Reader Rant
Why Waste Winches?
I read "Wrangler Winch Testing" (Jan. '10) and it left me wondering how these sort of testing articles work. Do the manufacturers pay you to do them? I'm curious because on the magazine cover you called this article "Wrangler Winch Testing," but the article doesn't say much regarding actually testing the winch. The best thing that was said about the XRC-8 was that it and the bumper bolted on in just a couple hours. In the sidebar you said that you pulled a Wrangler and a Flatfender out of mud, speed was good and the engagement system worked.
Then it mentioned that it was a big draw on the electrical system and had you wishing for a dual battery system. So, if I read between the lines, are you holding back ripping a dog of a winch from one of your good sponsors? I look to articles like this for real tech and honesty, and this one seems to fall short on both.
Aaron Hull
Alton, IL
Feature Editor Ali Mansour responds: I'm sorry the article fell short in your eyes. We try our best to be as thorough as possible when conducting these tests. While we would have loved to have elaborated on both the winch and the bumper, space restrictions didn't make that possible. We don't think you should have to read through the lines. We hope you can come away with an idea of how we feel about the product by simply reading the facts as they are printed.
For example, when we wrote that the winch had a big draw on our electrical system, I don't think we were holding anything back. We were simply stating a fact. Did the winch stop working or burn the Jeep to the ground? No. Are there drawbacks to owning this winch? Sure, but it did exactly what it was supposed to do.
Not all tech articles can be in-depth, though we would like them to be, and sometimes a basic review of the product is all we can do. If the winch stopped working and the bumper ripped off and disappeared into the mud, we would have printed it.
Honesty is a virtue by which the entire crew lives and writes.
Next time you feel that you need to know more about a product, simply send us an email and we'll do our best to let you know more about it. We are here for our readers.
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