Here We Go...Which Winch?

[nolimits]

I took advantage of BAMF's recent 25% off spring-into-summer sale and ordered an Overland bumper. If you know BAMF, you know they build stuff like a tank using American steel. The only "downside" I see is you are limited to a smaller winch footprint. The upside is it keeps your bumper tight to the vehicle. Give & take....give & take.

With my bumper ordered I am beginning to analyze winches. The obvious contender is the Warn EVO, which the bumper was originally designed to fit. If you aren't aware, this winch is designed & engineered in the USA but built in China using stricter protocols required by Warn. It has a lifetime mechanical warranty & 7 year electrical warranty. Savvy credit card users will extend manufacturer warranties by 2-3x depending on your card perks, FYI. I have one that does 3x so for me 3 lifetimes mechanical and 21 years electrical. Probably good enough, assuming I never ever lose my receipt.

Obviously Badlands Apex is a contender. It's larger but I've seen some BAMF installs work. Got me thinking about the Smittybilt and Superwinch variants as well. Found some chart data on the Smitty's and they seem to actually perform better on paper than the EVO's.

I can't find charts on the Smitty's or Badlands. Can someone point me to them?

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[nolimits]

Chart data comparing several 12k's....

https://www.roundforge.com/winch-database/weight/12000-lb-winches/

 

[nolimits]

FYI...saw an interesting comparison of the VR (gen 1 & 2) vs the VR EVO (gen 3). Short version, the EVO has faster line pulls and lower amp usage but loses some pull strength on the various wraps around the drum. Obviously single layer, you hit the advertised max strengths. But when you have multiple wraps you see degradation from the VR (gen 1 & 2) winches, which is a little disappointing. Also the EVO-10 seems to degrade less than the 8k and 12k variants.

https://www.roundforge.com/articles/warn-vr-vs-warn-vr-evo-winch/

 

[raqball]

If you are going to buy a Chinese made Winch then there are plenty of good options, for much less. I considered a Badlands 12K and a Rough Country 12K. I went with the RC 12K and their high winch mount.

 

[Tricky Mike]

Check with @Northridge4x4 if you're interested in an Evo, they've had some crazy pricing before. I scored a 10k for $300 delivered.

 

[nolimits]

Check with @Northridge4x4 if you're interested in an Evo, they've had some crazy pricing before. I scored a 10k for $300 delivered.

Holy smokes, that's a crazy great deal! Black Friday or just luck of the draw? Steel cable? Did you convert to synthetic, and if so what was that cost?

Blows my 20% OnX discount @ Warn out-of-the-water! LOL

 

[nolimits]

If you are going to buy a Chinese made Winch then there are plenty of good options, for much less. I considered a Badlands 12K and a Rough Country 12K. I went with the RC 12K and their high winch mount.

I'm not gung ho to jump in the Chinese winch pool. Would much prefer American but I'm not going to pay premium for that alone. They need to bring the beef. And fit in my bumper, lol.

Honestly, if I scored a $300 deal like @Tricky Dick I'm buying the EVO and calling it a day.

FYI, here are dimensions on the EVO it was designed around and also the Badlands Apex which I understand is probably the largest I can squeeze in. Both have 10"x4.5" bolt patterns, which I think most do.

 

[raqball]

I'm not gung ho to jump in the Chinese winch pool. Would much prefer American but I'm not going to pay premium for that alone. They need to bring the beef. And fit in my bumper, lol.

Honestly, if I scored a $300 deal like @Tricky Dick I'm buying the EVO and calling it a day.

FYI, here are dimensions on the EVO it was designed around and also the Badlands Apex which I understand is probably the largest I can squeeze in. Both have 10"x4.5" bolt patterns, which I think most do.

Sadly, Warn's US made winches are ridiculously expensive..

Good luck in the search!

 

[Tricky Mike]

Holy smokes, that's a crazy great deal! Black Friday or just luck of the draw? Steel cable? Did you convert to synthetic, and if so what was that cost?

Blows my 20% OnX discount @ Warn out-of-the-water! LOL

It was running at least all of Nov-Dec, not sure what they're currently doing.

 

[orion]

I and many others have had no issues with the Badland Apex winch!

 

[nolimits]

I and many others have had no issues with the Badland Apex winch!

Thanks for sharing, I’ve heard lots of good things about the Badlands Apex.

Occasionally HF gets it right. While many of their things are what I consider “throw away” tools, I currently own 2 of their 44” toolboxes. Not a SnapOn by any means but superb quality, especially since I paid $325 for one and $345 for the other.

Back to the matter at hand, I would just like to see some performance chart data similar to what I’ve shared above on this winch. Just to see how it compares numerically. Guess that’s my inner nerd crying out, lol.

 

[DewarT]

I have run Warn, Ramsey, Milemarker and Smittybilt on personal vehicles and been around alot of the Chinese winches. Sort of 'grew up' on the 8274 which I have on my classic Bronco and it's still the best winch by far. Milemarker has suffered with the intro of all the Chinese stuff and Ramsey has mostly gone back to their roots in commercial applications.

I am very impressed by my Smittybilt and would put one on my 6G without question. The badlands winches I have been around are reliable for their price point, but will be outperformed by the name brands.

The question is- what are you after?
-Reliability at any cost, Warn is the answer.
-Appearance- Warn or Smitty IMHO. Looks is where most people go as use is minimal
-Just looking to have something to get your butt out in a pinch- go Chinese.

Winches fail from extreme use (abuse)- heat. Take care of a cheap one, limit your pull time and use a snatch block when possible- even the cheap ones will last.

 

[HighVelocity]

I'm running a Superwinch SX10SR with synthetic line on my Bronco. For the money, it was hard to beat and comes with a decent warranty. For a light-duty, not often used piece, it is fine. I have only used it in a few test scenerios so far and while it runs a bit slower than other winches, it has worked flawlessly. The cordless remote is awesome as well as the light on the drum.

For real work, I use a Sherpa 25k and a Comeup 12k. Both are industrial level winches and have performed flawlessly. The Sherpa has had the most work, but mostly for pulling 16k-ish pound logs up a mountainside or flipping excavators back on their tracks.

I run away from Warn these days. While they used to be the standard, every winch failure I've seen in the field has been a Warn made in the last 10 years or so. Maybe it's just market saturation, maybe it's a trend. Not worth putting my ass on the line to find out though. Plenty of good alternatives these days.

 

[cbrenthus]

Which winch would a wood witch winch a wench if a wood witch could winch wenches?

 

[Oldhippie]

I was gonna go smitybuilt for features but saw the northridge warn sale and couldn’t pass it up…think that deal is over…

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