lsjeep52

BoraBora

You'll be fine with either. What really matters when buying a winch nowadays is the warranty, and Engo claims (on their website) to have the "best warranty on the market"...but also fails to specify what it is. Hit them up for details. Unless you're regularly submerging your winch in water, the IP67 vs IP68 really doesn't matter.

Honestly, Smittybilts X2O winches are hard to beat for their price tag. If I remember correctly they have a lifetime mechanical warranty, and 5 year electrical warranty. That is way better than my Warn's warranty (lifetime mechanical, 1 year electrical).

I try and steer people clear of Warn nowadays. Unless you have money to burn, they're really really REALLY overhyped (except the 8274...if you can snag one and rebuild it, do it). I had to replace the contactors and solenoid on mine...and guess what? I could've bought a brand new X2O winch for the same price as the parts it took to fix my Warn.

Before the Warn fanboys roll in: there's no reason my PowerPlant should've failed after 3 years of use. I park in my closed garage, my Jeep is not my daily, and I don't do deep water crossings. Spare me the "made in USA" crap, it's 2018...Warn outsources their parts too.

63expert

BoraBora

The fan boys have arrived!

I own the second most expensive winch that Warn has to offer. Would've left me in the woods if I hadn't done a function test before leaving for a wheeling trip...

Yeah, Warns are so good bro!!! Paying $$$ and getting a shittier warranty than a Chinese winch that's 1/4 of the price. If Warn winches are so bulletproof how come our electrical warranty is only 1 year long? Why'd I have to replace $300 of parts? Why'd my buddies 9.5ti also suffer a solenoid failure after 2 years? Both of our Jeeps are garaged, and neither of us daily drives it. We only rock crawl, no real exposure to wetness. Even then though, I paid such a fat premium...how come these Chinese companies can stand behind their product for longer than Warn?

Meanwhile Smittybilt can offer a 5 year electrical? Both are offering lifetime mechanical. Where am I losing you here?

The only good thing Warn has going for them is their helpful customer service. Imagine if I wasn't even comfortable enough to take my own winch apart...I'd have to pay someone even more $$ to replace the parts. I have no more confidence in my Warn than I do any other winch. I expect it to let me down again in the future, at which point I'll sell it and buy a Smittybilt.

You must be the type that drinks Smart Water, because spring water is "from the ground."

63expert

2MchFun

My Warn has never failed me, and my Jeep is not a garage Queen. Many times people have told me what a "nice wench" it is when recovering them/me.
That said, my GF has an Engo and it has proven as reliable as my Warn. YMMV.

nthinuf

From a price perspective, it is hard to justify Warn these days. Lots of lower priced alternatives, with fairly good reviews overall..

But from my own exerience, I have had a hs9500i sitting on the front of my 4x4's for over 18 years now, and it is still running strong. One incident with the brake failing at around the 5-year mark, and they just told me to drop it at the nearby service center and pick it up a week later. Couldn't complain too much about that. It's also nice that they have the schematics easily accessible online with all of the parts still available, for when I get around to finally pulling it apart for a good cleaning and swapping over to synthetic.

BoraBora

LOL, fair enough.

I've seen 2 fail, not just mine. Obviously the Warn is a better quality winch, but nothing is perfect. Your average Joe on this forum doesn't need a Warn for the 3 or 4 times a year they drive a fireroad and or easy trails.

Your Jeep is only covered in American parts? Sick dude..so is mine. I'm simply trying to save the next guy some money, anger, and frustration before they come back here ranting about how "the winch everyone told me was best has failed." It's happened. I've witnessed it, twice. Warn isn't what it used to be.

$400 for 5 years of free replacements is still hard to beat in my eyes.

jadmt

I have had my Chinese made warn vr10000S since they very first came out in 2012 or 13. they were then advertised as being assembled in Oregon so I thought that was cool. I received it and right on the winch it said made in china. That being said the thing has made many tough pulls (I snow wheel a lot) my buddy has the same winch and he to has not had any issues. In our group there are some warns (none has failed) a HF badlander that sounds like it is going to gernade but has made many pulls and keeps going, 2 Engos that have both had issues with the contactors. Engo was good about replacing my brothers, but for some reason they jacked my buddy around and he finally gave up. He mailed proof of purchase and emailed proof of purchase and spent lots of time on the phone he finally said screw it.

the regional authorized Warn warranty center is nearby and the guy there told me VR series have not had any warranty returns. I hit a solid object and cracked the end supports on mine and he was able to send them out in a day. He said they try and keep at least one of every part for every winch on hand. I thought that was cool. He said it was the first VR series part he has sent out. Like a dumb shit I pulled the motor to look at the brushes and damned if I could not for the life of me get it back in (brushes looked new tho) and had to take it to the repair shop to have them do it. they have a special tool that holds the brushes in place. I tried the paper clip trick but it just would not work. I am in the market again for a winch for my new jeep and will be getting another VR10.