--I much prefer a chain to a strap, for all the reasons already discussed. My chain has outlasted a few straps so far and never let me down.

as far as a personal preference thats fine. i just dont like people saying that people who use tow straps are somehow unsafe. ive never had a strap break on me personally, but ive broken other peoples trying to pull them out. and you know where they stored them? in the bed. and they were all dry rotted and falling apart. i told the guys they were going to break before i hooked them up and that i wasnt buying them a new strap if it broke. and yep, they broke. properly maintained, a strap will last longer than your truck will. i just dont like chains because if they break they are going to do some damage, they are heavy, dont fit behind the seat as easily as a strap, and because they rust. a 30 foot strap takes up less space than a 5 foot chain, weighs less than a 1 foot chain, and has breaking strengths on par with any store bought chain. yeah, you can buy chains with 75-90k pound breaking points and straps usually only go up to 30-40k pounds, but how many us are pulling 75k pound cars out of ditches?