Y do we stay brand loyal or switch ?

[Al "ley Cat"]

Just got back from rideing my 03/F7 unloaded in the garage,had a couple of ryes and started to look through the Snow Tech Mag.I started to think (booze maybe ?) Y do people stay brand LOYAL !Or Y do they switch ?I will not try to run off at the mouth but it will take a little history. Fist selds i ever came in contact with was my dads 16 hp. snow cruiser. He bought it for hunting.than he got a 25 hp. snow cruser becuase it had reverse , he hauled alot of mosse out of the bush with that seld !!!! As you can see this is back in the early 70s.He than got a 440 pather only reason being he heard it was suppose to have the best ride ?????.I bought my 440 EL TIGRA in 75.sold it in 1980. Bought the 03 F7, the first year they came out .There where lots of recalls on it but ,they where repaired !! I got tired of floging my F7 in the moutians and bought a 07/M8 . No BS guys Im happy with Artic Cat so far (It May change ) but one thing i noticed when i brought the F 7 to the lake every one seemed to disapear. LOL

 

[catmando]

Well think of it this way.............All cat guys I know have been for ever it seems............Most other I know are still bouncing around cause they havnt got on a cat yet..................some day they will get on a cat like the rest of us and say ,Wow this it,I found it......the perfect sled LOL!
And the Loyalty begins!!!!!!!
Oh Ya,Ron told me last week I can never ride anything else but a Cat!
So if I change I may get a reduction in wages!
Hope this expains your dilema!
catmando!

 

[khaos_]

Alright, alright, alright I've heard enough. Lol. You both must be drunk. JK. I had started off with my dad's old citation. Then it was a formula plus. Then for some reason he switched to AC Powder Special. After that year I bought a formula III, and hated it, too heavy, and the throttle made my thumb sore. So I got rid of that and bought an Brand new 05 MXZ Renegade. That was b y far the best sled I ever owned. I gave it to my dad, and bought an 07 Summit. Now Dragons were on sale and a buddy talked me into buying one of them also. I hated it, so I sold that one. I found it didn't handle as nice as the doo. Now I have an 09 Summit. Absolutely love it. BUT....I was just looking at the AC 1000 Sno pro, and was close to buying one of them also. I only have the 09 Summit now. But I am just not sure if I like the ride. I really want to try one out, and see, maybe I will pick up an 09 next spring at a better deal. So for brands, I like to switch it up, to make sure I am riding the best, IN MY WORLD ANYWAY.

 

[renegade x]

Just got back from rideing my 03/F7 unloaded in the garage,had a couple of ryes and started to look through the Snow Tech Mag.I started to think (booze maybe ?) Y do people stay brand LOYAL !Or Y do they switch ?I will not try to run off at the mouth but it will take a little history. Fist selds i ever came in contact with was my dads 16 hp. snow cruiser. He bought it for hunting.than he got a 25 hp. snow cruser becuase it had reverse , he hauled alot of mosse out of the bush with that seld !!!! As you can see this is back in the early 70s.He than got a 440 pather only reason being he heard it was suppose to have the best ride ?????.I bought my 440 EL TIGRA in 75.sold it in 1980. Bought the 03 F7, the first year they came out .There where lots of recalls on it but ,they where repaired !! I got tired of floging my F7 in the moutians and bought a 07/M8 . No BS guys Im happy with Artic Cat so far (It May change ) but one thing i noticed when i brought the F 7 to the lake every one seemed to disapear. LOL

They run from your F7 because its so fuggen ugly :d:d:d

 

[Al "ley Cat"]

Thanks for the feed back guys !!!!! The only reason i got back into sleding was my Brother inlaw buged me.He has been i moutians sleding for 25 years !!The storys he tells me of takeing a day to get up to where the (future cabin would be at renshaw) I cant imagine him doing that !!!!!I would of said F this. But with todays technology for selds its no problem !!He was a die
hard Yamaha guy. and he switch over to doo. he got a renagade 800. I have to admid it had a unreal ride!He now has a doo 800 summite. which is even better . Forgive my speeling guys.As long as your having fun enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

 

[teeroy]

when I was a kid my pa had moto skis and ski doos. he bought me a 77 JD300 for my first sled and my friends' ski doos worked a lot better. pa bought me a '79 citation after a few years of riding the JD and that was it....never owned another brand since.

my buddy grew up riding arctic cats. we have been riding together since we were kids, it has always been a competition between AC and 'Doo. he had a lynx, I had the citation. he got an EXT, I got a formula mx. he bought a ZRT 6, I bought an MXZ. he bought a Thundercat....I got an MXZ 670 (got my azz kicked constantly). now he has an M1, an I have the XP....he can get me across the field, but I can highmark him.....:d

 

[polarice]

it seems to be whatever ya had when you were younger ... i started out on a 69 moto ski bogie suspension ... then in 73 we found out about a sno jet dealer giving great discounts so we bought a 295 astro jet with sliders for suspension,,,, that was the cats meow....76 we bought 440 sst ... was out of sledding for a few years went to look at a few sleds took a 88 skidoo for a ride rougher than hell took a polaris indy 440 down the same trail and could actually read the speedo .... been on a polaris ever since......pooos the best fack the rest

 

[khaos_]

it seems to be whatever ya had when you were younger ... i started out on a 69 moto ski bogie suspension ... then in 73 we found out about a sno jet dealer giving great discounts so we bought a 295 astro jet with sliders for suspension,,,, that was the cats meow....76 we bought 440 sst ... was out of sledding for a few years went to look at a few sleds took a 88 skidoo for a ride rougher than hell took a polaris indy 440 down the same trail and could actually read the speedo .... been on a polaris ever since......pooos the best fack the rest

Polarice....come on...69...did they even make sleds back then...lol.

 

[mxz sledhead]

I cross over to the dark side once then I saw the light ! and went back to
Doo( if it not a doo it just won't do ):d

 

[catmando]

This is a great thread...................really looking forward too DooBoy's response LOL(aka..summitric).....bugged him about Doo's more than anyone I know and had a blast dooing it LOL!
catmando!

 

[0neoldfart]

I've owned Rupps, John Deere's, Moto-Skis, Polaris, Cat, and Doo. Ridden various other models, took a hiatus from the sport for about 10 years, and bought Doo. Rode Doos from the late 80's till 2007, got ticked with the dealer that I had purchased several sleds from, and bought an M1K out of spite. Love the M-series sleds, very nimble, good power, etc. Almost bought an XP last year till I rode one - just doesn't "fit". I will say I am not brand loyal by any means - I will shop where I get the best service and parts support. One lemon will not sway me off a particular brand - everyone gets stuck with one from time to time. That said, if Cat builds a 2011 M1K, I'll likely own one again - fun sled to ride in the deep. If they don't, I may be shopping elsewhere or just mod the 07 more.

 

[Slamnek]

I grew up on my dads 1980 everest 500, then he bought a 91 Safari 440 and a 92 MX 470 (over 10,000km on the original motor when she was put away and never rode again) i bought a 97 polaris XC 600 that never let me down. I went back to DOO and bought an 02 ZX summit 800 and now have an 05 REV. I really like the Rev but i really want to try a cat now after my bro bought an M7. I think its all personal preferance and I am by no means brand loyal cuz they all kick azz when their workin and their all POS when they break down (unless of course its owner error)

 

[goodngrubby]

I have never really been as much brand loyal as dealer loyal. I grew up on Arctic Cat, but since I was old enough to buy my own machines, I have dealt with Buck Lake Bob for sleds (Doo) and quads (Polaris). I jumped ship a few years ago and bought an F7 Firecat, put 70 or so miles on it, and just felt dirty riding the ditch pickle. Went back to Doo (sled and quad) and now that Buck Lake Bob is out of BRP, I'm having a hard time finding a good BRP dealership, so may have to go back to a Kitty.

 

[overkill131313]

first sled was a 81 citation 4500, elec start oil injection perfect for a 6 year old! had half dozzen elans, sold the 4500 to girlfriends parents in 87-88 (that is how we became an item) bought a SS25 and wrapped the odometer 3 times (I think it has 32000 km when I sold it with orginal engine) that must be a record for skidoo! when I sold it I didnt really get back into sledding 10 years later I traded something (cant remember what it was ) for a 99 polaris trail RMK with a 136x 2 track, then bought a 1986 440 AC for a sled that friends could come sleding up the hills with me. then it became my sons sled when he was 4 and now he rides the 550 since he was 6 years old. I sold the 440 AC to a girl in my sons class so she could get into sleding. I got a great deal on a 900 rmk,700 rmk,and a 550 trail and a trailer in 07 and couldnt turn it down. sold the newer 550 and gave the 700 to my dad and kept the 900, by the way it has over 3500 miles with zero problems lol. girlfriend bought a 05 600 switchback (that I made pink) and her daughter now has a matching 99 550. I just bought a 87 alpine twin track a few days ago so back to ski-doo. also had a few 7500 blizzards (RV) and John Deeres.

I have owned

2 Artic cats
6 elans (ski-doo)
2 RV ski-doos
1 alpine twin track
6 other ski-doo
2 John Deers
and now a crap load of polaris and Ski-doos are in the yard lol (7 I think)

I grew up with Ski-doo back when my dad bought a new 1971 tnt with a 775. I can remember being 3 ish and this ski-doo was the loadest thing around and loved it! I just like a sled the runs and I seem to adapt to it. I had to put on 20 pounds to control the 05 900 lol.

 

[arff]

This makes some of us sound old....
My Dad was a cat guy.Cheeta 440 and Panter 440,Pantera
I don't even remember all the ones.
We then had Skiodoo,Elan,Everest,and some other I can't remember
Yamaha,SS-440,SRV,SRX, and a few others.

As bikes,Yamaha,YZ,Trikes,and kodiak quad,big red trike.

Now kind of stick with polaris quads,good service and not a lot of problems.

Have had 7 different ones now.

I know long story...

 

[senorjeem]

When I got into this, I had not only my sled to try to keep running, but my wife and daughters as well, and if I would have had to jet 3 sleds a couple of times each ride as we made our way up and down the mountains, I would have quit, so Skidoo with its HAC system was the obvious choice. The Polaris riders that we went with must have been too lazy to jet, because their machines always ran like a bag of crap, almost always rich, and the only place that they ran spot on was in the parking lot. Cats were 1165 lbs dry, and although they had a cool leopard skin seat cover, that didn't seem to be the right choice, besides, it seemed as if you were honor bound to dress up as though you had just chewed up a bunch of crayons, and gotten sick all over yourself However I have to say that now, for my part anyways, it isn't brand loyalty so much as knowing deep down (just like you all do), that each brand is a royal piece of crap, in its own special way, so you ride what you are familiar with just to avoid surprises mostly, and we all do the work-arounds that each brand requires to make it do what we want it to do!!

 

[Shallow Draft]

I would switch to cat but,, I don't like the blind spot you get when you ride with the paper bag over your head

 

[Polar Express]

I'm kinda spoiled, because my very first sled was an M7. Only been riding 4 years. I went with the M7, because I got some advice from a local guy that worked on all of them, and he said if I like carbs, go Polaris, if I want EFI, go 'cat. I hate carbs, so that made my choice clear.

I have nothing bad to say about the sled. Thing still works great. Actually idles better than my 09 Dragon (with the re-flash).

I know I'm new to the sled world (compared to some), but I'm no stranger to motorized vehicles. It's the old ford/chev/mopar debate all over.

When I decided to get a different sled for more power, I went Polaris (D8) for the simple reason of dealer support. All sleds today are going to have their good points and bad, but, I have a Polaris dealer that is close to me that has an unequaled reputation. My wife took my D8 out a few times, and now says she wants a Dragon, she likes how it handles.

I can certainly see sticking with a brand if you have lots of sleds, (higher likelyhood of sharing some parts (belts, plugs, etc.)

AC- works great, no local dealer anymore (management attitude was not good) -- Likely most HP with reliabilty
Polaris - Great local dealer, the D8's had some trouble, so they did a recall (to me, this is a positive: very expensive, but stood behind their product) -- Likely best OE clutching.
Ski-Doo - BRP is a HUGE company, and they seem to have good technology, but the 3 guys I know best that ride them, have all had all sorts of issues, the major one was a crank-runout issue on a new XP. Ski-Doo didn't want to back up their product. When he finally got it solved, the dealer did a hack-job on the work, (no loc-tite on the proper bolts) and caused a huge failure with major carnage when a bolt came out and took out the clutch) -- Seem to make a light sled, and when they work, they sure work great, But in my limited observance, seem to have challenges with lots of different little things.

Yamaha - To me, Yamaha is in a totally different world. Their fit and finish is some of the finest I've seen anywhere (even better than german cars), but they are really the only 4-stroke option. If you want the 4-stroke benefits, you're locked into the Yamaha, and they don't even have any 2-stroke options anymore.

We all have features we like and don't, and we have opinions based on that, and our experiences. In a perfect world, I'd have a boosted Yamaha for the wide open, and a 800 with some snap for the tighter spots. The brand I pick will be determined to what is available ( ex: 4-stroke = Yam. only) and the support system for the sleds I decide to ride.

PE

 

[Longhairfreak]

Thanks for the feed back guys !!!!! The only reason i got back into sleding was my Brother inlaw buged me.He has been i moutians sleding for 25 years !!The storys he tells me of takeing a day to get up to where the (future cabin would be at renshaw) I cant imagine him doing that !!!!!I would of said F this. But with todays technology for selds its no problem !!He was a die
hard Yamaha guy. and he switch over to doo. he got a renagade 800. I have to admid it had a unreal ride!He now has a doo 800 summite. which is even better . Forgive my speeling guys.As long as your having fun enjoy!!!!!!!!!!

You either drink to much rye or you never finished grade 3?

 

[mach123]

I have been a doo guy from the everest to the xp and lots in between. Never had problems so why change, I noticed that no one mention the formula sp that was the white one(think it was 521) not the pig stratos or even the artic cat prawler when they tried to copy the phazer...LOL