[ZnJLovelady]

Hey guys and gals,

I am new to this forum, but I've been riding most of my life. My current rig is 2012 Honda Foreman 500 with 28" Executioners it's all tricked out! My wife has rode a many a miles behind me and back in the fall she started driving for the first time, so now she wants on her own rig! For safety reasons I want her in SXS, and she has settled on the Commander XT and I love the look and feel of it! In my area north Alabama there are not many of them around in my riding of over 50 there about 3 dozen RZR's so I like the idea of having something different! But I would like to hear some honest opinions of do's and don't's, and things to be prepared for? Thanks in Advance, prolly gonna pick it up within the next week or so!


Zach

 

[mcmantim]

I have a 2012 Commander 1000 X and I love it, most of my driving is on mountain trails with some desert and sand dunes on a more limited basis in Utah and the surrounding states. The one complaint from some of us in the warmer climates during the summer is heat coming off of the pipes and motor into the passenger compartment. That can be resolved by adding some heat shield material inside the plastic housings and wrapping the pipes with heat tape or adding something like a bilge blower to push the hot air through the air tunnel while traveling at lower speeds. In one week I put over six hundred miles on it riding over the Great Western Trail and never had a problem and the larger fuel tank is really nice because you know you are not going to run out before the other guys. If you know your dealer and they have a good reputation all the better, there have been a few people complaining about the costs their dealers charge for service, but you will find that with any brand. My dream is to retire and drive the Great Western Trail from the border with Mexico all the way to Canada, but that is still years away.

Good luck to you, this site has a lot of useful information on problems they faced and how they resolved them as well as after market parts and how to do write ups from some really great people.

 

[ZnJLovelady]

I have a 2012 Commander 1000 X and I love it, most of my driving is on mountain trails with some desert and sand dunes on a more limited basis in Utah and the surrounding states. The one complaint from some of us in the warmer climates during the summer is heat coming off of the pipes and motor into the passenger compartment. That can be resolved by adding some heat shield material inside the plastic housings and wrapping the pipes with heat tape or adding something like a bilge blower to push the hot air through the air tunnel while traveling at lower speeds. In one week I put over six hundred miles on it riding over the Great Western Trail and never had a problem and the larger fuel tank is really nice because you know you are not going to run out before the other guys. If you know your dealer and they have a good reputation all the better, there have been a few people complaining about the costs their dealers charge for service, but you will find that with any brand. My dream is to retire and drive the Great Western Trail from the border with Mexico all the way to Canada, but that is still years away.

Good luck to you, this site has a lot of useful information on problems they faced and how they resolved them as well as after market parts and how to do write ups from some really great people.

Thanks a lot I appreciate it !! We wide al of of mtn trails with some creek riding and mud!

 

[mcmantim]

Well you will not have any problems with altitude gain, I have had mine up to 14,147 feet up on Pikes Peek in Colorado and there was another guy from another country that said he has been up to 16,000 feet without any issues of power loss.

 

[JBonds]

We have a 2012 XT and Love it. WE have had many ATVs and have a couple different SXS. We were lucky enough to find a dealer that had polaris and CAN-AM. We were able to test both. Both have plenty of power and can be outfitted with many extras. As for comfort its no contest the Commander is by far the best of all SXS. We love our Can-Am. Mostly ride dunes, trails and little mud. The only issue I have had was the heat but still not bad enough to do anything about it. Recently I took it to the shop for a general once a year look over and check up and asked them to look at the rear diff as it seemed loud. The dealer noticed a bit of metal in the rear diff oil. BRP is replacing it at no cost. This is a problem that could happen to anyone. BUT the fact that the dealer and BRP handled it so quick and with no hassle says a lot. They have one me over. I think you will love it. Good luck.

 

[ZnJLovelady]

Hey guys and gals,

I am new to this forum, but I've been riding most of my life. My current rig is 2012 Honda Foreman 500 with 28" Executioners it's all tricked out! My wife has rode a many a miles behind me and back in the fall she started driving for the first time, so now she wants on her own rig! For safety reasons I want her in SXS, and she has settled on the Commander XT and I love the look and feel of it! In my area north Alabama there are not many of them around in my riding of over 50 there about 3 dozen RZR's so I like the idea of having something different! But I would like to hear some honest opinions of do's and don't's, and things to be prepared for? Thanks in Advance, prolly gonna pick it up within the next week or so!


Zach

Also i am wanting to run 30" silverbacks, but I dont want to lift it. I have seen guys on here talking about that it can be done with offset wheels, but what offset do i need to get?

 

[joshuayoung]

before you buy - i just purchased a new 2013 commander 1000 ld and it has been nothing but a problem - at 320 miles i broke down just off a local highway as my machine is a snow scoop - i have all the skid plates and arm protectors and after a day of driving in the snow, my new commander was a solid ice block, not snow - powder comes thru several places of the cheap dash as you can see thru the dash to the ground (this stops when the inside clogs with snow) - my sterio turned itself on 20-25 times as there was an electrical short and the ice riped the drive belt to shreds - do not get a full cab as you will need to wear hearing protection and listening to the sterio is unrealistic even when it is set to 30 - i have owned a renagade 800 for 4 years and it is the best machine i have ever rode but the commander is overpriced crap and BRP did not cover ANYTHING with their warrenty - yes the power is great and it handles very good, but it offers little value when you can't take it into med to heavy snow and many aspects of the design are flawed - two dealers have already agreed with the ice problem at least in regards to riding with skid plates in the snow and one commented on looking thru the dash to the outside

 

[csommerville]

snowmobile time!

 

[Preacher]

Joshua, you do realize that just because the commander gets ice in it that does not mean it is a bad side by side. It just means it was not engineered to be a snowmobile. I ride mine some in the winter and if there is a lot of snow I thaw it out in my garage.