The HF winches are HIGHLY RATED and many off road mags have tested them and put them on par with WARN and other name brands. Most of the magazine reviews are from 2011... but many forums also give them good reviews.
I pull my 8k truck up a 60% grade with a 5k winch... but rolling stock vs dead weight are two separate things all together. I use a remote and walk on the side of the truck with a chock in case things go south.
Almost all of the winches need to use a snatch block.. the winch only makes rated pull at the very end of the cable (1 or 2 wraps on the spool.
