I don't know about outfitters, but I work with a SAR team and we beat the crap out of ours getting back into areas before we dismount to search. We use them to shuttle other searches, gear and dogs into more remote places. The Honda Rancher or Foreman are the most popular here. Never had one let us down and we have one guy still using a 1988 model. Never seen a Yamaha or Suzuki give any problems either. We've had to tow several Polaris back to the road.
The side-by-sides have their place and we have a couple of guys who use them. They are great when you have to get multiple people and more gear into some places. But most of the time they are simply too big to get into places we go. We don't ride trails, we make them..
I hunted Colorado elk this year for the 1st time too. Lots of people had them, I did not and having one might have helped. It snowed a couple days earlier and when it melted and got a lot of traffic some of the roads were BAD. I slid into a ditch once, but was able to get out in 4X4, but the roads were bad enough that I simply decided not to hunt certain areas. I had scouted these areas earlier before the roads got bad, but it wasn't worth the risk of damaging a vehicle to go back. Others were unloading quads and riding them back into those areas much easier than driving a full size truck.
