I am seeking some advice on a possible winch purchase.  I am purchasing a winch as more of an insurance policy VS as a part of what will be normal usage on the trail. The D2 I am putting this on is my daily driver and weekend warrior. I will not be deliberately taking it into situations that will cause me to winch out. With that being said I am a budget minded person ( I have 4 kids to take care of at home)

I have read lots of reviews and articles on winches and hands down Warn is the best. So here is my dilemma. Do I spend $550 on a 8000lb warn new? Or do I save a couple bucks ( I’m all about saving a few dollars) and buy a Smittybilt XRC 8 that honestly from what I’ve read is a  great little winch. Or option three buy a used Warn off Craigslist, This option comes with lots of unknowns about the Winch.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

I run a Smittybuilt XR8 winch on my jeep. It's been a good winch for the money and it has always worked when I needed it. It is one of the slower winches out there and yes the cable in my opinion is crap. I've since upgraded to amsteel line. Most of the rumors are that the Smittybuilts are rebadged Milemarker stuff thats made in china. I've had mine for 4 years now and all i've done to it was replace the cable and some of the small bolts due to rust. I'd say for an insurance winch the Smittybuilts are fine. I'd go for the 10,000lb one though.

I've always been kinda weary about a guy selling a like new winch on craigslist that doesn't come with the remote or power cables.

When it comes to emergency situations I do not trust anything made in China; not bolts, not nuts, not gears, not motors, not wire rope, not chain, not retrieval straps, not shackles and not winches...no ifs, ands or buts.

Agreed.  Overland Journal did the most comprehensive winch review I've ever seen and this is a great value winch.  It has an external brake, which minimizes overheating if you find yourself needing to use the brake while spooling out.

The two things that make the Superwinch EP series stand above similar winches in the same price range ($5-600ish) are:

- External Brake

- Fast line speed

the LP series doesn't have either of those, but I'm not sure you are going to need them for your application anyway.  I'm sure that either a Superwinch or Warn winch that is properly rated will be a strong pulling reliable recovery tool for a long time. 

You might want to consider making your own winchline out of Amsteel Blue as it is quite a bit safer, and easier to work with.  Check the recovery section of the Overland Handbook.  I think this topic is one of the few that was added already.

Craig

Another thing to keep in mind if you're going to be replacing the wire rope that comes with the winch is how much line you want.

Given that most winches come with at least 100' (mine had 150') and that we're seldom that far from a good anchor point in the NW; loading less line (~75'?) allows you to get to the winch sweet spot on the 1st/2nd wraps without running a whole bunch of line out. You can always carry a winch extension or two for those times when you are farther away from an anchor point.

If you're truly stuck, the weight that the winch sees can be double your DII 6000" GVW or more, so it's good you're going with a +8000# winch. With a a pulley block/double line pull you should be able to get yourself out of just about anything and still only need a single line pull in most cases. 

I've done a ton of research and while Warn is located here in the PNW and regarded as the best I just cannot select them. I think they are way over priced compared to come competitors and they ride that price point on their name.

My winch will be a Superwinch. The price and features are dead on. I plan to run a synthetic rope and the Superwinch is the only winch that officially supports synthetic ropes on their winches (Warn does not). This is due to the external brake that is not integrated into the winch drum and causes heat to build on the on the rope and potentially melt it.

Amazon has very good prices on the Superwinch and for Prime members like myself you get 2-day shipping for free!

EP12.5 $836
http://www.amazon.com/Superwinch-1512200-EP12-5-Master-Winch/dp/B000C7O2AA/ref=sr_1_25?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1287948929&sr=1-25

EP9.0 $529
http://www.amazon.com/Superwinch-09032-EP9-0-Master-Winch/dp/B00023S34K/ref=sr_1_45?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1287956874&sr=1-45

had i gone to the bill burke class first, i would have gone with the super winch with a roller fairlead. I have the Ramsey Patriot which i am very happy with and works extreamly well. But the super winch does have the advantage of the external brake. If you are only useing it rarely then the synthetic rope with a hawse fairlead is great, but if you have a heavy rig, are pulling a long distance or at an off angle then a roller is the way to go. just a few things that i hadnt thought about until i did the class and wished i had.

 Just looking through information on winches and ran across this, 

http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billavista/Recovery/index.html

Could be useful.