There are so many winch threads on here....thankfully this one hasn;t turned into "Warn is the only one you should buy" thread. These days most winches are made in China and usually in the same factories. There are differences among them, usually in features so pick which one has what you want. Wired/wireless, synth/cable, etc... They are all going to perform well and they all have their failures. Keep it covered, check it from time to time and don't be stupid on the trail with it.

My XRC10 with synth is now 5 years old. I have about 30 pulls with it including bushes from in front of my house and a wooden swing set across my yard. Not a ton of pulls but it has survived the northeast winters with snow/ice/salt everywhere. I can't complain if it died anytime soon!.

 

I agree with buy as much winch as you can afford. 8K will work but the bigger you can afford the easier it is on the winch and your electrical system on your Jeep.

 

Would you recommend the XRC 10?

 

I was thinking about the same one as you. I looked at everyone's comments and decided that 10k would be my winch.

 

After reading just about every winch thread in existence, I finally ordered a Gen2 10K x2o Comp and dont regret it

 

Have you used it yet? Do you think Smittybilt winches are pretty good?

 

The fact that smittybilt has a winch for $300 at 9500 lbs and it is waterproof, has a nice control, and a black clevis hook all included sold me. I don't have it in person yet though!

 

I was thinking the same! I've been going back and forth between Smittybilt and Engo in my head.

 

I just ordered it last weekend, should be here Friday along with my bumper

In my opinion (and take it for whatever its worth) the on going debate over which winch is better than another is six in one, half dozen another. Everybody who spent their hard earned money on any one item over another will try and sell you on why theirs is better than someone else's.
In my personal case. I knew how much I was willing to spend, I wanted a winch that looked good, something completely waterproof that I never have to worry about in any condition (here in MI we get it all), Something with a good warranty (because all jeep parts break at some point), Synthetic line and wireless control.

for me the choices were pretty clear at that point.. I was stuck between The Engo 10s and Smitty X2o comp

final kickers on going with the x2o in my case

1. best warranty
2. better looks
3. full ip68 rating
4. more readily available
5. most up to date features for the $$

Yes I paid a little more money when compared to the Engo, but it wasn't much, so I chalked that up to the warranty. Mechanically they should be about the exact same as they are all made overseas. Which isn't always a bad thing because lets face it, 90% of all "American" companies products are made in other countries anyway.

If I was going to hide the winch inside the bumper like I had originally planned. I would have bought the Engo. But several reasons steered me away from going that route as well..

So in the famous words of our dear friend Forest Gump - "And that's all I have to say about that"

Good luck grasshopper, the choice is yours

 

Warn VR 10k
Synthetic

It's a really nice winch and works awesome for a fair price.