The VR10-S vs. M8000-S Discussion is moot.
A Warn M8000-S (aka M8-S, P/N) 87800) is now on the way. It is replacing the S*ittybilt XRC-8 installed by the previous owner that has only been used a handful of times in the 10+ years since it was installed. Even though it works just fine and has done its best to improve my opinion of things S*ittybilt, its not a Warn.
I tried very hard to like the Warn VR10-S. At Northridge 4x4's current sale price of $730 it is a good value, and for someone looking for a self-recovery "just in case" winch rather than a regularly used tool the VR8 and VR10 may actually be the best buys. But try as I might, a Warn VR is not for me.
The best winch I ever had was a Warn 8274 I bought used for $500 in the late '90's. I cleaned it up, painted the motor casing and put it to work. It is still in use today. It failed once, but it was not the fault of the winch - it was a loose ground connection that took a minute and a half to find and fix.
In the end I was quite willing to pay a few dollars more for a Warn winch with a design proven over decades of use and built by guys just a day's drive to the north of me whose names I can probably pronounce. While the VR is a Warn design and manufactured in a "partner" factory that produces nothing but Warn VR winches under the supervision of Warn employees, and notwithstanding Warn's good name and excellent warranty, in the end VR winches are manufactured by an outside entity in a foreign country and not by Warn itself. Does that sound to you like a recipe for top quality or the availability of spare parts 10 or 20 years from now?
Warn acknowledges in its own promotional materials that the VR series is in response to the flood of cheap Chinese imports and an effort to be competitive at a lower price point. There was a time when an M series was Warn's standard duty winch and the 8274 was a premium winch. Now Warn lists the VR as standard duty and the M series some places as a premium winch and others as a "classic/specialty" winch along side the 8274, yet nothing in the M series winches has changed enough to warrant such an upgrade in labeling. If yesterday's Standard is today's Premium or Classic then doesn't it naturally follow that today's "Standard" is really just sub-standard disguised with good marketing?
With that perspective, why would anyone buy less than the long time established standard and current classic, the Warn M8000? Or as my good friend Lewis often says, "Buy a tool, not a toy."
A Warn M8000-S (aka M8-S, P/N) 87800) is now on the way. It is replacing the S*ittybilt XRC-8 installed by the previous owner that has only been used a handful of times in the 10+ years since it was installed. Even though it works just fine and has done its best to improve my opinion of things S*ittybilt, its not a Warn.
I tried very hard to like the Warn VR10-S. At Northridge 4x4's current sale price of $730 it is a good value, and for someone looking for a self-recovery "just in case" winch rather than a regularly used tool the VR8 and VR10 may actually be the best buys. But try as I might, a Warn VR is not for me.
The best winch I ever had was a Warn 8274 I bought used for $500 in the late '90's. I cleaned it up, painted the motor casing and put it to work. It is still in use today. It failed once, but it was not the fault of the winch - it was a loose ground connection that took a minute and a half to find and fix.
In the end I was quite willing to pay a few dollars more for a Warn winch with a design proven over decades of use and built by guys just a day's drive to the north of me whose names I can probably pronounce. While the VR is a Warn design and manufactured in a "partner" factory that produces nothing but Warn VR winches under the supervision of Warn employees, and notwithstanding Warn's good name and excellent warranty, in the end VR winches are manufactured by an outside entity in a foreign country and not by Warn itself. Does that sound to you like a recipe for top quality or the availability of spare parts 10 or 20 years from now?
Warn acknowledges in its own promotional materials that the VR series is in response to the flood of cheap Chinese imports and an effort to be competitive at a lower price point. There was a time when an M series was Warn's standard duty winch and the 8274 was a premium winch. Now Warn lists the VR as standard duty and the M series some places as a premium winch and others as a "classic/specialty" winch along side the 8274, yet nothing in the M series winches has changed enough to warrant such an upgrade in labeling. If yesterday's Standard is today's Premium or Classic then doesn't it naturally follow that today's "Standard" is really just sub-standard disguised with good marketing?
With that perspective, why would anyone buy less than the long time established standard and current classic, the Warn M8000? Or as my good friend Lewis often says, "Buy a tool, not a toy."
Last edited: