I ride an 850 Polaris Touring quad. My wife and I had our previous quads stolen on the way back from a northern hunt and I couldn't afford two new ones at the time so I bought a used two-up bike, just until we could afford a new quad for my wife. She bought her usual Yamaha 700 Grizzly with power steering a year later. We have owned four Yamahas and they were all excellent. The first one I bought for her was a mistake. I got sucked in by a salesman who talked me into a 500 without a low range. It meant she had to take a run at the steepest grades and that is a bit dangerous. When power steering came out in "08 I quickly traded it for a 700 with low range, power steering and EFI. Now she can just walk the machine over all the tough stuff. At sixty-seven, and being a small person, it is safer. The Japanese quads all run in the 600 to 650 dry weight category while the North American quads go a hundred or more pounds over that, and it adds some difficulties. If you don't load them on your truck or trailer perfectly it is pretty hard to shift them by hand. My 850 when rigged for hunting probably goes close to 900 pounds. We always run aftermarket six ply, usually mud tires on our quads because a sharp rock or stick can cut the sidewalls of stock tires. You don't carry a spare and it's tough to jam enough patching compound into a sliced sidewall, (but we've done it). Many friends use Hondas and love them, the favourite of my buddies who are all quad crazy hunters is the Yamaha, and Suzuki and Kawasaki are both good options. My Polaris is by far the best riding quad of the bunch but I would never buy another one. Their combination of engine braking and four wheeling system is suited for experienced riders only and, even then, on muddy or icy downslopes you have to be on your toes to keep the back wheels from passing you. Good luck on your choice.
