This is probably a silly question, but do you guys have any thoughts on this Harbor Freight hand winch?
http://www.harborfreight.com/8000-lb...uller-543.html

My first instinct is that it's made by HF, therefore it should not be depended on to extract myself if needed. I'm gravitating towards buying a good Engo winch, but i want to be absolutely sure that this 25 buck option is definitely the wrong choice. Any experience with it? Is the hand winch usually enough to extract myself? It has 10 ft of line, which seems pretty short...

 

That's a tool I'd use pulling a vehicle onto a trailer or something. I don't think I'd attempt to use it for any type of recovery but if it was all I had at the time then I'd sure as hell give it a shot. 10ft cable will limit you too.

 

Minimum for hand power http://www.wyeth-scott.com/

 

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/can...g-winch-20770/

 

I carry 2 just in case and I have a Warn up front.

 

If you have a hi-lift you can also get the ORK. http://www.hi-lift.com/accessories/off-road-kit.html

 

The cable length it 10ft. You'd probably need a real long strap just in case the next winch point is pretty far.

 

****, if you're going to buy that, may as well buy an electric winch for $50 more, but I guess it would save you on mounting and weight.

 

I'm not a fan of hand winches for recovery. Especially with only 10 feet of cable, that would be about useless to me. I'd rather have an electric winch with 100 feet of cable, much more useful. If my winch fails, I've got a Hi Lift I can use as a hand winch as a backup.
My Smittybilt XRC8 cost me $300, has 92' of cable, and makes recovery easy. Great investment, and fairly inexpensive for a winch.

 

I hate using a come-a-long for recovery but... I did do that for about 26 years (until I finally broke down and bought my first winch). They're a PITA but it does work (eventually - and if you have enough strap, cable, chain and a strong enough come-a-long).
I would suggest that you save your pennies and just buy a "real" winch. I can understand being poor though.

 

Well then... It seems that my suspicions were correct. I guess the "right" thing to do here is to buy a proper bumper mounted winch. Might get the hand winch in addition to just as a backup.