I just ordered the smittybilt stinger and in a few months will be shopping for a winch. At first I was sold on the superwinch 9 with cable then I looked at the smittybilt and recon with synthetic line. Now I think I want synthetic line. I go wheeling 3-4 times a year and have never needed a winch but it would be nice to have.

I have a few questions.

Which is better recon or smittybilt

If I go with the smittybilt would the 8 or 10 be a better choice for an unlimited. For 100 buck more would probably go 10.

I know superwinch is probably a better product but don't want to shell out the money for it with synthetic line. Please don't turn this into a but a warn or go home thread.

 

honestly, most of the cheaper winches like smittybilt are all made by the same manufacturer in china and just repackaged with a different lable. in other words, they are all about the same.

 

for the $ you may want to look at a Tabor its Warns offbrand, can find it around 600$ if you look. I can certainly appricate the appeal of a synthetic line, but I think I'd personally go for a better quality winch and upgrade the cable later. a cheap winch can have spooling probs.

 

I bought the Recon 10,500 winch mainly for its waterproof rating. Some of the wheeling down here involve quite a bit of water during the raining season. The Recon has a IP67 rating which pretty much states that it is waterproof up to 3 feet deep. I still plan on increasing the seal on the solenoid to be on the safe side.

The only Smittybilt product I have bought did not fit the vehicle it was designed for and I had to modify it before I could install it. After further research I found that this problem was going on for a few years and Smittybilt had done nothing to correct it. This lack of quality control made me hesitant to purchase another Smittybilt product, especially one as important as a winch.

 

Enough said about "inexpensive" winches. I find it amazing we will worry about the quality of our tires, and wheels, and bumpers, but the one thing that will get us out of a problem we want to go cheap on. Always amazes me.

 

I agree, one of the most important parts on the Jeep.

 

I bought a Warn M-8000 on sale for $549 with steel cable. I can replace with synthetic later on but in the meantime I have a name brand winch with an excellent warranty. Add a snatch block to double capacity and you are all set.

 

I have a few pulls on my XRC8 Winch and never had a problem.
Also got a Lifetime Guarantee with it. Perfect for the weekend warrior.

 

Is the lifetime warrnanty from WARN or a distributer?

 

I got the lifetime guarantee on my Smittybilt winch from 4WD for like $50.
It covers anything and everything - no hassle.