The roller fairlead is a lot less hard on your wire rope than the hawse fairlead.
So the Hawse is lighter/more compact, but, is more likely to kink the wire/wear out the wire rope over time, etc.
The Roller is heavier/less compact but is easier on the wire rope, especially off angle, etc.
A point to consider is that you typically want a MINIMUM of 1.5 x your GVWR for a winch's capacity for ordinary pulls up steep grades, etc. If you do mud, where the axles can sink in an act like anchors, etc, you typically want more than that.
Most people find that a 9,500 lb capacity winch is closer to what works than an 8,500 lb capacity winch, which can be under powered under load/at various line lengths played out, etc.
For example, the LP8500 has a short duty cyle, 3 minutes of pulling followed by 30 minutes to cool off again before being able to do another 3 minutes of pulling....and its line speed is 3.5' feet per minute.
So, if you are stuck out where you need to be dragged about 30' to be clear, you'd pull for 3 minutes and get ~ 10.5'...and then wait 30 minutes to cool off, and then pull another 3 minutes for another 10.5', and then wait another 30 minutes to cool off, and THEN be able to pull the final remaining 9' after a coupla more minutes of pulling.
So if you start the pull at 12 noon, you would finish it some time after 1 pm, over an hour later.
If you decided to just drag the entire way out w/o letting it cool down, that's less than 9 minutes, but, the winch might over heat and die part of the way through.
Also - ALL winches are going to be able to ONLY pull their full/rated capacity when the line is ALL the way out (And the spool has the least line left on it)...and as the line is wound onto the spool, and the diameter of the spooled line increases, they all pull progressively LESS than their full capacity.
Cheaper winches pull a proportionally SMALLER percentage of their full capacity as the spool is filled, and, at a lower line speed.
Better winches MAINTAIN MORE capacity as the line is wound onto the spool.
So a weaker winch might only be able to pull half its full capacity for shorter pulls, but a good winch might be able to still pull 75% of its full capacity on a short pull (The shorter the pull, the more line will still be on the spool).
So, if you START with 8,500 lb, and have a short 30' pull, you might only be able to actually pull with ~ 4,250 lb of force.....which is less than the truck might need to be dragged through mud, considering sometimes it takes TWO or THREE trucks to pull a stuck truck out, etc. A cheap 9,500 lb winch will have the same/similar duty cycle and line speed limitations, but will be able to pull ~ 500 pounds of force harder at least under that load.
So, winches such as the LP8500 are OK for really short pulls to just pop out of a rut, get up a steep ledge/give a short boost over stuff...but, are not the best choice if your wheeling might require more than that.
If you are potentially going to get stuck somewhere dangerous/inconvenient enough to make it worth it to have something more dependable, saving a bit more for something with at least a higher duty cycle might be a good idea.
If where you wheel is convenient to be stuck, as in everyone you wheel with can get you free even with no winch, the places are accessible for a tow truck/you won't miss work Monday or whatever....sure, saving some moola on the winch is worth it.
For myself, I don't have the patience to wait for cool down periods...I am very conscious that I might be holding up my buddies and wasting their wheeling time...so if we have 6 hours to wheel and I get stuck and waste an hour of that, I'd feel terrible.
So, I blew more like $600 (Back in 2002 or so?) on a winch that can run for at least a half hour at a ~ 9-12 foot per minute line speed with 9,500 lb capacity, and it maintains at least 75% of that even with a full spool.
So a 30' pull takes about 3 minutes total...not 70 minutes or whatever.
Its a judgement call as to priorities.
