Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Polaris sportsman 500 or 550 EFI

i have been looking to get a four wheeler and i have never had one before i like the look of the polaris sportsman and the price is not to bad ether i love the boxs that come with it any way can any one tell me the pros and cons of the 500 or 550 if you have one thank you so much guys

I have an old 500 Sportsman that has served me very well over the years,hopefully next week it will be packing out it's 4th or 5th moose!One thing I would check if you are hunting wilderness areas,the 550 does NOT have a pull start.My 500 does and it has saved me a really long walk a couple of times(cracked battery!).I would check and see if the new 500 still has the pull start,jumper cables can be hard to find way back in the bush! Cheers,Monashee

I think it might be worth knowing whether the EFI machine will even run with a weak/dead battery, manual starter notwithstanding.

I just went through the same process and bought the 500. I could not justify the amount of money that the dealer wanted for the 550 over the 500 and there was a considerable price jump to the 550. The EFI and EBS would be nice to have, but not at over $1K.

The carb units won't run with a dead battery either.

I know because I have one. Unhook the battery while it's running and it will die like you shut it off.

But that's akin to turning the key switch off. Even a dead battery completes the circuit somehow on most machines. I know the Suz, Honda, and Yamahas can run with a dead battery, at least in the carbed versions. And Honda provides recoil starters as accessories on their new EFI machines, so I suspect they have a system that doesn't need a lot of juice to run. Polaris is well behind the eight ball on their ATVs if even a carbed engine can't run with a dead battery. But I suspect they can.

My Suzuki King Quad did NOT want to run at all with a low battery. I could get it started with the pull rope, but it would die if you hit the throttle on a low battery. I have heard the same about some of the other EFI machines.

I know the Polaris Magnum can run with a dead battery. I have had to do it on the one I had and my FIL's on several occasions.

I specifically asked about recoil start when we were buying the Grizz we got recently. Dealer said it could be had on the 450 (carbed) but was not available for the 550 (EFI). He said the Yam EFI did not work well with a low/dead battery.

Were you looking at the 450 EPS by chance? That is what I'm interested in.

The 550 Griz is bigger physcially than I want.

Well I had a stone dead battery and perhaps it was so bad that it could not complete the circuit. I know we needed to hook a booster pack to the battery to make it run and if we pulled the booster pack off the engine died. I put a new battery in it and it was all better.

But I do not take comfort in the idea that it wont run with a dead or "bad" battery.

I know I have started the engine before when the battery was too weak to turn the starter, started with recoil and did just fine. But with a completely shot, junk battery, no good.

I bought the 550 a few weeks ago. I'll pay for the EFI. Watched too many units run poorly or not at all at high altitude. With EFI, no problem.

I did not go with the electric steering, IMHO not needed on the 550, it steers very easily without.

I also like the redesign on the 550, with the rear mounted clutches and Active Descent System.

Go EFI all the way. Cold starting a carb unit sucks and they don't perform as well at elevation either. We have EFI units and love them. My daughter had a car unit and it sucked in comparison.

We got the 450 EPS. At first I didn't know if it really did anything as it just feels 'normal' when you drive it on ordinary terrain. But the more I've run it on tundra and rocks, the less I realize the effort. (See pic in the belted drive ATV thread.) EPS is kind of like the difference in the old Honda tree-wheelers, between the smaller ones with only rubber for their suspension system and the bigger ones with shocks and springs. If you ride on shoulder pounding, wrist-twisting trails and terrain, it's definitely worth considering. If you're young enough that you don't care now, you'll be thankful later in life when those joints aren't stiff with arthritis.

I would go with the 550 much nicer machine. I just bought a new Can Am Outlander 500 Vtwin and love it very fast, almost to fast. Also have a 2004 Artic Cat 400 manual shift, going to use it for East Ky hunting, very rough terain, and use the new Can Am Outlander for Colorado hunting.

I have a 2000 carbed model in Remington Special Edition Sportsman 500. Great bike for me. It pulls, pushes and hauls it all -- moose, deer, firewood, snow plough, trailers. etc. Mine is before the HO engine version, and it still has plenty of power. Has cost me nothing to maintain other than a battery every 3 or 4 years because of all the winch use and 35 below starts. Loving it!