Ice-fishing snowmobile

[rgreenland]

My brother has been trying to find a decent sled for ice-fishing and I've been helping. He thought he had gotten a new Expedition but dealers evidently have a hard time keeping track of their inventory as not really having what they advertized has happened several times during our quest. We want a utility sled such as a Skandic, Expedition, Bearcat, etc. He can go fairly high in price but my wife has set my limit at $1500 (or after she gets her trip to Paris). Requirements include: long and/or wide track and 2-up seating. We might consider touring/trail models. 

In lieu of the above I might want to buy something I can get by on until a good one comes along. Can anybody point me to models that might work better than others? I really have no idea what type might work. Please name names of models if you can. Also knowing what not to get would be good. Thanks in advance for any info you can share.

Just my 2 cents...I've owned a few sleds and I've only purchased them for ice fishing.  I'm not a recreational rider.  The first two I had taught me a lot of lessons.  The two-seater trail sled was way too big, way too heavy, and the paddles on the track were way too small (see, I don't even know what they are called officially).  Every time I took that machine off of a groomed trail I got stuck....so basically every single time I went ice fishing.  The second sled I bought was smaller, faster, lighter...but still had small paddles on the track.  Got stuck half as much but still enough to really dread wanting to take it out.
So 5-6 years ago I bought a Polaris RMK 800.  More of the powder, off-trail kind of machine.  Track was way more aggressive, larger paddles, etc.  I have NEVER been stuck with that machine.  And, finding a sled hitch for it was easy with easy install.  I can pull out my hut and/sled behind it through some of the deepest power or slush on the lake and not have any problems at all.
I have been told that it was overkill to buy the machine just for ice-fishing....but I don't regret it at all.  I guess if my son wanted to take it out and play it would work for that just as well as it works for me ice-fishing.  
I'm thinking of buying another for my son so he can go with me (although we have ridden two ppl on the sled many times), and during the summer I have seen over a dozen of them 2005+ in your price range.  A bit harder to find when the weather gets cold.
You wanna borrow the sled and take it out?  I'm good with that.  I'd rather it be used and not just sit there idle when I'm not using it.
When I bought mine it was $2,300.