What winch line would be best for a winch that's not being used much.. maybe 5-10 times a year. Won't be doing much rock crawling. Mostly Mud , and intermediate trails. What ages better? Steel cable or Synthetic line.
Some deaths and many injuries have come from steal cable, never heard of one from synthetics... maybe they just have not been around long enough for historical data.
Another mind opening experience just yesterday...
http://jalopnik.com/5629380/extra-has-skull-sliced-open-on-transformers-3-setCrappy, rusted, frayed cables should be garbaged.
We'll probably never find out the condition of that cable or what load was on it...but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, it broke.
Buy the Warn, with steel cable, use it for a couple years, then upgrade to synthetic. No use throwing out a perfectly good cable.
If you want a closer look at warn products, check out this Vid, inside view of "how they are made".
http://www.pirate4x4.com/tv/live11b.php ("warn" starts at about 1:13)