2
After a good day of riding, the drive down the mountain is typically a snack and a good nap for me. However, on Sunday, February 5th, it turned out to be exceptional. My phone rang and it was good a friend I don’t hear from all that often. She asked me what I had planned for the upcoming Friday, I told her we were going to a hockey game. “What would it take to change your plans” she asked. That caught my attention! “How would you like to drive to Utah and be one of the first consumers to get to ride the 2013 Polaris Pro” she asks. :bounce: For those who know me, I’m not often speechless, but I didn’t have a clue what to say. I told her I would call her back when I was off the mountain.
The decision was easy, how could I say no!? So I called her back and told her I would do it and I started to make plans. I could never put into words how nervous I was! Felt like a million butterflies had taken over and I started thinking: Why me? What could I possibly have to offer in the way of reviewing a new sled? How much different than the 2011 or 2012 could it really be? What would the Polaris guys be like? Would they want to hear REAL comments?
I was overjoyed to find out that not only did I get to be ONE OF THE FIRST SEVEN CONSUMERS TO RIDE THE 2013 PRO, I got to do it with some of my extended snowmobile family: Geoff “Phatty” Dyer, Brandy Floyd, Brent Anderson, Eric “Mountainhorse”, and a couple of people I hadn’t ever ridden with, Jared Sessions and Charlie Jones. Plus, one of my favorite riding partners was going to accompany me on the trip so we could make a riding weekend out of it! This was going to be an incredible weekend!
Friday morning we had breakfast with a few of the Polaris team. All of them are great guys who were genuinely interested in us and our opinions of the sleds. Down to earth and eager to answer questions we had about the sleds.
During a brief presentation, they showed us not only the changes they made, but explained why they made the changes, which was very enlightening. They shared some new products that would be available in the future (several I MUST have) and made us sign away our first born and promise not to wreck the sleds…something about not having ANY spare parts! Wow! No pressure there huh!?
My butterflies are working overtime by now! Gear on, check everything one more time, out the door. Walking toward the sleds lined up next to the Polaris trailer was SO cool! At this point, my nerves are going crazy. I keep hearing, “We don’t have any replacement parts.” OMG! They obviously haven’t seen my pictures on Facebook! Yikes!
“Pick a sled” they say! I do. Put my pink Mohawk adorned helmet on the handlebars – hm…looks good on this sled. I sit on the seat, which I was prepared to dislike as it looked entirely too small. Wiggle, wiggle, move around a bit. Okay – maybe I like it a little bit. I decide I better get the camera out to take a few pictures to prove I actually DID get to do this!
Everyone finally arrives and we all start the sleds and head off into the hills. I am determined to pay really close attention to everything so I can give a good review.
I rode a 2010 Arctic Cat M8 for the last two seasons. I loved that sled! The main issue with it for me was the energy it takes to steer. At the end of a good riding day, I was exhausted and completely worn out. When my husband decided to snow check a 2012 Pro, I wanted to try his 2011 to see if I would like it. I wasn’t a fan of my 2007 IQ chassis, so was skeptical that I would like the pro at all. I had a day when I had both the Pro and the Cat on the mountain to do a true comparison. Yep, you guessed it, I could no longer ride the Cat like I could the Pro. So, the Pro stays in the stable. I’ve ridden the 2011 Pro about ten days and have spent a little time on a 2012.
I have never gotten on a sled and fallen INSTANTLY in love with it…until now. I now know what Burandt means by “flickable.” My determination to pay close attention went out the window when I started to ride it. All I wanted to do was ride it some more.
The first thing I noticed as we bombed down the trail was the ride. When I rode the stock ’12 down the trail, it felt like it was too stiff and needed some suspension shock adjustment. The ’13 did not feel that way for me. It was comfortable and took the bumps and cornered very well.
Then, as we established our “base camp,” I thought I was losing it. I tried to turn the machine off, but it kept running. That’s when I realized they had moved the kill switch to position where you won’t hit it accidentally when riding. Yay! I do that all the time! Love it! Before going off to play on the sled, I ask if the tree magnets have been removed, Mark assures me they have been. Evidently they were not removed from ALL of the sleds as Brandy and Phatty both found trees….little bit different ways, but trees none-the-less.
Off we go to play in the trees and to search out any little pockets of pow we could find. The snow was a little weird in that it had soft spots. But on this sled, it just dove in, popped out and kept right on going!
On the 2011 and 2012, I have struggled with the “tipping point” of the sled. The 2013, somehow, isn’t the same. When in a tight carve, the 2011 and 2012 reach a point where they want to lay all the way over and on the 2013, it just keeps going and seems easier to pop back out of the carve and keep going.
Polaris didn’t say they made any obvious changes in the suspension other than the 2 inner wheels instead of bogie wheels on the outside of the rails. But there is something there and it’s a noticeable, welcomed difference.
The seat on the 13 is wider and SO much more comfortable than those on the 11 and 12. The seat is shorter, which I thought would not be a good thing. On my 11, I sit further back, but it is because the seat is narrow at the front and not comfortable there. So the new seat is great!
What? You want to know about the running boards? Oh, those. Well, they are AWESOME! They are a little sharp, so you have to be careful not to kneel on the boards, right Phatty? They hold your foot nicely and I didn’t worry about my foot slipping off the edge, I just rode. If you move your feet around at all, no snow builds up where you have been. They did seem to build up on the back 6-8 inches, just like the ’12 when compared side by side. But the ’12 had snow elsewhere also, and the ’13 was clean. One bad thing about these boards, your food and water bottles fall through the holes! It’s a good trade-off! I was initially thinking that the boards would eat a pair of boots, but now that I know you don’t have to kick snow, I’m wondering if my boot soles will actually live longer!
In our briefing about the sleds, we were told that there is a potential to hear the belt drive until it is broken in. The sled I was on had something like 2.5 miles, and I never once heard what I thought was the belt drive noise.
The ’13 felt snappy off the bottom end and had good, smooth power. The throttle felt smoother and like it took less effort to go faster. I had throttle thumb surgery in July, and have had a little trouble by the end of the day on my ’11, but on the ’13, I didn’t have any issues at the end of the day.
Although my M8 has more horsepower than the Pro (160 compared to 145), the Pro feels like it gets on the snow better and pulls great. Power band is smooth and climbs and boondocks like no sled I’ve ever ridden.
Would I trade my 11 for a 13? I tried, they were having none of it. I would and probably will sell the 11 to get into a 13 – it really is THAT much better imho.
CHANGES:
Questions? Ask away - I feel this is the best balanced, most comfortable sled i've ever jumped on and been able to ride. I've never seen a snowmobile platform that could change a rider so much as this one!
And there you have my MORE than 2 cents!
Tammy
The decision was easy, how could I say no!? So I called her back and told her I would do it and I started to make plans. I could never put into words how nervous I was! Felt like a million butterflies had taken over and I started thinking: Why me? What could I possibly have to offer in the way of reviewing a new sled? How much different than the 2011 or 2012 could it really be? What would the Polaris guys be like? Would they want to hear REAL comments?
I was overjoyed to find out that not only did I get to be ONE OF THE FIRST SEVEN CONSUMERS TO RIDE THE 2013 PRO, I got to do it with some of my extended snowmobile family: Geoff “Phatty” Dyer, Brandy Floyd, Brent Anderson, Eric “Mountainhorse”, and a couple of people I hadn’t ever ridden with, Jared Sessions and Charlie Jones. Plus, one of my favorite riding partners was going to accompany me on the trip so we could make a riding weekend out of it! This was going to be an incredible weekend!
Friday morning we had breakfast with a few of the Polaris team. All of them are great guys who were genuinely interested in us and our opinions of the sleds. Down to earth and eager to answer questions we had about the sleds.
During a brief presentation, they showed us not only the changes they made, but explained why they made the changes, which was very enlightening. They shared some new products that would be available in the future (several I MUST have) and made us sign away our first born and promise not to wreck the sleds…something about not having ANY spare parts! Wow! No pressure there huh!?
My butterflies are working overtime by now! Gear on, check everything one more time, out the door. Walking toward the sleds lined up next to the Polaris trailer was SO cool! At this point, my nerves are going crazy. I keep hearing, “We don’t have any replacement parts.” OMG! They obviously haven’t seen my pictures on Facebook! Yikes!
“Pick a sled” they say! I do. Put my pink Mohawk adorned helmet on the handlebars – hm…looks good on this sled. I sit on the seat, which I was prepared to dislike as it looked entirely too small. Wiggle, wiggle, move around a bit. Okay – maybe I like it a little bit. I decide I better get the camera out to take a few pictures to prove I actually DID get to do this!
Everyone finally arrives and we all start the sleds and head off into the hills. I am determined to pay really close attention to everything so I can give a good review.
I rode a 2010 Arctic Cat M8 for the last two seasons. I loved that sled! The main issue with it for me was the energy it takes to steer. At the end of a good riding day, I was exhausted and completely worn out. When my husband decided to snow check a 2012 Pro, I wanted to try his 2011 to see if I would like it. I wasn’t a fan of my 2007 IQ chassis, so was skeptical that I would like the pro at all. I had a day when I had both the Pro and the Cat on the mountain to do a true comparison. Yep, you guessed it, I could no longer ride the Cat like I could the Pro. So, the Pro stays in the stable. I’ve ridden the 2011 Pro about ten days and have spent a little time on a 2012.
I have never gotten on a sled and fallen INSTANTLY in love with it…until now. I now know what Burandt means by “flickable.” My determination to pay close attention went out the window when I started to ride it. All I wanted to do was ride it some more.
The first thing I noticed as we bombed down the trail was the ride. When I rode the stock ’12 down the trail, it felt like it was too stiff and needed some suspension shock adjustment. The ’13 did not feel that way for me. It was comfortable and took the bumps and cornered very well.
Then, as we established our “base camp,” I thought I was losing it. I tried to turn the machine off, but it kept running. That’s when I realized they had moved the kill switch to position where you won’t hit it accidentally when riding. Yay! I do that all the time! Love it! Before going off to play on the sled, I ask if the tree magnets have been removed, Mark assures me they have been. Evidently they were not removed from ALL of the sleds as Brandy and Phatty both found trees….little bit different ways, but trees none-the-less.
Off we go to play in the trees and to search out any little pockets of pow we could find. The snow was a little weird in that it had soft spots. But on this sled, it just dove in, popped out and kept right on going!
On the 2011 and 2012, I have struggled with the “tipping point” of the sled. The 2013, somehow, isn’t the same. When in a tight carve, the 2011 and 2012 reach a point where they want to lay all the way over and on the 2013, it just keeps going and seems easier to pop back out of the carve and keep going.
Polaris didn’t say they made any obvious changes in the suspension other than the 2 inner wheels instead of bogie wheels on the outside of the rails. But there is something there and it’s a noticeable, welcomed difference.
The seat on the 13 is wider and SO much more comfortable than those on the 11 and 12. The seat is shorter, which I thought would not be a good thing. On my 11, I sit further back, but it is because the seat is narrow at the front and not comfortable there. So the new seat is great!
What? You want to know about the running boards? Oh, those. Well, they are AWESOME! They are a little sharp, so you have to be careful not to kneel on the boards, right Phatty? They hold your foot nicely and I didn’t worry about my foot slipping off the edge, I just rode. If you move your feet around at all, no snow builds up where you have been. They did seem to build up on the back 6-8 inches, just like the ’12 when compared side by side. But the ’12 had snow elsewhere also, and the ’13 was clean. One bad thing about these boards, your food and water bottles fall through the holes! It’s a good trade-off! I was initially thinking that the boards would eat a pair of boots, but now that I know you don’t have to kick snow, I’m wondering if my boot soles will actually live longer!
In our briefing about the sleds, we were told that there is a potential to hear the belt drive until it is broken in. The sled I was on had something like 2.5 miles, and I never once heard what I thought was the belt drive noise.
The ’13 felt snappy off the bottom end and had good, smooth power. The throttle felt smoother and like it took less effort to go faster. I had throttle thumb surgery in July, and have had a little trouble by the end of the day on my ’11, but on the ’13, I didn’t have any issues at the end of the day.
Although my M8 has more horsepower than the Pro (160 compared to 145), the Pro feels like it gets on the snow better and pulls great. Power band is smooth and climbs and boondocks like no sled I’ve ever ridden.
Would I trade my 11 for a 13? I tried, they were having none of it. I would and probably will sell the 11 to get into a 13 – it really is THAT much better imho.
CHANGES:
- I am with Brandy – need a tether.
- I would love to see a manufacturer put a clear tunnel wrap on the sides of the tunnel. Part of the reason the snow builds up on the boards is because it sticks to the sides of the tunnel. Simple, cheap fix with a clear or maybe black tunnel wrap.
- Storage. I know this is a weight issue, but seriously, after having had my M8 with the small child storage in the seat, I had to buy 3 bags to get everything on my Pro. Great for the aftermarket industry, bad for the consumer.
- Backup beeper. I know, to some, this is an annoyance. But I’ve seen it happen that someone puts their sled in reverse then something else happens and they forget, hit the throttle and slam into something because they weren’t paying attention. The tiny little light on the Pro is not obvious enough.
Questions? Ask away - I feel this is the best balanced, most comfortable sled i've ever jumped on and been able to ride. I've never seen a snowmobile platform that could change a rider so much as this one!
And there you have my MORE than 2 cents!
Tammy
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