Help decide on 2 winches

[rscott91]

Hey guys. Looking for a budget winch to add to my JL. Have read all reviews I can find on the HF badlands 12000lb and the Open Road 13500lb. Can get the Open Road for $299 since they just sent me another coupon or am going to wait for the 35 percent off the Badlands which will come around, which would put it at about 100 more. No extreme trail use just basic off road use beach and typical snow issues in the mid Atlantic area. Is the badlands worth the extra $100. Thanks in advace

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[Blues Fan 30]

I have the badlands and its worked great for me so far in limited usage.

 

[kansasboy91]

I’ve used my Badlands winch a lot more than I should have on recovering other people. It’s worked great and as expected every single time. Only real complaint is where the main power cable comes out of the winch controller. With the factory steel bumper and old JL style grille there isn’t a lot of room. But as far as ever having any doubt with it? None, has worked great. I did take all of the metal off the end of the line and just use a loop and soft shackle.

 

[IdowaJeeper]

I've got the Open Road on my Ram 2500 and it seems higher quality compared to the other cheap Chinese X-Bull winch I run on my Wrangler. However, due to the crappy chinese bumper I had on the Ram, I had to mount the control box funky due to clearance and water ended up getting in it and now the remote doesn't work. It's now in a quality winch bumper.

If I had to do it again, I would buy the Badlands solely because there is a Harbor Freight in town, and if the winch fails, it's much easier to return it and replace it than with an Amazon winch.

 

[kansasboy91]

I forgot to mention if you play your cards right you can pick up a badland on a coupon for a chunk off

 

[houstonstroker]

It's pretty easy to modify the HF winch so that the power cables come out of the side instead of the back.

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