P500 Gonna get one, need help

[teakmtn]

Well, I'm this close to pulling the trigger on a new P500. Reading all the threads about tricking your P500 has giving me the shakes. I can't figure where to start. I have never owned any type of ATV/UTV. Lots of off road experience in 4x4 hunting trucks. I'll mostly be in Eastern Sierra mountains or Nevada desert. This will be a hunting rig.
My question to the group is, if you were to buy a new P500, what Honda accessories would you start with?
Or since I'm not a great wrench (adequate but not great), what would you advise me to start with from the factory/dealer? Hardtop, glass window, accessory electrical harness, mirrors, rear box, rear tray, bigger tires, winch, etc ?
I don't want to go overboard right away, but, want a good start. And, figuring some of the Honda accessories are better than after market and vice a versa. Thank you for your help.

 

[Admin]

 

[rocmar]

Well, I'm this close to pulling the trigger on a new P500. Reading all the threads about tricking your P500 has giving me the shakes. I can't figure where to start. I have never owned any type of ATV/UTV. Lots of off road experience in 4x4 hunting trucks. I'll mostly be in Eastern Sierra mountains or Nevada desert. This will be a hunting rig.
My question to the group is, if you were to buy a new P500, what Honda accessories would you start with?
Or since I'm not a great wrench (adequate but not great), what would you advise me to start with from the factory/dealer? Hardtop, glass window, accessory electrical harness, mirrors, rear box, rear tray, bigger tires, winch, etc ?
I don't want to go overboard right away, but, want a good start. And, figuring some of the Honda accessories are better than after market and vice a versa. Thank you for your help.

Winch.....roof.....100 gal of water

 

[500oneer]

Windshield and roof are the two big ones for me,easy to install. I have the factory but if I had to do it over I might go with emp roof and windshield because they are a lot cheaper. Hurry up and buy,after you do you will wonder while you waited so long. Happy trails.

 

[solrus]

Power steering in addition to above.

 

[CumminsPusher]

Winch windshield lights roof in that order. You can do way better and cheaper then buying the Honda accessory harness. Go slow but assume you may want more down the road so build it appropriately with that in mind it makes no sense to replace something later because of a mistake. No one wants to waist money build smartly based off yours and others experiences doing the same kind of riding. One mans gold is anothers Rock. Read through the forum on the different builds and rides if anything stands out ask some questions everyone here is willing to help.

 

[Chooglin]

The only honda accessory I would purchase , would be the hard roof.I feel that the Honda accessories are way over priced ,you can save a lot of money if you buy aftermarket stuff !

Winch ,Roof , windshield ,cargo box , lights

 

[rocmar]

Well, I'm this close to pulling the trigger on a new P500. Reading all the threads about tricking your P500 has giving me the shakes. I can't figure where to start. I have never owned any type of ATV/UTV. Lots of off road experience in 4x4 hunting trucks. I'll mostly be in Eastern Sierra mountains or Nevada desert. This will be a hunting rig.
My question to the group is, if you were to buy a new P500, what Honda accessories would you start with?
Or since I'm not a great wrench (adequate but not great), what would you advise me to start with from the factory/dealer? Hardtop, glass window, accessory electrical harness, mirrors, rear box, rear tray, bigger tires, winch, etc ?
I don't want to go overboard right away, but, want a good start. And, figuring some of the Honda accessories are better than after market and vice a versa. Thank you for your help.

If ya can..go glass on wind shield
or in the end...you wont be happy

 

[ehart814]

Listen to these guys... Especially if you ride solo often, the winch should be top of your list. Buy the windshield later on. Weather is getting nicer so hold off on that. Save up for a glass one. I love my Honda windshield but constantly worrying about scratching it and have to tell everyone not to touch it. Touching it when it's dirty is all it takes to scratch.

I'd say the best money you will spend on it will be winch, then tires. But that's just me, and I haven't even made those upgrades yet! Soon...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JACKAL]

Well, I'm this close to pulling the trigger on a new P500. Reading all the threads about tricking your P500 has giving me the shakes. I can't figure where to start. I have never owned any type of ATV/UTV. Lots of off road experience in 4x4 hunting trucks. I'll mostly be in Eastern Sierra mountains or Nevada desert. This will be a hunting rig.
My question to the group is, if you were to buy a new P500, what Honda accessories would you start with?
Or since I'm not a great wrench (adequate but not great), what would you advise me to start with from the factory/dealer? Hardtop, glass window, accessory electrical harness, mirrors, rear box, rear tray, bigger tires, winch, etc ?
I don't want to go overboard right away, but, want a good start. And, figuring some of the Honda accessories are better than after market and vice a versa. Thank you for your help.

@teakmtn Welcome to the club! I would have to agree with the consensus of a winch and tires as you first two priorities then a glass windshield and roof. Going with some decent 26" tires in place of the undersized 24" that are on it will make a big difference in traction and ride. But no matter the tire choice when you get stuck by yourself there is no replacement for a decent winch.

 

[ncred02]

tires,Skid plate, tires,winch and tires
listen to Jackal. Its true. Tires make a huge difference

 

[p500fan]

If you're not in an adverse (cold & wet) environment, I would recommend a roof, winch, and new tires to start things off. 26"-27" tires are one of the most popular upgrades for a reason. They unleash the potential of the P500. Shade from the sun really helps the comfort level of any ride, and nothing sucks worse than being stuck. A winch is cheap insurance.

 

[cthack]

Well, I'm this close to pulling the trigger on a new P500. Reading all the threads about tricking your P500 has giving me the shakes. I can't figure where to start. I have never owned any type of ATV/UTV. Lots of off road experience in 4x4 hunting trucks. I'll mostly be in Eastern Sierra mountains or Nevada desert. This will be a hunting rig.
My question to the group is, if you were to buy a new P500, what Honda accessories would you start with?
Or since I'm not a great wrench (adequate but not great), what would you advise me to start with from the factory/dealer? Hardtop, glass window, accessory electrical harness, mirrors, rear box, rear tray, bigger tires, winch, etc ?
I don't want to go overboard right away, but, want a good start. And, figuring some of the Honda accessories are better than after market and vice a versa. Thank you for your help.

Seems the posted responses covered most everything. I agree with most who said winch first. I do most of my riding by myself and use my rig mostly for hunting. I bought synthetic rope on winch because I watched an old man in our camp take his winch cable over the top of roof and quite easily load deer with it onto the back of his Rhino. A winch is just a really handy thing to have. It is also one of the safest ways to erect a tower stand. Another thing that I use almost every trip is under hood storage. I store batteries for my feeders and cameras, wasp spray, zip ties, etc.... I tried the many suggestions for the inexpensive storage but eventually went with the factory Honda under hood storage. It fits and has a reasonably good gasket that keeps out all of the splashing water and most of the dust.

 

[teakmtn]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts.
So, my current plan is to go with the Honda hard roof, a must for shade.
26 inch tires on the factory rims. Now to decide what brand tires and if to have a spare or not.
Underhood storage box, may also try to get one of the glove boxes I have seen being developed by a member of this forum.
Winch with synthetic rope. Problem with needing winch is most areas there will be nothing to attach winch to! Just sage brush. May need to contact a 4 wheeler club to find out their desert winching strategies.

Here are the maybes.
Will hold off on windshield for now, unless the sales guy offers a big discount to purchase when initially order P500. Need to explore options for dust management. Some of these areas have nasty Akaline dust.
Leaning heavily on skid plates. A lot of the roads I'll be traveling on will be washed out two tracks which may have deep drops and big rocks.
A tray to sit on back rack. The back rack will mostly be to attach a dog box on, so no room for nice big storage box or bag (soft box).
Bumpers?
Extra lights?
Fabric doors?
Back panel?
member solrus mentioned power steering, I haven't seen where Honda even offers this?
This forum is AWESOME!

See, I told you this is driving me crazy. I'm approaching analysis paralysis!
Thanks again for your help, Doug T.

 

[teakmtn]

Oh yeah, and I need to spec what size trailer to get! One thought is as small as possible to carry the P500 and when get to end of the road, then detach trailer from truck, reattach to P500 and head out with gear loaded on trailer. Does anybody do this? Is this realistic? Otherwise, just a simple 6x10 should cover it with room to spare. See, nooby. But an enthusiastic nooby!

 

[teakmtn]

However, after reading Jackal's p500 build, I just want to buy his and be done with it! I'm sure he'd like to start over again. lol

 

[JACKAL]

However, after reading Jackal's p500 build, I just want to buy his and be done with it! I'm sure he'd like to start over again. lol

$11,500 and I will deliver it. They always make more, besides I want the 2017 with locking differential anyway.

 

[newb]

Oh yeah, and I need to spec what size trailer to get! One thought is as small as possible to carry the P500 and when get to end of the road, then detach trailer from truck, reattach to P500 and head out with gear loaded on trailer. Does anybody do this? Is this realistic? Otherwise, just a simple 6x10 should cover it with room to spare. See, nooby. But an enthusiastic nooby!

I've done the same trailer thing for out-there camping trips . It allowed us to get to camping areas normally accessible only to backpackers
with 800-1000 lbs of gear .

 

[ehart814]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts.
So, my current plan is to go with the Honda hard roof, a must for shade.
26 inch tires on the factory rims. Now to decide what brand tires and if to have a spare or not.
Underhood storage box, may also try to get one of the glove boxes I have seen being developed by a member of this forum.
Winch with synthetic rope. Problem with needing winch is most areas there will be nothing to attach winch to! Just sage brush. May need to contact a 4 wheeler club to find out their desert winching strategies.

Here are the maybes.
Will hold off on windshield for now, unless the sales guy offers a big discount to purchase when initially order P500. Need to explore options for dust management. Some of these areas have nasty Akaline dust.
Leaning heavily on skid plates. A lot of the roads I'll be traveling on will be washed out two tracks which may have deep drops and big rocks.
A tray to sit on back rack. The back rack will mostly be to attach a dog box on, so no room for nice big storage box or bag (soft box).
Bumpers?
Extra lights?
Fabric doors?
Back panel?
member solrus mentioned power steering, I haven't seen where Honda even offers this?
This forum is AWESOME!

See, I told you this is driving me crazy. I'm approaching analysis paralysis!
Thanks again for your help, Doug T.

Bighorns, bighorn 2.0's, and bear claw htr are all very popular and tough. I'm buying the bear claws because of price but you can't go wrong with any of those three.

Sounds like the dust issue is a big deal for you. My tip out windshield works okay, but I still get a little dust. It does make a big difference when it's tipped out. The rear windshields seem to really help a lot but I don't have experience with them on this particular machine. A friend with a rhino had one and it helped a lot with the dust.

 

[p500fan]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts.
So, my current plan is to go with the Honda hard roof, a must for shade.
26 inch tires on the factory rims. Now to decide what brand tires and if to have a spare or not.
Underhood storage box, may also try to get one of the glove boxes I have seen being developed by a member of this forum.
Winch with synthetic rope. Problem with needing winch is most areas there will be nothing to attach winch to! Just sage brush. May need to contact a 4 wheeler club to find out their desert winching strategies.

Here are the maybes.
Will hold off on windshield for now, unless the sales guy offers a big discount to purchase when initially order P500. Need to explore options for dust management. Some of these areas have nasty Akaline dust.
Leaning heavily on skid plates. A lot of the roads I'll be traveling on will be washed out two tracks which may have deep drops and big rocks.
A tray to sit on back rack. The back rack will mostly be to attach a dog box on, so no room for nice big storage box or bag (soft box).
Bumpers?
Extra lights?
Fabric doors?
Back panel?
member solrus mentioned power steering, I haven't seen where Honda even offers this?
This forum is AWESOME!

See, I told you this is driving me crazy. I'm approaching analysis paralysis!
Thanks again for your help, Doug T.

You asked about fabric doors and the rear panel. I have both, coupled with the OEM hard roof and Hardcoat windshield. This gives me a full cab enclosure, as my P500 is my daily driver on my little AK island. I also have the OEM cargo tray, along with OEM bumpers. The bumpers' main use is for mounting surface for lights and accessory brackets. I tried to build an all-purpose rig for camping, hunting, trail riding, and light hauling/transportation. All accessories have served my needs very well. Yes, I would have bought an automotive glass windshield and hard doors if they had been available, but Lexan and canvas work just as well as stainless steel if I'm warm and dry. Ha! The point is, you really can't go wrong. Just buy the accessories you think will serve your needs. Most are compatible (especially the OEM stuff), and building YOUR rig to suit YOUR needs is half the fun. Actually, I sometimes think it was as much fun as riding. However, I'm a tinkerer, and I love "adding on" to my toys. It's an obsession, if you ask my wife. Ha!

 

[Tflynn]

Winch with synthetic rope. Problem with needing winch is most areas there will be nothing to attach winch to! Just sage brush.

I do some riding in the Nevada high desert so I totally understand your concern. I have read (never actually done it) that if you take a long rope and wrap it around as many sage brush plants as you can, it can be used as a winch anchor. I read that from a Jeep magazine, if it works for a jeep it should work for a sxs. Also, Cabelas has this thing you pound in the ground like a t-post kind of to hook your cable to. I've seen them on the shelf at the Reno store if that's close to you. Last resort- dig a hole deep as you can, put your spare tire in the hole with the winch cable attached, bury spare tire and pull.

Here's a link to the "Earth Anchor" from cabelas-

Earth Anchor : Cabela's