So last weekend I was somehow able to demo the big three 800's. We had a 800 Summit SP 154, a Arctic Cat 8000 Sno-pro 155, and a Polaris Pro 800 163. Needless to say it was sure a fun day. It was about 2 degrees outside with a little bit of fresh powder in the parking lot, which obviously got deeper the further we went back. I consider my self a good rider at everything not a great rider in one single thing. I jump cliffs, side hill, boondock, climb bowls, and cruise trails. Each sled seemed to do all of these things very well, but each sled had something it seemed better at than the others. The arctic cat had the most power to me, all throughout the powerband. It had a great down low grunt that would just keep pulling throughout the run. Skidoo seemed to have their best power somewhere around midrange. It didn't take off like the cat but soon enough was pulling just as hard as it. The polaris power seemed very manageable throughout the power band. It pulled consistently well in the runs I gave it. All three side hilled very comparable, when I started a side hill from the bottom of a hill. However, when I would come from the top side of the mountain the Arctic Cat to me, would throw me off the machine and not allow me to dig in and go like the other two. I could easily throw my weight into the hill and both the polaris and skidoo would take the edge and continue with the side hill. While side hilling the skidoo seemed to stay on top a little better than the pro, but both would consistently pull the same line with the same amount of effort. The edge the polaris had over the skidoo, to me, was that when side hilling and reversing direction from one side to the other the polaris was easier to transition. I kept hitting the seat on the skidoo and it would mess my rotation up. As for jumping off things I personally liked the skidoo, it would balance out very well while in air. They are all considerably better than my 2008 M1000 going down the trail, so to me this is a wash. I wish I could have each one of these sleds for the different places I go. When going to the bowls late in the winter I would take the Arctic Cat cause of its amazing power and stability while climbing. For the deep powder days I would take the ski-doo, because of its ability to float in the powder. And every other day I would take the polaris, which to me, seemed like the best overall sled. It's light weight and decent power was fun everywhere on the mountain. Oh and one more thing, we were almost completely out of gas in the Arctic Cat and Ski-doo, and had just under a half in the Polaris. This is obviously just my opinion, take it or leave it. Just dont bash it!
