Pacific NW Crossover sled owners or trail riders who think their sleds perform well off trail

[Wsunate]

I put PNW in the title as I'm mostly looking for opinions from folks here in the west. Also, I'm new to this group so if this should be elsewhere, let me know.

I'm in a conundrum and I'll try to make the back story short.
Wife and I are early 60's, retired and have ridden since the 80's on Arctic Cat Jag, Yamaha enticer/exciter and RMK albeit predominantly trails. Got out of riding for 15 years then recently got back in with Yamaha Phazers. Got stuck all the time and those things were heavy!
I fixed the getting stuck part when I traded off the Phazers and bought us 2021 Summit SP 154 600, one with 2.5 and one with 3inch tracks. However, during my research I clearly glossed over the trail riding characteristics of these mountain sleds...I mean, I live in the mountains, right? So they should be fine! We have come to discover the Summit is at home in deep snow but does not have great trail manners. And we're also not comfortable as deep snow, deep backcountry riders.
It's also worth noting that we like to get out mid week without the crowds and when we get off trail or get stuck, we need to be able to self-rescue. We like to ride pretty fast including my wife. We're definitely not mountain-riding trained but I don't see us getting into it, having tried Revelstoke and being amazed by the great snow and our lack of ability to ride it! Also, before everyone skewers me, I do have nearly every sno-bunje self-rescue thing, we use radios, Garmin inReach, first aid, saw, etc.

So facing the reality that we want to ride trails and still be able to get off and play in more gentle off trail terrain, the crossover segment seems appealing.
Riding locations: we ride eastern Washington and north Idaho as home. We want to ride McCall, Island Park and other places we haven't heard of yet.

For those of you who can identify with our riding scenario and ride crossovers or trail sleds that you think do well in play areas, I'm interested in your real world impressions about the pros and cons of your setups. If you ride a mountain sled that handles trails well, I'm interested also although it got pretty expensive when I looked into switching the front end and changing the track. My current research includes Ski-Doo Backcountry and Polaris Switchback but within those, there are several variants.

We're quite happy with our 600's so I don't see a need for 850 or turbo. I'm also not partial to a brand. In the crossover category, I wonder if the longer lugged track options might be better for our theoretical 60 trail/40 off-trail riding but that's why I'm here asking for real world experiences.
What limitations and positives have you discovered?

Thanks in advance
Nathan

 

[volcano buster]

I think you have set your expectations to match a cross-over style sled quite well.
You will be wanting the wider front end to handle the trail speeds and a longer track with medium height lugs to handle the ungroomed or off trail situations. I don't think that style sled should be too extremely heavy that you can't self recover either.
In reality, it wasn't that long ago that the hills were being combed with sleds similarly capable and guys were having a ball doing it. Now that more capable machines are out there you just need to set the bar for your expectations. I think you are on the right track.

 

[Heavymodd]

I ride a ton of trails with my family but I will add it's also in the west were the trails have sufficient snow and I love a 2.5" track. For the mornings when the base may be a little firm I throw down the scratchers and never have a problem. I think you should stay with the 38" stance range for trails riding stability but it also gives you the play factor for going off trail. A 154 track i find for trail riding is a little long and can be nose heavy with more ski weight. A 146" track is the best for all worlds. Steers nice on the trail yet offers the floatation for playing off trail. My 80 year old father still rides and he is on a 16 backcountry 600 146x 1.6 track as he don't go off trail much but even a 2" track on that sled would make it a weapon on and off trail.
Happy riding and good luck with your find.

 

[Wsunate]

I ride a ton of trails with my family but I will add it's also in the west were the trails have sufficient snow and I love a 2.5" track. For the mornings when the base may be a little firm I throw down the scratchers and never have a problem. I think you should stay with the 38" stance range for trails riding stability but it also gives you the play factor for going off trail. A 154 track i find for trail riding is a little long and can be nose heavy with more ski weight. A 146" track is the best for all worlds. Steers nice on the trail yet offers the floatation for playing off trail. My 80 year old father still rides and he is on a 16 backcountry 600 146x 1.6 track as he don't go off trail much but even a 2" track on that sled would make it a weapon on and off trail.
Happy riding and good luck with your find.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've wondered about putting a 2inch track on the Summit but was concerned about the track length. I have thought about the narrower stance as well which is why the crossover platform is appealing with its adjustability from 38-40".