I've always used Windows own to create my system images, initially onto DVDs until I bought an external HDD for the job.
The only downside to that is that it overwrites the previous image, so you need to ensure everything is just right before creating the next one.
As well as doing that, I bought another external HDD where I store an earlier image and alternate which HDD I use for the images which recently resolved a problem for me, as the newer image included a problem I wasn't aware of when I made it.
I don't use the Windows Back up schedule as it's only once a month when things really change with the various updates other than a Notepad doc, which I back up onto a Flash stick.
Others use Macrium Reflect but have had problems with that when they've needed it - another 3rd party one is Acronis True Image but I believe that is a paid for program.
The only problem I've ever had with Windows own system image was when I was using DVDs and wanting to restore with the one before last, it didn't want to know for some reason, but since using external HDDs, never had a problem - and it's free.
To restore from an external HDD in Win 7 you need to boot up either into the advanced boot options or with a system repair disk to navigate to the Recovery Environment to select restore from an image I made earlier, but not sure how that is done in Win 8/8.1.