas bottle.fuel/groceries etc etc
Just stick it in and drive up
Plus I am continually getting metal onto our bush zig zag track up from Wharf so the tipper is great
Going up with whatever weight you like it is safe as - they (not so sure about this UTE) will roll over though as i did twice with previos "2 up" Polaris
I think the Ute maybe better on sidling than earlier models

Service - yea well thats a problem for me as it need Barging out and back etc
I do my own oil changes and grease etc and wash it down regular
I do not do many miles as track up to home is only 170m 1 way :-)
I do 3-5 ks every time around on my Hunting blocks - so 1000K per year is max for me
In fact I think I have only done 650ks (could be miles) in its 1st year

So another reason I will trade in next May - it will still be like new and I should not run into service issues living out in the whop whops

I paid only $8200 New for this one - got a good deal from a Masterton crowd who were going out of them, cost another 550 to get it to Marlborough but
Polaris are meant to be real Pricks to deal with for those who franchise/sell them
Markup is pathetic on New machines apparently
Local Marlborough guy ditched them 5 years ago - although another outfit has taken it on but they are from Ashburton and Nelson also so have the size a a vast area (Drummond & someone)

Go on the Yankee Forums
They love them over there and ride the crap out of them

BUT - if I was a cocky again and had 1000 acres or 500+ cows - I be buying the top Suzuki or Honda with all the whistles and bells
Some farmers are doing in one week what I will do in 1 year
I just can't warrant a Honda/Suzuki at 15K
Second hand Honda with 5-6Ks of hard work was same price as the Ute New

How step can the Polaris climb and is it likely to flip over backwards with a big red deer tied on the back of it?

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Originally Posted by 7mm Rem Mag

How step can the Polaris climb and is it likely to flip over backwards with a big red deer tied on the back of it?

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As said above
Tray full of metal - so upwards of 200kg and my track up to house has two very steap parts - no sign of lifting
I imagine all the Quads today are like that
I rememebr my 1st Quad a LT230 Suzuki in 1986 - still got the scare under the chin
Bitch of a thing for rear over backwards

I was one of 1st to use Quads in bush - a few 3 wheeler were being used, I then went to the 4WD LT300 (blue seat) 1987
All the Cockies were watching for a couple of years before the dipped their toe in the Quad water - strange ah

Some random thoughts on the subject:

I had a Honda TRX500 FE for a few years and found it outstanding for most country I hunt. The advantages were obvious... light, agile and easy to operate but could handle a good load. Unfortunately the disadvantages soon became evident and they were somewhat unexpected. First, the parts were quite expensive. Unnecessarily so for what they are. Secondly, because I had transport that could go places I always seemed to have others who wanted to join me. Going places with two people plus gear suddenly became a pain in the ass. Third, I came across a reluctance by landowners to let me take the quad onto their land due to the high level of publicity directed towards them in recent years.

Eventually it all got too much so I sold the quad in favour for a Pioneer 700-2P. This has been entertaining too. Now, instead of another person wanting to join me I typically find three-up to be normal. Three people is a piece of cake. Spotlighting off the back is great and a crew of three works really well but you can do four-up if required. The Pioneer is not so agile as a quad but still gets you places a ute won't. I thought the quad was thirsty but the Pioneer sure sucks the gas by comparison. And if you think quad parts are expensive.... HA!

On the whole I have to say I'm really happy with the SxS vs. a Quad. Missions where you're on your own are far better on a quad but in all the time I owned a quad I only ever did a few solo trips. Probably the biggest downside for the SxS is that everybody else wants to drive it and I hardly get a look-in myself. My daughter (13) is the worst offender. Good driver training for when she's old enough to get into a car though.

I'm still learning with the Pioneer as I've only owned it for 18 months but there is one location I go regularly where the climb-out is really steep and I can tell you it definitely gets light on the front feet when you have a heavy load in the back but what would take two trips on the quad can be done in one trip with the SxS. The quad would struggle too but having the ability to put the load up front meant it didn't get too light. I would still prefer to be in the SxS though.

The independant rear suspension on the Pioneer is better than the single rear axle versions of quad and in that regard I think the Can Am quads and some of the bigger Honda's would probably be a better ride. The higher capacity of the regulator makes the SxS better for spotlighting as it can handle the load of a handheld as well as Light Bars.

In summary I would say that if you hunt alone then the quad is great, but if like me you have a family who enjoy hunting and a bunch of friends with whom you regularly enjoy adventures then the SxS is a better option. Whether I'm driving the team around chasing down rabbits or whether I'm shooting and somebody else is driving is irrelevant to me - I'm out there doing it and having a blast. Teamwork and SxS's go hand in hand.

Great discussion, hey @planenutz - how much water can a Pioneer (or other sxs) go through compared with a 4x4, would you take one through the big Canterbury rivers up to your waist for instance ??

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Originally Posted by Tentman

Great discussion, hey @planenutz - how much water can a Pioneer (or other sxs) go through compared with a 4x4, would you take one through the big Canterbury rivers up to your waist for instance ??

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A 700kg side buy side floats away in water just over Knee deep mate, a quad roughly the same but it's current dependent
So while waist deep is easy doable over short distances I wouldn't reccomend it for the inexperienced.
In this pic from this morning the side buy side was just starting to float but mainly from the current rather than depth.

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If the water is up to the seat even in still water you are in the shit as the air intakes are about the same height

Hi @Tentman. As Brads has said, flowing water is definitely something to be wary of. Anything over knee deep is going to end badly and I've been quite surprised at how easily they want to float. I actually think the quad was marginally better for water crossings. Once the water starts flowing around your feet you can feel it getting light on the ground. I'm in and out of rivers almost every time I take it out but never deep, volumous moving water. I took my Hilux on the last major river trip and was very pleased I did as it was apparent the SxS would never have survived. The Hilux is not modified at all but it copes with water much better.

Big Bear is right too - the standard intake is at seat height just behind the passenger but many people install a snorkel - not for deep water expeditions but because I understand the Pioneer sucks a lot of dust from the standard intake location. I can't comment on other SxS types but suspect they're all pretty similar.

For river crossings, stick with the ute. Or a jet boat.

don't buy a Yamaha. Esp the older ones.
Not enough parts in NZ.
Heaps of Honda and Suzuki parts available and plenty of second hand ones in the breakers if you have to fix on a budget.
Yamaha, not so much. I ended up buying parts in USA and although the Big bear range are strong, parts aren't cheap.

If a std quad is your preference, I'd say look for independent suspension, or at least a live axle with two rear shocks. A single rear shock is hard work, and butt clenching on any tracks with switchbacks or when carrying a deer out on the back over unstable ground.

Thanks for all the feedback guys. The comments about the SxS definitely got me thinking since I have a couple of boys to consider. The step up in price to the SxS is a bit of an issue though, particularly if you want to maintain power steering and decent control as options. Typically SxS's with these features also run a wider track which means that they wont fit on my existing trailer, therefore more cost.

I have come to the conclusion that a new Polaris Ute will be the best fit, and then look to get a couple of second hand two wheel bikes for the boys which they can tinker with, giving them 'rider independence' as such.

Haha! Upgrading to a SxS cost me a new trailer as well. :)

And don't forget all the other accessories you'll suddenly want for it. Kerching!

Don't get hung up on the power steering though because while I have no doubt it would be nicer, these things are not that heavy on the steering to begin with. And a less fancy name for "Descent Control" is called brakes. They work fine.

The reason I didn't go for a "belt-drive' type of transmission is I'd heard stories of water causing the belts to slip and people getting stuck... and while its not a boat I do seem to end up crossing a bit of water and didn't like the thought of wet tootsies.

Our first sxs was a gator every little creek it would get water on the belt and loose drive until it got grip. It was a pain in the arse especially for me as i was the one that had to help push

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Originally Posted by bigbear

Our first sxs was a gator every little creek it would get water on the belt and loose drive until it got grip. It was a pain in the arse especially for me as i was the one that had to help push

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Yes, we had a non power steer, non descent control gator as well which is the very reason I am not so interested in going down that path. On steep hill country it was a pain in the arse. It did fit on the 8'x5' trailer though, with both tail gates down.