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That's a loaded statement right there!!! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /><br />
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An Off Brand winch will save you a lot of initial investment money. But what good is that if it won't perform the mission??<br />
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In winches especially you get what you pay for. Sure there are off brand winches that people will tell heroic stories about. And I can show you a dozen that failed. <br />
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There's a lot to consider, one most important issue is amp draw. You can buy a $200 winch and if your battery won't stand the draw it becomes a boat anchor. <br />
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I Jeep, seriously Jeep. When I unspool cable/rope I am STUCK. I need dependability that I can count on. I need efficiency, low amp draw. I need durability because it may have to pull for thirty minutes or more to complete the task. I frequently find myself literally hanging on the cable. Failure is not acceptable. <br />
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I never even look at off brand winches. I've retrieved other people's Jeeps that had a winch hanging on the front, but they didn't want to use it fearing it would break or drain their battery. Sunday we were wheeling across a frozen creek and I broke thru. The guy behind me wouldn't winch me out because he didn't think his Champion winch would handle the strain. He's off my Christmas card mailing list. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite3" alt=":(" title="Frown :(" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":(" /> <br />
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I've used a lot of battery juice retrieving other people's rigs after their off brand winch failed. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite4" alt=":mad:" title="Mad :mad:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":mad:" /><br />
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Go for quality. Your need will evolve and you'll find that winch being used often and on hard pulls. Then you'll want quality.<br />
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Sorry for the rant.
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Excellent point, but as a counterpoint...<br />
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To justify my own decisions...lol<br />
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I would say that a hardcore 4wheeler needs the tops in quality in a winch, probably a warn 8274 comes to mind.<br />
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Part time user, look at it this way.<br />
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You can buy 2 Harbor Freight winches for the price on one Warn winch, the cheapest one. I got 8 good years of pretty regular use out of mine, a HF one. Hard to judge quality on chinese crap, sometimes. Sometimes the stuff actually lasts as long as good stuff. sometimes not. But if you're in the deep stuff, you can have two winches for the price of one, and if one gives out prematurely, you still have an extra, and now you can judge the quality. <br />
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Back in my hardcore 4wheeling days, when I didn't have much money and Harbor frieght didn't exist, that $1000 winch was always something that got put off because of cost. I always had somebody along in the group that had a milemarker. Always had the comealongs and the HiLift, and always managed to get unstuck. When those 300 buck winches came along, money was better, and 300 bucks was more like disposable money, where I could afford to see how long this chinese crap would last. I'd say I got my money and then some out of it. And it still may not be dead yet, just needs a little maintenance on the inside. <br />
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But what ovrszd says about amp draw, line speed, raw grunt power, and duty cycle, that is true, and if you need to meet a threshold on those items, only the best will do.</div>
