hydroman

Whichever brand you decide on, go for a 6" carbide.  7" or 8" if you stud.

I would adapt to a slightly more of a "point and shoot" style of riding.  Your longer wider track can brake faster and hook up faster than any 121" x 15".  Letting of throttle will transfer weight back to the skis during turn.  I find the XP super responsive moving my weight forward on a turn. As opposed to hanging to the inside of a turn like an Arctic Cat requires.  I also run 6" carbides from BRP. On twisties, I have no problem keeping up to any Doo, Cat, Yammie, or Polaris IQ's.  It's only their switchback assaults (Pro-ride chassis) that seem to offer any competition.  When I do see somebody pull away from me, I found they were being careless like wandering to the wrong side of the trail on blind turns.

 The water trick works better then the puller.

Agreed.  No $30 pullers will get destroyed.  Also hammering on the puller/crank just seems like unnecessary trauma. 

It is a bugger to get at. I think I went in from the top with wobble extension.

I went with the mid-height 1 piece BRP sells.  My stock side deflectors were too brittle and cracked. The 1-piece seems a lot more flexible.  I can have it off in 10 seconds if I need to roll my sled to get unstuck.  Pics on post #540 in this thread: http://www.dootalk.c...s/page__st__525