Winches, like most other things in life, such as insurance is not needed until it is needed. Then you will appreciate the investment. An electric winch can be an expensive addition to any vehicle, however, the cost may be offset, the first time it is used in earnest. A difficult recovery, may cost quite a lot if someone else is being paid to do the job. Likewise, body or panel damage to your vehicle may also be expensive A good quality hand winch and as you also said, a 'Hi-Lift' jack may be capable of extricating you from awkward situations. However, your endurance will be put to the test, if the recovery is long and uphill. Many people, myself included, pack a hand winch and Hi-Lift' jack as a precaution, similar to many people who carry more than one compressor. I use my electric winch now, more than my hand winch, although the hand winch I use for stabilising or securing a vehicle, prior to operating the electric winch. There are many situations, where logical thinking and a methodical approach will certainly get you unstuck, however, not everyone wishes to take hours and hours to extricate themselves. There is one positive form haveing manually operated equipment, such as a hand winch, you learn to drive and pick your lines better, or give up and go home earlier. If you are unsure of the investment cost, then by all means purchase a hand winch first. If you are stuck, then at least you have some means of extracting yourself, either sideways, or backwards, or even forward. If you use the hand winch often enough, then it may be logical to progress to an electric winch. You will already have invested in most of the added recovery equipment for the hand winch so no loss there and taking along the hand winch as a back up will also be beneficial.You cannot have enough recovery equipment, you may not take it all the time but you can select what you take on particular trips and you can share the load around with additional vehicles on the trip. Hope that this information helps you to make a decision.
