Both good winches, but I'd go with the M12000.
for ****s and giggles, go to
http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/line.shtml
and check out how the Warn product line up is setup:
entry level, premium series, ultimate performance, heavy weight.
Entry level are just the low end models. fine.
then there's
premium..... you'd think premium would be some good stuff right? no. There's "
Ultimate performance". and when you thought the 9.5XP was the ultimate, you quickly discover there's the
HEAVY WEIGHT big boys series. You see how Warn markets the winches? premium or ultimate, you still got a "great winch. a premium winch.... or the ultimate winch"
then how come they are below the HEAVY WEIGHT CHAMP big boys?
Anyhow. I'll take the M12000 anyday over any 9.5xx. the M10000 and the M12000 are very smooth and inspire confidence. The 9.5 guys work too, but don't sound the same as the Ms. You can tell they are working harder. the 9.5 I hate the most is the ti (probably discontinued). The Thermometric winch. It has a smoke detector on the remote. LOL Talk about a dumbed down product.
oh, the M10000 and M12000 work and sound smoother than the M15000. I've seen the M15000 in action and it sound broken. Maybe it was a bad one.
either M120000 or 9.5XP, I hope you get the winch. It really separates the man from the boy.