Honest, in-depth winch reviews. We compare capacity, build quality, cable type and value to help you pick the right winch the first time.
Six winches, one number: 4,500 lb is the hardest-working class in powersports winching — standard on RZRs, working UTVs and big quads alike — and this guide exists to separate the six honest versions of it. First, a confession about the previous edition: its #1 pick’s text reviewed the 4,500 lb Superwinch Terra 45SR while
Ask the factories what size winch a side-by-side needs and they all give the same answer: 4,500 lb. Polaris fits a 4,500 to the RZR XP 1000 Ultimate. Can-Am fits a 4,500 to the Maverick X3 X rc. Yamaha fits a WARN VRX 4500 to the YXZ1000R XT-R; Kawasaki fits a VRX 45 to the
How we researched this guide We do not bench-test winches, and we never pretend to. For this guide we compared 5 ATV winches against the manufacturers’ own spec sheets and manuals (WARN, SuperATV, Champion and X-BULL). We then read 40+ owner reviews and forum posts on Tractor Supply, Teryx Forums, Kymco Forum and owner install
A truck winch is not an accessory you size by guesswork. Too small, and it stalls halfway through the one recovery you actually bought it for; too big, and you have paid for weight your bumper and battery did not need. The seven winches below are the ones that survived a simple filter: every spec
Plowing is the hardest easy job an ATV winch does. The lift itself is light — a plow blade and its frame weigh a couple of hundred pounds — but the winch makes that same short lift hundreds of times a storm, and always over the same few inches of line at the fairlead. That