I am considering the purchase of a Honda Pioneer. I have a Polaris Ranger and it has been a good machine for 14 years of hard work, but I would like to get away from a belt driven machine. Can any of you gentlemen list any pros or cons on the Honda, or any of the other UTV's for that matter? I am open to considering other makes/models so long if it is really good off road and set up for work use. Thanks !

My Uncle and a friend both have one of the 1000s (Both are 4 seaters) and they get warm as hell in the cab, and one of them has been having Transmission troubles, that's why i went back with a Ranger cause i was worried about the cost if you had transmission troubles not to mention they're noisy when they shift gears, Also my uncle purchased is the same time i got my Ranger and he's already had to take his back for 2 recalls. There's not a ton of room to haul stuff, and he said it's a pain in the butt when you throw dirt or a bloody deer in the back cause it gets in the cracks of the fold down seats

We have a Pioneer 1000-5. I love it. Tons of power. Does anything I need it to do.

The only downside I can tell you is that it gets fairly hot in the dang thing. You can google search about it, it’s bearable, but definitely hotter than I would have expected.

Honda had a recall and installed a heat shield... it helped, but I’ll eventually look into something after market for it.

They said the same about the heat shield, so they went with something after market (not sure what) but they said it helped a good bit

I will say this, I just bought a 2019 Polaris ranger. I’ve been using my dads 2006 ranger for past 13 years and it has been a beast of a machine. This 2019 xp1000 that I just bought is a very impressive machine. I was actually looking to buy a CanAm defender but when I drove both at the dealer the ranger just felt better. Our club has Kawasaki’s, Honda’s, Mules, Rangers, Generals, CanAm defender and commander. I’ve drove all of them and just felt the ranger was the better choice.

I have the 700 2 seater. Love it. Fairly quiet machine. It can get a little warm during the summer months and work days. Have had zero issues. I have talked with numerous folks that had the 1000 4 seaters. Those seem to be the ones that have all the tranny issues. Had a guy stop me at a gas station and ask me about that. He had the 4 seater 1000.

I specifically went with the pioneer for the tranny and no belt. I use mine to haul crap around at the club. Hook up a trailer and haul wood out, etc. Been very satisfied.

Oh, and the engine in my XP is under the bed now so the passenger seat no longer feels like a hot plate in summer time and it’s not as loud in the cab as the old ranger, can carry on a conversation without screaming to each other.

I have a 700-4. I’ve had it since December and it gets used every weekend. I’ve had no problems with it. I like it and the fact I can put 4 people in it and it is still the same length as everyone else’s 2 seater. It is also a lot more quiet than other SxS brands.

Thanks for the feedback, I knew Aldeer would not disappoint. If I went the honda route I would be looking at the 700 as it should be more nimble. I have caught the blues with belts over the years, and thought the honda might be the route to go. I like the built for work idea of the Gators, Kubotas, etc., but they flat just won't cut it off road. The idea of having a work bed and the extra seating if needed may not work to good after all. The price of these machines make for some tough decisions !

My dad has a 1000 and it's been nothing but great. We put a heat shield under the front seat and it getting hot hasn't been a problem. Where we hunt in the mountains those Polaris will get you killed because of the crappy engine braking they have/had). Polaris may have fixed that problem but the last time I rode in one several years ago you had to ride the breaks all the way down or it'd free wheel and fly down the mountain.The Honda will dang near stop going down the mountain when in low gear no need for even pressing the brake pedal.

True. I didn’t think to list that. We had 5 full grown men in the pioneer the other day and it had no problem going up and down the side of Skyline.

I've got a family of 5 and will be in the market soon. Everyone won't be in it all the time. I couldn't imagine having to turn one of those big sumbitches around in the woods.

Has anyone had any experience with the Polaris 570 crew?ive been looking at them,they have decent prices on new ones and I’ve found some dang good deals on low hour used ones,there’s five of us so I need something big enough for us and our stuff,the Honda has no room to haul anything if you have riders in the back seat,that’s the one thing I don’t like about them

Not the 570 but I have the 900xp crew and it’s a battle tank. Handles well. And quiet

I don’t know why they make bucket seats in side x sides. Bench is so much more versatile.

I hear heated seats are now standard on those

I looked at the 570. Low ground clearance, loud and, according to the dealer where I went, not a machine they recommend. He told me it was outdated and basically the old model with a new engine.

I recently bought a Can Am defender and I love it. I looked at Honda’s, but as mentioned I didn’t like that you lose the bed with the back seats up. Can Am is quiet, doesn’t get hot, has 3 modes (work, normal, economy).

I have the 1000 3-seater E-steering and love it. Yeah, there's 3 recalls IIRC, but Honda announced it and fixed them on their dime. The hot seat mod worked a little in the summer time, but it still feels good when it's cold. The tilt bed is awesome.....just throw the deer, stand, bow, firewood, chainsaw, whatever in the back and go. The drivetrain has settings with no-diff 2WD, rear-diff lock 2WD, 4WD, and 4WD with both diff lock. Paddle shifters to manually select the gear you need. Get the roof and windshield and you have a mobile shooting house. I've had a couple Polaris owners say it's quiet.

Wish I had got one of those I got a 17 yamaha viking and its tore up never been abused only used on farm and hunting

I bought a Pioneer 500 a few months back. Being a woods hunter, I needed something narrower with a good turning radius I could get into tight places with. I actually went shopping for a new 4 wheeler, but settled on the Pioneer once I saw it and tried it out. Zero seat heat issues with it.

Been nothing but pleased.

I have a 2015 Polaris 900XP and am pleased with it. Tough as a tank. Handles well. It is a handy workhorse around the house and on the farm.

For what some of these cost, i think I'd rather have a jeep like james.

I did my research. Polaris is a top seller for a reason. Talked to a guy that owns an independent shop working on UTVs, ATVs, Jet skies and such, and he told me that parts on Polaris are cheapest, and they're easy to work on. Said they don't break any more than any other but are a helluva lot easier to work on and get parts for. Honda don't make much you'd call crap. Everything has it's good and bad, belt drive or other. If the belt drive don't work best for you, then Honda not a bad choice, but they're pricey compared to competition. No dog in this fight to argue over what I was told. I bought a Polaris 900 before last hunting season, and it's given me good service for what I use it for. I don't work it hard other than loading with about 700lbs of corn or pulling a small bush hog. Has just over 50hrs after a year's service.

I have a 16 700-4. It’s been a good one so far. I have used it pulling a little bush hog and disc since I’ve had it and can’t complain about its power. Only complaint is top speed is about 43 and it is wound out when it gets there. I usually stay around 10-20 so it’s not much of a problem.

We have a Yamaha rhino 660 05 model I believe. It's been abused and keeps ticking. I have looked at the hondas and I really like them. It's hard to beat honda reliability.The only thing that scares me is that if it did have transmission problems down the road that could be a very expensive repair. Whereas, on a belt machine not a lot can go wrong, just belts. As impressed as I've been with the rhino I would look at the new Viking. It comes standard with full body skids and every electrical connection is suppose to be water tight. The older I get the less I care about bells and whistles, I just need the joker to work when I need it to work. The rangers are good machines but polaris puts so many out it seems they sometimes struggle in there quality control. It seems like the rangers can be hit or miss on reliability. Just my two cents.

If you know any guys who hog hunt with dogs, see what they own. I guarantee they have the toughest machine they can afford.

I have a Polaris 800 Crew that has been beat to hail and back and still going. It has been a good machine. You just need to keep up with the service and as long as you don't tow a bunch of stuff around with it I never had much belt trouble that I thought was the fault of the machine. If you overload it... rough on the belt but keep it stock and drive like an adult and you won't have much trouble.

I have also had both the Honda's and the 700-4 could not even come close to matching the 1000 in the power and drive train performance but it was a very solid machine. I did not think it was underpowered for it's size. I would buy another it was a nice one. The 1000 on the other hand was more of a performance oriented machine. It drove a little nicer than the 700-4, had more power obviously... but just seemed more complicated and if it broke you were going to be into some expensive repairs. I wasn't using it enough to justify the cost and sold it.

I decided I don't really need a UTV my roads are all in good shape and a Jeep or Toyota is a better fit. I am working out there not "riding". Kept the old Ranger Crew just in case I needed it for something or we wanted to go "riding" around, etc..

Had a friend who had a Polaris 900 that would break down on wet grass. Was the biggest POS I had ever seen. He got a pioneer 1000 and has had no trouble with it. Huntbig on here has the 700 I believe and has not had any trouble either. If I could afford one id have the 1000.

we had a buncha rangers..i liked them when they ran but we had trouble out of every single model we had to the point we quit fixin them and just started buyin john deere gators....then they started tearin up and had non stop issues...but we needed full size crew cab models..they just bought 2 crew cab can ams so i guess we will see what happens. We had several honda 4 wheelers and pioneers that wer used for brush work and they wer abused most of all and had the fewest problems(4wheelers had zero and still havent costed more than an oil change)and best maintwnance Value...if i bought one today itd be a pioneer or a kawasaki..preferrably a mule.