I have the XRC 8 with synth rope and I have pulled others out and myself once up a steep hill. It pulled fine. As far as customer service, I broke the gear cover during installation and I called Smitty and they replaced no questions asked within a week. I also had an issue with their SRC rock sliders and they sent me a replacement (different model) after a few pics of the damage I incurred with the previous rails. I believe their customer service did right by me. I would not hesitate to buy another XRC and maybe the 10 will be next.

 

I've got an xrc10, never used it to pull myself out, but winched plenty of huge trees out of the way on trails. Never had a problem. Its very slow compared to the more expensive models but I'm in no hurry.