Dan,
Sorry this thread turned into another "blind loyalty" type deal...
Dodge,Chev,Ford
Winchester,Mossberg,Remington
Kawaski,Honda,mule...
Guess if nothing else, you know whats popular by opion...
Did you get anything from it or do you still have specific questions we can help with?
Well, I appreciate everyone's responses and have learned some things and this is what I've come away with:
1) Honda, Yamaha, and Kawasaki are good names.
2) Anti-Polaris people have very strong emotions; Pro-Polaris people aren't passionate at all, they just say "it's been ok for me". From what I can tell is that if you get a good Polaris and don't put it thru destructive paces it'll be ok.
3) Arctic Cat - stay away.
4) 4WD is a must
5) A winch is highly recommended
6) 350 or 400 CC or higher will handle me, my gear, and a deer
I've been telling my wife for the last 3 weeks that I want a 4whlr for Christmas. Told her it's the only thing I need that I don't have. My strategy was not to get her to buy one, just to get her used to the idea that I was gonna get one. At first she was like "yeah right", then it turned into "I don't know how to go about buying one..." and I can tell I'm wearing her down. Then a couple days ago I showed her one on Craigslist that I'm very interested in and she started pushing back and asking me to wait until spring blah blah blah. So this morning I left her a note with specs and told her "If you DO decide to get me a 4whlr, this is what you need to know (4wd, 350-400cc or above, H-Y-K ok, AC or Polaris NO!) So she calls me and says "I thought you said you wanted a Polaris?" and I explained what I'd picked up from this thread....and she says "what are you gonna do if you get one with a big red bow on Christmas morning?" So now I'm thinkin she's done something - I've been nagging her all day and she just keeps laughing at me. Sooo.....either I've got a 4whlr comin on Christmas or she's put a beautiful mindhump on me and stringin me along like a chump to keep me shut up about buying a 4whlr for the next two weeks.
(4 years ago she got up on Xmas morning to find a new Honda Accord in the garage with a big red bow on it)