Keith, thanks, the Buyer Salt Dogg is one I am reviewing. Have you been satisfied with it?? It looks as though yours has a small scatter shield, have you found overspray into the back of your machine to be an issue and if so, any thoughts? I have seen some nasty looking rear diffs on some machines using spreaders locally and whatever I get I would want a adequate scatter shield to prevent this. With all the actuation points and those high dollar Fox Racing shocks on my machine I would prefer to not have them rusting out as it frequently stays cold enough here in winter that hosing the machine off immediately after use is likely not realistic.
With regard to the XUV 825, I am excited to hear you may look at one in the future. I have really liked mine. As you may or may not know from other posts, I have had and recently sold my Ranger 800 EPS for my current Gator. I really liked my Ranger, but since I use a UTV mainly for work, having a more substantial machine like the Gator was important to me. What I have found thus far is that the Gator has more power (not faster, just more torquey) and moves snow a lot better due to its weight. For me, having a machine that goes 45 and can pull a house is more important than having one that can travel 54 and cannot (if that makes sense). I have also found my new Gator to be more well-made and solid and it gives one the impression that it is in it for the long-haul, a feeling I never fully had with my Ranger. That said, I had a lot of Polaris accessories on my Ranger and they seemed to be of better quality than those on my Gator (for example, the 1/2 windscreen, and poly roof, etc.).
I pre-ordered a Unisteer power steering assist for my Gator and have been told yesterday by my dealer that it has finally come in. I likely will have it fitted next week. I really would have liked to wait on my Gator until the JD factory system comes out but I hear that could be as late as next summer so I could not given the fact I had a buyer for my Ranger. I will try to post feedback on the system once on in the ATV forum. I believe one of these makes plowing much better.
Regards and thanks, John