Winches In Hell

[RedPath88]

With recent talk about winches here, I figured this might be worth posting.

 

It's not a perfectly controlled comparison, but it does seem to be more real world that some test are.

 

Winches In Hell - A timeless duel to the death

[TerranoNZ]

Great link Red

[RedPath88]

Superwinch seemed to like the article

 

http://www.superwinch.com/NEW.html

 

 

 

*Thanks goes out to Thunderbox for this link

[MikeV]

Good info! thanks for the link

[Simon]

Damn shame the T-max had the line issue. From what I read elsewhere, and some others real world experience, I was expecting it to be one of the finalists, if not, the winner.

 

T-Max is what I'll be going with when I buy one.

[denisb]

I definately think they should have factored out winch line break in a DNF. It not fair to rate a winch for the line winded on it or the crimp holding it on....however....very interesting read!

 

Denis

[RedPath88]

Although I do agree that it's to bad that the T-Max did not make it that far, it failed. Even if it was just the line the end result would be the same... Your out in the middle of no where stuck because the winch failed you as it was "out of the box"

 

They set the rules before starting and it failed to complete the task

[Simon]

I call BS on that.

 

A synthetic line breakage does not equal failure. It's as simple as tying a new know around the hook with the line....and continue winching. Not ideal, but by no means was the T-Max out of the competition.

[RedPath88]

You can call BS all you like, it don't matter to me as I did not set the rules

 

but according to their rules

The rules were simple and applied across the board. If your winch stopped for any reason other than user error, or something that couldn't readily be resolved by “Joe Consumer”, then your winch was out of the running and declared “did not finish” (DNF).

 

It's ability to pull stopped and it was not user error

 

*This should also be something of note for T-Max, as it would seem the quality control on the lines, built by them or not, may need re-evaluated... it was afterall only the second pull.

 

Now it could be argued that "Joe Consumer" could fix that.. and that is an argument that i would support, but I was not a judge during the shoot-out so....

 

Everyone is likely to have one problem or another with the results so take them as you see fit. This is in no way an end all ranking showing the best and worst.. as they said "sometimes s**t happens", well this time it happened to T-Max and well, it happened to Mile Marker marker as well

 

 

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EDIT:

 

hmmm, on second thought perhaps the average "Joe Consumer" may not have been able to safely fix that line issue. My basis for this is the fact that i work in an field where the ability to tie a solid knot is extremely important.. and the typical person entering the field cannot tie an effective knot They have to be shown.

[Simon]

Fair enough. I'll agree that the average person may or may not be able to tie a decent knot.

 

At any rate, we had a synthetic line snap on the trail last weekend, and that's what we did to fix it. He finished the pull with no issues.

 

As you said, you weren't a judge, nor was I. So our opinions mean sweet bugger all at this point!

[denisb]

True, but if I buy a winch, it's not for a one time use.....it's for the long haul. So I think that as a consumer I would rather know that a winch will last me better and work better (with a simple mod like replacing the cable) than the next one.

 

I agree with Simon....to late and our opinion mean squat on the test....on this forum however......

[GrimGreg]

I'm amazed at the preformance of that Harbor Frieght winch. It held up even though it's a light duty unit.

[RedPath88]

This is the point, out of all possible, that I expected to be brought up

 

I have been reading a lot of experiences and opinions on the HF 8,9 and 10K winches. There is far more about the 8K than the other two and overall people seem to be happy with them (the vast majority really). The single most common issue with them is speed, which really is not that big of a deal IMO

 

Even if it is slow, as long as it gets the job done, it's better than not having one at all.

 

But still, with it's price range being so much lower than 1st and 2nd place, it did extremely well.

[yozsi]

the hf ones are junk, just like the milemarker. the only t hing wrong is the crappy clutch engagement thing. its made of plastic and such a piece of crud. try operating one at below freezing..... ugh.