I just got back from a 12 day Turkey hunt on the North Rim using my new 2018 650 XT.
After outfitting it to my liking for hunting, it looks a lot different than when I Picked it up.
One thing I am not a fan of is the racks that Can Am puts on the XTs. So I removed the rear rack and installed a platform that holds my 36x20x13H lockable aluminum storage box. There is room left over on the platform to strap on a ground blind on the rear, and a Rifle/shotgun boot on the right side.
I wish that Can Am would put a rack similar to what the 2004 Arctic Cats had. Those IMO, are the best racks ever made.
First off I had to race the Grizzly in our camp just to see... And that was the last time I really used all of the power it has. Most of the time I never exceeded about 33% throttle. Most riding was 20 to 40 mph.
In 700+ miles and 10 logged fillups, it averaged 29.7 MPG! Not all fill ups were full tanks, as sometimes I needed a full tank for the trip I was going on, but over 10 tanks the potential for filling errors diminishes a lot. I had as low as 21 MPG and as high as 32 MPG. Type of riding had the biggest impact. The 21 tank had a lot of 4low log hopping, the the 32 had a lot of 25-30 mph trail riding.
Still, my Arctic Cats have averaged only 16 MPG under the same conditions
The 650 XT easily goes over 100 miles on a tank. Something that the Arctic Cats can barely manage with a larger 6.5 gallon tank.
Range is a really big deal hunting out west, and the 650 XT shined in this area.
Speaking of shining, the Baja Designs LED lights, and cowl projector lights are awesome. They are expensive but they work great, and leave my front rack free for other uses.
If they ever come out with a low beam setup, I will be first in line to buy it.
The cup holders on the windshield cowl actually work pretty well with the right size water bottles or gatorade etc. The mirrors on the cowl, in spite of the rinky dink mounting system work a lot better than I thought they would.
And the DPS has a positive impact on the above items. When I first rode the 650 XT, the DPS felt strange, so I used the Min setting . After getting used to that, I moved up to medium.
Then one day on a badly washboarded road I noticed my water bottles dancing and mirrors shaking, I switched the DPS to Max, and it smoothed out instantly. I used the Max setting from then on.
The turning radius is a full 4' tighter than the Arctic Cats. I rarely had to do a 3 point turn on this trip.
I really like the factory heated grips. The buttons are much larger than the aftermarket ones, allowing gloved hands to easily work them.
The Fox podium shocks.... Everyone that rode it loved them. The one issue I see is that the left rear one runs hotter than the others due to the exhaust. I have ordered some heat tape to hopefully improve on this.
The extra high windshield works really well on cold mornings compared to what I have had before.
Not a lot of mud this trip, but from what I can see, it appears that the fenders with the extensions will keep the mud off of me OK.
My bike equipped to hunt with me on it is a heavy weight. The Rotax 650 is impressive.
Under light throttle it is amazingly quiet. A real plus for a hunting quad.
But give some throttle and it's personality changes as it snarls like a lion with a bad attitude.
Overall, I like this bike a lot and hope it lasts as long as my Arctic Cat did.
