Ok I will get a 3"X30', I am not gonna be using it for harcore wheelin', but i just need something cause tow chains scare me.
Chain has its uses, but as the primary component of recovery ... not so much. A strap has a bit of stretch, so you can hang it loose, then get a rolling start to build up momentum to yank a stuck vehicle. Chain has
no give to it, so if you try that stunt with chain, you'll break something, ranging from your attachment point to windshields to heads.
And AJM's right; straps with the hooks on the end are better suited to decapitate someone than they are to move vehicles. When you get your strap, grab it maybe four foot from the end and whirl the end around like a lasso and bean your buddy in the head with the loop. He'll be pissed and a bit dazed, but it's blunt force, he'll be fine
Now imagine if you'd done that with a steel hook on the end, and the bleeding gash he'd have in his head
The same applies to windshields, which are magnets when it comes to straps that have broken or come undone. At speed those hooks will travel right through sheet metal, glass, and flesh :|
Also, it's a bad idea to wrap chain around a tree as your recovery point. The econazis point out that it strips off the bark and eats into the trunk, which will kill the tree right quick. Non-green types will discover that the chain eats into the trunk
and gets stuck there and it's a royal pain to get out. If you're expecting to do trail recoveries, you get a "tree saver", which is like a regular strap, only shorter (maybe 8') and wider (maybe 4-6".) These are also handy for short-distance tugs, like pulling stumps or driveway pulls, where a 30' strap would be unusable.
'Course then you need a shackle to join the straps, and some good attachment points at the bumper and a pair of leather gloves and then the Hi-lift is always handy ... and it snowballs
But a good medium-sized strap, as you're talking about, is handy in many situations and for levels of wheeling ranging from hardcore to mall-crawling, so by all means get one.
Also, the adage about "When you have a pickup truck, everyone is your friend" (they want you to help move, take loads to the dump, etc) applies when people find out you have a 4x4 with straps and such. Your friends and their friends all call you when their vehicles get stuck, or they have stumps to pull, etc etc. [Actually, the stump pulling is great: you do the fun part involving a big truck and application of force and making loud noises, and then you leave and let them do the gardening part
]
-- A
