First sled, 2013 Summit Sport or SP

[ic9876]

I'm looking for my first sled to go riding with my younger buddies, a few trips to the mountains this year and general boondocking. Try to stay off trails. I'm not a pro in any sense but I plan on improving a lot this year.

Is the SP 800 with ETEC, tMotion, FlexEdge really worth $2900 more than the Sport 800 PowerTEK?

What am I getting for $2900 more... is it a completely different machine (XP vs XM) and worth the extra money, or does the SP get just marginally better fuel economy and slightly more "flickable"? Cost is an issue to me... I'm planning to have the sled for a looong time and take care of it (I don't ride super hard), and I don't like to change things once I have what I want.

What about getting the Sport, adding the tMotion suspension kit for $370 and breaking the track to make it a FlexEdge? Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Highmarker]

I would go with the etech myself. I know
It's some extra cash, but in the end you will be much happier with it. Better on fuel and oil, no flooding on a rollover, easier throttle pull, etc. plus the suspension and track differences make it worth the extra money in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I think the ptek and xp is a great sled...rode one for several thousand miles and if that's all you can afford then dont be afraid of it at all. I just like the added options of the xm and efi

 

[89sandman]

i'd do the sp just not to have to deal with carbs...

 

[347strokin]

If you do keep your equipment for a long time, get the SP and all the advantages that comes with it. Resale will be much higher on it too if you ever do sell it.

 

[sled_guy]

Have you ever ridden a Ski-Doo. I have not been able to ride one, not because I haven't tried. But the new XM/SP is a dream to ride. You couldn't give me a Sport... well you could but I would sell it and buy an SP, the SP is that much easier and more fun to ride in my opinion.

That said, if you can ride the Ski-Doo from years past then the Sport is a crazy good deal.

If you haven't ridden one, well if you are short and fat like I am, buy the SP.

sled_guy

 

[insanity]

Get an etec, thats the reason i switched from polaris to skidoo. Way more r&d in the motor. Should last a lot longer too

 

[Stevoreno]

Don't know if you've made your decision yet, but here's my .02.

I started riding 4 years ago here in UT (the riding we do is almost exclusively boondocking and mountain riding) on borrowed sleds, all REV's. 2 years ago I bought an 09 XP and rode that the last 2 years until the motor blew end of last winter. I snow-checked an XM and have one ride in on it.

The REV's I rode were all the 144 track, so definitely led to getting stuck quite a bit, especially with the winters we were having in UT. The XP had a 154 track and lots more power, but I found it didn't really gain a whole lot in the handling / flickability department. With it being my first sled, I was obviously really excited to just have one, and managed to get out and ride on it probably 30-35 times. After I blew my motor last year I got about 5 rides in on 2012 X's with the E-Tec motor. I immediately noticed a huge difference in the power on hand. Where I'd have been WOT to get through something, I'd be at 3/4 throttle and in much better control, and just more confident knowing there was so much more power available. The 12 also definitely handled better than the XP, but nothing that really blew me away.

I will mention that I'd gotten a couple hours in on an XM at a demo ride late last season, but it was on hard pack thanks to a warm spell and some rain, not the ideal conditions to test a boondocking/mountain sled... With all the buzz around the Pro's I really debated whether to leave Ski-Doo and go to the Polaris. Ultimately deciding against it for two reasons, the first was the motor, the 2nd was the dealer who carried both brands and who I was going to buy from regardless had no doubts about which sled he thought was the better of the two.

Now to my first ride. About 2 weeks ago we got a pretty good early storm that dropped 20-30 inches depending on where you were, more in favored spots. As I'd felt on the demo ride, the hard pack isn't the spot for XM's, not that they're bad its just that they're setup to be ridden off trail and therefore give up a bit of trail handling performance. Once we got off into fields I was absolutely amazed at the how easy it was to get the sled on edge, changing direction/lines while sidehilling or wrapping around an off camber feature was effortless. Keeping the sled on edge when rolling over into steep technical sections was a dream. All I could think as we were heading in was how thrilled I was at the decision I'd made and how excited I was to ride this sled the rest of the winter.

So, if you're going to keep the sled for a while, and have the $3K, don't hesitate to buy the XM, you won't regret it for a second.

 

[LaharDar]

My last 2 800R motors lasted 2-3 thousand miles. Hopefully the 800RETEC will last me longer.

 

[BCFreerider]

I would have to agree about spending the extra cash and getting the SP. all the improvements over the sport are easily worth the extra $$$. Best of luck and enjoy the new ride


Posted from Snowestonline.com App for Android