I was wondering if anybody has had experience with Chicago Winches. I will probably use a winch no more than a couple of times a year so I don't need something that can handle constant abuse. The price of these winches makes me a little warry. I have heard of people comparing the Chicago to Mile Marker.

 

Here is a typical review from some quick research:

"runs like a winch is supposed to run. it doesn't have the line speed of a high end warn, but it pulled me up and over everything i asked it to. i paid a total of $340.00 including a 16 month no questions asked hand me a new one warranty

and i have seven hundred dollars in my pocket to go spend on other new hardware. hell the cable it comes with is worth 250."

 

I have been reading a lot of forum discussions about them and all of the bad comments seem to be from people with a Warn bias. Anything that doesn't break the pocketbook has to be a POS. I so far have only found one discussion where somebody had problems with it and it sounded like he was running it non stop without letting it cool and was burning them up.

 

I think the milemarker 9,000 lb is a good deal at $450 w/free shipping it comes with 100ft of 3/8 cable and a roller fairlead and a 4.5 hp motor and it pulls at almost the same speed as the warn 8000 and 9000 winch.
Try to get a warn equiped the same as the 9,000lb milemarker it will cost you alot more $$.