Argocat Extortion

Salmo Salar

Well-Known Member
Surely I can't be the only person that thinks the prices charged for Argo's these days is extortionate.
Dont get me wrong, they are fantastic at what they do, but they are far too expensive for what they are.

If anyone on here knows of any engineering type businesses surely someone could could come up with something as good but at a fraction of the price.
Speaking to one gamekeeeper the other day, who has taken delivery of a new Avenger with the short cab and roll over protection the cost.... wait for it..... £22k Yes 22k for lets face it a molded plastic tub, with a simple chain drive system with a lawnmower engine!!

Bloody hell, my lawnmower has more bits to it than an argo and cost a fraction of the price
 
The small number made probably effects the price as there are few economies of scale. Mind you the price rather effects the numbers sold so there are few economies of scale.!!!

David.
 
Also a relatively captive market with very little competition. An estate that I recently stalked for a red stag runs 3 Argocat which are replaced on a three year cycle, they are considering a competitive product from Polaris as an alternative. Having been in an Argocat in the Scottish highlands they really can go anywhere with very little affect on the terrain it is travlleing on, any alternative has a hard act to follow.
 
i seem to remember seeing a website a couple of years ago of Argos made in china. Whether they would be any good im not sure, dont see why the wouldnt i suppose because as said they are simple things.
 
A quad on tracks is the ticket. Will go where an argo wont as far better groud clearence. Granted not so handy for a passenger or multiple carcase's but with the extra £££ in your pocket you can live with it. Safer too as a lot easier to jump of than it is getting out of an argo in a slide or tumble. I can change from tracks to wheels in an hour so you get the best of both.

GT
 
put mine in for service before the start of the season to main dealer. Total cost for collection and drop of plus full service and replacement of several bearings and a couple of shafts £2000. Two days later after very little use main bearing below drive shaft collapsed which I had to repair myself. Spoke to the parts guy and asked him about the bearings, was it me being hard on the machine causing all these bearings to go and he told me he can not keep enough of them in stock and sell thousands of them every year. This machine is about 5/6 years old and does work hard however it is a pain in the neck. Came in tonight and the other stalker tells me there is a problem with it not going into reverse so the gearbox is getting changed tomorrow, just what I need in the middle of the stags.
 
We recently went on a utility vehicle and quad with a conversion called I think lightfooter or something like that, that's the way to go in my opinion been on a argo quite a few times and think a caterpillar track type of converted vehicle would be my choice most certainly
 
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been thinking about how to manufacture cheaper and better alternatives myself to be honest.. the issue with the argo, apart from the obvious cost of repair and servicing is the lack of a ramp for dragging in deer, in the uk we don't use them for sailing, so waterproofing is not so much of an issue, and quite we're more likely to get flooded from above anyway! LOL.

I think the steering could be improved and I think a more universal set of parts (esp. those that tend to need replacing) would be handy, I also think it could be made more quiet and the seats more comfortable (not that it's meant to be a 'comfort' vehicle.

the big one for me is its issue with snow. when I've been extracting hinds/calves in the snow it always struggles. it could really do with the ability to accomodate wider and bigger 'snow tyres' somehow...

it's a small market, really small - in order to make the creation of an alternative viable you'd have to make it attractive to other consumers, like argo has, and be able to sell to foreign markets, and that makes the manufacturing very very expensive! otherwise you'd have to do it locally with just you and a buddy or two and keep it a small-time operation.
 
been thinking about how to manufacture cheaper and better alternatives myself to be honest.. the issue with the argo, apart from the obvious cost of repair and servicing is the lack of a ramp for dragging in deer, in the uk we don't use them for sailing, so waterproofing is not so much of an issue, and quite we're more likely to get flooded from above anyway! LOL.

I think the steering could be improved and I think a more universal set of parts (esp. those that tend to need replacing) would be handy, I also think it could be made more quiet and the seats more comfortable (not that it's meant to be a 'comfort' vehicle.

the big one for me is its issue with snow. when I've been extracting hinds/calves in the snow it always struggles. it could really do with the ability to accomodate wider and bigger 'snow tyres' somehow...

it's a small market, really small - in order to make the creation of an alternative viable you'd have to make it attractive to other consumers, like argo has, and be able to sell to foreign markets, and that makes the manufacturing very very expensive! otherwise you'd have to do it locally with just you and a buddy or two and keep it a small-time operation.

These will help with the snow also
 
Expensive to buy and not cheap to maintain, the new model seems to be a couple of grand each year to repair and service. I think the issue is the wieght, esp with the full roll cage , it makes it front heavy and the roll cage makes the body rigid so it doesnt flex and grip the ground well . On really steep ground it would be safer to have just a single over the cab bar than the full cage because if it rolls it'll keep going rather than dig in. The polaris is pretty good and a damn site more comfortable than the argo .It can go most places with care but if you catch a rock or a hag on the steep with one of the front wheels it's wanting to topple. I think there is a version of the argo with a mid mounted engine this looks like it would be better for the steep ground
 
anyone here ever rolled an argo down the hill? I once sent one face first flying into a peat hag from about 75yds above on a 60 degree hillside, went flying when it stopped! LOL

a mate of mine once sent one rolling sideways down the hill, survived, so did his buddy - they count themselves lucky!
 
Must be like my ROKON motorcycle: A specialized unit. A buddy just bought Kawasaki KLR 650CC for 2/3 of what I paid for my Rokon. Expensive, but I guess that unlike the Argo, it's cheap to maintain and trouble free. Still, the initial price tag is a shocker.~Muir
 
A quad on tracks is the ticket. Will go where an argo wont as far better groud clearence. Granted not so handy for a passenger or multiple carcase's but with the extra £££ in your pocket you can live with it. Safer too as a lot easier to jump of than it is getting out of an argo in a slide or tumble. I can change from tracks to wheels in an hour so you get the best of both.

GT

Quad on tracks not as good as a Polaris with Bear Claw tires :lol:
 
PKL yes I have rolled an Argo managed to break my ribs all the way down one side, my Ghillie managed to turn one upside down in a narrow burn, could not get out and may well have drowned in a few inches of water had I not been on hand to lift it off him.

By the way you can get tracks for your Argo don't know the cost involved but would imagine as in all things Argo they won't be cheap.

There are alternatives to the Argo for hill use but all are expensive and some have better features but over all
have not found anything thats better than an Argo.

The Polaris is getting good reviews, they may have improved but I remember serious reliability issues with the early Polaris quads.

Hill Cat like an Argo with hinged rear door for loading, but its a metal tub and would imagine there could be weight issues on soft ground.

Quads OK for extracting a single beast or a couple of hinds on your own but not ideal if you are taking out clients
or culling big numbers, unless you have a Ghillie operating it.

Had a Vee Pee again the tub was metal with fibreglass body mounted on top so weight again a problem on soft ground, on hard ground you had to be careful turning, with the weight it tended to pull the tyres off the rims if you turned it too quick, you could get rubber tracks for it and with the tracks it was indeed a go anywhere machine, it was powered by a Citroen 2 CV engine conventional four speed gearbox with normal clutch as in a car
with the tracks on and a good fall of snow, you could tear across the hill at 45 MPH YEE HAA
However the tracks wore out quickly a set only lasting a season and costing at that time, almost thirty years ago £1500 add in maintenance costs and it was more expensive than an Argo to run.

Glencoe's and Balmoral's were similar type machines.

I also had a Gnat at one time, do any of the older stalkers remember them?
 
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PKL yes I have rolled an Argo managed to break my ribs all the way down one side, my Ghillie managed to turn one upside down in a narrow burn, could not get out and may well have drowned in a few inches of water had I not been on hand to lift it off him.

By the way you can get tracks for your Argo don't know the cost involved but would imagine as in all things Argo they won't be cheap.

There are alternatives to the Argo for hill use but all are expensive and some have better features but over all
have not found anything thats better than an Argo.

The Polaris is getting good reviews, they may have improved but I remember serious reliability issues with the early Polaris quads.

Hill Cat like an Argo with hinged rear door for loading, but its a metal tub and would imagine there could be weight issues on soft ground.

Quads OK for extracting a single beast or a couple of hinds on your own but not ideal if you are taking out clients
or culling big numbers, unless you have a Ghillie operating it.

Had a Vee Pee again the tub was metal with fibreglass body mounted on top so weight again a problem on soft ground, on hard ground you had to be careful turning, with the weight it tended to pull the tyres off the rims if you turned it too quick, you could get rubber tracks for it and with the tracks it was indeed a go anywhere machine, it was powered by a Citroen 2 CV engine conventional four speed gearbox with normal clutch as in a car
with the tracks on and a good fall of snow, you could tear across the hill at 45 MPH YEE HAA
However the tracks wore out quickly a set only lasting a season and costing at that time, almost thirty years ago £1500 add in maintenance costs and it was more expensive than an Argo to run.

Glencoe's and Balmoral's were similar type machines.

I also had a Gnat at one time, do any of the older stalkers remember them?

had each of these at some point, incl the gnat, an old bombardier (bombi) and a garron(mechanical)

the bloody veepee , snowtrac, hill cat only has a silly wee Honda engine, completely under powered.
Had an ex army super cat, good value but very heavy, same for hagland.

argo despite the extortionate price is the best if you have guests, working on my own, I,d stick to a Honda quad, snow -a sledge behind a snow bike. Or a pony :)

my first job, we had a weasel, which was a converted Bren gun carrier
 
had each of these at some point, incl the gnat, an old bombardier (bombi) and a garron(mechanical)

the bloody veepee , snowtrac, hill cat only has a silly wee Honda engine, completely under powered.
Had an ex army super cat, good value but very heavy, same for hagland.

argo despite the extortionate price is the best if you have guests, working on my own, I,d stick to a Honda quad, snow -a sledge behind a snow bike. Or a pony :)

my first job, we had a weasel, which was a converted Bren gun carrier

Yor first job you had a weasel, you were not working for Andrew Allen were you?
 
I must be a right old fart, I worked with old Andrew Allen when he was not that old. Yes he brought the weasel to argyll estates. And yes I used a gnat at Ardchattan. 3 wheels. You had to turn the steering rudder round and give it a hand crossing ditches. Still better than a rope and stout hazel though.
 
Reading these posts i remember most of these atv's not for being useful which they were given what preceeded them but for all the times i left them abandoned on the hill and still had to drag the beast or beasts home by hand or split them and set up on knuckles to cool, and leave jacket on stick to keep eagle off and hope to get back with something the next day to retreive deer and atv. I'm sure i must have gone out and come back the same day loads of times but it's harder to bring these outings to mind. Was there not something called a spider? quite low clearance chain driven four wheel affair? if i've got the name right this machine was supposed to stick like sh1t to the steep ground , i went out with my brother to try it on the steepest gface he had , had a controlled slow descent onto the face and applied the parking brake whereupon the back wheel sheared and dissappeared off down the hill at speed ending up a good half mile away. Yet another long walk back and a wasted day recovering machine. The only thing i can say has never let me down so far is shanks pony.
 
Reading these posts i remember most of these atv's not for being useful which they were given what preceeded them but for all the times i left them abandoned on the hill and still had to drag the beast or beasts home by hand or split them and set up on knuckles to cool, and leave jacket on stick to keep eagle off and hope to get back with something the next day to retreive deer and atv. I'm sure i must have gone out and come back the same day loads of times but it's harder to bring these outings to mind. Was there not something called a spider? quite low clearance chain driven four wheel affair? if i've got the name right this machine was supposed to stick like sh1t to the steep ground , i went out with my brother to try it on the steepest gface he had , had a controlled slow descent onto the face and applied the parking brake whereupon the back wheel sheared and dissappeared off down the hill at speed ending up a good half mile away. Yet another long walk back and a wasted day recovering machine. The only thing i can say has never let me down so far is shanks pony.

Aye lad give it time, give it time, would never have believed it but shanks's pony has begun to let me down.
 
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