snowgoer m858 test

[hansenmac]

Snowgoer magazine tested a 9r an m858 a skidoo something and a lynx. They were sooo impressed with how light the polaris was compared to the others.. I watched the snowest podcast where they road and weighed all 3 brands and the cat and polaris were virtually tied for lightest. Snowgoer also said how the cat felt heavy and trenched, but then a few lines later said "lots of traction! the 3 inch track will hook up and pop up on the snow. the snowest guys all thought the 858 felt the lightest. Its funny to see how different opinions were between the two tests. The snowgoer article did say the suspension was set very stiff so maybe the rear was cranked up and the limiter set tight putting lots of pressure on the skis. I guess i would maybe throw a guage on the shocks and see if i could change a few things before i made those conclusions about the sled.
i have a m858 and the last thing it is, is front end heavy.

 

[turboless terry]

All subjective. Doesn't matter if you're happy. The heavy could be because they can feel planted depending on setup and foot placement. Steering is heavy on them. Had higher hopes. Polaris feels like power steering compared to 858. That track will trench some. Nothing trenches even remotely close to a lynx. Cat tips up easy.
My only gripes would be heavy steering, estart button freezes up, heating issues, big swimming pool where guage is and I absolutely hate the ski loops.

 

[madmax]

Did snowgoer have a 2.75 or 3.25 track on their Polaris. That would make a huge diffference.

 

[Sage Crusher]

Maybe Snowgoer was coming off a Gen 5 ...LOL!

 

[Driver]

Snowgoer magazine tested a 9r an m858 a skidoo something and a lynx. They were sooo impressed with how light the polaris was compared to the others.. I watched the snowest podcast where they road and weighed all 3 brands and the cat and polaris were virtually tied for lightest. Snowgoer also said how the cat felt heavy and trenched

Light on the scale but feels heavy to ride, I have heard this before... Had a chance to ride a 858 of friend of mine. I can 100% say its mostly the powertrain calibration. I have wrote about this before and will say it again, they messed up with the clutching. 48 straight helix on a non turbo mountain sled is insane. Make clutching, especially secondary lighter and less loading and that sled will perform a lot better and rides lighter.

Go to almost a any tuning shop or clutch kit, they will sell you these heavy loading kits that have that feel of pulling hard. Its easy to make these kits and sell them as you get signifigantly different feel than stock, so the kit "works". But actually they dont win races up the hill and make ride a heavy feel with slow throttle response. Past few years I have been working on a making clutching that has that light feeling of riding but still pulls good track speeds. And always these old school tuners from 90s come up saying its wrong and doesnt work.

 

[hansenmac]

i'm guessing it was set up for ski pressure or something. not mad at them, if thats how they felt. just find it funny the guys on the snowest podcast said the exact opposite, that it rode the lightest. I dont find the steering to be heavy, the old chassis had heavy steering for sure. most things are tunable, adjust the shocks for heavy or light front end ect. just commenting on how the two had such different oppinions. the sleds must have been set up way different. Also with the clutching that is very gradual its hard for me to see that it would trench.