Brand Ambassadors test new GX/GKX winches – user opinion

Three long-term users of Uniforest winches have tested the new GX / GKX series and were impressed by their strength, usability, and efficiency. Three new models with a proportional brake have been tested intensively and approved by professional foresters from Slovenia, Austria, and Italy. Check, what they liked most about their gear-driven winches and why they recommend them to other professionals who work in forestry daily.

70GX – Stani and Sergej Grobelnik, Pivnik farm

Pivnik Farm has more than 10 years of experience with the Uniforest winches. Regular cooperation with our R&D department contributed to their choice of their current forestry assistant 2x85G of the PROFI series. Sergej and Stani Grobelnik have been testing 70GX forestry winch in the Slovenian Carinthia region at their family mountain farm where they cut most of the wood they harvest at their sawmill. What are the most remarkable features and benefits of working with the 70GX?

“We are now testing the 70GX forestry winch, which is the successor of the 65G. This winch is also lighter, thanks to the use of material which is thinner, lighter, and of higher quality,” was their comment about the construction. Another important function they were impressed by was the proportional brake: “The main advantage of proportional brake is that you can release the brake in a controlled way. This is done using a potentiometer on the remote control.”

90GKX – Franc Heuer, Holzschlägerung Franz Heuer

Franz Heuer from Austria had the 90GKX model that he took to his worksite near Krumbach, where he had around 1000 cubic meters of harvesting-ready trees to pull out of the forest. He compared 90GKX with the 120Gpower winch. Latter has been his companion for many years and he is very satisfied with it.

The first thing he noticed was also a proportional brake: “The news GX series has the proportional brake available from 6.5 tons up. It works great.” Another technologically advanced solution impressed him: “The 90GKX winch also has the Uniforest Connect app. You can read all the data, such as the pulling force, battery voltage, operating hours, and service interval, and that is all on the mobile phone. The Connect app is a relief in terms of maintenance. And then it can also help you fix the smaller issues; if there are problems somewhere, like power fluctuations or whatever, you can see everything on the app and take action.”

“The 90 GKX is certainly the ideal professional gear winch for tractors up to 140, 150 hp. I'm curious to see when the winch will come onto the market because it's a big step into the future of the forestry industry and will make forestry work much easier,” he concludes his comment about our new professional winch series.

2x90GKX – Francesco Alfare and Kambiz del Canto, F.K. Legnami s.r.l

Val Pesarina in the Municipality of Prato Carnico, Friuli Venezia Giulia Northern Italy, has a particularly valuable forest in the area and even has resonance wood. Francesco and Kambiz are intervening to recover the trees that are dry because of the bark beetle and some trees that fell because of a windstorm on a summer day in 2024. They have already removed about 1500 m³ of wood in this area, most with the tractor and winches. Starting with their long-term companion, the 70GK was replaced by the 2x90GKX for a few weeks. Here are their thoughts: “The winch we are testing from Uniforest is the new 2x90GKX with a double drum, an innovative new generation machine equipped with a hydraulic hinged butt plate and a proportional brake, which is the novelty of this machine, the auxiliary winch, the Auto Stop, and the hydraulic rope unwinders. It is a very robust and highly professional machine compared to its smaller brother which is the 70GK. Clearly it has a greater pulling force, but it also has much more cutting-edge solutions and the performance is practically much higher than the other machine, also given the fact that it is equipped with two drums and can gather much more wood than a traditional winch with a single drum.”

What did they think about the Active Force Control function? “The hydraulic system installed on this winch allows us to pull with one winch, or even with both together. The hydraulic control unit and the electric control unit communicate with each other via sensors, allowing us to have a constant pulling force with one drum of up to 8,5 T while when pulling with both drums simultaneously we can reach a pulling force of 10 T.” They concluded their winch review by saying: “Having had a lot of experience with the 70GK we were sure that the performance of 2x90GKX will be impressive. And in fact, this is the result of the test of the machine. It absolutely did not disappoint us.”

What did they have to say about the auxiliary winch 6HWpro and the remote controller?

Forestry can be a dangerous and challenging business. Unfavorable terrain, manual transport of the equipment up the steep slopes, and similar challenges are accompanying our users during their work. One of Uniforest’s main goals is to make day-to-day activities easier with ergonomically designed machinery and a safer approach to tasks. In this manner, we were planning on making the new professional winches ready for an auxiliary winch upgrade.

From the smallest up, all new GX/GKX winches are easily upgraded with the 6HWpro. A special carrier can be mounted to the dedicated space on the winch frame and the remote control activated for an additional hydraulic function of the Uniforest auxiliary winch. However, it makes most sense to order it with the forestry winch itself.

Stani and Sergej Grobelnik tested the auxiliary winch with the new 70GX model: “Uniforest's Development Department has also proposed the use of the 6HWpro auxiliary winch. The auxiliary winch really makes it easier to work in steep terrain and to get the timber downhill. This is because the auxiliary winch helps to pull the steel wire rope up the hill. With the auxiliary winch, we can also work in a mini cableway system. I am now convinced by this system and we are already thinking about upgrading our 2x85G winch.”

The 6HWpro was also tested by our Italian foresters. Kambiz and Francesco liked it as well as the other remote controller functions that were also tested thoroughly: “From the experience gained with the use of the new GX winch we found the remote controller very intuitive. Everything is integrated into a single remote control where there is also the auxiliary winch, a very convenient application that gives you the possibility of pulling the winch's main cable on uphill slopes very easily, creating a small cableway. Also, the remote control unit is equipped with an anti-tipping system. In this way, it prevents accidents in the forest with the winch.”

Safety, Ergonomics, and Environmental Friendliness

Machine testing is one of the most important R&D phases at Uniforest. We’re very happy and proud to see the impression the new winch models made on our brand ambassadors. Let us express our gratitude for their time and shared opinions on the GX and GKX winches.

Since February 2025, all new winches are available for orders at your closest store. To all of their users, we wish you safe and efficient work!