HOLY CRAPOLY! Badlands 12000lb Winch on Sale for $290 !!!

[goatherder]

Reading thru an NRA rag the other day and ran across this coupon. Good until Nov 11. This has GOT to be the best winch deal out there. These things get really good reviews, and usually sell for $350-400. I took a pic of the coupon, you can save it on your phone, walk into the store and read them the coupon code on the bottom. Or they can scan the bar code off the picture. In case the pic doesn't post, the code is 88786899. Just give that to the cashier, and you should be good.

 

[rayra]

Seems like a good deal for the price. Haven't seen much negative said about these winches, other than Brand Warz -type stuff.

/then again I'm a cheap part Scots and don't mind selectively shopping at Harbor Freight.

 

[vwhammer]

I have been noticing these for that price, have been tempted to get one and, after a bit of research, likely will.
Other than the cheap tool haters' gripes, the only real complaint (if you wanna call it that) that I have seen is in relation to its duty cycle.
People (arguably dumb people) try to use them to tow themselves up a long muddy hill or across a 200 yard mud pit then get mad when it overheats and stalls.
There are pretty specific instructions as to the duty cycle of this winch and if followed and connected properly it will work just fine.

That's probably the biggest difference between this and a $800 winch.
The $800 winch is designed with proper components so it can run longer without overheating.
However if you look at some of the cheaper "brand name" winches their duty cycle is only slightly better and that is probably what makes up the major price difference.
This winch has plenty of power and when used properly works as it should.
I also think there could be a few mods that might assist in the cooling department that could make this a real diamond in the rough.

I feel like people moan a lot about this winch when it fails because it is a cheap no name winch.
I would be willing to bet that if an entry level Warn winch did the same thing you will not hear too much about it
People don't want to be embarrassed that they paid twice as much for a winch that was also not what they needed simply because of a name printed on the front.

Of course I do not own one of these winches and all of my ramblings are based on the engineer in me thinking about the construction and the research that I have done regarding this winch.

The bottom line is at $290 I feel like its worth a shot and if they do half of what I have seen them do in vids on the net then it will likely work for anything that I might use it for.
If you are planning a trip across Siberia where you will need the winch every 10 minutes then perhaps you might pick a different winch.

 

[BEG]

You can wait until they go down to that price on the website (they were advertised at that price up until Labor Day Weekend) and then find a 25% off coupon. They end up costing around $220.

 

[F350joe]

I have one, came on the truck. I have never used it to do any real heavy lifting but seems to do just fine. No overheating problems but I never run it continuously, just in bursts. The engage lever sticks sometimes but not too bad.

 

[robert]

I saw an article a while back where a guy had mounted one as a rear winch. He'd changed the solenoids to Warns and also changed the plug so that he could use his Warn winch controller. I've thought about getting one to use as a rear winch but I'm partial to Warns.

 

[llamalander]

5% duty rating = 45 seconds pulling, 15 minutes resting...
A more expensive winch will buy you minutes if you think you need them.

 

[rayra]

I think I'm going to wind up getting one with a receiver hitch carrier, next year. I've got the major power wiring and aux battery in place already. A front hitch mount and some front and rear cable extensions and APP plugs and I'd have an ok front and rear winch solution for <$500. Plus winching accessories. Snatch block, tree strap, sand anchor. And I can leave the winch dead weight off when I'm just driving around town 99% of the time.
Just checked the fine print on a few 20% coupons I keep handy and they don't exclude Badlands winches.

 

[Wilbah]

The reviews I have read on them seem good. I do think it depends on if you use it a lot versus only occasionally. I also think where it's mounted will matter. I doubt the seals are as good as a higher quality winch and water baths would probably end up causing more problems than a more fully sealed winch. But that's pure supposition on my part. Of course if it's used with a receiver hitch and is kept dry in a storage box, it might not matter.

I have a question for anyone re duty cycles. I get that a cheaper winch will have a lower duty cycle than a mire expensive one. I also understand that duty cycle ultimately depends on how bad the pull is. But I can't find any specifics at Warn's site to compare. The only duty cycle I found listed is for their UTV style winches. The others for Jeeps, Trucks etc say simply "Intermittent" from what I saw.

Many folks say either touch the winch to feel for heat or to just winch using an on....then off "for a while" kind of approach. I get that it's rare to go full pull but I am curious what is reasonable to expect for use without burning things up. With all the data Warn provides I would think they would have a duty cycle listed (maybe at half load and full load or something).

As an aside from a marketing perspective it might be a good comparison to some of the low priced winches like the Badlands one listed here. In its absence my concern is maybe its not much better and thats where relative cost comes into play. I dont mind paying more for quality, but it should be a good value too. Just my $0.02.

 

[rayra]

well at a cynical guess I'd say if Warn et al aren't publicizing duty cycle info then it isn't anything that could be considered 'good'. 'intermittent' is a nice fuzzy term. My expectation is that their duty cycles aren't much different. Given the physics and design limitations I don't see how there's room for much difference anyway.

Warn M12000 is $1500. Is it 5x better than the Badlands? If I had the money to burn, I probably would get the Warn on the premise that they know their business. That their product would be of better quality. But my 'duty cycle' on my Suburban is <1%, so I can't really justify the far greater cost.

I'm sure there have been at least a few 'winch off' articles written in recent years, but I can't be arsed to go look them up. Not until I'm closer to a purchase, anyway.

 

[Ramcamp]

Had one on my 2014 wrangler. Never any issues. When I traded it for my dodge truck I kept the winch for whatevers next. I paid $290 as well.

 

[Herbie]

Let me quickly apply Herbie's Harbor Freight "Should I trust this?" litmus test:

Q) Will failure of this tool cause me injury or death?

A) Failure mode of this tool is likely that it will fail to winch. Catastrophic/explosive failure seems unlikely and is mitigated by standard safety procedures.

Result: This item passes. If I needed a winch, I'd put this on the list.

(For reference, items that Fail Herbie's HF Litmus test: Spring Compressors, Jack Stands, overhead lifting tools, fasteners used in any load-bearing application)

 

[GoinBoardin]

Ha! ^^ I like your test.

 

[fortel]

Let me quickly apply Herbie's Harbor Freight "Should I trust this?" litmus test:

Q) Will failure of this tool cause me injury or death?

A) Failure mode of this tool is likely that it will fail to winch. Catastrophic/explosive failure seems unlikely and is mitigated by standard safety procedures.

Result: This item passes. If I needed a winch, I'd put this on the list.

(For reference, items that Fail Herbie's HF Litmus test: Spring Compressors, Jack Stands, overhead lifting tools, fasteners used in any load-bearing application)

Yep, this is the same way I decide whether a HF item is an option or not.

 

[rayra]

Took a closer look at one on display at my local HF today. Doesn't look bad to me. Smaller than I thought it would be. The fairlead is included, but is separate. I didn't see any obvious ready-made locations for bolting them together. If that is even desirable. Whole unit looks like it would work well for an inside / behind the bumper mount.

Their 2" receiver hitch carrier is not rated for 12k.