Which side by side do you have/considering

I'm in the market for my first side-by-side. What are you guys using. I think I've narrowed my choices down to the Kawasaki mule pro fxt or the Can Am Defender hd 8 or 10. The 8 is plenty, but sometimes more power is what a guy wants. I'm not going to be running all kinds of trails flat out, I'm needing it for farm work and hunting/fishing plus maybe taking a ride with the wife and kids when the weather is nice.

The Kawasaki comes with a 3 year warranty, most only come with a 6 month or year warranty. The Kawasaki, to use the full bed, I will have to detach the back panel, push it in then lock it down again. There is no manual help for dumping, so if I have a load of slag or gravel, I will have to lift it with my own skinny arms. Having to move the whole back seat and dump bed are two main drawbacks for this machine.

The Can Am (8) seems like it is ready to roll. My wife liked it because of the power, it seemed to have more than the Kaw., but that is the gearing. The 10 has 1,000 cc, so it does have more hp. I'm not sure about the Can Am for farm work. I've read the internet just like everyone else, but my feeling is mixed on this.

I'm not downing the Polaris, the Yamaha nor the Honda, but I've narrowed it down to these two. Any thoughts?

Get the Polaris. 😀

Parker, Fox, or L.C. Smith, in that order.

I have a Can Am HD 5 which is smaller than your talking about but it is a workhorse and I have had zero problems.

Connecticut shotgun manufacturing
James Purdey&Son's.

Oh wait,the kaw.

Purdey may cost a little more than his budget. 😀😀

I visited Purdy, and Holland&Holland in London is 1992, very cool.

Have you driven both? I have a 2003 Mule and very happy with it.

Love my Mule!

Polaris

Why not Polaris?

I'd take a look at john deere too

I have a Honda. But, when I got it, I had it narrowed down to it and the Can Am. I really liked the Can Am’s power. The only reasons I didn’t get it was a great deal on the Honda and the Honda has the 2 rear seats that fold down into the bed.

If you are between those two, I would get the Can Am.

This. We bought a Gator 835 this year, and I like it better than any other brand I have used.

I've got a John Deere 825 and it has done everything I've asked it to from farm work to running around the mountains in Jackson county. For a more work/less hobby its hard to beat. More hobby I'd go CanAm, Polaris or Honda.

I don't have much experience with any of them but a friend has the Honda where the seats can fold down.
That feature I think is really cool and I would probably be looking at that one.

Yeah I'd look closer at the Polaris or Honda before the Canned Ham 😀

The honda I was worried about small stones, sand, hay and etc. falling between the seats. I will also put a sprayer on the back, and I would hate to turn the seats a little blue. The mule isn't getting as much love as I thought.

The mule pro fxt is the most comfortable ride for a true utility vehicle, period. You will end up leaving the bed/rear seat in the full bed position almost always. There is a powered dump kit available from Kawasaki also. And I think the Mule still has the only metal bed of any manufacturer, since you mentioned slag and gravel.

It is not, however, a speed demon. That’s one complaint. The other weakness is there is not locking front differential available. That hasn’t yet affected my use and I’m pretty hard on mine/use like it was built to be used on the farm and definitely in the nastiest fine silt mud south Alabama has to offer.

My warranty goes out this month and I haven’t used it for anything. Mine is bone stock except wheels and tires. I went to 28” blackwater evo which are a huge step up from the stock dry land tires.

2 friends with Honda and father has the can am. If I where to buy id go Honda don’t like the can am as much cause it’s belt driven. Don’t want any problems in mud or water

I have a 06 Kawasaki Prarie 360, 05 Polaris Sportsman 700, 2018 Polaris Ranger 900xp and all 3 are Belt Driven, (And purchased new) and I've never experienced belt slippage because of water. Guess it's because i try and avoid crossing Rivers & Lakes with 'em 🤣

The new gator with the full cab is damn fine.

Back in my younger days I would. Not so much now but it turned me off of belt driven vehicles since.

It's real nice, but you can buy a good truck or a midsized tractor for the same price.

Yep my grandad had it narrowed to gator n kubota cab and chose kubota...i wish he woulda got the gator tho... the kubota fits him cuz it's slow and loud and he's old and bout deaf anyway but a 25mph is bout all it gonna do

Stuff will get down in there for sure. But, it doesn’t hurt anything.

I have hunted in one of those on a ranch in Texas. The back seats are difficult to get into, as you have to climb over the side. In addition, whatever gets in the bed, gets on the seats. Mud, blood, crap, corn, fertilizer, doesn't matter. The fold down back seats are always filthy, and you lose bed space when one or both of them is open.

You’re dang right about that.

I was at a camp last week and there was a new Mule a new Can Am and a new Ranger. The Can Am was significantly quieter than the other two. I did notice this particular model had lower ground clearance but I know Can Am has a couple models with different ground clearance measurements.

This is why I've turned to "knowledgable people" of good repute. Someone needs to take the best of all of them and build a quality machine for work/hunting/fishing/and some fun. I'm sure some would take it and try to float it across an area beavers have damed up, then complain the company didn't honor the extended warranty. Some may build a ramp and try to be the "Duke Boys" over the dam. Some would jack it up on a 5" lift and complain it sways when running 70 down a dirt road with pot holes while swerving around the gullies. Some wouldn't do the necessary oil changes and what-not resulting in black dirt oil that has lost almost all it's viscosity, then complain their pistons burned up, and the manufacturer is poor and won't honor a warranty.

Honda or a kawasaki mule.

I don't have any experience with the newer Deere Gators. I hear they are nice. I would hate to have to deal with Sunsouth if anything ever went wrong. Even to the point if I needed to order a piece of broken plastic. They would act like I was trying to order a flux capacitor. The machine is probably great.

Of all the others mentioned I would say the Can AM and the Honda 1000 are at a higher level of engineering. They run smooth and everything is super tight and I feel like I'm driving a car as compared to some of the others mentioned. I have a Honda and Polaris Crew, Kubotas and Mules at work. I would say the Kawasaki is about like the Pioneer 700. Still a great machine but not quite the achievement they made with the 1000.


To keep trash from falling down between the seats on the Honda machines you can get a hard plastic bed liner (molded like you see in a pickup truck) for about $300 from Honda. It is an accessory. They also make a rubber bed mat.

I had and sold a kubota RTV900 because my buddy bought the honda and keeps it at my place (can't beat that deal). Really miss it for doing real work, but the smaller Honda is affordable and has not had any performance issues, but it is a pain in the rear to keep clean. It flings mud everywhere and on the passengers and under the jump seats. The rubber mat helps keep non-liquids from coming through the bed, but it still sucks. He plans to sell it and get something else cause it is a pain. But mechanically it is pretty awesome and great to drive.

My experience with the new gators is that 2 guys that I know well that have had them sold them and bought Rangers. The way the floorboards are in the gators causes dust to rise up in the cab and cover everything. I had to totally take down my turkey gun to clean it after a day in it. They are also loud going downhill (kind of a hiss).

My uncle has had 2 mules and likes them. They are good on the farm, but I think that they handle about like a kubota and don't have all the benefits.

I have never seen a CanAM. Only city folk buy those in my part of the country. But I don't know anybody with a Toyota truck either, so take that for what its worth.

Everybody and their brother has a Ranger, so that info is out there. and as far as water goes that is what my waterfowl buddies all have and you just ride out to the pits in waders cause the water is up to the seat. Some have snorkels. It is amazing what those machines can do if you use low range when you are supposed to.

If I had the $$ I would go with the Viking. It rides great, takes serious abuse, and is a yamaha. My 95 kodiak still runs about the same as 25 years ago with only a couple carb jobs.

Though my old kubota could gravel roads, dump logs, and once had 4 bucks and a doe with three guys all over 220# and was still crawling up some steep hills for our 9 mile drive to the cabin. which surprisingly didn't take much longer than if it would have been empty. Those old ones were slow, slow, slow.

It isn't the floorboard in the Gator, it's whether or not it has a back window. Rangers without back windows are the same way in dusty conditions. After this trip, I will be adding one. There was also a Polaris Ranger at camp last week, and I have spent significant time driving multiple Rangers. I would rather have the Gator. I got over 13 MPG on this last trip.

On top of everything else, the Gator comes standard with 14" wheels and 27" tires, which are a pricey option on the Ranger.

These both had back windows that were glass and roofs. So, whatever it was it filled the cab full of dust. Friend made a box for the back to keep stuff in when riding around while he had it but eventually sold it.

Like I said, I would buy the viking. But the John Deere guys switched to Rangers.

That new cab on the gator isn’t letting any dust in. We put 30 miles on one Friday evening

That may have been the issue. I know one of them fabricated the cab himself. It looked great, but maybe it wasn't sealed the same. I just remember the outer floorboard was not straight.

Second thing is our topsoil is loess. These fine silty soils can really sneak in to about anything. You would be surprised how it gets in trucks when you think the windows up. In Alabama you won't have as big of an issue with that.

Lastly, hasn't it rained like every day? Where would you have found dust?

Cuz this is a sealed cab like on a deere tractor. It’s not home made. Our dirt roads dry fast and you will kick up dust with only a day of wind or sun.

My dad always said tractors were made to be red, so...... I'm just messing with you. Though, the only non-red tractors in our family were an olive colored Oliver crawler and an old grey ferguson-20.

Glad you like your gator.

We really like our Yamaha viking
When was looking we looked at about all of them but the can am and the Yamaha won our vote

Was t my gator. I was a a friend riding along with a rifle seeing if we couldn’t kill something.

I’ve ridden in all of them. They all have pros and cons...you’ve got to decide what’s best for your needs and weigh them. For pure work the Deere and Kubota are tough and can carry the load but they come at a price of speed and weight. For knocking around, hunting, and burning down some roads the Honda, Polaris, and CanAm are in the top of that category with speed, agility, and performance. I have a Polaris Crew 1000XP and it’s been awesome for the family but it’s main use is deer and quail hunting. Best bet is to try them all and buy what you believe works best for you. There are lemons and superstars in all of these manufacturers. Find the configuration that you think matches your application and roll with it.

Oh BTW..... if I could afford a Purdy that’d be my pick. I’m more in the SKB market due to the cover I hunt😂😂😂😂

I had a Yamaha Rhino and was absolutely terrible when it was cold , never would want to crank. Bought a Polaris Ranger 570 full-size and have been more than happy with it

Yamaha viking

Got a Polaris RZR. Thing will go anywhere

I have driven one of the new cabbed gators and they are NOT slow like the old ones. The diesel was 35 mph and the gas one would flat out fly! That being said, for an R model diesel they want a ton of money, more than I can justify. The Kubota 1100C is pretty basic inside, and I gather they are still slow as always but they are priced much better than the decked out gators. I doubt I will be buying either, but a man can want. I imagine as the years go on I will end up with one as I am spending more and more time on the roads going from small farm to small farm and there is going to come a time when the golf carts just wont be what I want anymore. FYI I LOVE my electric golf carts, they go GREAT and you can sneak up on anything with em but they dont have AC.

Jason

We have gas Gators at work. The newest ones (about 2 years old) will run 47. To me it feels like you're going 60.

Im looking at the Honda Pioneer 700 and Can Am HD8. I shot a buck last weekend and fella drove his Can Am HD 10 defender down deep in the bottom of a holler pushing over fist size trees with no problem. He did have custom front brush guard for pushing stuff. He had full skid plate underneath his Ham and CTV joints were plated as well. It was impressive to see that thing in action. He had a winch in the bed to pull deer in with.

Ranger 900.

I saw one of those kawasaki Mule pro crew cabs 3 years ago. Brand new crew cab. That thing went off a rice levee for the first time and broke an axle.

I pulled him out with my Polaris and ferried all those disappointed guys around.

Or hell, get the Polaris 1000.

I like my mule. Its not fast but it suits my needs perfectly. No trouble with it at all so far.

Starting at only $26,000

Yep, check out the price for an "R" model diesel. Its well over 30k IIRC.

Jason

All I have is a Stevens/Fox B-model. 20.

I have the Cam Am HD8, I love it. I had rangers before this and would not go back to one now. More features on the Can Am like the fold up seats, removable tool/glove box. Can am rides smoother and faster than the ranger. My can am will run 63-64 loaded with people

I have a ranger 900xp and I really don’t know what anyone would expect a side by side to do that it can’t do. I got it used so not sure how they measure up to the others on price.

I have a Honda pioneer 500 and it is a money pit. They have a bad wire harness/ground issue. It’s broke down right now for the 3rd time. It’s a 2016. It eats batteries and computers/ecm. I wouldn’t recommend a Honda. The last time it was in the shop I was told if replacing the ecm didn’t fix the issue then I’d need to replace the harness and the harness is worth more than the machine. Their words at s&w. Gonna take it somewhere else and see if I can’t get it fixed and sell it since I have a tractor now

We have a Ranger crew at our farm, one of the other guys I help some just bought a new Kawasaki crew cab and that thing is way nicer than our Ranger. It’s rear seat folds so you have a bigger bed and it seems just built heavier than the ranger. The transmission is smoother as well at low speed. Time will tell how well it does but we haul feed and move deer on them all the time so they Have a rough life in that regard but no off road use so they may suffer there idk.

We have an 06 or 07 Mule. It has been beyond reliable. Cranks every time. Not real fast and lacks leg room for a taller person but it’s a workhorse.
We have brand new Mules at work. They are nicer now and I still think I’d lean that way.

I have a can am hd8 and love it. Had it 2 years now and it's been perfect for me. I hunt with 2 guys that have polaris rangers and one has been great and one stays broke. But people have troubles with all brands. I think they are all good but the can am had more room inside and more storage. It was more fatboy friendly.

I ended up going w/ the Can Am Max XT HD 10. This thing cost almost as much as the 98 Chevy Z71 I bought new in November of 97. I hope this Can Am is as reliable as my truck has been. I'm at over 450K on my truck, and it has only needed a few odds and ends done to it with regular maintenance.

Can second pretty much everything he said. Mule pro fxt is the way to go

I've only ever had a polaris ranger crew 800 14 model. Never once had any issues with mine. I have done all my own maintenance, oil and filter changes. I just changed the belt because I wanted to and didnt want any issues during hunting season. If I had the money to go get whatever it would be a polaris or a can am. Heard good things on them. Good luck