8) Seat—Both seats are pretty good, pretty comfortable; bouncy when you use them. On the Polaris, you sit a little bit higher … but your knees tend to get into the side panels a little more (good thing for knee pads). The Ski-Doo seat rides a bit lower and you have a little bit more room for your knees.
9) Brake—Both Polaris and Ski-Doo brakes work well. The Polaris brake lever is a little bit longer, so you can get out on the end with one or two fingers and have a little bit more leverage … but also easier to get caught in tree branches. The Ski-doo brake is shorter but works well. When it comes to setting the park brake, Ski-Doo has an easier design that quickly allows you to lock your brake. Polaris makes it a little tougher since you have to completely compress it in order to lock its mechanical lever.
10) Skis—Ski-Doo has come a long way with their Pilot DS 3 skis … which was necessary since the Polaris Gripper ski was the best OEM ski on the snow. But now the gap is much closer. Both work well and feature deep keels and traction tops. But the Gripper is still the best OEM ski on the snow. Both have adjustment features that allow you to go wider or narrower. Ski-Doo offers a nifty accessory adjustment that allows you to change ski stance in seconds and with no tools.
11) Hand Warmers (switch and settings)—Both Ski-Doo and Polaris have positioned the hand warmer switch between your legs and near the gas cap. The biggest difference is that with the Polaris you only have three settings—high, low and off (and the hand warmers are only warm in the high setting). With Ski-Doo, you have multiple settings so you can actually turn down the warmers to a desired temperature.