Winches for dummies

[LIVEanimals]

I was looking at summit today and they carry all the popular brands from Warn, Ramsey, Mile Marker even their own house brand. I noticed that summit has a 12000 lb for what seems like a great deal $399. I also took interest in the Warn VR10000. My question: Is there one better brand then the other, try to not be biased? Has anyone used the summit brand or known anyone to use one? Whats the best bang for the the Buck?

[ColoradoBill]

I think the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies to winches more then anything else in the overlanding world. A winch is one of those things when you need it, YOU NEED IT. I run a Warn 12k and it has worked well for about 15 yrs now. I did replace the solenoid pack and added Viking Synthetic rope but that is all it has ever needed.
It is hard not to be biased but I am.

Get the best you can afford. You could get a smaller winch and a snatch block to save a few bucks.

Good luck on your search.

[shortbus4x4]

The nice thing about a Warn is it will last a lifetime because you can rebuild it, even an old used one. Not sure you can do that with some of the cheaper ones. Milemarker and Ramsey make some nice winches too, not sure about getting parts for their older winches though.

[mrchips]

Buy Warn and you buy American made. I have a Warn 9.5XP I bought used and it has a 6HP series wound motor and it is a beast. True you get what you pay for.

[john101477]

I can rebuild my smittybuilt and it has been a good winch. As was stated above, when you need it, you need it. luckily every time I have needed mine it has come through. I also swapt out the wire cable for a amsteel blue and love it.

[1911]

Buy Warn and you buy American made.

Unless you buy their new "VR" line; American-assembled from Chinese parts. Most all the major winch manufacturers now have a budget line of Chinese winches, to compete with the flood of cheaper Chinese winches in the market now.

Still, I agree that you get what you pay for.

[drbandkgb]

Remember you want 1.5 times the total weight of your car or truck too..

[Jimmeh]

Good info! A winch is on my list of things to purchase, and I was going to start looking soon.

[Bigjerm]

I have used my Smittybuilt XRC8 numerous times without issue with some big pulls. Once was a night ride at Harlan where I had to pull cable several times and then once complete I had to use it and a snatch block to pull a 4 door Rubicon on 37's up the steep hill after his winch line snapped. Another was at Choccolocco when a TJ on 40's broke his steering ram and then his engine died. Had to pull him up, over all the rocks, to the top and then onto the trailer.

[BurbanAZ]

I have an Engo 12k on my suburban, i went back and fourth on which winch to get for a while they 4wheeler magazine did their winch shootout story and that finally sold me on the Engo. Its been awesome used it a ton of times over the last year and its done great every time even with my 3/4 ton suburban completely loaded. After my experience with them id highly recommend them to someone else.