Blimey, one can of worms well and truly opened........
Ok, firstly avoid any Ramsey or their twin KEW winches unless you really know your winches.
The very old pre 2000 Ramsey were very good, comparable to a Pierce and this is the good name they now trade on with some god awful junk also badged as KEW
Now it gets tricky.........
There is basically zero quality control when it comes to winches and David Bowyer was well known as a supplier way back in the day for the simple reason that he "Commissioned" (PDI'd, checked, tested) all the winches he sold. So a good "no name" winch can be better than a bad "known name" winch very easily.
So, if you've won the lottery or simply don't want hassle, ring Goodwinch and hand over your credit card details. If your life is likely to depend on it then ask them to commission it and fit it too.
Job done, question answered.
Failing that, if you don't mind the all up weight of 50kg and you've got room for a 10,000lb Superwinch Husky then that's the one to go for. Worm drive (no brakes needed) pull all day, fairly weather proof etc, etc but sloooow, then again they're slow with or without a load.
This is the one you see hanging off the front of utility landrovers where they may well have winched themselves a mile or so through a wood or field the day before...... and possibly will tomorrow too.
If you had the room for that and didn't mind the weight but wanted something quick for fast retrieval between little pulls then the Warn 8274 is what you might want. Probably block most of the airflow to your rad though and will most definitely need commissioning before use. (Good old USA outsourced to Mexico years ago and in the US "Mexico" is spelt the same way the UK spells China)
Bin the tin can solenoids, accept the fact the clutch will need constant maintenance but for speed nothing comes close. Limited to 8000lb on a good day with the wind behind it though, but should in theory be enough.
Now your probably settled on what's referred to as a "low line" electric winch.
Is it going to sit on the front of your truck, neglected and abused from month to month before finally being required on the occasional blue moon ? Get a dunking in the Corwen carwash and never warmed through afterwards ?
Get a Kingone or the Warn with full face seals and seal the motor with non acetic silicone.
Nothing else comparable (to my current knowledge)
Is it for looks ?
Get the cheapest you can find on ebay.
This is now almost entirely down to pot luck.......
We're now talking marginal differences in quality control separating them and even more marginal differences in manufacturing tolerances.
Come-up seems very middle of the road all in all, a quite safe bet with good value.
T-max possibly ties with Come-up
Warn / Superwinch Ties with above but costs more.
Any of the hundred different names but same factory winch on ebay, take your chances really. Might be a good one, might not, but same goes for Warn etc.......
Size wise, also depends on commissioning........
A good 8,000lb installed well will out pull a bad 16,000lb however it's installed and be quicker.
But if a loaded LC needs more than a well installed good 9,500lb then i'd suggest a good spade, some sweat and trying again. (A good, well installed 8,000lb can pull a 7.5t 4 wheel truck sunk to it's front axle / rear diff in turf/soil on 1st, 2nd and 3rd layers before beginning to stall)
A Good, quality battery (as opposed to a good battery) a healthy alternator (and 1000rpm) 35mm2 leads (if less than 1meter, 50mm2 if above 1meter) Good cable earthing and good connections are all parts of a winch installation.
Hopefully that goes some way to explaining why "mate1" swears by xyz when "mate2" swears AT xyz.....
Please, please don't ask about rope