Was worried after reading mixed reviews, but this has been a good little winch. I use it daily to haul a 120 pound sonar tow fish, and after several months, it hasn't skipped a beat.

It's a little noisy, but it's strong and compact. I'm happy with it.

to noisy for my taste but works, it's retrieval rate is a bit slow, but she get the job doee...

Purchased new through Amazon 4/2012. A friend had purchased the same winch and installed on his boat at the same time. His failed pulling a set of three (sport) shrimp pots. Said he heard grinding noises from the start. I opened my case prior to use and found three of the case Allen screws loose (hand tight). Inside the retaining bolt on one of the drive gears was backed out approx ½". No grease on any of the internal gears and the alignment of the primary drive gear and the first reduction gear was such that the tooth engagement was about ½ out. I used red locktight, tightened the nut, checked all others and greased the gears W/ waterproof marine grease and buried the drive teeth in the first reduction gear. Installed the winch, three new holes in my 2802 Bayliner Trophy. Pulled anchor twice, approx 400 foot of rope rode W 10' chain and a 33 lb Bruce anchor. Pulled shrimp pots 1.5 times. The winch cratered halfway through the second pot pull. On inspection the small main drive gear on the shaft of the motor is completely stripped where it engages the first reduction gear. The replacement parts list shows a K for both the gear and the motor and K is listed as "replacement motor kit". I'm betting they will require purchase of both and will not offer the gear only. Calling the toll free number in the a.m. to confirm. Save your money and buy something that will last. These units are junk. I'd previously run a simple powerwinch brand capstan since 1997 on this boat with no problems other then normal wear and tear. Though this would make a great replacement. Thought wrong...

This unit was sold by Amazon.com in the fall and after installation in the spring it would not work. I live in a seasonal boating area. So unfortunately, it was past the deadline for return so I'm stuck with a defective product. The motor runs but capstan will not turn. Followed manual instructions to exchange power leads at motor, but still does not work! Called the re-manufacturer facility and they said it is most likely the small gear linking the drive to the capstan that fell off. Their instructions were to take the case apart, reinstall the gear using Locktite. Wonderful! Just what you would expect from a new product. I suspect Powerwinch is really the culprit with extremely poor quality control. No excuse for that type of thing to happen!