I think that a winch permanently mounted looks cool and is more readily available. However I have several reasons to prefer to use a cradle mounted and transferable winch. First it is not exposed to the weather or theives. It can be used in the front or moved to the rear or even to someone else's vehicle by using the 24 foot extension power cable. One drawback is that you do need to either give up some space inside or better yet have a dedicated storage space that is out of the way.