Hey I have a Harbor Freight 12,000 lb winch I have used for the the past couple years on my truck and it has worked great. its got outta some really bad situations...................... That being said it has now shot craps on me. I wasn't any the wiser when I bought the winch and to be honest I have been thinking about buying a Smittybilt because their price point is reasonable and they seem to have very good winches.
HOWEVER...... After the past couple of years watching all the WAYALIFE videos and being around other hardcore wheelers and seeing what they have on their rigs period period period I now realize why Warn cost so much. Yes they are expensive and yes you do get what you pay for and some instances and I believe this is one of them. When I go to put a winch on the WJ... I am not going to go anything less than Warn!!!! Yes they are expensive and you don't even have to get the top of the line like the Zeon Platinum.... But you will be glad you have it when you're making long hard pulls and you're dependent on it to get you out of a situation in the middle of nowhere with no one around.
That being said... for my truck since I have to replace the winch... not sure what I'm going with yet. I tend to have a want for the best of the best when I learn better, so I would love to get a Zeon Platinum but cost is a factor too. I have to have at least a 12,000 pound winch since the truck is so heavy and I do recovery with other vehicles in winter as well so it has to be reliable and heavy duty.
I guess in short you could do get what you pay for and while Smittybilt does make a good product I think, the proof is in all the other people using the Warn winches and this type of industry and have no issues with them. And that's the last thing you want on a trail is an issue with your winch when it's your Lifeline, literally.
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