Wow, interesting! For me, it came down to ergonomics making me feel very uncomfortable/uneasy/unconfident on the Pro. Well, so not to bash the Poo and start that mess, I will list what I think I DO love about the XM that makes me feel so confident on it:
1) The boards are wide. I have screwy ankles from motorcross injuries, being able to keep my feet entirely on the boards makes me feel much better when riding:
2) Bars. I have to have some uptilt to the ends of my bars or it hurts my wrist to push down on the right when initiating a sidehill.
3) Throttle flipper. Perfect size, larger ones make my hand hurt right out of the gate and are hard to get my trigger finger on when needing to.
4) Suspension. My XP has the "disposable" shocks on it, but it has a fantastic ride and it is harder to bottom than my last sled.
5) No glue. I feel that the Skidoo is going to be worth more in the long run, and I am more confident about not having to deal with parts coming apart on the trail.
6) On board storage that I don't have to pay for.
7) The engine that I know will go for over 2000 miles.
8) Arctic Cat engines take two pulls cold to start. My Pro took 3. This Skidoo takes ONE, warm or cold. Kinda strange.
9) This could be a negative or positive, I hate the sound it makes when idling. BUT, my bud and I rode yesterday, identical XM sleds, and we could talk to each other parked side by side without killing the engines!
10) Balance. On my Pro, if I had two feet on one side, turning up a sidehill and didn't get a foot back over at JUST the right time, that sled would keep turning around and point back downhill. Yesterday I did something on the XM that would have put me upside down on the Pro, in that I had both feet on one side, steep right sidehill and had to turn up to go straight up the hill between two trees, all I had to do was lean into the seat with my knees and I could go from sidehill to straight up the hill and the sled went where I wanted to, with both feet on one side.
There is a lot more, but it all corresponds to confidence and comfort when riding and trying things. I have watched guys do great things on the Pro, I just couldn't do them. I can on the XM.
I do miss a few things about the Pro:
My 2013 was FAST and very QUICK, both engine and clutching. Not sure if I had an abnormally quick one or not, but I didn't want any more out of the engine on that sled. I felt is was every bit as strong as my 2012 Cat. I had 277 miles on it and it felt stronger every ride. I have yet to ride a fully broken in XM, but the ones I have ridden feel sluggish/boggy. Like they could use some clutch work. The Polaris felt spot on for me at 5-8K feet. Really snappy. The back shift when coming down hills was also much better on the Pro, on teh XM I have to occasionally burp the throttle to engage the clutches to get engine braking. The Pro brakes were pretty awesome also, really touchy though. The XM brakes work fine, but it is a different feeling having brakes on the driver vs jackshaft. The XM brakes feel very much like Cat Diamond Drive brakes. Kinda poor feel. They work fine, just not a lot of feedback from them.
Chris