Looking at winches and narrowed it down to 2. What im really trying to figure out is if this warn winch is worth the extra 700 bucks and why.
the winches im looking at is the Warn 9.5ti Thermometric Winch and the Smittybilt X20-10,000lb winch. Im looking for unrelenting reliability/durability, and I only want to have to buy a winch once.

Mods if this got put in the wrong section please move it.

 

There are two competing arguments for (insert item here), let me distill them down to the basics:

1. "You get what you pay for"
2. "My cheap-*** (insert item here) has never let me down"

Smittybilt is not in there, but:
http://www.fourwheeler.com/techartic...t/viewall.html


EDIT: No matter how many people are running the cheap stuff and have good experiences, it's still not good enough for some people. And no matter how many people are running the expensive stuff, the cheap bastards still will not pay for it and then complain about "quality" or something.

 

I whole heartedly understand what your saying but at some point the part cant get any "better" and your just paying for a name. thats what im trying to avoid.

Okay lemme rephrase.....price not withstanding which has better parts in it? i was told by a buddy that some of the smaller smittybilt winches dont have stainless planetary gears which obviously would rust over time.

 

I linked you to an article where a cheap *** winch should have won and didn't because it didn't say "warn" on it...

Engos are on sale in the vendor forum. $300 shipped for a 10k. I have one. It works.

 

Im not opposed to paying money for quality products but at the same time i dont want to pay solely for a name. heck the exhaust on my transam ran me close to 2300 dollars from the headers to the catback.

 

I wasn't saying you're one or the other. But if people actually start posting in this thread, that's what it's going to be. A bunch of awesome reviews on smittybilt and then a bunch of people saying you get what you pay for. :P

To me, $700 more isn't worth it for a warn. Warn is supposed to be the best. But in that weak sauce winch shootout, the warn didn't even work at the end. Lulz. If you're going to be winching all the time, I'd probably look into mile marker or ramseys or something like that. But if it's fairly intermittent use and "just in case" sort of thing a cheaper one is fine.

 

appreciate the objective info, thanks.

 

I have a 10k Engo, its amazing and i paid $327 with shipping

 

My neighbor had a warn winch and it lasted 4 years before he had to replace the cable which would of cost a whole nother winch so now he just gets some unnamed brand and just replaces them when he needs to, especially sense it's so cheap to.

 

I have the Smittybilt X2O-10 winch and I LOVE IT. Its completely waterproof and made from high quality materials. Its worth every penny. And I would rate it the same as a Warn any day of the week. Most of the time your just paying more money for a name like Warn and not more money on the winch itself. Because at some point there just gonna be same winch but with different names.

 

I don't know about that smittybuilt model but my brother is on his second, they replaced his first one under warranty, and it's useless. You have to hold the lever to keep it engauged otherwise it pops out. It's an XRC8 and I've heard both good and bad about it. One thing I will say is it's way slow, almost as slow as my old mile marker. I currently run a warn but only because I got a steal of a deal on it. Before that I had a superwinch which honestly I couldn't tell the difference in it and the warn. If you get a cheaper winch buy some better solonids because that's typically the cheaper part of the winch and is what will die on you in the middle of nowhere. For 700 bucks I'd buy the smittybuilt and then a second one for the rear.

 

The Smittybilt X2O 10,000Lb Winch uses a 500 amp solenoid and has fairly good line speed. And is completely waterproof, solenoid box, winch motor and all. Its a way better winch then there xrc series. Well worth the money. Id choose it over paying more for a Warn any day of the week.

Also I bought mine through 4WD.com and paid an extra $75.00 bucks and got a 5 year no questions asked full replacement warranty. They priced matched it for me because I saw it cheaper online at another retailer and I got a free winch cover and free shipping. My total for everything was $550.00 to my door.

 

I learned quite a few things when I worked for 4wheel parts, At first I was very skeptical of their XRC series winches. Being a Warn owner in the past I looked down on them. The entire time I worked there I never seen one come back for issues an everyone loved them including other Warn Winch owners who put them on their family rigs.

I am currently in the market for a new winch myself , I narrowed it down to two winches in the 4-500 range The XRC8 Comp, and the Warn Vr8000. I am going to go with the XRC8 comp since it is a little cheaper, and comes with a syn line which I prefer to run. When it comes to bang for the buck you can not beat it !

 

Somebody needs to be the guinea pig and try Quadratec's new winches. I'm interested in a review of those. Not looking to replace mine, just curious about their new line of winches.

 

I was thinking about it, But I can not get over that ugly light grey color , If it was black or charcoal I would consider it .