First a confession, this is my first winch of my very own; I'm more familiar with this kind of equipment and windlasses in a marine environment, including much heavier industrial gear, so I don't have a lot to directly compare it to. But I can say that the package came complete and intact, installation was super straightforward, and with a test reel just dragging my je@p up an incline to rewind it, everything performed perfectly.

Two adaptations I had to make, the first was that I hadn't realized before purchasing that I'd need an additional fairlead mounting plate because my bumper didn't have one. (For that, I got one from a vendor that was raw steel, so I had to prime and paint it myself; surprising myself, I went with fire engine red.) Second, my bumper is actually reinforced with a second sheet of steel for the two aft bolts, so the hardware provided was hardly long enough for the back two bolts through the bumper itself, and with the added thickness of the fairlead plate, I had to get longer bolts - no problem.

Wiring is straightforward, just follow the simple instructions. I did use wire loom around both the positive and negative leads to my battery, and I went ahead and wrapped the short cables between solenoid and winch also - no need for an e- accident. Also, the soft rescue cable rather than steel really is a nice setup. (And this reminds me to throw a pair of gloves into my rescue kit bag while I'm thinking of it, because that's easy to forget with the soft line.)

I really like having two controllers, one wired and the other a remote control. Both work great and couldn't be more straightforward.

I'm not necessarily looking for reasons to need to use it, but then again.... :-)

The fairlead holes are sized for 1/2" or 12mm bolts, but the counterbore diameter is only 0.90", which means that socket head cap screws must be used. I would prefer hex bolts.

The engage/disengage lever is different then the sticker on the unit. It makes me wonder if the handle was improperly installed.

The cables going to the motor seemed too long. I shortened them and the cables now lay nicely.

After getting the small issues sorted out, i am happy with how the unit functions.

So I was a little hesitant to buy a winch off of Amazon, but I did it just to get me by till my other one gets here. So far it has done good. Installed the same day it was delivered, took about 1 hour but could have been done a lot quicker, I had to pull the old winch off and fix my old bumper. Me and a buddy went to the beach and found a guy stuck in the mud and surf. Used the winch to pull him out. So it done one job so far. The winch is great for the price of the unit. It's not a named brand but for the price it seems to be built well. We will see how long and how well it works in the coming weeks. I will update the review as time goes on. I will add I didn't use the supplied hook, for a 13,500 winch the hook didn't seem right. After a couple of months of use I can say this is a great winch. We live on the gulf coast of texas and have recovered many people stuck in the sand mud and water

Updated 7/21/2021
I received the replacement winch and yesterday I took it out of the box and hooked it up. The connections are pretty straight forward, just match the cable colors to the colored stud insulators on the motor. The negative battery cable along with the small control lead connect to the ground terminal on the bottom of the motor. This winch functions perfectly and is much quieter than my friends Warn winch. The wired control and both wireless remotes work well. The winch looks well made I should provide many years of service. If you need to contact the company they gave me an email contact. They said to use your Amazon customer number. [email protected]

UPDATE 7/15/2021
I was contacted by Customer Support for the Stegodon winch and they are very concerned about my experience with their product. They are shipping a replacement to me to resolve this issue. They also have provided me with their contact information in the event of future problems, I will be providing that contact information on my next update. This makes me feel a little better about the situation so I am updating my review on a trial basis. Lets see how it goes. If this is in fact a good purchase it is a great value for the money. I just want you all to know that it is always possible for a product like this to have an issue and it happens and, though aggravating and frustrating, you can live with it if you have an avenue to get help and resolve the problem. The lack of good instructions and absolutely no way to contact anyone for assistance is really unacceptable for a product of this importance and cost. When I couldn't find contact information for the company I contacted Amazon and they could only help with a return, as I had lost faith in the product. I was excited when it arrived and wanted to like this winch. Their Customer Service response is starting to build my confidence in them. Let's see where it goes. I'll be updating my review once I receive and test the replacement winch.

I ordered the winch on a Tuesday and it arrived Friday, great shipping time. Monday morning I finished unpacking the winch and decided to bench test the operation before installation. Glad I did. It's a pretty straight forward installation. The control box wires connect to the motor red, yellow and black to the terminals with corresponding insulators. Then the red (+) cable to battery positive and the black (-) cable to the battery negative. Then connect the wired remote control and push the in or out button. When I pushed either button the solenoid clicked, the battery cables jumped up stiff and the motor did not run. The motor and cables immediately were almost too hot to touch. I looked at the pamphlet for a tech support number or email. Guess what, there is none. The only thing it says is to contact your online seller to resolve any warranty claim. So there is no support for this product. I've returned it for a refund. I'm sure that many people will buy a winch for their Jeep and hope that they never have to use it, but if you need it you've gotten yourself in trouble out in the woods all alone. How can you ever feel secure knowing that your winch probably won't work when you need it. I guess for piece of mind I'm going to have to pay a lot more for that known reliable brand winch. If you take a chance on this product I hope you experience is much better than mine.

This thing is nice! I've only pulled my body down the driveway so far. Wired up easily and looks great. 2 remotes is a nice feature.