Our New Commercial Vehicle – 2019 Can-Am Defender XT HD8!

I’ve been debating for months on whether to get a new ATV and put tracks on it or get a side by side (UTV) and slowly build towards tracks. Our Arctic Cat 500 is still running and I keep maintaining it as we use it daily at the kennel, but she’s 21 years old with at least 15k mi on it! Takes a licking and keeps on ticking I guess. The old machine has hauled many cords of wood, endured thousands of sled dog hook-ups, plowed miles of road and driveway, been stuck in mud up to the seat, rolled twice, and who knows what else. We are long overdue for a new vehicle.

For four winters I groomed the Spirit Mountain Nordic center for the Duluth Cross Country Ski Club with a brand new 2015 Skidoo Skandic 900 SWT and fell in love with that machine also made by BRP. I knew that Can-Am made an excellent UTV too I was just unsure which one to look at. I needed to see them in person.

So I ventured down to Duluth Lawn and Sport in West Duluth to look at a used Honda Pioneer they had listed on their website for sale. They had a lot of used vehicles in the side yard so I sat in a few to check them out. I was unimpressed with the Honda, it seemed cheesy and overpriced for what you will get. They had a new Defender XT HD8 in silver that was already purchased by another customer sitting out there too and I really liked the look of it. Can-Am makes a sharp looking machine that’s for sure!

I got some prices on the new machines including the Commander and Defender HD10. The HD10 was another $3k more than the HD8 so I went with the HD8! They also installed front and rear glass windshields for me on the candy red machine. I’m not a huge fan of red but this actually looks really sharp. Topped with a $1k rebate (will apply towards Apache 360 LT tracks) and a two year commercial warranty I got a pretty good deal on it. SO, STOKED.

Check out the video of the machine!

We’ll be using this machine for many things around the kennel year round. If you take a ride in one some time you’ll be really impressed at the power and the comfort going down the trail. You can’t be disappointed!