Warn Platinum— is it worth the extra cost?

[BlueMoose]

Just got home from the local jeep shop. They confirmed the platnium is a very good winch BUT that the remote does have issues. Currently the platnium isn’t avilable - said Warn pulled it off the market, are fixing the remote and will provide it back in stock when they are done. Since their is a $1000 diff and the Zeon is reliable - something that is a must for me since it’ll likely be the only winch available to us on the trail, I opted for it. Not to meantion it’s availble for them to install in a couple weeks. Went with a Factor 55 hook…

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[1996cc]

oh, yeah.... forgot this.... the remote is a piece of shit. goes dead every two weeks.
here is how you can rebuild your remote on your $2k winch....

Is there an echo in here? lol

 

[Crowbar]

well, there are a lot of folks with strong opinions on most anything, and winches are no
exception. i've been an electrical contractor for over 40 years, and electricians use
lots of capstan winches, and often do a lot of lifting and winching playing electrician.
so a lot of it comes down to how many hours have you done something? i've done a
fair bit, and i've had to tug and nudge stuff a hell of a lot heavier and more expensive
than a jeep.

i've had a 150 lb tugger break the shackles, and fly 50' thru the air, dissipating the energy
stored in the rope. i've seen 35,000 lb rope separate.... all that being said....

which is the better winch?

for me, the wireless aspect of the platinum winch made the deal.
the ability to by yourself take up the slack and position the rope
if you have to snoodle it around or over something might be
invaluable. i often travel solo. being able to clutch and freewheel
with the remote... well, why not?

will the smitty built get it done? sure. are they both equally reliable? dunno.
i'm suspecting it varies from winch to winch. the general consensus is the
smittybuilt is more reliable. truth is, if i'm going off to do serious offroading,
i'll pull out the rope, attach it to something, and wind it back up, pulling the
jeep in neural, before i set out. i may even step on the brakes a bit, and see
how it works under load.

is the warn worth it? probably not. it's almost three times the price of the SB.
would i do it again? probably so.

i'm suspecting more of he winch is made in oregon. that explains some of the
cost delta. china is cheaper to make stuff at.

that being said, what about rope versus cable? rope, thanks. when it goes away,
no way in hell i'd buy the warn replacement rope. 1/4" purple plasma rope,
(the real stuff from puget sound rope, not the chinese fake) is a 10,000 lb working
rating rope. you aren't gonna break it, it's a hell of a lot cheaper than warn's chinese rope,
and it's thinner and you can put more on the drum.

3/8" plasma rope is 17,500# working load. there's enough dynamite there, butch. we're good.

other winching and extraction stuff? i've got a fair bit of it in the shop, and i just picked
out some chokers, clevises and such. a winch doesn't accomplish squat without some
stuff to let it work. i've got a pelikan case with bits and pieces. get a good snatch block.
maybe 2 of them.

if you are playing in sand solo, go to amazon, and buy the cheapest danforth anchor
you can get put a long 1" mule tape lead on it. stick it in your oops bin. if you get
suck way far out in sand, and there is nothing to attach to, like when i buried it to the
axles in a bowl at the back of sand hollow utah on a rainy tuesday morning, with nobody
around, you can run out your rope 100, use another 100' of mule tape attached to the
danforth, set the anchor 200' away, and pull yourself out of the bowl. or wherever.

you put the danforth on a long lead, as if it's a sucky pull, by the time you get pulled 100'
and have to reset your rope, that danforth will be 4' deep in the sand often. i've left a couple
of them behind, thank you. assume the danforth is going to be left behind, and don't attach
your winch rope directly, unless you like digging a hole in the sand to get your winch lead back.
thinking about setting a danforth anchor by myself a long way from the jeep is why i opted for
the wireless controller.

muletape is an excellent thing to throw in the oops box. the 3/4" wide stuff is 6,000 lb
working strength, and is pretty awesome when you don't have enough winch line to reach
the mothership. don't buy the chinese stuff. it will break.

www.nepco.com makes the good stuff. buy a 1,000' roll and split it up with your buddies. i've
never broken 3/4" muletape pulling feeders, ever. and i've had strain guage readings of 8,000#
on a #6,000 tape.

lastly, safety. lest i sound like your gramma or something, storing energy in a cable, synthetic
or steel, is inherently hazardous. you need something tossed over that rope to dampen it if it
parts on you. assume the rope will magically find you or anyone nearby if it breaks.

that 150# winch at the top of this endless post? the one that went 50'? it only had 3,600#
pull on it when it let go. i had a strain guage monitoring the pull. that was the peak reading.

enjoy the ride. have fun.

ps-

and if you ever have to pull someone up over a snarfy edge that will eat that rope, this little thing is a lot stronger than it looks...... you don't need it if you are pulling yourself, but if you are pulling someone else.....

Any place you recommend to get the plasma rope from? Does anyone make premade winch lines from this? Or is it build your own winch line? Thanks

 

[WXman]

I will never understand some guys' insistence on spending 3x more money than is necessary on something as simple as a winch. I mean, it's a drum turned by a motor. It's not rocket science. No reason to spend huge money. And, for YEARS we've seen the Warn winches finish middle of the pack in every magazine and online test published. Heck, just this week Project Farm did another test and surprise surprise....the Warn was over-rated and over-priced.

 

[CopperMtnGuy]

Spend what, 50-70k on a JL and then cheap out on the winch? Doesn't make sense. Have had a Warn M8000 on my KJ for almost a decade and have no issues with it, so it was an easy choice to get a Warn for the JL. What am I going to save by getting another brand? a few hundred bucks? Not worth it.

 

[wranglerbro]

Spend what, 50-70k on a JL and then cheap out on the winch? Doesn't make sense. Have had a Warn M8000 on my KJ for almost a decade and have no issues with it, so it was an easy choice to get a Warn for the JL. What am I going to save by getting another brand? a few hundred bucks? Not worth it.

Cool story bro. Keep telling yourself that Warn is better than other brands out there. It's not, but in the end all that matters is you're happy with what you bought and it works for you. Same applies to others who choose to spend less on a winch.

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