Another which winch thread

[robmandeville143]

I've had a WARN VR Evo 12. Uniquely balanced 12000 pounds winch with wire rope and roller fairlead, electric-powered winch that can provide reliable service for intermittent utility and recreational use. lots of power. great in the woods. Easy to handle. Pretty easy to install.

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[Kreepin1]

When I shop for a winch I narrow it down as follows:
1) Is it rated for at least 1.5 times the weight of my rig?
2) Does it fit in the space I have?
3) Then I look for the fastest no-load line speed I can afford.

When I didn't know any better I thought "who cares how fast the winch is, if I'm stuck what does a minute or two matter?" Then you learn that when you are winching you often help the winch by driving forward. This is when the winch's no-load line speed either keeps up or goes slack. Slack line creates a number of problems, but worse case gets driven over and damaged. I've even seen it wrap around axles.

Warn Zeon 10-S 33 ft/min
Warn VR10-S 25.9 ft/min
Quadratec Q-Performance Stealth 21 ft/min

As a side note, people often think bigger is better. As a rule, higher capacity winches have lower gearing and thus lower no-load line speeds. Note the 12,000 lb. version of the Stealth has a 16 ft/min no-load speed...