Maxtrax Rope Dampener - protective cover for winch rope
The protection reduces the risk of injury if the winch rope breaks. In the event of a winch rope breaking, the protective cover absorbs a large portion of the winch rope's energy, thereby significantly reducing the whipping/whipping of the rope.
In my opinion, this is absolutely necessary for steel cables - with additional weighting - and depending on the length of the winch cable used (> 15 m), a second damper can also make sense. In my opinion, winching with a steel cable without a damper/cable catcher is irresponsible. But this doesn't have to be an expensive accessory; you can also wrap a rescue strap or rescue rope around the steel cable.
When using plastic ropes, it is only necessary if someone has to stay in the danger area between the anchor point and the winch, plastic ropes can also hurt ;) .