In a super off-roading world, you’d have quite a lot of all-terrain automobiles at your disposal. Perhaps a side-by-side for utility and a hopped-up ATV for ripping round trails. Or, maybe you’d reasonably have a turbo SXS with long-travel suspension and a ho-hum four-wheeler for doing extra mundane duties. However our long-term evaluate discovered that the 2023 Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5 is a fully-loaded ATV that provides chore-busting utility and off-road enjoyable in a single sturdy package deal and can go away you room in your finances for additional equipment.
With the Outlander Professional XU ATV you get a variety of choices included commonplace that make for an all-terrain automobile that gained’t go away you wanting for extra. Highlights embrace dynamic energy steering, a velocity limiter, engine braking, locking entrance diff, 26-inch tires on 12-inch aluminum wheels, beefy entrance and rear bumpers plus a skid plate, vibrant LED lights back and front, and a helpful, deep glove field that has a telephone holder and USB port for charging. That is all on prime of the rock stable, 40-horsepower 650cc Rotax engine that’s liquid cooled and gas injected, together with a supple suspension with double A-arms back and front related to 9.57 inches of journey within the entrance, and 10.25 within the again.
Why You Ought to Belief Me
I’ve been a gear editor, gear reviewer, and out of doors author at a number of publications—print and digital—for over 20 years. I’ve examined and reviewed all the things from coolers and grills, to e-bikes and flashlights. My off-roading chops have been constructed from the second I first sat on my first grime bike once I was 12 years previous, a 1978 Honda XR 75, which I rode nearly daily after college and all weekend lengthy exploring wooded trails, grime tracks, and the occasional development web site. Since then I’ve owned a number of grime bikes from a Honda XR 250 on as much as a KTM 450 XC, together with varied four-wheelers like a Yamaha Grizzly 750 and Kawasaki Brute Drive 300.
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How I Examined the Can-Am Outlander Professional XU
I acquired the Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5 in Desert Tan within the spring of 2023 at a good friend’s 1,300-acre farm in Virginia. The farm is leased for crops, has a number of pine plantation plots, and is used for searching deer, turkey, and stray coyotes that wander too shut. It’s additionally an upland sport chook searching protect and is lively with chook searching from September to January.
I used the Can-Am Outlander Professional XU for varied farm chores within the spring and summer season like planting sunflower seeds for the annual dove hunt, spreading wild chook seed in varied areas to reinforce sport chook habitat, toting chainsaws to varied locales for path upkeep and deer habitat creation, and, as soon as deer season started, hauling a number of buck and doe carcasses out of the woods for processing. The Can-Am was additionally used on the farm for ripping across the trails day and evening for off-road enjoyment.
Adam Bible
2023 Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5 Evaluate
Should you haven’t been on a contemporary ATV in the previous couple of years, the distinction between older fashions and the latest ones, just like the Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5 generally is a little astonishing. I hadn’t ridden a more moderen quad and had been regulated to placing round on my 2013 2WD Kawasaki Brute Drive. It did the job for going from level A to B on the farm with no drawback, and with a winch on the entrance, having four-wheel-drive was by no means a priority. Nevertheless it’s small and the suspension was restricted, particularly with a single mono-shock within the rear. The 300cc engine was wonderful, however not the smoothest or strongest factor.
Then I obtained spoiled: enter the Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5. The primary surprising distinction you discover after you pull it off the trailer is that it’s large in comparison with even massive boy ATVs of days previous. The seat top is sort of 3-and-a-half ft off the bottom, requiring you to step up robust and swing your leg excessive to clear all the things cleanly. And the lengthy shocks nestled underneath excessive fender arches add to the sense of grandeur to the ATV’s stance. However when you get rolling, that commanding place and people beefy shocks make the trip so clean and so uneventful, even when going over the gnarliest of roots, that you simply really feel such as you’re on a magic carpet trip—particularly in comparison with a decades-old, single swing-arm quads.
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As you glide alongside on that plush suspension, you’re feeling the graceful and robust engine powering you together with a throaty growl. I discovered the H-5, with 40 horsepower and three.75 lb ft of torque to be robust sufficient to deal with any impediment or mud puddle within the East Coast wilderness. And it proved simply as succesful towing a small trailer into the woods to gather heaping a great deal of firewood.
Key Options That Stand Out
One barely disconcerting factor to get used to (which is the best way of all new ATVs) is the shortage of a right-hand brake lever. You possibly can solely use the foot brake on that aspect, although there’s a entrance brake lever on the left aspect. It took a little bit of getting used to, however the Can-Am’s Clever Engine Braking (iEBTM) system—which is tunable for the way a lot you wish to really feel—helped do away with my want to maintain clutching the non-existent lever as simply letting off on the throttle at low speeds induced a big braking impact. Ultimately l discovered learn how to lean on that pedal to feather my braking with no need for the left-hand lever until at larger speeds.
One other key characteristic that turned out to be tremendous helpful—and one that you simply’d by no means assume you’d need—was the velocity limiter. This characteristic permits you to select what velocity you’d just like the Can-Am Outlander to prime out at, natch. It’s good for when inexperienced of us come over and demand on taking the ATV for a spin. You can also make positive they don’t pin the throttle once they meant to brake, after which find yourself within the pond or the aspect of a tree.
The best way I used it although, was for spreading seed. With an electrical seed spreader mounted on the again of the rack, I used to be capable of evenly and methodically scatter the correct amount of seed in the precise density to cowl a couple of acres of fallow floor in preparation of the upcoming chook searching season. As soon as I set my desired velocity, I might push the throttle to the restrict however the quad simply trundled alongside fortunately over furrows whereas the seed sang out because it blanketed precisely the place I needed.
The on-the-fly four-wheel-drive button was one other favourite characteristic, because it helped me get out greater than few furry spots—principally creek gulches that required additional oomph. That helpful change although, might use a toggle or some form of security to maintain it from being unintentionally triggered. I did discover that generally I’d look down and the four-wheel-drive can be activated, despite the fact that I hadn’t meant to show it on. The change is simple to throw and really near your hand, providing to click on on at any inadvertent slips.
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Equipment Assist Make This ATV a Extra Versatile Workhorse
I discovered the opposite equipment I examined to be excellent for my mixture of farm work and searching adventures: the LinQ Gear Grips and the LinQ Cargo Basket. Each of those, and most of their equipment, use their LinQ system, which permits for simple attachment to the entrance and rear rack areas of most Can-Ams with a easy twist and lock characteristic.
The Gear Grips have been nice for taking a shovel or rake alongside on the path for path upkeep or different chores, and have been additionally excellent for toting alongside at rifle as soon as deer season commenced, although they did vibrate a bit concerningly with a gun in them, however they by no means failed or let their cargo unfastened.
The Cargo Basket is a should if you happen to plan to make use of the Can-Am Outlander on a farm or for any utility functions. It has a number of spots to hook bungee cords and comes with a rubber mat that clips into the underside, which gave my pup slightly additional buy to assist navigate bumpy terrain with out falling out the again. It held all the things from chainsaws and chook packing containers to the aforementioned canine and even a couple of deer carcasses. The extensive field and steep sides have been capable of cradle all of the deer we harvested, buck and doe alike, and the field was straightforward to detach and spray clear of blood with hose as soon as the deer have been eliminated.
Remaining Ideas on the Can-Am Outlander Professional XU ATV
The 2023 Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5 exceeded all of my expectations over the seven months I used to be capable of check it. It drove like a dream, cornered nicely in all varieties of terrain, from sandy gravel to muddy clay to exhausting pack grime. There have been few, if any, negatives to the good-looking ATV. It’s imposing measurement, beauty, robust efficiency, and top-notch high quality make this four-wheeler among the best ones I’ve ever come throughout.
On this configuration, you get lots of bang on your buck, however the identical sturdy structure underneath pins even the lowliest Outlander 500, the 2WD base mannequin, which is available in at a $5,999. With used ATV costs being what they’re—sellers normally need not less than $3,000 for decades-old, beat-to-hell quads—that’s a stable discount for an all-terrain bruiser if you happen to don’t want the entire particular options the Professional XU brings with it. Nevertheless it’s not way more to have all of the upgrades provided with the Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5, which is able to be capable of fulfill the wants of most any outdoorsman that spends lots of time on the farm, within the woods, and on the hunt.
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Can-Am Outlander Professional XU HD-5 Specs
Engine and Transmission
40 hp / 37 lb-ft, Rotax ACE (Superior Combustion Effectivity) 650 cc, single cylinder, liquid cooledIntelligent Throttle Management (iTCTM) with Digital Gasoline Injection (EFI)pDrive major CVT with work calibration, Additional low L/H/N/R/P
Suspension, Wheels, and Brakes
Double A-arm 9.75 in. (24.8 cm) journey, twin tube shocks in entrance; double A-arm 10.25 in. (26 cm) journey, twin tube shocks in rear.XPS Path King, 6-ply score, 26 x 8/10 x 12 in. 12 inch solid aluminum wheelsDual 214 mm disc brakes with hydraulic twin-piston calipers in entrance; single 214 mm disc brake with hydraulic twin-piston caliper in rear.
Dimensions
Dry Weight: 816 poundsL x W x H: 89.9 x 48.8 x 48.2 inchesGround Clearance : 13 inchesTowing Ranking: 1,830 poundsFuel Capability: 5.1 gal
Options
4.5 in. digital show, USB telephone charger, RF Digitally Encoded Safety System, LED headlights and taillightsPremium entrance bumper, rear bumper, and full skid plateSelectable 2WD/4WD/Lock 4WD with Visco-4Lok entrance differential, Clever Engine Braking (iEBTM), velocity limiter, Work/Customary/Sport modes, and Tri-Mode Dynamic Energy Steering (DPS)
