Hand-operated, electrical, hydraulic, portable...winches come in a variety of shapes, sizes and types. As a result, knowing which winch is right for you can be a lot harder than simply pointing, picking and paying.
Selecting the correct winch can be especially important when you’re buying or hiring a winch for your business. A poor winch that’s not fit for purpose could lead to disaster!
Luckily, the SafetyLiftinGear team are here to help.
IMPORTANT: Please note that these winches are designed for lifting goods, not people. If you need a winch that is suitable for lifting people, please contact our Sales team.
What is a winch?
A winch is a mechanical pulley system that's equipped with a rope or cable for lifting or haulage purposes.
However, there are lots of different winch types out there, with subtle variations between all of them, ranging from the mechanical drum winch to the mechanical capstan winch. Naturally, this leads to a lot of confusion when it comes to choosing the right winch for you.
What winch do I need?
The correct winch for you and your business will largely depend on your line of work. For example, a tree surgeon may require a different winch to a mechanic, while a fishing boat will likely have different needs to a recovery vehicle.
That being said, winches are typically used for three primary purposes: lifting, lowering and pulling. For these purposes, both manual and electric winches are perfectly fine solutions.
Hand Winches
It's easy to assume that manual winches are less capable than their electric counterparts, but hand winches are ideal for most tasks and surprisingly capable even in situations requiring some serious heavy lifting.
They are extremely user-friendly, with little to no maintenance costs. Speaking of costs, hand winches are also notably cheaper than their electrical counterparts, offering an economical solution to your winching needs.
Best of all, they don’t rely on an external power source, and are as reliable as the person operating them. However, this can be a double-edged sword: hand winches – being manually operated – naturally put more exertion on the operator.
Electric Winches
Electric winches also offer a litany of benefits, not least their autonomy. Requiring minimal input from the operator, efficiency is the primary selling point of the electric winch, capable of hauling a heavy load from point A to point B in mere minutes.
Electric winches can also be safer than hand winches, which are better suited to lighter lifts. While electric winches are typically more costly than manually-operated products, they are a smart option if very heavy lifting is par for the course in your business.
While it doesn’t require human exertion, it’s worth remembering that an electric winch does need to get its energy from somewhere. For vehicle winches, this energy comes from the car battery, so be careful to ensure you don't end up with a flat battery!
What winch offers the best value for money?
While hand winches tend to be more economical, that doesn’t mean you can’t get an electric winch at an affordable price.
Here at SafetyLiftinGear.com, we offer a comprehensive collection of winches to make sure you always have the right tools for the task at hand.
Our winching products are capable of lifting loads ranging from 150kg all the way up to a tonne and beyond. Some of our heavy-duty winches are capable of lifting over five tonnes!
We also offer a range of winch ropes, all of which come with a latch hook for easy attachment. Strong, sturdy and reliable, these ropes are capable of hauling vehicles and even pulling down trees with ease.
For more information about our winches, give us a call on 0117 9381 600 or use the links below!
Get in Touch >> Our Winching Range >>
0117 9381 600
