Greetings, new to this forum, looking for a good winch for my 07' brute force 750i, I notice a BIG difference in prices between known brands, ie, WARN and other brands, ie; Gorilla, Xtreme. I like the Warn XT25 with all the bells and whistles (remote, winch rope). Any suggestions, comments would be appreciated.

 

I have a Gorilla 3000 on both of my Honda's their built like a Warn unit but are Chinese. The parts breakdown list is the same and I would't be surpised if the parts interchange as that's how a lot of Chinese stuff is. I bought them from Ebay and use the one on my 500 about every weekend in the mud. My brother has a Warn with about the same use neither has broke so I can't say which is better. The warn is also a 3000# unit and is quietier when operating and I would think it' sbecause it's made to closer tolerancing. Both mine and my brothers have wire rope and he used his for his plow for a year. We had a lot of snow and it works good.
If money was no object I would have a Warn 3000 or 3500 with the synthetic rope and remote. I think the 2500 is a little light. Remote would be great when I'm alone. I normally ride with friends and we pull one another out so we don't have to get off the machine much in the mud

 

The imports are a lot noisier but this doesn't seem to hurt the performance much. Could be tolerances and straight cut (spur)gears. They are often geared lower, too so they spool up a little slower. What ever you choose, get a watertight one. If $$ was no object, I'd get a Warn, too. But it is.

 

Get the WARN and be happy. I have had it (2500 series) for 4 years on my BF750 and still works fine and I use it quite often at my ranch property. I also have a WARN 2000 series wich on my other ATV and it also has no problem. As long as you use it properly (like guiding the rope when pulling in and so that it doesn't buch up at one side, no overloading/overheating, etc.). In my experience, I've seen more problmes with the contactor (aka relay) than the winch itself. For sport-ute quads, I think winch is one of the most useful acc parts that you should put on. And always wear gloves when handling the winch rope.