I wouldn’t expect this to be the last word in fork tech, but cheap enough for a hack/ winter hard tail?

http://www.bike-discount.de/en/buy/suntour-xct-29-100-mlo-fork-black-white-blue-237105/wg_id-1388

I’d say: No!
I’ve got one in the garage you can have for the price of postage – although that might be a lot as the thing weighs a fair bit! The lockout only works when the fork is unweighted, so you have to sort of wheelie and lean forward as you turn the knob.
Worst thing though, which made them unusable for me – every time you unweight the front – CLONK! top out.
Mine are a pretty gold colour though 🙂

@ dezB

Yes they are heavy, but I’d guess most forks are 2.5 kg, until you spend nearer £200?

And yes you have to unweight the fork to access the lockout, but for £19 plus postage, that’s about a third of the cost of a standard fork service.

A pair of these came fitted to my cube and I actually like them. Under my 20 stone, the spring feels supple, there seems to be enough travel at hand and I don’t have to worry about Scottish weather wrecking more expensive forks. 😛

Fair enough!
It’s the top-out though, just horrible. If yours don’t do that, then I’m sure they’re fine 🙂