I recently purchased a 1t chain hoist on ebay to help me in moving my new grinder. The grinder weighs just over 3/4t but the hoist simply would not touch it. It wouldn't even lift one corner off the ground, and once it had taken the strain it would not go down again either. I had to cut the chain with an angle grinder to release the hook. If the hoist had lifted the machine, and then refused to lower it I would have been in deep trouble -cutting a chain off while the machine was in the air would not have been an option.
The moral of this story? Don't risk cheap kit when safety is an issue! -I should have known better really, but it seemed like a bargain at the time.
regards
Kevin