snowmobile or jetski?

[ny300exrider]

well i got myself a second job that keeps me working during the school year and i want to get myself a toy for next year. i have a 05 450r sitting in my garage that i love so i want to give it a new friend. im having a hard time deciding between a used snowmobile or a used jetski. id love some opinions from you guys on what you would personally chose and why.

i am planning on a $3-3500 budget

thoughts on jetski: i live 5min from the long island sound and 10-15 from some nice bays that open into the sound as well. i have a buddy whos got some jetskis as well so i could go out with him and ride. However, i know pretty much nothing at all about jetskis since i just got the idea and im not sure if i could get a nice one with my budget. does riding these things gets boring since water is water wherever you go, or can it be entertaining for a full summer or riding?

thoughts on sled: i love them, plain and simple. the thing is here on long island we dont get the best winters, a handful of real good storms at most. I definitly wouldnt be able to use it as much as a jetski, but its possible it would be worth the wait. when it does snow here, my town turns into a sled course, trails and feilds everywhere with groups of 30 guys riding at a time. There is a variety of riding and it seems really fun, just not alot of times to use it

anyone who has opinons or experience on either of these things, id love to hear what you have to say.


bell rang, off to 7th per.

thanks guys

[NacsMXer]

Get the sled hands down. I have a Ski-Doo sled and two Sea-Doo PWC's. The Sea-Doos are great fun in the summer time, I have a 10,000 acre lake to ride them on. They are fun to ride and everything, but it all becomes the same after a while. If you ride them for hours on end you can have some fun jumpin some waves and all but it does get a little boring to tell you the truth. Plus you will have to buy a trailer for it and have to go to a boat launch etc.

The sleds on the other hand, you have limitless possibilities on where you can go and what you can do. You can ride trails and lakes all day and not pass the same spot twice. I think of them as the crotchrockets on snow because the power to weight ratio is just insane (130+HP pushing 5-600 pounds do the math). You got more power than some cars do with a fraction of the weight. Nothin like doin 120 down a lake and feelin like your helmet's gonna get sucked off your head lol.

They are both fun toys to have, but IMO you will get bored of the PWC pretty quickly.

[Quad18star]

I'd get a sled . To me riding a jet ski gets boring after a while . There are endless possibilities with a sled , and if your winters suck too much , you could always load up and trailer across the border . We have THOUSANDS of miles of trails ... you could ride for days upon days and not see the same place twice .

Plus ,like it was said, there's no better rush than blasting down a lake at 120 mph and you feel like you have no steering control cause of the speed . :devil:

[Giz400ex]

Well, snow is hard to come by these days! Water is not! I think you'll get more use out of a jetski versus a snowmobile unless you travel up north, where there is snow. I used to have snowmobiles and I got sick of waiting for snow, now I have 2 jetskis that I ride on a lake up here in upstate NY. Can it get old? Sure, but I don't wear it out either. They both can get old!! I'm not on them all weekend, maybe a hour or 2 a day, at MOST!!! Because where you live, I would say a jetski. Let us know what you decide?:D

[ny300exrider]

thanks alot more the replies already.

the fact that i would have to look at a sled for 3/4 of the year kind of worries me, however, i would still have my quad for the nonsnow times so that seems to "calm me down". like i said, it must be somewhat worth it because when we get our snow, theres a good 60-70 guys out riding in my town having a blast. A jetski would get a ton more use, but it still seems like it would get repetive.

check out this video from a live news forecast in my town last year(watch the whole thing.) this is on main street in my town just to show what its like when it snows. this video alone makes me want a sled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8s14wzXuOM

[Quad18star]

I love it when I read all the responses about how you guys love it so much when you get big snow storms because you can go and ride all over town . LOL

Where I live , it's not a snow storm only thing ... it's every winter . It's legal for us to ride the sleds through the town streets ... hell cops even do their patrol on sleds sometimes . If you guys love that so much , you'd be in Heaven living where I live . 5 or 6 months out of the year is snowmobiling season .

If I could figure out how to upload video from my video camera , I'd post up some ice drags for you guys to watch . As soon as the ice hits the lake just down the street , it's not uncommon to see 500 sleds out there in a single day racing . :devil:

[Quad18star]

Oh here's another thing , who needs a jetski when a sled can do this ....http://www.aprilfoolsonline.com/home.html .... click on video and enjoy !!!

These are a few guys from here in Ontario running some bodies of water in the area . I think they're completly off their rocker .... these bodies of water that they're running are 100+ feet deep .

[NacsMXer]

Originally posted by Giz400ex
Well, snow is hard to come by these days! Water is not! I think you'll get more use out of a jetski versus a snowmobile unless you travel up north, where there is snow. I used to have snowmobiles and I got sick of waiting for snow, now I have 2 jetskis that I ride on a lake up here in upstate NY. Can it get old? Sure, but I don't wear it out either. They both can get old!! I'm not on them all weekend, maybe a hour or 2 a day, at MOST!!! Because where you live, I would say a jetski. Let us know what you decide?:D

I agree with ya on that. I try not to "wear out" the whole PWC experience. I ride mine like once or twice a month in the summer time since they are stored at our lakehouse in WI. It is fun and relaxing to get out on the water with some friends but do that at the same place every day and it's gonna get old fast. It's not that the machine is what makes it boring, it's the repetition.

The same goes for my sled. It was bought new in 99' and doesn't even have 600 miles on it lol :huh
I haven't ridden it in about 2 years due to crappy snowfall but when it does snow I have a blast. A good sled trip with some buddies makes for some great memories :cool:

Originally posted by ny300exrider
have a 05 450r sitting in my garage that i love so i want to give it a new friend. im










\MEMEMEMEMEM give it to me...im a good guy buddy o pal.

[300exQuadracer]

i would sell you all 3 of my jetski's for 3,500

[wheeltrax]

I have both, and I agree that the sled is definately more fun. I have nothing against the jet ski, they are fun on a nice hot day to go out cruising on the lake and get wet, but most of them will go about 40-60ish. Some lakes can get boring if its just a big open area, I like goin on the wider, deeper rivers. Then there is the sled, most all sleds out there are at least capable of 80, you can go almost anywhere, hit drifts, ride on frozen lakes, plus most sleds will suck down a LOT less fuel then the jetski, my jetski on a full tank (10.0 G) will only last about 2 hours messing around where as the sled can go quite a ways.

Either way, they both are fun, but id go with the sled ;)

[watts16]

We have a ski boat ans a seadooXP. The jetski is a blast for about an hour. Then Id rather be skiing or wake boarding the rest of the day. We got a few old snowmobiles. 2 old yamahas and an old John Deer lol. We dont get enough snow around here(only 1 to 3 decent storms a year) to buy new ones. We have more fun on the old snowmobiles than the jetski. If you get enough snow go for the sled.

[ny300exrider]

thanks alot for the help guys, im pretty much decided on the sled. with my budget i can easily get a nice used sled. my options include arctic cat zr600cce, arctic cat f5,f6,f7 if i can find one,ski doo mxz zx 600/700, ski doo rev 600 if i can find one cheap,polaris edgex/prox 600/700

that list gives me plenty to look for when i get the money. should be real cool, my buddy already told me theres a spot for me in his riding crew of 30.

[1fst400]

Originally posted by Quad18star
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Plus ,like it was said, there's no better rush than blasting down a lake at 120 mph and you feel like you have no steering control cause of the speed . :devil:

whats event more of rush is if you get to 120 in under 5 seconds.:devil:


and remember water isnt just for the jet skis

cant you put a different track on the snowmobile and take it on dirt?

[ny300exrider]

even if you could i wouldnt need that option because i will still have my quad for dirt. grass dragging is a pretty big thing with sleds as well.

[Quad18star]

Originally posted by mjpridered10
cant you put a different track on the snowmobile and take it on dirt?

Nothing for dirt , but there's a lot of guys that grass drag .

Also , you can buy a slick track , add wheels in place of the skis , and take it to the asphalt drag strip and run the sled !!!!:devil: This sled was insanely f'ing fast !!!!!

[Blue_Streak23]

..like pretty much everybody else has said...in my opinion a sled is much funnier, but in your case it seems that u would get more use out of a jet-ski..