Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch Review (Automatic Load-Holding Brake)
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Driving through rough terrain fills your system with adrenaline and joy – there’s nothing like it. But even with a vehicle built for off-road use, you might get stuck and with no way of helping yourself.
Before you’d call for a tow truck to get you unstuck, all you need now is a winch powerful enough to pull your vehicle from the tight situation. You’ve heard of the Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch with Automatic Load-Holding Brake and wonder how it holds up.
Well, you are in the right place. We’ll skip all the hype and dive directly into the good and bad – exactly what you should expect from this Badland winch.
The Confusion
As you were searching the web for the best 9000 lbs winch, you might’ve noticed these two products:
- The Badland ZXR 9000 lb winch
- Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch with Automatic Load-Holding Brake
Even now, you are probably confused as to which of these two we are looking into. So addressing this confusion seems like a great place to start. BTW we have a Badlands 9000 winch (ZXR) review as well.
These popular 9000 lbs Badland winches are quite similar in features, power, cable length and thickness, weight, and size. However, there are some subtle differences. For starters, the freespooling handle has a smoother, tapering design on the Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch with Automatic Load-Holding Brake compared to the short, thick, and handle-like design on the Badland ZXR. Also, the ridges on the sides are difficult to miss.
Aside from these differences, they are both great winches to have.
Unboxing
The Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch with Automatic Load-Holding Brake comes in decent packaging. Inside, you get:
- Instructions
- Winch strap
- Cables
- Remote control
- Roller fairlead
- Controller box
- The main winch
- Circuit breaker
- Nuts and bolts
- Heavy and sturdy hook
Everything is well placed and protected with Styrofoam. The winch weighs 75.8 pounds, which is heavier than most winches. But on the bright side, it gets the job done.
The Badland 9000 lbs winch measures 23.5 x 13.5 x 10 inches, which is decent.
Power
The Badland 9000 lbs Electric Winch with Automatic Load-Holding Brake is fitted with a series-wound motor with a capacity of 9000 lbs. Badland Winches preferred to use a series-wound motor for various reasons, including the fact that it’s powerful and generates a lot of torque compared to other motor types. Even better, the motor remains cooler for longer.
In addition to this, the strong and sturdy construction makes this winch ideal for recovering heavy-duty vehicles. And with the 5.4 HP the motor delivers, you are guaranteed a smooth and powerful performance.
For efficiency, the winch comes with a 3-stage planetary gear system. It’s called a planetary gear system because it resembles the solar system, with the larger gear having a set of smaller gears inside. The planetary gear system is compact and offers strong and smooth operation with excellent resistance to heavy loads. Usually, the system offers a 65 percent power transfer efficiency.
Courtesy of the 3-stage planetary gear system, the winch has a fast line speed, ensuring fast recovery even when pulling heavy weights.
For safety, the winch comes with overload protection in the form of an inline circuit breaker, and it also has an automatic load-holding brake.
It’s worth mentioning that the Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch with Automatic Load-Holding Brake has a 235:1 winch gear ratio that points to its efficiency.
Remote
Some sites claim the Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch comes with a wireless remote, but this isn’t the case. Instead, it comes with a 12-foot wired remote control that’s a simple in-and-out controller. Though the 12 ft. cable is decent, it can be short and inconvenient for some people. If you’re one of those who don’t fancy a wired remote control, you can always get a Badland wireless remote. These wireless remotes work great, but they have some slight delay (though it’s not too long to be a nuisance).
Cable
The Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch comes with an aircraft-grade steel cable that’s 85 ft long and 21/64 inches thick. The air-grade steel cable is strong and more durable than synthetic cable. It performs well in abrasive terrain and situations since it’s less prone to abrasion and fraying. With these upsides, you’d think it’s harder to maintain. On the contrary, it requires less maintenance than synthetic cables.
The winch comes with four-sided fairlead rollers complete with nylon bushings to provide a smoother experience. The four-sided fairlead roller allows the steel cable to come from either side without getting kinks or twists. However, we noted that it tends to get heavier on one side when the cable is coming from the side. As such, you might have to stop and reset the winch constantly. Alternatively, you can get your vehicle unstuck and re-spool it later.
Waterproof
The Badland 9000 Lb. Electric Winch has an IP66 waterproof rating. This is similar to the Badland ZXR 12000. The controls and the winch can withstand powerful water jets. However, the remote control switch doesn’t enjoy similar protection. The IP66 rating, also means the unit is dustproof too.
Winch Line Speed
Courtesy of the 3-stage planetary gear system, this 9000 lbs winch can pull heavy loads fast. The speed varies as well. The line speed is 18.4 ft. per minute with no load on the first layer. This reduces to 12.5 ft. per minute when pulling 2000 lbs, 8 ft. per minute pulling 6000 lbs, and 5.5 ft. per minute when pulling 9000 lbs.
- Powerful and efficient
- Water-resistant
- Easy installation
- Safe use
- Heavy-duty construction
- Durable steel cable
- Slightly expensive for a 9000 lbs winch
