All of our testers were still smitten with the huge underrack compartments in the front and rear. The Sportsman regularly got tasked with hauling around drinks and snacks for the ride that the others were far less capable of. The rear-facing work-lights were handy in the thick dust that often plagued our trip, as well. The third light (high beam) on the bar is useful, too. We just wish you could turn on all three of the front-facing lights at once.
Power, while impressive, is down considerably from the other two. Now that we've separated the titan-class quads from the rest of the big-bores, it's much more obvious. All that extra weight the Sportsman carts around means its braking, top speed and acceleration performance are eclipsed by the others. While throttle response is good, the transmission takes a split second to spool up and give it to you, again, unlike the other two.
All these gripes aside, if you're after a big-bore ATV for the features that a flagship model carries, look no further than the Sportsman 800. If you're not a particularly aggressive rider, the suspension will be fine and plush in even the nastiest of terrains. The ergonomics are made for less aggressive riding, with a relaxed layout and a high bar. One caveat, the seat foam is way too soft. Even our skinny testers had issues with bottoming out on the seat pan, which can make a comfortable quad a far less pleasant experience entirely too quickly.
It isn't often that a machine sweeps our crew of diverse testers. Fast and stable, yet plush and easy to control, Bombardier's Outlander 800 hit a home run for everyone who rode it. It outpowered the Brute Force and beat the Sportsman in the bump-soaking department while retaining its utility purpose. You can have it all here, it seems.
OK, just so you know that we didn't all drink some tainted Kool-Aid, a few things were less than perfect. The gear selector is frequently a fickle mistress, working fine sometimes and at other times you need to rock the machine to get it to engage properly. The seat seems to be competing with the Polaris for squishiness, and while nobody had the bottoming-out problem most of us had with the Sportsman, the suspension seemed to be the only weakness on a machine this potent. Same goes for the linked brakes and automatic-locking front differential. Sure, these are things that your average rider wants, but for a machine this powerful, there should at least be the option for more control when the situation demands it. However, as much as we try to complain about the linked brakes, it still spanked the other entrants in our decel test. (Check out the numbers at www.atvrideronline.com.)
And that is about all the negativity we could conjure up. Yeah, it's that good. To quote Editor No-Hander, "It simply walked away from the competition, leaving them fighting over the scraps."
We could say that the motor on the Outlander 800 is phenomenal, but that doesn't quite capture the essence. It's transcendent. It's more powerful than anything ever placed in an ATV before. Yet it's not overwhelming. Sure, in the tightest woods it's total overkill, but a little throttle control is all it takes to tame the beast. All the power you need and more seems to be there for the taking at any time or speed you need it. This is actually by design. Bombardier specifically detuned the machine to get the optimum performance with a high degree of safety built in. Rumor has it there is a lot more power hidden in the ECU, and all you have to do is ask your dealer to unleash it. However, rumor also has it that even a very experienced rider could get spit right off the back when it does an instant wheelstand with all that extra torque.
The suspension is a good balance between plush and performance. When you first climb aboard, the Outlander seems soft, as though it might want to roll or not track corners and we considered upping the preload, which is thoughtfully adjustable. But after riding it for a while, it seems that despite the initial soft feeling, the machine doesn't do anything weird. It doesn't bottom, the damping is perfectly controlled and it's a cush ride at any speed. Handling is that intersection where a motor and suspension crosses geometry. Again, all pieces of the puzzle seem to complement one another. No matter your riding style, the Outlander is there for you. Need the front end to come up or the rear wheels to break loose? No problem, in a skilled rider's hands it'll work magic. With dual A-arms in the front and Bombardier's unique TTI rear suspension, it's a very easily controlled big beast to ride.
And that's maybe the best part. One of our testers noted that you'll forget that you're riding a 600-plus pound machine very quickly on the Outlander. The 800 sets the bar so high, it is literally out of sight.