I have winches on my vehicles and use them. Many times they have been worth every dollar and more that I paid for them. I won't forget one trip that took 4 hours to go 300 meters - 4 vehicles with winches and 2 without.
Even with other vehicles, there have been occasions when a stuck vehicle could not be recovered with snatch straps and the winch was needed (digging the stuck vehicle out of a swamp was not an option).
Tirfors take up room (to precious for me) inside, are slow to deploy and even slower to recover vehicles. They are unsuitable for me, though younger blokes without a bad back can manage with one.
Because I intend to do a lot more traveling on my own (including towing my boat in the northern parts of Aus end at the end of the wet season), my rangie mods include front and rear hydraulic winches.
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Whoever said that you can't winch backwards with a front mounted winch has not had to ;), or has not been practical enough.