Personally i wouldn't recommend tracks unless it's for snow only. I've experienced to many rides gone bad as a result of them. As far as power loss i don't think there is much to worry about due to the fact that they allready have a natural gear reduction. as far as top speed i think you will lose about a third. Do some research as there are lots of brands out there and some designs are definately better than others.
I ran tracks on my 300cc Polaris Hawkeye, climbed great but slow. Currently have them on my 455cc Polaris 400HO and its a great performer. Depending what you ride, expect a 30-45 % loss in top speed but that will increase bottom end grunt.
I also like snow only use. Too rough and takes an acre to turn them around.
thats what i want them for is winter use i like quadding and sledding but the wife says one toy not two so if I bought a quad and a set of tracks that one toy but with the tracks I can still go to the monutians and ice fishing with my buddys that are running sleds. how well dose the 400 sportsman trun the tracks? ever feel like a 500 would be better?
For my use, the 400HO is perfect. I ride with a couple of guys with bigger sleds ( 700 & 1000 cc;s) and they don;t go anywhere that I can't go. I'm going to try the tracks on my Po 550XP this winter but am not expecting much difference.
Top speed is about 29 mph but most guys with tracks travel 15 mph or less. Sleds & tracked quads don't play well together because of the speed differences and the way each of them disrupts the snow, but damn its fun to pull a sled out when they get stuck.
The sign in the photo is 8' from the ground in the summer.
You can feel confident in pretty well any of the tracks on the market, theyre all pretty good. Camoplast's Tatou series seems to be the most popular and are particularly suited to Polaris's AWD. The rear drive sprocket has one less tooth than the front and that tricks the AWD sensor into thinking the rears are spinning and locks the AWD in true 4WD for tremendous traction.
Lots of Rhinos, Rangers & RZRs on tracks and do those thing climb, but the biggest down fall is the reduction in top speed. If you like to travel fast, tracks may not be for you.