Difference between winches

Not exactly sure where to post this so feel free to verbally bash me with hurtful words if I'm in the wrong section.

Anyways, I'm in the market for a winch. Just wondering if anyone has any input on the differences between the Warn VR10000 winch and the Warn ZEON 10 winch. I'm going with synthetic line, by the way. Is the ZEON worth the price difference? I've noticed that it weighs more than the VR10000, also.

Any info will be appreciated!

Matt

 

I haven't bought a winch either, but I keep up with researching them up. Warn, your only buying the name. Nothing else. If you read thru the winch shootout test, you'd know the warn did not deserve the place it got.

Short story of it, all winches were dunked in a pool of water, warn was among some of the winches that crapped after that test and couldn't carry on in the test.

Buy your self an engo winch, 1/4 the price, ranked best price and one of the winches that survived the dunk test and did amazingly well in the test. That's the winch I'm gonna be getting soon.

 

lots of info in this thread
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/off-roading-trails/263278-show-us-your-winches-not-your-wives.html

Im in the market to, and from what I initially have read, I found that you cant beat a warn. However, im not familiar with the test vang toua moua is refereeing to, but I have heard similar things about the engo winch.

 

It's hard to find negative reviews on engos.

 

http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/129-1107-massive-multi-winch-shootout/

 

OP,
What are the applications you intend to use it?
Are you wheeling every weekend and know that you're in need of a constant winch?
How are you going to mount it?

Reason I ask is I asked myself the same question. My build is hopefully and expo truck and being that I currently wheel maybe once a month I outweighs the problem and decided that with a reputable winch like the smittybilt and warn. I'll choose smittybilt. For half the price of a warn I can get a smittybilt x20 10k s and even get it wireless. And I know with the proper maintance it will last me a long time and given the specs of each. They're almost identical.

i say look for a good deal and you'll have money left over for other mods. Like air lockers and regearing!!!

 

Thanks for the help so far, guys.

I have an All Pro Apex Aluminum front bumper to mount the winch to. For the most part, it's a mall crawler, but I do plan to do some real wheeling at some point. There's not too many places near me to do significant wheeling every weekend. I'd have to say only a handful of trips per year. So, I wont need to use it very often.

 

Im in the same boat. Its hard to bite the bullet on something that you may not use very often but want to have for that time you need it. With that being said, I'm leaning more towards warn just because of all the reliability I have heard. I would rather spend the money once, and have a product continue to work, especially when I need it most.

however other company's (think smittybuilt or superwinch, it was mentioned already) are coming out with completely sealed solenoid boxes which is very good. Just more research I guess

 

Thanks, Peter. I'm with you on Warn. They've been around forever and they work.

But, I'm wondering if there is a big enough difference between the Warn VR series and the ZEON to justify the price difference. I've pretty much made up my mind, that I'm getting a Warn, just not sure which one...

 

I had a Warn M8000 and I currently have a 9.5XP. I love the 9.5XP but never really had the chance to use the M8000.

On a different note, do not cheap out. I have seen the consequences of a cheap winch failing and I can definitely say that a good winch is worth the cost if you want it to work right every time.

 

Hey no worries, thinking the same way.

From my understanding the VR is the economy, entry level winch. Most of the stuff is made in china, but it has a warn label on it. The M series, I have heard is a step above it, and is a very good winch for the money, with better reliability. Essentially your getting better internals, but it is a warn so you will get a good warranty and product all around. Then you get the more pricey winches with XP and the zeon. I would love to go with a 9.5xp but may settle for a M8000 due to price. Time will tell.