"...hanging on for dear life. It didn’t finish with the vigor..." There were only 3 winches that finished so of course it would get 3rd. They should have added a second day of testing.
I have a friend who had his T-Max implode. It was a real mess inside. Luckily, it was free. He replaced it with a Warn.
The rope slipping out of the retainer clip shouldn't mean much as long as there are a couple layers on the spool. it it was a cable it probably would have finished. Well, if it didn't implode.
Still it looks like it was the only one to use a rode. I would have liked to seem them all use a cable.
It's interesting that they DNF'ed the Ramsey with only a blown solenoid. Could have been a mfg issue on the solenoid and not really an issue with the mechanical parts of the winch itself.
Superwinch could have done better if they chose a winch form their Husky line instead of the EPi line. The Husky's are pretty robust with their worm gear drivetrain.
Still, it's an interesting test. I would have chosen the Warn to win also. Most of my friends run Warns, even that Moz guy has one. Warns have proven themselves time after time.