HF Earthquake XT Cordless Ratchet ?

[hasco]

Any thoughts on the HF #63538 ,3/8 cordless ratchet kit ?
Anybody have one? This is For home garage use.

 

[kctyphoon]

They seem to get good reviews for the money. That said, the non fuel original Milwaukee ratchets aren't too much more, and you get ALOT more tools to use the batteries with.

I have yet to see a video comparison of the Milwaukee's vs HF ratchets from the pro YouTube crowd- and I can only suspect there is a reason for that.

 

[zendriver]

I have one, that I got to make it easier for GF to remove auto parts.

I've only used it a few times, but it seems very solid with a reasonable amount of power, comes with a nice case and a very sturdy charger unit.

I didn't really see anything to dislike about it. I purchase it without a coupon, but took one back next trip and got 20 bucks back.

I went ahead and purchased the two year replacement for $18.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WWheeler]

$135 gets you a Milwaukee kit w/ 5 yr warranty (actually paid less than that for both my 1/4 and 3/8 kits) vs $120 for Harbor Fright's 90 days.
Even if you could use the 20% off coupon (it excludes 'Earthquake') I'd have to be a fool not to say 'Thanks anyway'.

I'll bet an AvE teardown vid review would be enlightening and hilarious.

 

[ex-x-fire]

I had the 1st gen M12 ratchet, pretty junky (head always failing, battery retainer fails) in my opinion. The HF ratchet feels more solid, its more bulky though. I did drop it hard and it quit working, it was out of warranty. HF warrantied it if I'd buy the extended warranty for $20. That was certainly fair. I think its a good product for the money.

 

[WWheeler]

I had the 1st gen M12 ratchet, pretty junky (head always failing, battery retainer fails) in my opinion. The HF ratchet feels more solid, its more bulky though. I did drop it hard and it quit working, it was out of warranty. HF warrantied it if I'd buy the extended warranty for $20. That was certainly fair. I think its a good product for the money.

So, you got 5 yrs out of your Milwaukee before any of the warrantable issues you describe occurred? Or, you just never tried to warranty it?

We use M12 ratchets at work all day every day for several years now. As I've written here at GJ many times over the past few years, they're by far our most used tool. Anything 9/16 or 14mm or smaller (which is nearly everything we work on) we use them like a regular ratchet to break free and tighten down by hand up to 50-60ftlb or so (not designed for that abuse, but they handle it) and the power to spin them tight or loose in between. No one I know of has had any of the issues you describe. I tighten/loosen hundreds of fasteners every day with my 3/8, so probably in the millions now since I bought it in 2015, and couldn't even begin to count how many times I've dropped both of them. They both do look really really beat up and worn out from much abuse, but still run just like new so far. I've been eyeballing the Fuel versions for a while now just waiting for either to give me a reason to buy one, but neither has.

I'm not even much of a Milwaukee fan. I'm firmly on team yellow with dozens of Dewalt cordless and corded tools. The only reason I own the M12 ratchets because to my knowledge Dewalt doesn't make one (yet).

 

[like2wheel]

Thouht I read somewhere that the HF ratchet is actually the very popular A/C Delco rachet.

 

[gearhead1]

I agree that since the price increases occurred, I’m better off to go with the name brand. I bought a Milwaukee. Now if it was $50, I’d have went with the HF.

 

[dnschmidt]

like2wheel. I absolutely agree. The HF is identical to the AC/Delco ratchet. It does have considerably more power than the non-Fuel Milwaukee.

 

[WWheeler]

Identical to? Or perhaps made to resemble?



I really don't know, but there's enough visible differences between them I wouldn't consider them identical. Reminds me more of the Daytona Snap-On floor jack similarities.

Edit:
That said, I obviously haven't tried the HF Earthquake. If it does have "considerably more power than the non-Fuel Milwaukee" and that's what you want then it might be a better buy, or not. I'd have to reserve any judgement until there's an AvE video tearing it all the way down to see what kind of guts it has or hasn't, and FWIW he actually did have good things to say about the Earthquake XT cordless impact.

I would say that one of the things I like most about the non-Fuel Milwaukee is that it only hits at about ~25ftlbs. That way I can finish tightening with it by hand so I control how tight I get it. I mostly only use the ratchets for smaller fasteners. If everything I'm working on is 5/8-15mm or larger then I prefer to attack it with a small cordless impact everywhere it will fit. I don't even recall ever using my M12 ratchets on fasteners that large. For that reason only I'm even a tad leery to go with the Fuel versions when I do wear one of these out. I want to be able to use the ratchet on mostly on ~10mm /~3/8 fasteners that I don't want to hit at 50ftlbs or more.

 

[hasco]

Are there any more recent thoughts on the Earthquake 3/8 12v Ratchet ? They are 99.99 at HF now. Thanks in advance and Happy New Year !

 

[FlaGman]

I have used one of the Earthquake ratchets for several months, no complaints other that there is nothing else in the battery platform.

 

[Professional Tool User]

The HF one has a battery that can only be used with that tool. With Milwaukee, you get a decent warranty and can add other M12 tools later. At $100, it's not cheap enough to make me want to buy it.

 

[mowersplus84]

I have One that I have had for about 5 months and I use all day at work the charge last a very long time.there where some rusted belly pan bolts on a old Toro Snowblower it would buzz right off but i just used it like a regular ratchet and cracked them loose. It is a little Bulky
I wish it was a bit smaller so it could fit in tighter spaces. it's not a bad cordless ratchet

 

[ex-x-fire]

The HF one has a battery that can only be used with that tool. With Milwaukee, you get a decent warranty and can add other M12 tools later. At $100, it's not cheap enough to make me want to buy it.

The early m12 was a pos. On mine the head kept coming apart and the battery was held in w/ zip ties & duct tape. The electronics worked fine.

 

[Bagherra]

I'm on the fence about buying one of these...
Can somebody tell me the difference between the fuel & non-fuel Milwaukee's?

TIA

 

[Iluvbeer]

I'm on the fence about buying one of these...
Can somebody tell me the difference between the fuel & non-fuel Milwaukee's?

TIA

The fuel is brushless with a little more power snd longer run time.

 

[Bagherra]

Kool....thanx!

 

[Professional Tool User]

The early m12 was a pos. On mine the head kept coming apart and the battery was held in w/ zip ties & duct tape. The electronics worked fine.

I tend to find that for Milwaukee, when they roll out new stuff, it's better to wait for the second generation to come out.