The huge
advantage of a Hilift, besides they're high, is they work from outside the perimeter of the vehicle, not from underneath. If you're stuck, often you can't get underneath. So you use the Hilift anywhere you have a suitable place to get its snout to grip. D-rings inserted into your 2" receiver, front or back - special openings you cut into your custom bumper - tubular parts of the bumper - rock sliders - wheels (using a LM100 Lift Mate adapter). If you're trying to get traction aids under a spinning wheel or two, as I am in this picture, lifting a wheel has another huge advantage over lifting the frame or the body - you get the wheel started moving upwards instantly. You don't have to lift the vehicle and wait for the suspension to go to full extension and THEN the wheel starts to move upwards. You get wheel movement with the first movement of the jack. Much quicker for extractions.
A huge
disadvantage of a Hilift is all it does is lift. It can tip any direction easily. This can make certain extractions easier, where you lift a wheel, then drive or allow the vehicle to tip forward to better terrain. You can do a self-extraction without another driver because you can drive off (a few feet) without fiddling with the Hilift. The disadvantage is that you can NEVER use just a Hilift to lift the vehicle for maintenance underneath or to change a tire. You have to support the frame using other things. Wood, jack stands, somebody's spare tire.
If you just need a better jack for driveway maintenance, just get a larger size floor jack to wheel around. Small bottle jacks are not the right tool.
Accessory page:
http://www.hi-lift.com/accessories/index.html