Pros and cons on Harbor Freight's 12,000 lbs Bad Land winch (9 Viewers)

[bhicks]

So they should jack up the price of the winch to make it more reliable?

There are plenty of companies out there doing that exact thing with winches. Most winches on the market today are made in China and from the same two companies. Each US company adds their little decal logo then add 200%-300% markup. If HF marks up their stuff like that they go out of business. That doesn't mean all winches are made in China. Warn in still here in the US and making great winches. Just don't count that dual winch/compressor combo thing they made. that was one of their only epic failures. Catepillar used to make US made beastly winches. Not sure if they still do. For an example here's an incomplete list of top name winches fully made and assembled in China:
Harbor Freight, Summit Racing, Rough Country, Kodiak, Bulldog, Engo, T-Max, Tuff Stuff, and even SuperWinch. I'm sure there are more. Most are rebadges of rebadges of rebadges. Each rebadge is another mark up. Most of those are in a similar category of quality and reliability but the prices on those are all over the place. For normal use any of those will get the job done. For "your life depends on it use" avoid all of those.

 

[mingles]

FWIW - The HF mailer I received today has the Badland 12K winch for $289 in stores, even $10 cheaper than the add linked by the OP. At that price point it's like 6 tanks of gas . Depending on your need, it's hard to pass up.

 

[Azca]

I have not had a major issue with my HF that said, it could have been nasty when two of the wires from the receptacle broke off. Found it prepping for a trip when testing the unit. Worst part was getting a new part, 3 to 6 months from China. I wired in cab controls before all of this anyway so I was good but had I not, it could have been miserable if I needed it and did not have the in cab controls...

SO, a "poor" winch is better than no winch. I would rather not venture out on my own without a Warn but, having this and a friend isn't too bad either.

 

[flintknapper]

FWIW - The HF mailer I received today has the Badland 12K winch for $289 in stores, even $10 cheaper than the add linked by the OP. At that price point it's like 6 tanks of gas . Depending on your need, it's hard to pass up.

I agree. Depending upon the "need", cheap Chinese winches might be a viable choice. Personally, I'd never put one on a vehicle for self recovery. But...I can see using one on a Car Hauler...where straight, light, rolling pulls of short duration are the norm.

No doubt, they will give some amount of service out in the field as well (as some have attested to), but when things get really gnarly and you REALLY need your winch to hold up...they might not be the best choice. So yes, consider your 'needs'.

Any winch (of that size and rating) that you can buy for less than $300.00 should tell you something. I recognize that labor costs in China are incredibly low, BUT that simply can not account for all of the low price. Even IF a company buys directly from the manufacturer and marks up from that point, they have to make decent profit in order to cover handling, import, marketing costs.

Now... I don't know what a reasonable mark up is for that item, but you may be certain of one thing: The cost to 'produce' it was exceptionally low (probably 1/3rd of retail).

So ask yourself: How good of a 12K winch (in materials and workmanship) is it possible to build for $100.00 ?

There has to be a generous amount of 'Chinesium' in there somewhere. There is a reason the winch has a 90 day warranty. There is a reason it has a 5% duty cycle (winch for 45 seconds, let rest for at LEAST 15 minutes). Most failures will be burned up motors. The others will be failed parts from stress (shock loading is something you can't always avoid).

ANY winch if needed to just get your tires up over that little rock ledge will do, but I wouldn't give a winch copious amounts of praise for that. But that might be all that some folks need.

If you are in my category where your rig is down to the frame in East Texas Red Clay and the only anchor point is 75' away at a 60° angle, then I'd probably just remove the winch and put it under one of the tires for all good it is likely to do you.

I know I must sound like a winch 'snob'. I don't mean to be. Just carefully consider your true/potential needs before shelling out any amount of money for a winch.

 

[ChaseTruck]

Just make sure the Warn isn't one of those they have made in China

Can't tell anything about the HF12k on the '80 here because the use for that truck took an unintended turn towards 'mall-only'. I can say that there's a Ramsey REP 9.5e on my 'wheeling truck that so far has answered the call every time over the course of many years. Haven't needed the snatch block, either. And yes, the majority of those calls were to pull the truck (or someone else's truck...) up/over/off some rock obstacle - that's what I got it for in the first place.
I hear there's a used M8000 slated for duty on our LX...

 

[BILT4ME]

Pro: Cheap and they look cool for cheap!

Con: You need to buy two and carry an extra around if the first one fails......

I have the Badlands 12K on my 80. For the most part, I'm a mall crawler. I grew up on a farm with REAL 4WD's and have NEVER needed a winch. But they look so damn cool!

I have successfully pulled over a tree, dragged my 80 across the yard with it, and pulled a couple shrubberies.

As long as you watch the duty cycle (yeah, it's horrible) it will do OK. Don't bet your life on it. I don;t go to the Rubicon or anyplace that I would go solo and HAVE to rely on it. Usually, mine will be in the mud or the snow, so what I need it for....it's fine.

Do what your budget can and all those that are "winch snobs" probably have a reason for it. What are YOU gonna use it for? I bought mine because I needed to pull over a tree........ and it was cheaper than hiring a tree service.

 

[half k cruiser]

HF Badlands 12 k DIY winch hack waterproof upgrade mod haven't had any issues with mine, though gently used. I also relocated the solenoid so I could keep a better eye on it. Upgraded the wiring too.

As for all the people who are claiming most of the winches are made in china these days, well, they are right. Go do a search of the Ningbo Lift Winch Manufacture company of China. Look through some of there project pages and you will see several of he major brands, including the HF Badlands with generic stickers on them. Interesting enough, ComeUp has a factory in Ningbo China though they are based in Taiwan. Which makes me wonder where they are having there winches built ?

 

[Marine7]

I've had a few "China" winches over the years.... mile marker, smittybuilt,superwinchx2 and a badlands from HF. Hands down the HF is much more reliable, and like someone said earlier.... for like $20 you can get the extended warranty....... and they are VERY good about honoring their warranties! My buddy charges $250 just to SHOW UP ON SITE in his 5 Ton military wrecker! So for $38 more you can tell him to shove it! Lol (actually nice guy, if your coastal NC, you've seen us cruising up and down the beaches pulling college kids, and daddy's Heep out of the tide)
But, like LCP noted.... if you are going solo..... buy a Warn! Good luck in whatever you decide!

 

[baldilocks]

Chinese winches belong in china! An Engo 10k came NIB with an 80 I bought three years ago. That winch lasted about ten pulls and then screwed me on an icy granite slab on Rubicon.

I figure all those cheap imports are made in the same factory so one is just as good or bad as the next.

If you literally never Wheel alone or your idea of wheeling is a fire road, or a winch on your front bumper is just to help you project a certain image then maybe a fortune cookie winch is a smart purchase for you.

I had a bad experience when that Engo brake assembly jambed up and left me in a precarious situation. Warn winches are machines and there are no perfect machines but the lightly used 12 year old Warn that I bought to replace the Engo is like a Swiss watch by comparison. I recently disassembled it for inspection and maintenance, since it's now 13y/o, and it looked great inside.

I see a winch as insurance more so than anything else. Insurance that I won't spend the night stuck somewhere alone or worse because I do enjoy the solitude of off-roading alone at times.

I have confidence in my Warn winch but I never hit the trail without my hi-lift.

 

[flintknapper]

HF Badlands 12 k DIY winch hack waterproof upgrade mod haven't had any issues with mine, though gently used. I also relocated the solenoid so I could keep a better eye on it. Upgraded the wiring too.

As for all the people who are claiming most of the winches are made in china these days, well, they are right. Go do a search of the Ningbo Lift Winch Manufacture company of China. Look through some of there project pages and you will see several of he major brands, including the HF Badlands with generic stickers on them. Interesting enough, ComeUp has a factory in Ningbo China though they are based in Taiwan. Which makes me wonder where they are having there winches built ?

^^^^^^^^ Yes, we must careful NOT to think of everything manufactured in China as 'cheap' or substandard. It is important to make the distinction between CHEAP items that have dubious worth and those things that are made to certain 'specs' ( or a higher standard) which can be quite good.

 

[maxamillion2345]

I had a gen 1 xrc8 on my Tacoma for like 3 or 4 years before I sold the truck and I did a lot of long hard pulls with that winch. HF idk but I can say my smittybilt may have been a china pos but it wasn't what some would make you think.

 

[GunRunner]

I've had a couple of these. The quality isn't terrible, but I hope you're with a buddy when it fails.

To put it in perspective, I recently bought a first gen Warn 8274. I rebuilt it for about $70, and I feel 100% better about going out alone.

 

[Rifleman]

Quoted from Greentruck, (As for wiring, a less than optimal sets of power cables is usually provided although YMMV. Bad wiring isn't usually the winches fault beyond that, but the installers and once again brand isn't as much a factor as is the amount of coin and love you put into your install. Given the high price of copper and the low price of many winches, you might consider that until you've put a significant % of the cost of the winch into wiring it, you're probably not as sufficient as might be desirable as could be.) I agree 100% with Greentruck, spend some extra money on your winch install, and upgrade your cables and lugs, it's money well spent.

 

[Hornd]

Chinese winches belong in china! An Engo 10k came NIB with an 80 I bought three years ago. That winch lasted about ten pulls and then screwed me on an icy granite slab on Rubicon.

I figure all those cheap imports are made in the same factory so one is just as good or bad as the next.

If you literally never Wheel alone or your idea of wheeling is a fire road, or a winch on your front bumper is just to help you project a certain image then maybe a fortune cookie winch is a smart purchase for you.

I had a bad experience when that Engo brake assembly jambed up and left me in a precarious situation. Warn winches are machines and there are no perfect machines but the lightly used 12 year old Warn that I bought to replace the Engo is like a Swiss watch by comparison. I recently disassembled it for inspection and maintenance, since it's now 13y/o, and it looked great inside.

I see a winch as insurance more so than anything else. Insurance that I won't spend the night stuck somewhere alone or worse because I do enjoy the solitude of off-roading alone at times.

I have confidence in my Warn winch but I never hit the trail without my hi-lift.

Fortune Cookie Winch

 

[gnarlytoes]

No complaints with my 12K. I've only used it twice. If I were going to be using the truck for serious wheeling where I would have to depend on the winch, I would get a Warn and dual battery setup.

 

[mct75]

So, it sounds like the worst thing about this winch is that all your friends make fun of you for it when they see you at the mall.

For all the stigma against them, I use (and abuse) a HF welder, generator, impact wrench, and dozens of hand tools. None of those things have failed me yet. I bought an $11 angle grinder for a one-off project and have put hours of use on it over the past year. Whenever it burns up I will spend another $11.

 

[retrofive]

So, it sounds like the worst thing about this winch is that all your friends make fun of you for it when they see you at the mall.

For all the stigma against them, I use (and abuse) a HF welder, generator, impact wrench, and dozens of hand tools. None of those things have failed me yet. I bought an $11 angle grinder for a one-off project and have put hours of use on it over the past year. Whenever it burns up I will spend another $11.

I'd be pretty pissed off if I got detained out wheeling and my angle grinder broke.

 

[Malleus]

I agree. Depending upon the "need", cheap Chinese winches might be a viable choice. Personally, I'd never put one on a vehicle for self recovery. But...I can see using one on a Car Hauler...where straight, light, rolling pulls of short duration are the norm.

No doubt, they will give some amount of service out in the field as well (as some have attested to), but when things get really gnarly and you REALLY need your winch to hold up...they might not be the best choice. So yes, consider your 'needs'.

Any winch (of that size and rating) that you can buy for less than $300.00 should tell you something. I recognize that labor costs in China are incredibly low, BUT that simply can not account for all of the low price. Even IF a company buys directly from the manufacturer and marks up from that point, they have to make decent profit in order to cover handling, import, marketing costs.

Now... I don't know what a reasonable mark up is for that item, but you may be certain of one thing: The cost to 'produce' it was exceptionally low (probably 1/3rd of retail).

So ask yourself: How good of a 12K winch (in materials and workmanship) is it possible to build for $100.00 ?

There has to be a generous amount of 'Chinesium' in there somewhere. There is a reason the winch has a 90 day warranty. There is a reason it has a 5% duty cycle (winch for 45 seconds, let rest for at LEAST 15 minutes). Most failures will be burned up motors. The others will be failed parts from stress (shock loading is something you can't always avoid).

ANY winch if needed to just get your tires up over that little rock ledge will do, but I wouldn't give a winch copious amounts of praise for that. But that might be all that some folks need.

If you are in my category where your rig is down to the frame in East Texas Red Clay and the only anchor point is 75' away at a 60° angle, then I'd probably just remove the winch and put it under one of the tires for all good it is likely to do you.

I know I must sound like a winch 'snob'. I don't mean to be. Just carefully consider your true/potential needs before shelling out any amount of money for a winch.

I need the material specs on Chinesium; I can't find it in my periodic table. Maybe it's a homebrew metal?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Get your Chinese junk soon the price is going UP

 

[greentruck]

SNIP

I figure all those cheap imports are made in the same factory so one is just as good or bad as the next.

If you literally never Wheel alone or your idea of wheeling is a fire road, or a winch on your front bumper is just to help you project a certain image then maybe a fortune cookie winch is a smart purchase for you. SNIP

No, they're not all the same. That's like saying an Edsel and a Mustang are the same because Ford made both. Like any product, depends on what is spec-ed to the factory. Warn seems to not take a drubbing for their imported winches. And not all imports have the same bad rep that is implied here. Most reports on the Badlands 12k are actually pretty positive once the discussion gets beyond the Warn fanboys point.

Most important is doing a good install, knowing your winch, and knowing how to safely recover stuff with it. Mostly you don't hear specifics of why a winch failed, just that it did. It is so easy to mess up any winch with a little ignorance about duty cycle. Yeah, some resist the "loose nut behind the wheel" problem better than others, but none are immune to that. If you regularly abuse your equipment, yeah, you should spend top dollar, because you're going to need all the help you can get if you don't know better, but it won't make the winch immune to abuse.