I skip open holes, leads, and overflow. I did not care for the 600 ACE, it seemed entirely too weak. Was reliable though. My 900 ACE is good for skipping water, never feel inadequate.

I water-skip my Expo Sport w/600 ACE all the time, even when I don't have to, just to keep people from following my trail,... it does just fine, better than a SWT, which wants to twist around sideways alot more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXibuC2wB3U

I have tried to water cross with an older wt skandic 600 two stroke and it is awful. Like you say, the wide track bogs instantly

Welcome back Dave! Nice shot of you skipping your Expedition in the intro.

Hutchy I would post this question on the CNTA forum FRT trapper is a snowmachine guru, his feedback is solid gold.

Ive owned both the 600 expedition and currently own a 900expedition both in sport model
So 16” track I certainly wouldn’t want the 600 if I was going to be doing any extensive water skipping love the 900 has plenty of power but sometimes wonder how I would like the wide track plan to test drive a buddies this winter and see what differences are may try to find a skandik wide to try as well
I quite often have a lot of water on top of ice and snow to run on when it gets warm and the 900 does fine the 600 often had the pucker factor going As previously mentioned the 900 do seem a bit more top heavy at least the 16” one is compared to the 600

Remember there was a guy on here trapped interior Alaska. He used a 1M Arctic Cat 1000 said it was the only machine with the power to get through all the overflow he had on his line. He had a really deadly Youtube channel also. He got a lot of fur and only got stuck once when some hanging ice collapse under him.

Aybody try the 1200.
A trapper here had one a few years ago,on one of our fieldtrips,real beast but heavy.

Boco, that the 1200 4-tec? There is a used Expedition WT for sale about four hours from me with one. I was wondering about it, but thinking to steer clear off it since it is discontinued, the way things go these days that may mean they quit making parts for it. I have never known anybody who had one, according to some of the guys on dootalk with the hotrod sleds it is supposed to be a good motor. But I'd never even heard of it until this one popped up for sale.

Its not like I go searching for water to jump, but sometimes stuff happens. One day of wind and where there was a foot and a half of ice here is suddenly open water, or lots of holes.

I feel like the 900 with lower gearing might be the way to fly.

Yea, welcome back. Miss seeing you in church in KL. Hi from Mike and Sherri.

600 will do you just fine even with a 600 you don't even have to hit the throttle and the thing does 90. I think a 900 would be WAY to much power. If you don't need a insane amount of power a 600 should do you plenty good!

I personally own the Skandic WT with 600Ace and did really well water skipping if you were up to speed when you hit the water. Never once thought the 600 Ace was under powered until getting on it after riding my 900 Aces. That being said the 600 did all I asked it to do. I also own an Expedition sport with 900 Ace and Expedition LE with 900 Ace. The sport, I geared down as it doesn’t have low range. Does really well towing big loads and very comfortable to drive. IMO the 16” wide track on the Sport is much easier to handle than the 20” or 24” tracks on the WT and SWT for someone without much experience or not ridiculously deep snow. My 900 Aces start much easier in the cold than the 600 Ace does but none of mine start at -30 F. I believe my 600 gets a little better fuel economy than the 900’s. A lot depends upon what you’re asking your machines to do and i ask a lot of mine.

Both are very good machines tho.

I have the expo sport with the 600 ace, next time I’d go with the 900. 600 is fine for low snow or packed trails but once you get into deeper snow on long exploration trips it feels like a dog, and the good gas mileage goes out the window too.
Having said that, I still like this machine , most reliable unit I’ve owned by a long shot.

I have been following along with this thread. I have very little snow machine experience. I recently purchased property in remote Alaska. Although I spent tons of time in the area very little has been in winter until now. I have a Skandic and a tundra probably around 2015 models. I would like to buy a new one I have decided on a 900 from reading this thread. However I don't know whether an expedition or Skandic would be best. Mostly just general use trapping,pulling in sleds of firewood and such. But I do like to have a little fun once in a while so I'm considering one with a turbo. Is this a bad move and just more moving parts to break? If a turbo machine is a good option,then which one turbo R or regular turbo? I want something I can break trail with and get unstuck when I need to. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I have the 900 ace skandic widetrack, it's been a good sled so far. I just use it for trapping/ utility and never felt like I needed anything more power wise. Not sure where your at, what kind of conditions you have, or what your idea of " fun " is so hard to answer some of your questions. With these big machines once your stuck having a turbo isn't going to help you, a shovel and rope-a-long will though. For general utility I prefer the pogo's................................

I have a skandic SWT 900 ACE. And really like it. The SWT isn't for everyone, they are not a good sidehill machine, but when you need to break trail in really deep, nasty stuff they can't be beat. In my opinion there is no need for a turbo, I pull a sled with mine all the time and it will spin out that big track before it bogs down every time. The skandic is narrower, fits between trees better and not nearly as many places for tag alders and brush to hang up in on the Pogo's versus the a arm and coilspring front end of the Expeditions. On the flip side the Expedition is more stable (not as tippy) and supposedly (I haven't rode one on a log trip) more comfortable to ride on long trips with their front end.

I just thought a turbo machine might be fun if I felt like ripping around the lakes playing or something,which would be rare. As far as getting stuck part I realize a turbo won't help that,I was just wondering if these machines are too heavy for just a general trapping and work machine. The problem is I really don't know anything about snowmachines.I grew up racing motorcycles and like power, thought if you could buy a turbo machine and it doesn't affect the reliability why not get it. Exploring trips with no trail is something that will be happening a lot as well.I like the skandic I have now better than the tundra if there is no trail. But again I can't stress enough that I really have very limited experience with snowmachines. I just don't want to buy something and pay all the money to get it out there, then figure out I should have bought something different.

Thanks for the reply I seem to be leaning towards the skandic. The tundra I have is pretty tippy compared to the skandic we have. But the more I ride them the better, I just need a little more experience. And I don't want to waste money on something that I don't need.