New 850 vs old antique T3

CodyR

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The 850 is so smooth and you actually feel like you have a lot more control of this beast.


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RK Tek

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We Have a 2016 T3 163 860 and the G4.. Had them both out together ALL YEAR.. Rode both (they are both our sleds) extensively.

Can't get much better comparison than that..
 

catrutt

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RK TEC Please let us know what you think the suspense is killing me. FYI rode the (old) T3 174 in headlight deep powder three days this week and all I can say is wow. Still runs perfect 2500 on the same belt ,pull the cord and hang on.
 

rightsideup

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The harder you ride anything the less reliable it's going to be but the T3 is tops in reliability as far as I am concerned.
Sorry I totally mispoke on my point I guess I was agreeing with you on the t3 being reliable and proven by all types of riders and the only people not having issues with g4 are less agressive people. Sorry for the brain fart thinking one thing and typing something shorter and inaccurate
 

Lococoin

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RK TEC Please let us know what you think the suspense is killing me. FYI rode the (old) T3 174 in headlight deep powder three days this week and all I can say is wow. Still runs perfect 2500 on the same belt ,pull the cord and hang on.
I wish I could get 2500 from a belt on my T3 174. 1500 kms and I've pulled a string on two belts.
 

rightsideup

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If I recall I got roughly got 2100 k on my 15 174 regular adjustment and memory and poor snowconditions for about 1500k of those k
 

Rulonjj

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Every time a new chassis comes out there are always people who hate it and cling to their old chassis for a few years. Then they begin to see that the new chassis really is better and soon they all switch over. Disagree with me?? Then explain to me why you aren't riding the original rev chassis. Haha.
 

RK Tek

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It is really not that cut and dry... Stock for stock the Gen 4 wins every time.. Mod the T3 (power enhancement) and I, personally, prefer the T3 over the Gen 4.. Now if I was a SUPER tight tree rider, I think I MIGHT prefer the Gen 4 but I am a more "loosely" type tree rider and more of a deep powder rider.. Ialso think the Gen 4 track is better in the REAL FLUFFY POWDER but not in the heavier snow.. So I think I will install the Gen 4 track on the T3.

Now, once we throw another 25-35HP at the Gen 4, this might change my outlook.. But for now the 860 T3 is what I prefer over the Gen 4 (stock with some better clutching).

I will say this... out of the box stock there is no equal to the Gen 4.. The sled is a rock-star for a stock sled..
 

revbyu

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I wish I could get 2500 from a belt on my T3 174. 1500 kms and I've pulled a string on two belts.

Just change my belt on my 15 174 - had a small fray of cord coming out - still good spare - had around 2500km on it - like mark said regular adjust make big difference I think
 

Rulonjj

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It is really not that cut and dry... Stock for stock the Gen 4 wins every time.. Mod the T3 (power enhancement) and I, personally, prefer the T3 over the Gen 4.. Now if I was a SUPER tight tree rider, I think I MIGHT prefer the Gen 4 but I am a more "loosely" type tree rider and more of a deep powder rider.. Ialso think the Gen 4 track is better in the REAL FLUFFY POWDER but not in the heavier snow.. So I think I will install the Gen 4 track on the T3.

Now, once we throw another 25-35HP at the Gen 4, this might change my outlook.. But for now the 860 T3 is what I prefer over the Gen 4 (stock with some better clutching).

I will say this... out of the box stock there is no equal to the Gen 4.. The sled is a rock-star for a stock sled..


True. It also takes a few years to figure out what works for your type of riding with a new chassis. The 850 is tippy enough that I'd be interested to see how it reacts to the 38" front end. Maybe that will bring back some of the stability people are looking for.
 

RK Tek

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True. It also takes a few years to figure out what works for your type of riding with a new chassis. The 850 is IMO, tippy enough that I'd be interested to see how it reacts to the 38" front end. Maybe that will bring back some of the stability people are looking for.

We own all 3 brands of sleds and have the good fortune of riding all of them.. So adjustment of riding style for each manufacturer is a common practice for us and does not take a lot of time to figure out.

IMO, the Gen 4 is just not that much different than the XM chassis in terms of handling.. Meaning.. the rider inputs and positioning remain, for the most part, the same as the T3 chassis


For those that see some huge difference over the T3.. I just don't see it... But , again, I am not one that just dumps into a thick bunch of trees and stays there all day long..

I do do ALOT of steep off camber side-hilling and both sleds do this great.
 

GregW

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It is really not that cut and dry... Stock for stock the Gen 4 wins every time.. Mod the T3 (power enhancement) and I, personally, prefer the T3 over the Gen 4.. Now if I was a SUPER tight tree rider, I think I MIGHT prefer the Gen 4 but I am a more "loosely" type tree rider and more of a deep powder rider.. Ialso think the Gen 4 track is better in the REAL FLUFFY POWDER but not in the heavier snow.. So I think I will install the Gen 4 track on the T3.

Now, once we throw another 25-35HP at the Gen 4, this might change my outlook.. But for now the 860 T3 is what I prefer over the Gen 4 (stock with some better clutching).

I will say this... out of the box stock there is no equal to the Gen 4.. The sled is a rock-star for a stock sled..

Great, fact based, field tested review!
 

GregW

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It is really not that cut and dry... Stock for stock the Gen 4 wins every time.. Mod the T3 (power enhancement) and I, personally, prefer the T3 over the Gen 4.. Now if I was a SUPER tight tree rider, I think I MIGHT prefer the Gen 4 but I am a more "loosely" type tree rider and more of a deep powder rider.. Ialso think the Gen 4 track is better in the REAL FLUFFY POWDER but not in the heavier snow.. So I think I will install the Gen 4 track on the T3.

Now, once we throw another 25-35HP at the Gen 4, this might change my outlook.. But for now the 860 T3 is what I prefer over the Gen 4 (stock with some better clutching).

I will say this... out of the box stock there is no equal to the Gen 4.. The sled is a rock-star for a stock sled..

To your point of swapping out your T3 track for a new G4 track, what's involved with such a switch, new drivers, different number of teeth? I have the 174, shouldn't be too tough to instal a 175 in its place, overall only a 1/2 inch longer.
 

deaner

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Hard to call the T3 an antique considering that in 5 or 6 years polaris is going to copy it and market it as cutting edge technology! :d
 

tex78

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To your point of swapping out your T3 track for a new G4 track, what's involved with such a switch, new drivers, different number of teeth? I have the 174, shouldn't be too tough to instal a 175 in its place, overall only a 1/2 inch longer.
My doo dealer is the other way, says the t3 tracks are better than the g4 and is switching back to t3 track on his g4

It's a lot of work


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Rulonjj

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We own all 3 brands of sleds and have the good fortune of riding all of them.. So adjustment of riding style for each manufacturer is a common practice for us and does not take a lot of time to figure out.

IMO, the Gen 4 is just not that much different than the XM chassis in terms of handling.. Meaning.. the rider inputs and positioning remain, for the most part, the same as the T3 chassis


For those that see some huge difference over the T3.. I just don't see it... But , again, I am not one that just dumps into a thick bunch of trees and stays there all day long..

I do do ALOT of steep off camber side-hilling and both sleds do this great.


I don't disagree with you on how they handle, but after riding my 850 for 350 miles I jumped back on an xm and that's when I realized how much of an improvement the G4 is over the xm. It's just quicker, faster, lighter and requires less effort. To tell you the truth, I didn't like the G4 when I first rode it. It was to tippy and unstable. I also ride steep thick trees all day so maybe it becomes more obvious when you are aiming for 4' gaps between trees all day. With that being said, I really doubt we will ever see a new chassis from any brand that is a "game changer". Now it's just small improvements and refinements.
 
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