There are so many winch brands in the market today that are all vying for your attention. While some of these are very much well known, Like Warn or Smittybilt, there are others that have not yet quite made their mark.
As someone who needs a new winch, you might be canvassing for potential candidates. The thing with having so many choices available is, how do you weed out the worthy options and the ones you should not even think about?
Rugcel winch is one of those brands that do not have global popularity. And since you should not trust the brand based on their dazzling marketing mantras alone, you have to find another way to know what their true deal is.
That is why reviews such as this are extremely helpful. In this article, I will focus my reviewing powers on Rugcel – in the winch market arena, is it a contender, or a pretender?
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So, let’s see if these winches are worth buying or not.
Best Rugcel Winch Review
Our Rating
Features & Key Technical Data
As you can see this particular RUGCEL winch is capable of towing up to 13500 lbs, so you can easily use it to pull over big loads with ease. For instance, you can use it for towing your truck, SUV, Jeep, car, UTV, ATV, or any other trailers you want. It is dirt cheap compared to its competitors having the same weight capacity.
This winch is capable of towing up to 13500 lbs.
So, as per the recommendation from the winch industry, you should use this winch to tow up to 9000 lbs to get the best result.
Because it is always good to get a winch that has 1.5 times more weight capacity than the weight you want to pull.
The control pack for this winch can be mounted in a number of different ways. This is a feature that more expensive winches have. While it may not provide any performance advantage, it does allow you to add a bit of a personal touch to your setup.
Both the wireless remote controls work well within the 90’ range.
This winch comes with a substantially long and high-quality steel cable. While steel cable is more durable than synthetic rope, you have to be careful to avoid any severe injury if the cable breaks under load.
To avoid such accidents, I recommend you use a dampener whenever you use a winch with steel cable.
This winch can perfectly fit any 4x4 vehicle, trailer or RV. It is powered by a 7.2 HP series wound motor. A latched hook with thimble is also included in the package.
This winch is backed by a lifetime technical support as well as 3 years of limited warranty.
- IP68 rated. Meaning this winch is 100% waterproof.
- It comes with heavy-duty 100’ steel cable going through a four-way roller fairlead. The cable doesn’t bunch up during the operation.
- You can pull out the rope easily using the lever-action large free spooling clutch.
- I found controlling the towing is easy due to the smooth and durable three-stage planetary gear and automatic direct drive cone brake.
- An easy to install winch.
- It comes with a durable waterproof relay.
- A waterproof winch cover is included with the package.
- This winch comes with a wired remote control and two wireless remote controls. All of them work flawlessly.
- Reasonably priced considering the performance it offers.
- The length of the remote control could have been longer.
You’ll need some accessories while winching. Read my selected winch accessories list, these will surely make winching much safer, faster & easier.
Our Rating
Features & Key Technical Data
High-quality 100’ synthetic winch rope
If you are looking for a multi-purpose 12000 lbs winch for various trailers and vehicles including trucks, cars, SUV, UTV, ATV, Jeeps, etc, I recommend you go for this one. The price is so reasonable too.
As this winch has a weight capacity of 12000 lbs, so to get the best performance you should use this to pull over anything that weighs up to 8000 lbs.
I found the overall design and quality of the material is as good as I found for the 13500 lbs winch.
Like the previous one, this very winch also offers a three-stage planetary gear train and dynamic brake to control the winching perfectly.
This winch also utilizes a series wound motor, although it only provides 6.6 HP. It also uses a 500 AMP waterproof Solenoid, which is nice.
What amazed me most about any RUGCEL winch is they come with two handy wireless remote controls. Typically you see every winch offers one wireless remote if not none.
The lever-action free spooling clutch is large enough to operate it wearing gloves. That sounds good.
This winch is perfect for those who need a winch that can be used in a lot applications. It is not extremely heavy duty, but neither is it lightweight. It wonderfully combines power and versatility. And it comes at a great price too!
- Waterproof (IP68 rated).
- It comes with a waterproof relay that I believe increases durability and reliability.
- An easy to install winch.
- This winch comes with a wired (12’) remote control and two wireless remote controls that work flawlessly.
- It’s easy to pull the rope out using the larger free spooling clutch.
- It offers multiple mounting options.
- RUGCEL 12000 lb winch is equipped with a high-quality 100’ synthetic winch rope that I believe substantially long for any towing job.
- Inexpensive considering the quality and weight capacity.
- It comes with an easy to understand user manual.
- Had the length of the wired remote a tad longer, it would have been a better offering.
- I expected a winch cover like the previous model.
Our Rating
Features & Key Technical Data
50ft Steel cable
This winch is particularly made for towing vehicles like UTV, ATV, car or boats where you need a 3500 lbs winch. This one is a super inexpensive winch compared to its competitors without sacrificing the quality.
As this winch has a weight capacity of 3500 lbs, so you should use it to tow anything that weighs up to 2333 lbs. As I said, this is what the winch industry recommends us to get the optimum performance from a winch.
It comes with a durable 50’ steel cable that I found quite strong to withstand under any circumstances. However, using a dampener with the steel cable is always good.
- Compact and lightweight.
- It comes with an environment-friendly blue white zinc plated hook and also a winch cable stopper.
- Waterproof (IP68 rated), that is something I always look at from any UTV/ATV special winches.
- It offers a cam activated free spooling clutch that lets you pull in and pull out the rope smoothly.
- This winch comes with two well-functioning remote controls that work up to around 50’ and a handlebar switch.
- The automatic load-holding brake and three-stage planetary gear train help to control the winching properly.
- Super cost-effective
- The instruction manual is not clear enough.
Rugcel Winch As A Brand
Rugcel Winch is an old company that entered this industry in 1999. Since then they have manufactured quality winches of different capacities for towing different vehicles.
Not only winches, but they also make several winch related accessories like mounting plate, shackle, roller fairlead, etc.
As per the price is concerned, they offer relatively low prices compared to their competitors.
The brand boasts that they have contributed technological innovations in the winch world. While I am not sure what these innovations exactly are, I can still say that the quality of their products are still high. Whether their claim of innovation is true or not, one thing is certain, their products can contend with more expensive winches.
Conclusion On Rugcel Winch Review
So many times, I got a recommendation to buy a winch from a reputed brand spending a lot more than what a RUGCEL winch costs.
But I believe, if you want to get good quality and find some budget winches then RUGCEL is the brand you can rely upon.
Particularly, if you are looking for a good waterproof winch, all the RUGCEL winches are IP68 rated.
I’m not saying that Rugcel is the best option for you (only you can say what the best winch for your needs is). There are certainly other brands out there that offer quality at similar prices. I’m merely saying that Rugcel is a great option for the price range.
For affordable winches, they do not feel cheap. They still exude quality. They are not perfect – but no winch is. But they possess certain features that winches on the higher end have.
I believe this Rugcel winch review guide helped you to decide if you should go for this brand or not.
Now it’s your turn. Comment below if you have anything more to ask.
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