Hi, Greetings from south British Columbia Canada. I'm new to SXS and after a dozen years on King Quads, (keeping them too!) here I go. I have a 2017 800 Trail on order now that BC finally has a dealership that picked the line up.
There's a good amount of info on this site and I'm leafing my way through it.

I have to wonder if what I suspect is correct. Is the 800 Trail model the same cabin and body as the 800 EX except for the length of the suspension arms and axles? Are accessories like windshield etc common for both?  None of the accessory makers including CF Moto itself quite make this clear.

The rear windshield. I wonder why these are sold.  Do these machines tend to suck dust in from the rear?
Front windshields... I see the Super ATV hardened front windshield half seems to about cut the front opening in half but the full flip front version seems to have a lower half that barely rises a couple inches above the front hood. Are there disadvantages to this? Is the window vulnerable to motion damage risk from being open when riding over rough surfaces? Is the lower portion much good for wind buffering when the top part is open? Is it better to just get the taller lower half?
Thanks for any insights.
G/L
Thanks.

[2015 Z Force 800 53/Trail EPS]

Hi, Greetings from south British Columbia Canada. I'm new to SXS and after a dozen years on King Quads, (keeping them too!) here I go. I have a 2017 800 Trail on order now that BC finally has a dealership that picked the line up.
There's a good amount of info on this site and I'm leafing my way through it.

I have to wonder if what I suspect is correct. Is the 800 Trail model the same cabin and body as the 800 EX except for the length of the suspension arms and axles? Are accessories like windshield etc common for both?  None of the accessory makers including CF Moto itself quite make this clear.

The rear windshield. I wonder why these are sold.  Do these machines tend to suck dust in from the rear?
Front windshields... I see the Super ATV hardened front windshield half seems to about cut the front opening in half but the full flip front version seems to have a lower half that barely rises a couple inches above the front hood. Are there disadvantages to this? Is the window vulnerable to motion damage risk from being open when riding over rough surfaces? Is the lower portion much good for wind buffering when the top part is open? Is it better to just get the taller lower half?
Thanks for any insights.
G/L
Thanks.

Greetings and welcome to the site. First, yes, the EX and the trail are exactly alike cab-wise. The EX just has longer a-arms and a few other parts so all that fit the cab for an EX will fit the trail.

On the rear shield, most all SXSs...and any vehicle for that matter..will create a low pressure area behind a dead zone and pull dust into it so with a full windshield closed you will find a lot of dirt and dust flowing in from behind. This is why I did buy the SATV rear shield. Helps a lot here in the dry SW.

On the front windshield, its a matter of preference I feel. I didn't like the 1/2 shield I got with mine from CFM. It was always hard to see through and the plastic easily scratched. After much research I went with the SATV flip. The lower part is more like a 1/4 but you can see through it and it's not in the way or in the line of sight all the time like the 1/2 was. You can run with it open but I would keep it under 20MPH and I don't leave mine open on real rough or rocky trails as I think damage can happen. I have been very happy with it over all. One note- these things can get hot inside and you will read about all the things we do to stop that. It's not bad until you start sealing-up the cab. 

The windshield thing is preference and I think riding type. I prefer to have no shield, I don't have dust problems or heat problems this way and I rarely am running more than 20mph unless I'm on the road, I Bring goggles for long rides. The ONLY time I would want a windshield is riding in the winter. That's just me.

Thanks for the tips. With so many ATV and M/C years behind me, having no windshield would suit me just fine. I wondered whether a half shield would create a line right across the field of vision.
Then if a full windshield would make dust suck in from behind, necessitating a rear shield... And if enclosing it starts to make it hot...

It reminds me of an old Rodney Dangerfield gag. He said, "My wife wanted a sundeck, so I built her a sundeck." "Then she said 'it's too hot' so I put a roof over it." "Then she said,'It's too windy', so I put up walls around it." "Now she complains she has another room to clean!"

I don't run any windshield either, entirely too hot. I took my 800ex to hatfield not long after i bought it and ended up hiding the windshield in the woods, then went back and got it later.  Helmet and goggles are just as good if not better than being on a quad since the cage deflects a lot of what you would normally get hit by.