New Superwinch Talon Series

[Captm]

When looking at the Talon series at a local store I was told by the owner that they are made in China. With that said I passed on the winch. IMO - Having visited Mainland China may times related to the yachting industry I have observed hundreds of factories pumping toxic wastes into the Pearl River Delta. The smog is so bad that you have to go up river past the last factory (200 Miles?) before you have clean air. I do not have enough time nor space to go into the quality control issues related with manufacturing there. With that said I buy USA produced products. Not a political rant just the facts!

 

[rezdiver]

sounds like a political rant... since you made no actual remarks regarding the facts on the use or quality of the winch itself, from your experience or others you know.

When looking at the Talon series at a local store I was told by the owner that they are made in China. With that said I passed on the winch. IMO - Having visited Mainland China may times related to the yachting industry I have observed hundreds of factories pumping toxic wastes into the Pearl River Delta. The smog is so bad that you have to go up river past the last factory (200 Miles?) before you have clean air. I do not have enough time nor space to go into the quality control issues related with manufacturing there. With that said I buy USA produced products. Not a political rant just the facts!

 

[Captm]

You are correct in that I have no experiance with the winch in question, upon learning that it is made in China I passed on it. It is possible that it is made in one of the rare state of the art green factories with superb quality control. I have found that manufactures with such operations tout their facilities. Each individual must make their own purchasing decisions. I choose the "tread lightly" approach and try to minimize my impact.

 

[Nonimouse]

Finaly got my hands on one of these today. A brand new one from Superwinch. Nice bit of kit. Well made. Lots of issues addressed - sort of thing Warn never seem to do.

The new brake system is a sprag clutch that works just dandy.

The synthetic is nice too...

Pricing is good as well

By the way, might be worth taking off the red tinted specs and looking at some of the places certain other winch manufacturers buy their bits...

 

[SixSpeed]

Just picked up three of the 18SR models for various projects I am working on right now. This is one serious winch. I have to say, it seems very well put together.

 

[Frostymug]

Anyone using a Talon winch?

The specs, features, and weatherproof claims from Superwinch sound good. Has anyone actually used one of these Talon winches? How do they perform? Are they as waterproof as claimed? Are they a quality product or should I look elsewhere?

There seems to be a lack of real world information about these winches.

 

[Beowulf]

This will probably be my next winch, if my current Epi was stolen, but I really wish they would have used black as the color.

 

[UNI]

We have the SuperWinch Talon 9.5i SR its a Great Product!

 

[emmodg]

We've been training with the Talon for quite some time - we were given one early. Like it so far - oversized stay bars, Gore Valve and big motor(bigger than old EP Series and damn near the size of the old EP 12's) make it "over-built" and that's a good thing! The "phone corded" controller is something I'm not sure I'm sold on as it tends to want to always pull at your hand. The controller itself is "neat" with the flashlight and all but seems more "brittle" than the older controller. (We had a student run over one of our controllers and it shattered. They made us a new controller with the old style trigger and the new cord and plug.) Superwinch has always been good to us and they certainly stand behind their products!

 

[Metcalf]

How is the free-wheel drag on these winches?

A lot of the specs look REALLY good....

-In the synthetic line versions the 9500lb winch is only 65lbs! The 12.5 is only 68lbs!

-The brake is also not in the drum, this is really the best for synthetic line, especially if you are trying to power out line.

I am a little disappointed with cable capacity however. 80' of 3/8" line is a little bit of a let down. I wish they make a larger drum version....like the old EP12.5 with 125' of cable.

 

[DamMan]

How is the free-wheel drag on these winches?

So far the only thing I don't like about my 12.5SR is the free-wheel drag. I thought it was because of the synthetic rope because I am comparing it to my Warn with cable. Should have realized that it might be a downside of Superwinch but I still love the the 12.5SR. Line speed is awesome, price is right and so far no problems.

 

[Fifthpro]

I have one.....the engagement t-handle is stuck and will not release. Way to new to have an issue like that........I should have got another Warn