Hi everyone, new member here. I've never been a serious snowmobiler, viewing them more as a winter tool than anything. I'm from Minnesota, and it's hard to find someone who didn't have a sled. I always had one, mostly for ice fishing. Now I'm in South Dakota, and it seems the situation is completely different. Few people own them, and it seem the ones that do are mostly interested in mountain riding. This coupled with a low population means the used market is slim at best.
I'm finding I need a utility snowmobile more and more every year. I always wish I had something I could haul wood, gear, ice fishing stuff, or even deer better. My current sled is a 1993 Skidoo Safari 440. It is the best I could afford at the time, and it does a surprisingly good job. This one is beat to heck, and it has come to the end of its useful life to me. I can now afford to spend more, but I'm finding the situation is even worse than 10 years ago. I'm mostly looking in Minnesota adds. I knew prices would be high, but I'm seeing 1999 Skandic's, 2000's bearcats etc. for $6000, $7000, sometimes more?! I can go to the local dealer and get a brand new 2022 Tundra for about $8,500. That's insanity what people are asking.
I don't need something so fancy as a new sled, and I'm not sure I want them anyway. I don't encounter deep powder. For my uses, I can't go fast. If I get stuck, no amount of horsepower is going to change that. What I am noticing is all these new sleds are heavy pigs. The Tundra's appear to be about the lightest at 491 pounds dry. That's a lot to roll out of a creek, and they only get heavier from there. don't know exactly what the older ones weighted, but I can throw a 70's, 80's and 90's snowmobile around pretty well. Somewhere in the early 2000's it seems they get quite a bit heavier to where I can barely lift the back end when it's buried in snow.
Despite always owning a non-reverse sled, I'm now at a point where this is not something I'm willing to deal with any longer. I absolutely need reverse, fan cooled, and low geared. It appears some Safari's were made with reverse. I see there is a rather expensive reverse conversion gearcase for the Yamaha Bravo. I have no use at all for the higher powered engines of today. The older 250 cc engines did just fine for me, and 440's seemed overkill. As long as they are geared low, I have no use for going more than 30 mph. I definitely want fan cooled. While I've heard enough work arounds to know a water cooled can be ok, I do a lot of low speed and idling, and plenty of bare ice riding. Water cooling offers me no advantage at all, and plenty of disadvantages. I'm also noticing Skidoo seems to have eliminated fan cooled sleds altogether in 2020 or 2021. The local dealer does have a new 2019 Tundra 550F listed $7,900.
So I'm asking you guys here how you would go about this. Would you look for a less obvious model like a Safari with reverse? Would you buy a less expensive model like a Bravo and convert it to reverse? Would you just pony up the money for an older Skandic/Tundra? Or would you say just buy the "new" 2019 Tundra?
I'm finding I need a utility snowmobile more and more every year. I always wish I had something I could haul wood, gear, ice fishing stuff, or even deer better. My current sled is a 1993 Skidoo Safari 440. It is the best I could afford at the time, and it does a surprisingly good job. This one is beat to heck, and it has come to the end of its useful life to me. I can now afford to spend more, but I'm finding the situation is even worse than 10 years ago. I'm mostly looking in Minnesota adds. I knew prices would be high, but I'm seeing 1999 Skandic's, 2000's bearcats etc. for $6000, $7000, sometimes more?! I can go to the local dealer and get a brand new 2022 Tundra for about $8,500. That's insanity what people are asking.
I don't need something so fancy as a new sled, and I'm not sure I want them anyway. I don't encounter deep powder. For my uses, I can't go fast. If I get stuck, no amount of horsepower is going to change that. What I am noticing is all these new sleds are heavy pigs. The Tundra's appear to be about the lightest at 491 pounds dry. That's a lot to roll out of a creek, and they only get heavier from there. don't know exactly what the older ones weighted, but I can throw a 70's, 80's and 90's snowmobile around pretty well. Somewhere in the early 2000's it seems they get quite a bit heavier to where I can barely lift the back end when it's buried in snow.
Despite always owning a non-reverse sled, I'm now at a point where this is not something I'm willing to deal with any longer. I absolutely need reverse, fan cooled, and low geared. It appears some Safari's were made with reverse. I see there is a rather expensive reverse conversion gearcase for the Yamaha Bravo. I have no use at all for the higher powered engines of today. The older 250 cc engines did just fine for me, and 440's seemed overkill. As long as they are geared low, I have no use for going more than 30 mph. I definitely want fan cooled. While I've heard enough work arounds to know a water cooled can be ok, I do a lot of low speed and idling, and plenty of bare ice riding. Water cooling offers me no advantage at all, and plenty of disadvantages. I'm also noticing Skidoo seems to have eliminated fan cooled sleds altogether in 2020 or 2021. The local dealer does have a new 2019 Tundra 550F listed $7,900.
So I'm asking you guys here how you would go about this. Would you look for a less obvious model like a Safari with reverse? Would you buy a less expensive model like a Bravo and convert it to reverse? Would you just pony up the money for an older Skandic/Tundra? Or would you say just buy the "new" 2019 Tundra?
