My first ride on an EPS sled - 858 EXT

[ksiesel]

Last week I had the opportunity to demo ride a CAT 858 EXT and thought I'd share a couple of my observations here.

EPS - It was great at ensuring the sled went where the skis were pointed and didn't transmit any feedback to your hands as it crossed others lines. I wonder how much of the ability to cross others lines without reacting to them was the C&A Pro skiis that they spec for the 858? However, the EPS felt a bit like stiction to me in the steering. The sensation was that you couldn't change steering angle with very light pressure as you had to provide enough input to overcome the threshold to tell the EPS to turn the skis. This was a very odd sensation that I suspect I would get used to with more seat time. I did look and the part numbers for the EPS are different between Catalyst and Procross. Does the Procross with EPS have this same stiction sensation in the steering?

Vibration at idle - I'd read some things about the 858 not being the smoothest mill out, but I wasn't expecting it to be this noticeable. While standing at a road crossing, if I left my hands on the bars, my helmet would even shake. I was floored by this.

Catalyst Ergos - It is so much easier to get right up on the bars on a Catalyst than it is on the Procross as there's just so much more room in the knee area. I really hope they bring a 4S Yamaha to the Catalyst for '28, but the dealer I demoed from said that Cat will be using their own 4S in '28. I hope he's wrong.

EXT colors - I thought I may like it in person, but still a no, not a fan. I do like the features and the G8 display though.

Catalyst gauge location - As mentioned, I really like the G8, but I don't understand why the sunk it so far into the hood. I just looks like a massive snow trap that you will be shoveling out constantly in deep snow or if the machine is outside and not covered while snow is falling. I can see easily scratching the snot out of this gauge while trying to clear snow from it.

 

[KnappAttack]

I have no stiction in the 998 Procross whatsoever. It steers nice and easy as long as the EPS is active. I've had the EPS not fire up when starting in the cold though as have others. If that happens it steers like a bear on my sled. I did add a grease zerk to the pitman arm however and that could be the reason it steers hard when not operational with heavy lithium grease in the cold wether. When It doest fire with off on my buds sled his steers like a normal sled. It seems when the battery is not up at full strength they wont engage the EPS in the cold, all we need to do is restart after its been run a while and the EPS fires up as it should and away you go.

For me the EPS is a game changer on the new sleds. I never felt it was just right on the Apex and sold that sled after only 400 miles, but the on the Winder the EPS is spot on and Id never go back to a machine without it and thats a fact.

 

[STAIN]

I never felt it was just right on the Apex and

The old Yamaha EPS felt "spongy" to me. Almost like there was a big rubber connector between the bars and skis. I sold my EPS Apex after one season also.
The EPS on my 2024 Riot and my previous 22LTX GT was seamless. No stiction at all. Smooth. Everyone who comes from a different brand cant believe how nice EPS is. Had a Ski-Doo and Polaris guys grinning ear to ear while they riding my Riot this week.

 

[ksiesel]

The old Yamaha EPS felt "spongy" to me. Almost like there was a big rubber connector between the bars and skis.

I think that's a good way to describe some of what I was feeling. In fact, with the machine turned off, you could literally turn the bars 10 or so degrees against what felt like a spring without the skis turning. I'm assuming this is winding up a torque sensing link between the bars and the EPS motor that's read by the EPS controller as rider input.