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Polaris underpowered?

4

440dart

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Jan 5, 2008
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It is rediculous... I just could not let Fred go anymore and wanted to push back some. I prefer a good natured prose, or even a poem...

He is so sensitive, who knew.
I guess I could send him a care package.
Maybe a flaming bag of Poo will do.
Or a treat of some snow trackage.

Not that I do not like the Doo,
I own a 550 super wide, the best work sled ever.
I am not looking for a brand war or coup,
Just liking my choice of lever.

I rode my buddies old tundra today,
talk about power to weight!
I side hilled forever on that sled and kept thinking no way,
I thought to myself this was almost as good as FredW's 888.

If power is the Pro's issue,
then we will have to see about this come winter.
I guess I better stock up on the soft kind'a tissue,
and hope my dealer is not a grifter.

I promise I will have fun on my sled each and every trip,
even though it can barely go in the snow.
No matter how tired we get from fred's facetious quip,
I love my my new 2012 Orange PRO.



And ya had to gay it up no wonder why fred hasnt been back hahahah
 

milehighassassin

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Go ride the Pro, it is not underpowered. I'd take a Pro any day over the competition right now. Granted I have not been on a new Cat but they have a lot of work to do IMHO. I rode the M and pretty much hated it. I know a lot of guys liked them, just didn't work for me.
 

Matte Murder

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I have a 2012 Freeride and a 2012 Pro 163. The ETEC has more power. Enough more that you can feel it, don't know how much but it is significant. That said I rode the Pro first this year(because I got it 6 weeks before the Freeride) and I thought the engine was really strong. Not once did I think, man if this thing had 15 more HP it would have done this... On the other side I don't get the ETEC won't sidehill thing. It is wider than the X and 30lbs heavier and should be tougher to roll over but man that thing is fun in the trees. I don't see the night and day difference in handling any more than the night and day difference in power. We rode in the rain yesterday in REALLY heavy wet snow and I played on this one tree covered hill for about an hour and had a blast. Not once did I think, man I wish I would have rode the pro sitting in my trailer at the bottom of the hill.
 
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M8Chris

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Dec 3, 2007
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Man if the Pro is underpowered I can't imagine what a REAL sled like a ski doo must feel like ;)

But I don't care my assaults rip!! I can't believe how hard these sleds pull up a hill and how great they are in the trees when getting on and off the throttle. It does feel a lot stronger then my 2010 cat. But what do I know the paper says they are underpowered.

Don't judge a book by its cover ;)
 
M
Nov 28, 2007
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snowmobiler and bugito tooooooooooooooooooooo funny!!! snowmobiler i used to have a 4cyl toy 4x4 that i called gerbils, evertime i had to go up a hill i thought my engine was powered by something just like your little video. go away fred, you guys are killing me!!!
 
J

Jaynelson

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Nov 26, 2007
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Is it underpowered? Yes its less hp than the other two. The etech will beat ya up on the hill and thats a fact
Mine must be special because we ran it with an etec all afternoon on a bigass hill and they were dead even. Sorry to say that is not a fact in my experience.
 

GoBigParts

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Nov 27, 2007
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2nd ride on the 2012 pros today. Total of about 65 miles so far in marginal snow at best. Only real complaint so far is the way they like to heat up on the trail even with scratchers down. It has great power for a stock sled and handles awsome. Does it have less power than my 07 rev did? Yes, but only because the rev was not stock. If I did mod for mod on the pro I did to the rev my pro would kill my rev in all situations. Is my pro the best thing since sliced bread? Who cares it is an amazingly fun sled to ride and that is the most important thing to me. Hp is only one aspect of a sled and not necessarily the most important factor. If it was we would all have race fuel turbos and fourstrokes, but we do not. I could care less about brand, I will have fun on any of them. This brand loyal stuff is rediculous on all sides.

I like light weight but I think we might be taking it too far by leaving out an important cooler to keep engine temps down.
 
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IceCap

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Nov 27, 2007
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I like light weight but I think we might be taking it too far by leaving out an important cooler to keep engine temps down.

There is no cooling issue when your in soft snow..... Yes on hard packed trails even with scratchers down the pro gets a little warmer than other sleds.

I am willing to sacrifice a little more heat on the trail to get to the real riding.
 
W
Jan 29, 2010
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low power polaris ??

I am in NH and I bought a 2011 switchback assault 800. love the chassis and the motor is plenty for out here. I have actually dialed it back with heavier weights to bring the RPM down to about 7800 rpm from 8100. this is still plenty of power and put the motor more in the torque band (my opinion). working on the ride quality still, not bad but could be better for lighter riders.. good luck!!
 

Reg2view

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There is no cooling issue when your in soft snow..... Yes on hard packed trails even with scratchers down the pro gets a little warmer than other sleds.

I am willing to sacrifice a little more heat on the trail to get to the real riding.

Scratchers down on blow away dry teton fluff, or scratchers down low speed, still an issue. It can be managed, but you gotta watch your temps. Front cooler issue is gone. Temps can easily get 50 degrees higher, side by side, than a front coolered RMK. JMPE.
 
P

poo18

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Nov 27, 2011
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I have rode both the new etec and pro rmk 800. the pro claims to have 145 horse power or so compared to the claimed 165 of the etec. After riding both the polaris seemed very snappy and stayed on top of the snow way better. it also held a side hill like nobodys business. My point being the 165 horse power of the ski doo may hold true but problem is ski doo doesnt get the power to the ground as we all know their stock clutching is poor. With that being said id much rather ride the pro with alittle less horsepower but in my opinion a way better platform
 
H
Nov 30, 2011
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Riverton UT
This topic reminds me of a day we had a couple years ago. Myself my 2 sons and a friend were out. My youngest son 14 was on his old '95 Summit 670. I was on my '00 RMK800, My oldest son 19 on his '03 RMK800, my friend on a Cat 900. My yougest challenged his brother to a race up a long smooth hill. He laughed at him as they lined up. Well, the stock 670 beat the piped and reeded 800. We couldn't believe it. Now, all of us want to show up the old Ski doo. That sled beat everybody up the hill that day. I know, my youngest is lighter and all that, but the rest of us had pipes, reeds, cans and powder tracks. We could never understand how that old sled could hook up like that and beat the 8 and 900's we had that day. Not by much, but we couldn't out pull him. We still laugh about it. But riding that old sled was like trying to maneuver an outhouse thru the mountains. No handling, no suspension and very very heavy. It would wear me out in about 20 mins if I wasn't on flat ground. I will take nice smooth handling and maneuverability over power any day. Course I'm getting a little older now too. Oh, and do you think all of you could maybe do a snow dance or something? I need a little more snow here in Utah so I can take out my new '12 Pro RMK and see how she runs!! I'm pretty sure I won't be disappointed.
 
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EZmoney

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Mine must be special because we ran it with an etec all afternoon on a bigass hill and they were dead even. Sorry to say that is not a fact in my experience.


Had the sled out again Jay. Maybe this three hour break in is true sled feels more snappy in the bottom end and feels like it has more power on the top end.. I will say i was impressed the second ride out very fun sled to ride with good power. I let a buddy take it out today he is thinking of buying one and wanted to try a pro rmk out. It ran heads up with a well set up etech and mine is stock out of the box with 64 g weights with that being the only change from factory and still some oil in the tank for break in. I was judging off what i had seen last year with a couple pros i seen run and my first ride out this year.. I will say i was wrong and very happy to say so.lol
 
J

Jaynelson

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Had the sled out again Jay. Maybe this three hour break in is true sled feels more snappy in the bottom end and feels like it has more power on the top end.. I will say i was impressed the second ride out very fun sled to ride with good power. I let a buddy take it out today he is thinking of buying one and wanted to try a pro rmk out. It ran heads up with a well set up etech and mine is stock out of the box with 64 g weights with that being the only change from factory and still some oil in the tank for break in. I was judging off what i had seen last year with a couple pros i seen run and my first ride out this year.. I will say i was wrong and very happy to say so.lol
I got the same story from my dealer with the 3 hour break-in....it did seem to loosen up after that but I never ran it against anything during the break-in to compare. Glad someone else's runs even with an etec so I'm not crazy lol
 

Hurricane Tim

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I got the same story from my dealer with the 3 hour break-in....it did seem to loosen up after that but I never ran it against anything during the break-in to compare. Glad someone else's runs even with an etec so I'm not crazy lol

You're not crazy. Ugly, yes, crazy, no.
 
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