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What is the Better Track?

7K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  phil 
#1 ·
New to the forums so sorry if this has been hashed out before.

I currently have the 2012 550 XP EPS. Although I am going to sell it to upgrade to the 850 XP. I live in North Idaho so we have all the seasons and a fairly long winter period. Snow is most always a given from mild to heavy amounts. I don't see a justification to buy a snow machine and past experience was they were just money pits. Love riding the ATV on trails and I have a vast amounts of trails to ride out my back yard.

So I have been looking at tracks and all the different brands of them. Most do not give weight of the track so hard to compare added weight of them on the machine. The Majority of them are basic rail system tracks. They all claim all season ride too. But its hard to find anything talking about fail issues. Heard some have broken the drive cog with ice.

I don't seem to see many pre owned being sold. So they are either a loved item that is held onto or they are just not many of them out there. I see lots of video's of people comparing one track to another in just one condition. Either extreme snow or just extreme mud. Never same track being thrown through the paces on all conditions. If you really look into those they often are not even comparable because they were not equal widths or lengths of tracks. So I have come to discard most of those videos trying to compare systems on one environment only. It would be like comparing a Long Track Polaris to a Short Track Arctic Cat sled. They both have tracks but its not really a good reason to say Arctic Cat machines are less capable.

So What track is better system for ATVs. What should be a worry when running a track.
:cowboy:
 
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#3 ·
I have looked at the Mattrack M3+, Camoplast, Tatou 4S, XGen 98, Prospector Pro. All the tracks are rail design outside of Mattrack and the XGen 98 spring loaded. Those are the only 2 suspension tracks currently I have found. I don't mind spending a little more money and getting something that will perform with durability. Don't want to throw good money at a cheaper buy repairing stuff all the time. I am leaning on the Mattrack M3+ but wonder if the weight of them will detract from performance. Or will that be just a side note to the durability of them over all.
 
#5 ·
Yea he has a lot of videos on YouTube, of rides he does up in Priest Lake ID. He sells a few different brands. I think he did a video of Camoplast vs Mattracks. The Mattracks were 1 inch lug vs the 1.5 lug on Camoplast. Also the Mattracks were narrower and had shorter rear track then the Camoplast. So I didn't see it as a fair comparison in snow. But it helps your sales you will push your product in the best light. The new M3+ have wider front tracks then Camoplast and same length on both front/rear tracks for contact in soft materials. I think the Mattrack is not big in the ATV market so there is little out there on them. Camoplast have had issues with the roller wheels failing. I have also seen some stuff about the drive sprocket breaking off the drive lugs too. I have hardly heard a peep on any of the other systems. XGen with its spring suspension is very new so might be a year to hear much with it. But I like the idea of the wheels able to absorb impacts. XGen is still some what a rail system with some bonus features over the others. The only one that post weights of their tracks that I can easily find is Mattrack. I can bet all the tracks are roughly same weight of rubber track. The inner workings will be the added weight. Rail systems have to be lighter because there is less there. The more intricate the assembly becomes there more weight you will add.

My plans for the tracks will be late fall to early spring Mostly snow riding. Not sure I will ever get into anything to extreme but I can not say never. I have been known to try something pretty fool hearty.
 
#6 ·
That's where I bought my Tatou 4s Camoplast tracks - 4 years ago, for my 2010 550XP. I have not had one issue with them. Then, I only run them in the snow - very little dirt/mud. Lots of time on the ice, flat out and a few times a year in the deep snow of the adirondacks, at my mountain cabin.
This past spring, I gave a friend a hand getting his sugar bush in order. I'll tell you, I was impressed with the tracks performance, even after 4 years of use.
Your choice in tracks is one that needs to be based on what your use is going to be. Those guys at ATV Tracks.net are good and honest; and will make a recommendation based on your intended use and the machine you intend to mount them on.
What not to do with them? Watch the videos, there is one on what not to do; I think it's on the camoplast site.
 
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