Had a chance to ride the 2006 Polaris 600HO Fusion demo at a dealership the other day. I was considering a Fusion due to the repeated history of RING problems (internet hype) with my 600HO's. Fortunately a fellow racer that I used to race with owns a dealership. He got ahold of a 06 Fusion, so I jumped at the chance to take my 04 600HOX and run it. It was about 49°F on Saturday with loose, slow snow. The field is about 1,000 foot (estimate, not measured, but close to my 1/4" at home). My 04 600HOX was down on compression (125psi) on hardpack it still runs 95-98mph, but according to DOO it is perfect. So I see it fair to compare it to a prototype sled. First run I made with the Polaris was 88 mph, second run 87, thrid run was 91 mph on the speedo. Ran against my 600 HOX (my friend was driving it) we used rolling starts because my doo is studded, no matter what we did the Fusion will leave my 600 HOX by sled lengths at the end of the field, could even give the doo two sleds lengths off of the start and the Polaris can still real it in. Then we switched sleds, still the same results. Last I ran my 600HOX for a few times, could only get 84 mph out of it, that was it. My sled has the 1.25 track and 96 studs, the Polaris has a 1.0 track with no studs.

There was some bumps next to a fence to ride through, it handle the whoops fine.

The handle bars are up further on the rev, but not by much, that is at the base of the steering post, the bars themselves are close to my HOX. The only downfall is the Fusion does not have straight bars like a rev and the way the bars were positoned, they were not comfortable. However it is not a problem that a straight set of bars will be able to fix.

After that, the coolest thing was the Fusion started after it was run, my 600HOX needed some full choke, four pulls and some throttle. My 600HOX takes 6-8 pulls cold.

We parked them spindle to spindle in the field, you would not believe how close they are. The Fusion sits about 1" lower at the front bumper than my 600HOX. As noted above the handle bar position is slightly different, but in the bumps it is rider foward with no problem. Looks like the Fusion should offer more wind protection no doubt.

Gauges on the Fusion are better, water temps, high speed, electronic fuel gauge, trip meter, hour meter, tach and speedo can switch from needle to digital readout right from the handle bars.

Sled runs smooth, no vibration, it is smoother than my Doo.

Wieght transfer is good as the doo if not better. Didn't do ski to ski holehots because of studs, just hand to go from one sled to the other.

Steers easy, just needs straight bars.

Just my experience.

Good review. Looks like the little engine can hold it's ground no problem!

Winter350,

Sounds like your Rev needs rings. Here's what happened 2 weeks ago.

My buddy has an 03 600HO and his compression was down to 125 psi. He called the dealer and they said bring it in right away, compression should not go under 130 on that motor. He dropped it at 10am. Dealer called at 5pm to come pick up. They said rings were shot but they fixed it and all he had to pay was the labour, they covered the parts through warrantee. They also said he came in at the right time as pistons and cylinders were still in great shape. Sled had 8000km on it. He bought it just over 2 years ago.

Bad rings cause poor starting and poor mileage. If your dealer said 125 is fine I'd find another dealer.

Yes, I was being sarcastic about the 125 lbs being perfect. It has chewed up two sets of rings and needs a thrid set, but doo's corporate line is 125 is fine, that is from three different dealers, and we all know that is not true, even the dealer but it is what doo says. I used to have a 03 600HOX also and that went through one set at 1,300 miles. My 04 600HOX was done at 500 miles at 1,100 miles and needed them at 1,700 miles, sled just got traded in after this test ride. My new one got ordered today.

Doo is the problem, the dealers are just doing what they are told.

FYI,

Don't know if you saw it, but I posted last week some gps results I did on a 06 600 fusion and an 05 600 sdi doo.

Fusion - 92 mph
600sdi - 94 mph

cheers,

gear

I get to take the new 600 fusion for an hour on Monday so I will also get to see what it does on gps.

:banana: My box stock F6 SP w/1.375 track pulled 97mph on gps reading 99 on speedo, later in the day got the speedo to read 105mph but no gps that time. Next winter should be pretty fun. Guess the HO tags don't mean much. :banana:

I'm surprised it took that long for a cat guy to open his trap

Like I said though, we were running them on pretty slow snow conditions, 49°F outside that day, snow was wet mushy snow. I am sure on hard pack 98 and higher would be no problem on the speedo.

Anyways it looks like the 600 class should be fun next year.

Take many notes, let us know what you find and what you think!! :beerchug:

I will as we have a 2002 600 xc, a 2003 pro x 800,and my fusion.I will record everything we find.We have very hard and smooth lakes so we will find out top speed and pound it through the ungroomed trails.

I GPS'd my 800 on a stand, and it did 0 MPH. Maybe you should take into consideration GPS readings can vary in the conditions set forth....LMAO!!!!!


Ya think 3 foot of powder at 55 degrees might be a little slower than a hard pack road at 10 degrees? Silly........




:doh:

900cfi, if thats the same fusion as the one that has been thru Ronds and Avenue Polaris, I think you maybe dissapointed. I wasnt able to make it out for a test ride but my partner did, as did many others that I know very well. I have only heard of one person who was happy with the power of this sled, everyone else was very dissapointed!
I guess we can only hope its an issue with this particular sled only and not a sign of things to come.

Hope you have fun though!

I find it amusing that someone whom has never rode this unit but knows people who have comment on the performance of a proto built unit. Ok, so I'm not one of the throttle to the bars racers such as oh Canada..........but I have personaly rode this unit. I liked everything about it and I think if you compare apples to apples with the competitors sleds you will be to.

I'm not going to waste a lot of space here in reference to the positive that I've heard from others whom have also rode this unit which at this point is hear say. Lets let those who have accually rode these units comment .

900cfi.........let us know how your consumer testing goes.........Oh Canada I guess you can now say you know of two people who were happy. :beerchug:

Winter350 great review.....it satisfying to hear the real story from someone whom is unbiased :beerchug:

Fair enough Partsguy, just so you know I am not here to spew crap or start crap. I for one wish the 600ho would rock, we are in an area where there is alot of Polaris' so it would be a nice money maker for us. However, the 900 fusion hurt us, we had people who bought them who were interested in doing this and that only to realize that by the time they were on their 4th motor that they could only count the days till it is gone! We brought one in to our fleet thinking it would be a good sled for us to hop up.........oooooops, bad call.

Like I said, the 600ho better perform in full production better then the one that showed up in Portage.

And yes, now i have heard of 2 people that liked it! :beerchug:

If I wasnt riding a cat, I would want to go back to Polaris, I just wish they could get their stuff together! :div20: (I am basing that on the 900 performance)

Oh Canada........100 % agree with you on the 600 better rock........My point was to see more comments from the people that did get the chance to ride them so they can post their honest opinion and feedback. Hope this test sled has been getting some maintenance..........when I rode it it didn't have a lot of miles on it.

Never intended to offend you as I heard good things about you guys. :beerchug:

I rode the new 600 Fusion last Friday. The ride, handling, seating postion, ergo's etc. were excellent as was the total absence of any vibration. The entire package was ultra smooth with a very plush ride. That was impressive. But I have to admit I was disappointed with the power output, I was really expecting more. Both my buddy and I came away thinking that a 600SDI would be quicker. It just didn't seem to pull very hard after 60 or 70 mph. Maybe this demo just happend to be a slow one ......

Hey Winter350, what dealer in the area was giving demo rides?? I knew Berts had one& over the course of a week i called 3 different times i called they said no rides at all...

:div20: Hey Partsguy. I wasnt offended at all, its just hard to come across the right way with out being able to detect emotion.

Basically what Bison said is what i have heard also.....I know my partner (business that is) enjoys the ride and handling of his fusion (especially after he installed slp powder pros).

Anyways, keep us informed!

Have a good long weekend people! :beerchug:

I hope those aren't top speed runs.

Bob Weaver motorsports. I used to race sno x with Mike Weaver. Mike knew I was interested in a Fusion and happen to get his hands on a 600 HO. He called me on Friday, rode it on Saturday and I think he had to send it out to somewhere else on sunday. It was a strong 600 for sure, I see some guys did not experience the same thing, maybe just do to Polaris throwing prototypes together quick. Not sure, but the one I rode was way stronger than my rev.