850 ride report....few issues!!

[rulonjj]

I'm fairly unimpressed with my 850, talk about an over-rated and over-hyped snowmobile. Its no wonder they didn't have any demos available for us to try last spring, I would never have sold my T3's if I would have I ridden the 850 before hand. I've ridden the sled 2 days and I can draw some conclusions about issues they should have figured out before releasing them to the public, makes you wonder if their engineers/testers even ride snowmobiles.....

1- The porting on the front of the running boards does not evacuate snow, you loose the 1st foot of your running board to snow build up and it can't be easily modified because the steel protector for the chaincase and brake stick out way too far under the aluminum running boards. You can't use the part of the running board you often need the most because its full of snow.

2- There are no tow hooks, you can only push down with your feet and can't pull up, loosing half your leverage is a major step backward.

3- The front end rides light, it's squirly on trail and the sled doesn't get on plane in deep snow, the back end trenches down like a boat that can't get on top of the water.

4-The panelling is still very bulky, could easily have been slimmed up by 1-1.5 inches on either side.

5-Took my hood off this afternoon and noticed the EGT wasn't in the pipe...

6-Some of the wiring from the reverse switch has exposed copper where the plastic/rubber casing has cracked- my snowmobile has 45 km on it?!?

7- The tool kit characterizes Ski-Doo's arrogance perfectly. They will leave you to die out there.

8- Ski-Doo supports commercial guiding operations that have operated without approved tenures/sub-licenses for years in BC! (Not relevant to the 850 but worth mentioning)

The throttle response is better off the bottom but it doesn't feel like there is anymore power in the top end than of the T3. Its really disappointing that these sleds fall short considering all the hype Ski-Doo has generated for them. I'm in for 2 of them this year, what a waste of $35K! Goes to show, try before you buy! JMHO.

Sad to hear this. Hoping this sled will live up to the hype for some of us at least. If it doesn't I will sell it real quick.

 

[cheater35]

Someone was asking for pictures of felt in the clutch cover. Here is before and after removed pics.

 

[Chadly]

1- The porting on the front of the running boards does not evacuate snow, you loose the 1st foot of your running board to snow build up and it can't be easily modified because the steel protector for the chaincase and brake stick out way too far under the aluminum running boards. You can't use the part of the running board you often need the most because its full of snow.

2- There are no tow hooks, you can only push down with your feet and can't pull up, loosing half your leverage is a major step backward.

3- The front end rides light, it's squirly on trail and the sled doesn't get on plane in deep snow, the back end trenches down like a boat that can't get on top of the water.

I brought this up when I had the 850 to test. It's like 2 shovels up there to hold snow which really sucks with our heavy snow. I'm hoping when Skinz finishes their boards this problem is addressed. As for the Toe holds why don't you buy their aftermarket ones? I bought them but have yet to put them on my sleds because I would like to ride them for a bit first. I also think something is up with the sled wanting to rocket. Again I'm hoping once my Tom's kits show up this will be fixed. If not I'll be hunting my T3 down and trading the guy one of my new 850's for my T3 back ?

 

[2014xm]

I'm fairly unimpressed with my 850, talk about an over-rated and over-hyped snowmobile. Its no wonder they didn't have any demos available for us to try last spring, I would never have sold my T3's if I would have I ridden the 850 before hand. I've ridden the sled 2 days and I can draw some conclusions about issues they should have figured out before releasing them to the public, makes you wonder if their engineers/testers even ride snowmobiles.....

1- The porting on the front of the running boards does not evacuate snow, you loose the 1st foot of your running board to snow build up and it can't be easily modified because the steel protector for the chaincase and brake stick out way too far under the aluminum running boards. You can't use the part of the running board you often need the most because its full of snow.

2- There are no tow hooks, you can only push down with your feet and can't pull up, loosing half your leverage is a major step backward.

3- The front end rides light, it's squirly on trail and the sled doesn't get on plane in deep snow, the back end trenches down like a boat that can't get on top of the water.

4-The panelling is still very bulky, could easily have been slimmed up by 1-1.5 inches on either side.

5-Took my hood off this afternoon and noticed the EGT wasn't in the pipe...

6-Some of the wiring from the reverse switch has exposed copper where the plastic/rubber casing has cracked- my snowmobile has 45 km on it?!?

JMHO.

I now have 157 miles on mine now and can say it runs and rides amazing the harder you ride it the better it rides. I have rode it in ice spring conditions last year to over the hood snow days this year and I haven't had the running boards build up with snow yet. I was disappointed in the toe holds on the demo I rode and bought some for mine and turns out I don't use them as often as I thought. Rear supsension is a little soft But it's do able. Sled seems to side hill as good as my axys did will see when snow gets deep and I can get into more steep trees. I have raced a t3 and the G4 defiantly pulls harder and will out climb it. I came off a axys and the track on the Polaris was sh!t and lacked power compared to ski doo and didn't hook for a 3" and the new G4 just keeps climbing and making power. It's all how you ride the sled and if you talk about an over hyped sled look at the axys I got sucked into buying one and wasn't anything like they said. Hope you have better time with your sled then you're having.

 

[rulonjj]

It seems that some people don't see any good in this sled and some don't see any bad. I pulled this from another forum......



Conditions are shaping up around Pemberton BC. First ride on an 850 for me today 165" X 3" track, what a work horse! Waist to chest deep bottomless / potentially dangerous underneath (rocks stumps etc) unconsolidated snow. Early season conditions with lots of ditches and some water to deal with, tricky slippery powder snow. Also early season reflexes shaking off hibernation leading to lots of stucks for thew crew! Sled is amazing. Significant power boost compared to the 800 14 I'm coming from. It launches but a very smooth throttle to work with too. Also goes like 0-95kms an hour in a blink of an eye but you don't even notice how fast you are going, sled feels stable and just cruises. Hit 116kms/h and it probably could have gone a bit more. 34km each way on the road and then a technical trail ride through the trees. Handling is nimble to say the least, 'tippy' was a word used quite a bit during the ride, 4 first time 850 riders. Just have to learn it because it is a very agile sled. We had 2 850 154's and 2 850 165's. One rider on a 165 had ordered a 154 and was somehow shipped a 165 is very happy on the 165. I need to figure out my riser / handle bart position. Seat is short! Sat down once and it wasn't there lol. Sound is pretty badass. Sounded like a supercar downshifting into a corner. A couple times I found the running board slippery right up by the brake and chain case, not a huge issue yet. Suspension for impacts and traction launches felt good, like its working well but maybe a little soft on compressions. One guy in our crew was on a polaris, great rider and he was charging...All the top sleds seem to me to perform well. I am very happy with the 850 165 though. Awesome power and traction. I'm a big guy 6'3" (250lb) and it carried me and a heavy pack (i'm a filmmaker) very very well. Looking forward to getting in sync with this machine, it's going to be a lot of fun. Oh didn't have the wide ski tips on and am curious to try them out. Stoked to check out some powder today and game on riding conditions. But ride with caution, no need to rebuild a new sled because of early season conditions. We have been getting a lot of rain for weeks and its great get up high and see the snow in the trees! 850 is going to make a lot of riders happy. Hope everyone gets snow!

 

[TS Drag Racer]

I was up in Revy with my Gen 4 this week with a group and my first impressions with it are good. I had a 2015 t-3 174 with a trygstad 872 kit the winter before last and a 2016 snow check Axys 163 3" last winter. IMO this new 850 out shines both of them, in many catagories. The power is close to what my 872 was, but the 850 just flat out handles better. It takes less imput and effort to get it do what you want compared to the T3 especially in the trees. It side hills and goes up threw the trees, I would say as good or close to my Axys, just will much better power and throttle response.

One of the keys to the 850 is setting up the suspension to keep the front end planted a little better I'm running the rear springs on setting 4, cranked my rear shock spring down so it's not so spungy in the rear. We were in over 3ft of pow in places as the picture shows, there was 7 of us in the group 4 of which was on the new 850's. Every single guy on the Gen 4 had a huge smile on their faces including me not one complaint, so I would say that's pretty good.

Is there a little room for improvement sure, I put the toe holds on mine, better vent kit, stock top vents tear easy by tree branches, stock shocks are fine but I will be upgrading those just for a plusher ride, but all in all this is a very good sled right out of the box IMHO......

 

[rmk all the way]

Well got out on the sled finally and was enjoying until we stopped. Went to start the sled and the pull rope didn't catch anything, after 10 tries I gave up and started of the primary. Next time pull rope worked again. Sled fills more nimble then my xm but miss the turbo already. After ridding I don't think I'll get the toe holds.


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[Ace Freely]

Well got out on the sled finally and was enjoying until we stopped. Went to start the sled and the pull rope didn't catch anything, after 10 tries I gave up and started of the primary. Next time pull rope worked again. Sled fills more nimble then my xm but miss the turbo already. After ridding I don't think I'll get the toe holds.


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...after market can?

Ace

 

[Jorli]

Maybe some quality control issues....

 

[rmk all the way]

...after market can?



Ace

Stock can, figured I would let people get some miles on aftermarket cans before I bought one.


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[xpspenziv]

I brought this up when I had the 850 to test. It's like 2 shovels up there to hold snow which really sucks with our heavy snow. I'm hoping when Skinz finishes their boards this problem is addressed. As for the Toe holds why don't you buy their aftermarket ones? I bought them but have yet to put them on my sleds because I would like to ride them for a bit first. I also think something is up with the sled wanting to rocket. Again I'm hoping once my Tom's kits show up this will be fixed. If not I'll be hunting my T3 down and trading the guy one of my new 850's for my T3 back ?

Get the banana back.

 

[Chadly]

Get the banana back.

That sled was so dialed in ����

 

[Jorli]

I spoke with a friend who also had his egt come loose. There was exhaust crap all over the pipe and the internals- (same as mine) the fumes could likely have caused my wiring to decay, although strange it only seems to have affected to just 2 wires. This could also potentially be a cause for belts going-just a guess. Check that your egt sensor is secure and maybe try to figure out some way of locking it to the pipe. Hopefully it's an easy fix.

 

[Ski-doo#1]

People are blowing belts under 100 miles on the sleds? I've seen one picture for proof. Break your belts in properly to start. I'm beyond curious why this was never a problem on all the demo sled everyone rode last year? Nobody ever had a problem and the sleds had well over 100 miles on them?

 

[kiliki]

People are blowing belts under 100 miles on the sleds? I've seen one picture for proof. Break your belts in properly to start. I'm beyond curious why this was never a problem on all the demo sled everyone rode last year? Nobody ever had a problem and the sleds had well over 100 miles on them?

its called spring snow.

 

[goridedoo]

People are blowing belts under 100 miles on the sleds? I've seen one picture for proof. Break your belts in properly to start. I'm beyond curious why this was never a problem on all the demo sled everyone rode last year? Nobody ever had a problem and the sleds had well over 100 miles on them?

And theres a big difference between 10 prototypes carefully monitored by BRP and thousands of sleds in the hands of the masses.

 

[i'llDooit]

Time will tell. Need more snow.

 

[Ace Freely]

So there are 2 accounts of blown belts...Thistledoo and Tward700. Both in Revy, both around the same miles. Interesting to see if Tward700's machine had blown the egt sensor like Thistledoo's...

...the recoil issues sound like a heat issue, with too much heat melting the plastic cogs...

...any other issues out there?

Ace

 

[i'llDooit]

So there are 2 accounts of blown belts...Thistledoo and Tward700. Both in Revy, both around the same miles. Interesting to see if Tward700's machine had blown the egt sensor like Thistledoo's...

...the recoil issues sound like a heat issue, with too much heat melting the plastic cogs...

...any other issues out there?

Ace

My 2014 had a recall on the starter doing the same thing. Can't believe it's happening again though.

 

[Chadly]

So there are 2 accounts of blown belts...Thistledoo and Tward700. Both in Revy, both around the same miles. Interesting to see if Tward700's machine had blown the egt sensor like Thistledoo's...

...the recoil issues sound like a heat issue, with too much heat melting the plastic cogs...

...any other issues out there?

Ace

Don't forget the recount in Wisconsin issue...