850 Engine thread (840cc)

Jaynelson · Apr 17, 2018

FatDogX said:
Exactly, I was told by our local dealer that if they do a ghost snowcheck, they run the risk of a pretty hefty fine from Polaris.

That is correct. With the sidebar from Polaris that this will be subject to a new (and much stricter) auditing process.

I believe it will also be self-policing, in that dealers that played by the rules would be quick to turn in anyone who didn’t. I think it’s a great step toward correcting the over supply and crappy resale issues in the sled market....hope it works out that way.

Yes...someone, somewhere will still back out. But I think the true/realistic number of those instances will be surprisingly small, and have been artificially inflated for years.

revrider07 · Apr 18, 2018

If the 850 lives up to the hype resale will be strong making it easier to update every year. Limit numbers and don't give them away with holdovers I like it.

Teth-Air · Apr 18, 2018

revrider07 said:
If the 850 lives up to the hype resale will be strong making it easier to update every year. Limit numbers and don't give them away with holdovers I like it.

This works for the first year but if this thing is as good as they say, many more will be sold for 2020, once again flooding the market. Also a rear skid upgrade will likely take place then, if not a chassis upgrade.

That said, if you trade up each year your good but if you hang on for a couple years it may be outdated again.

snowmobiler · Apr 18, 2018

no 850s for sale next fall seems kinda dum.

.thats like trying to sell boats in the winter and not having any boats fs in the summer when 90% people want to buy one.

BeartoothBaron · Apr 18, 2018

snowmobiler said:
no 850s for sale next fall seems kinda dum..thats like trying to sell boats in the winter and not having any boats fs in the summer when 90% people want to buy one.

Yeah, doesn't seem ideal to me. With all the buzz about it, I'd guess around half of the people buying a new RMK in the near future are going to want the 850. One thing I'm confused about: is the '19 850 ONLY available via snowcheck, or will it be available to dealers at a later date? Even if it's the latter, it seems either production is limited, or they've got a glut of 800s to clear out. I can understand that, but more than a few "gotta have the big one" customers who couldn't/wouldn't snowcheck will go elsewhere.

aksledjunkie · Apr 18, 2018

As a sales rep for a different manufacturer of a different industry, those are the type of customer's I don't want. They end up costing me more money than they are worth. So if they switch, then I wish them the best of luck, but more so, wish their new dealers the best of luck.

Jaynelson · Apr 18, 2018

BeartoothBaron said:
One thing I'm confused about: is the '19 850 ONLY available via snowcheck

Correct. If you wanted a 2019 850 Axys, you had to Snowcheck one. I think they made that highly visible/well documented. All in-season Axys RMK's will be 800's.

It will be interested to see how the 2019 800 in-season sleds sell. They will have other improvements such as the new front end, and will be a hair lighter and less money....so that's something.

One thing that will help....for the first time, dealers were able to order a portion of their in-season 800's with combos of the Snowcheck custom colours, shocks, 3"....instead of just the cookie cutter raw tunnel 2.6" in-season sleds of every other year. So there *should* be a good number of really cool 2019 800's available.

revrider07 · Apr 18, 2018

With this market getting smaller and the cost of high-end sled the days of lots of carryovers on the flagship models are over I hope. This will also help dealers make a demand and money. I hope Polaris sticks to this market plan if you want latest and greatest snowcheck . There is actually some new 15 pros still for sale.

BeartoothBaron · Apr 18, 2018

Jaynelson said:
Correct. If you wanted a 2019 850 Axys, you had to Snowcheck one. I think they made that highly visible/well documented. All in-season Axys RMK's will be 800's.

It will be interested to see how the 2019 800 in-season sleds sell. They will have other improvements such as the new front end, and will be a hair lighter and less money....so that's something.

One thing that will help....for the first time, dealers were able to order a portion of their in-season 800's with combos of the Snowcheck custom colours, shocks, 3"....instead of just the cookie cutter raw tunnel 2.6" in-season sleds of every other year. So there *should* be a good number of really cool 2019 800's available.

Ok, I thought I'd seen that, just wasn't sure because it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If the 850 pans out well, they're probably going to have even more trouble selling 800s, plus the people who couldn't or decided not to snowcheck and jump ship. That may not be a lot, but hard to blame someone wanting to buy a sled next season for taking a hard look at the Alpha or Doo 850, and a lost sale is a lost sale. Maybe it'll work out – improvements and better options on the 800s can't hurt – but if it were me, I'd start shipping 850s to dealers after all the snowcheck sleds have been delivered.

snowmobiler · Apr 19, 2018

kinda feel bad for the sales people....we will not sell you a 850 snowmobile untill maybe winter 2020.so quit asking.LOL.

greasemonkey3406 · Apr 19, 2018

If you wanted one bad enough you should have ordered one. Not because they didn't advertise "snowcheck only" enough.

NorthMNSledder · Apr 19, 2018

Don't kid yourselves. If you still want an 850 this fall you'll be able to find a few for sale.

Between the people who legitimately have to back-out of their snow checks to the dealers who found a loop hole they will be out there for sale. They are every year and this year will be no different.

Jaynelson · Apr 19, 2018

NorthMNSledder said:
Don't kid yourselves. If you still want an 850 this fall you'll be able to find a few for sale.

Between the people who legitimately have to back-out of their snow checks to the dealers who found a loop hole they will be out there for sale. They are every year and this year will be no different.

Every other year I would agree with you. I think you'll be surprised at how scarce availability will be on these compared to past year SC models.

NorthMNSledder · Apr 19, 2018

Jaynelson said:
Every other year I would agree with you. I think you'll be surprised at how scarce availability will be on these compared to past year SC models.

I thought that also for the past month or so.

But some recent conversations have changed my mind.

I won't be in the market for one this fall anyway but it will be interesting to see how much more controlled it is then in years past.

snowmobiler · Apr 19, 2018

eldereldo · Apr 21, 2018

BeartoothBaron said:
Ok, I thought I'd seen that, just wasn't sure because it doesn't make a lot of sense to me. If the 850 pans out well, they're probably going to have even more trouble selling 800s, plus the people who couldn't or decided not to snowcheck and jump ship. That may not be a lot, but hard to blame someone wanting to buy a sled next season for taking a hard look at the Alpha or Doo 850, and a lost sale is a lost sale. Maybe it'll work out – improvements and better options on the 800s can't hurt – but if it were me, I'd start shipping 850s to dealers after all the snowcheck sleds have been delivered.

Alpha is spring check only as well. However I bet both Polaris and Cat will be offering these by early Jan 2019 once they finish up snow check production, probably won’t have the capacity to have them available in season until then. Cat was snowchecking 20-1 Alpha to any other model of M sled, they even cancelled the option of buying a skid package to update your previous year as they needed the production for snowchecks and warranty supply.

Sheetmetalfab · Apr 21, 2018

eldereldo said:
Alpha is spring check only as well. However I bet both Polaris and Cat will be offering these by early Jan 2019 once they finish up snow check production, probably won’t have the capacity to have them available in season until then. Cat was snowchecking 20-1 Alpha to any other model of M sled, they even cancelled the option of buying a skid package to update your previous year as they needed the production for snowchecks and warranty supply.

I believe A local rental company is getting an 850 and an alpha.
Hoping to try them both out.

And hoping some 850’s show at the dealer come spring if they are really that great. (With mid season updates if needed)

BeartoothBaron · Apr 21, 2018

eldereldo said:
Alpha is spring check only as well. However I bet both Polaris and Cat will be offering these by early Jan 2019 once they finish up snow check production, probably won’t have the capacity to have them available in season until then. Cat was snowchecking 20-1 Alpha to any other model of M sled, they even cancelled the option of buying a skid package to update your previous year as they needed the production for snowchecks and warranty supply.

Ok, hadn't looked into actual availability on that one, just watched the promo videos and skimmed through the spec sheet. Obviously the 'Doo 850 is pretty open in terms of availability, although apparently the Summit X is pre-order only. I'd seen Cat was going to offer a monorail package to upgrade (hopefully that option will still show once supply catches up) – that's not something I'd expect. I really like the idea, it's gotta be a big deal to guys who've spent time and money on their sleds already. Not sure if Polaris or 'Doo would even consider something like that.

Clearly, it'd make sense to me to get some 850s to dealers as regular inventory, but it'd also be a kick in the shins to people who scrounged to Snowcheck because the 850 was "exclusive." I've seen several complaints here in the last several months about Snowcheck being kind of a rip-off (mostly due to mid-season pricing to move inventory); not sure how you'd ship significant numbers of 850s without making that situation even worse. Ultimately, if the 850 is as powerful/responsive as people are saying and does prove more reliable than the 800HO, they can probably do whatever they want for the time being.

szotty · Apr 22, 2018

So with the 850 every dealer I asked went over there allotment. What happens to them orderes, the later ones? And how many they actually sell at all theses dealers. Mine was allowed 14 sold 20

volcano buster · Apr 22, 2018

Should be a buyers market for 800's this time next year! :face-icon-small-ton

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