AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
Mountain fans and a small liquidOut West, these really are rental sleds. Other than Cat's M5, I'd be hesitant to start a young rider on one of these sleds in the mountains. However, if your 10-year old is planning on riding the trails around a cabin, or on a farm, these are good choices.
Ski-Doo's fan-cooled REV 550 Summit, with a 136-inch shoe and 1.5-inch lugs, has nice features its bigger brothers have, such as RER, wide boards and mountain-specific handlebars. Its image is all Summit and it looks tough. In the high, thin air, however, she's low on horsepower- though we found ourselves picking through the trees in three feet of powder with little hesitation. In an open meadow with the throttle wide open, it can be a joy to handle. If treated right, it can grab some air off a cornice or unsuspecting drift. It has a high fun factor for a fanner.
Polaris' 550 fan Trail RMK fell on its face when ripping divots in three feet of powder. We were probably pushing this sled beyond it capabilities, so maybe we shouldn't pick nits. The Trail RMK comes with Polaris electric reverse package and Team Industries secondary, just like its 600, 700 and 800 siblings. It also shares the same mountain ergos as its liquid-cooled brothers. Its 1.25-inch high lugs on its 136-inch track are insufficient for its purpose though. We feel it could handle a full 1.5-inch lug.
Cat's EFI M5 outpaced its fan-cooled peers by large margins. If this were the absolute choice for a beginner's mountain sled, then we'd pick this over any fan-cooled mountain sled.
The M5 carries the Attack-20 track, but in a smaller configuration - a 141 with curled back 1.6-inch lugs. Due to the nature of liquid cooling, this sled performed like a young rock star and expectedly munched on its fan-cooled peers due to its liquid-cooled motor and electronic-fuel injection.
The M5, like the other OEM fan-cooled sleds, carries with it the same mountain features as its large displacement brothers. With a light rider on its back, it can hang with an M6, but the M5 rider must know the sled's limitations in the steep-n-deep.
Now let's ride into the '05 season!