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AC marketing opinion

sno*jet

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i can understand why polaris guys need a good dealer close by but the rest of the sledding world who cares. love me a good road trip to pick up a sled and never walk into the dealer for **** after that, rip off every time
 

Clark42

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My take- I can count on one hand the times during a season where I wish I had the power of a turbo. Simply put, the elevation and type of snow we have, a good running 800-850 will do the job 95% of the time. When it is real deep and powdery (not often), my Alpha track has no issues. It is the best track out there for the real deep.

Here in the Sierras, even the guys with turbos know my first sentence is true. I'd rather work for it, nothing sweeter than man and machine vs. Mother Nature, especially someone who knows how to get the most out of his n/a 800.
That's just plain truth. This sport is like 60% riding, 40% "look how much money I have" in most of the US
 

BeartoothBaron

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i can understand why polaris guys need a good dealer close by but the rest of the sledding world who cares. love me a good road trip to pick up a sled and never walk into the dealer for **** after that, rip off every time
Not necessarily true of Polaris - if you're not a forum expert and can live with "just" an 850. And I do know a couple guys who lost Cat engines from snow ingestion over the last few years... But I totally agree with you about stealerships. Their repair work is usually a flail-ex. If it makes it out of the shop under its own power, that's a job well done. At this point, I'd legitimately prefer a warranty option where if something breaks, they give me the parts I need and I do the work myself. And that's before you get into the markups on wear items; my personal experience is Gates puts OE belts to shame, and for half the price, for one...
 
T
May 22, 2010
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Good riders know what they want, they dont need muskoka's youtube vids of riding into areas we rode 20-25 years ago. Most wouldnt know who these new guys are, dont care..
Polaris works on marketing, something new every year, and people buy into that. textron aint giving AC the money for that, they dont care.
 
D
Feb 7, 2022
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Good riders know what they want, they dont need muskoka's youtube vids of riding into areas we rode 20-25 years ago. Most wouldnt know who these new guys are, dont care..
Polaris works on marketing, something new every year, and people buy into that. textron aint giving AC the money for that, they dont care.
How do you this?
 

turboless terry

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Good riders know what they want, they dont need muskoka's youtube vids of riding into areas we rode 20-25 years ago. Most wouldnt know who these new guys are, dont care..
Polaris works on marketing, something new every year, and people buy into that. textron aint giving AC the money for that, they dont care.
You are right. Good riders do know what they want. I don't care what sponsored riders ride. They can ride anything. That is such a small percentage of riders. There are a lot that just need a nudge over the edge and, guaranteed, that does it. Whether you think that's right or wrong. It flat out works.
 

turboless terry

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Pretty poor website reveal! Sled is live on there with a few specifications, but missing the most important one that they've been bragging about: the weight! WTF Cat.
I keep looking also. The other joke is if you want one you have to buy sight unseen and no demos like they were talking. Can't look at one until jackson and assume the ship will sail before that.
 

goridedoo

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Feb 8, 2010
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Price seems fair.

Was hoping for a surprise 800 or 8xx.

Atac looks to be gone on 800s?
 

sno*jet

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^were you expecting an IMPORTANT style thread here like if it was skidoo? They let snowest ride the cat, not the forum guy though.
"catalyst" (yay) ??
 

boondocker97

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You mad at Cat or SnoWest?
Neither really. Just pointing out that there is a different level of attention being generated. Whether that is due to the manufacturers pushing info out, SnoWest, or just personal admin interest doesn't really matter. AC marketing should be taking note and providing some media to roll out. I'm sure they aren't though.
 
N
Jul 23, 2008
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Another year of Cat being shockingly bad at promoting their product. Releasing a brand new chassis for the first time in over a decade and almost zero substantive media here, on social, anywhere. Also surprised they're hyping the weight loss but not providing any real numbers. Could argue that the "real" release was at Haydays but that seemed like more of a sneak peak. You'd think after putting the work into developing a cool new product they'd be eager to describe every detail and show us why it's awesome. Baffling lack of strategy.

Catalyst seems to be getting good reviews by those who've ridden it so I'd hoped both engineering and marketing were getting sorted. Guess not.
 

NHRoadking

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I built and priced one out. This is the small print:

Plus destination charge and set-up.
Logistics surcharge of $700 will apply.


I built a 2024 Ski Doo Expert 154 w 3 inch lug and SHOT = $17,499.00

2024 Cat M8000 Alpha One 154 w 3 inch lug and manual start = $16,599 + $700 = $17,300.00
 
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boondocker97

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I built and priced one out. This is the small print:

Plus destination charge and set-up.
Logistics surcharge of $700 will apply.


I built a 2024 Ski Doo Expert 154 w 3 inch lug and SHOT = $17,499.00

2024 Cat M8000 Alpha One 154 w 3 inch lug and manual start = $16,599 + $700 = $17,300.00
Don't forget the fine print note on the Ski-Doo price too. They just don't tell you what it will be.
1677637632729.png
 

NHRoadking

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Don't forget the fine print note on the Ski-Doo price too. They just don't tell you what it will be.
View attachment 401575

Per my dealer, Doo got rid of the logistics/commodity charge for the 2024s.

So, Doo and Cat just don't tell you the other charges. They are both just about the same price out of the gate then.
 
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