Battery ratchet feedback?

[Mike W.]

Just had an epiphany, I bet with all the battery tools out there now they've got battery ratchets. Duh, Amazon only has about a thousand of them. Seems like a huge time saver, but is it? Once upon a time I had a 3/8 air ratchet. OK, a cheapie, but what a POS. No faster than I could work a ratchet but a thousand times noisier, WITH an air hose attached and that's before the compressor kicked back on. Used it about 3 times. But battery, I wonder...

So they seem to come in 12V and 18-21V. 40 foot pounds sounds like enough, unless in the real world it's only 15 and I really need the 75 pound version. But all I really want is to save my arm from a thousand repetitions, not an impact wrench.

So my wise friends, yea or nae? Minimums and brands to buy or avoid?

[jimoreno]

I have a set of Craftsman 20V cordless tools that has the 3/8" ratchet. Only use it when, as you said, there's going to be a lot of repetitive motion like removing the headers 12 nuts and things like that. Work smarter not harder they say, right? Specially when our age starts to creep up (I'm about to be 57).

[austin8753]

i bought a 1/4" and 3/8" electric ratchet off the Snap-on truck. their 14.4v line is excellent. i use them all the time. my preference is the 1/4", so i end up using it more. the Milwaukee branded tools are pretty good, too.

[vinceg101]

Pretty much all the Milwaukee M12 line of tools are very good. I have about 8-9 of them now with various sized batteries and consider them a worthwhile investment. You can't go wrong with them.

They have soooo many tools now and keep the line growing. Some are kind of a 'one-time' or 'one-activity-only' type of tool so really think about it before you invest. They do have a 3/8" ratchet (actually a whole line of them) that I have thought about more than once, but I don't do that much ratcheting to make it worth it. The M12 with those LiO batteries pack a lot of punch, but you could go up to their M18 line if you feel it's necessary.

[1st 5er]

So far I have resisted buying products that require a new battery line.
Currently I'm addicted to DeWalt 20v for garage and woodworking projects, and Black & Decker ?v for yard tools.

I started an air tool collection ~ 40 years ago but dumped them when battery products came on line. I went thru several brands before settling where I am now, so it's hand ratcheting where my baby impact won't fit.

Thanks Mike for agitating the tool box.

[Kerrvillian]

Every single battery powered tool I've owned has outlived the battery and available replacement batteries and left me feeling extremely cold towards battery powered tools. I hate throwing away a perfectly good tool just because the company that made it decided to change the battery design so it doesn't fit their older line of tools.

Call me bitter. I'll stick with air powered or manual tools. I've used electric ratchets before, but I find the times they're useful are few and it's often just quicker and easier to use a manual ratchet instead. At least in my case, I doubt I'd ever get my money's worth out of a battery powered ratchet before the battery goes tits-up and can't be replaced.

I seem to be the only contrarian here so far, but I figure it's worth sharing my own thoughts.

[Blue Shadow]

From what I have read, Milwaukee or DeWalt are tools the rest are toys.

[Mike W.]

Thanks Mike for agitating the tool box.

You're welcome, my pleasure.

Every single battery powered tool I've owned has outlived the battery and available replacement batteries and left me feeling extremely cold towards battery powered tools. I hate throwing away a perfectly good tool just because the company that made it decided to change the battery design so it doesn't fit their older line of tools.

Call me bitter. I'll stick with air powered or manual tools. I've used electric ratchets before, but I find the times they're useful are few and it's often just quicker and easier to use a manual ratchet instead. At least in my case, I doubt I'd ever get my money's worth out of a battery powered ratchet before the battery goes tits-up and can't be replaced.

I seem to be the only contrarian here so far, but I figure it's worth sharing my own thoughts.

Yeah, batteries. I've got a couple of old 12V Craftsman tools with obsolete batteries so finally I bought a Harbor Freight 18V battery, took it apart, took out 10 of the cells, transplanted them into an old Craftsman battery and made my own. The real irony is it now holds a charge for months instead of a couple of weeks. I've had Craftsman C3 19.2 tools for close to 20 years now and been thru a few batteries, the recent lithiums which did require a new charger are holding up pretty well and still available. But I do fear soon I'll have to go to a different system as I've absolutely used the holy crap out of them, especially the sawzall.

But looks like I've got some shopping to do. Might even look at some 1/4 inch drive after Austin's remarks, light and quick, not powerful are the desired attributes.

[vinceg101]

Battery anxiety is real. I have several perfectly good Porter Cable 12v & 14.4v cordless drills that were orphaned because they are NiCad and are old enough that no one bothered to make an LiO battery for them (a shame since they would be ideal tools and pre-date the sale to B&D. I suppose I could try what Mike did and Frankenstein a LiO battery out of some donors, but then I'm not sure about the charger?). I have a few Craftsman C3 tools but only because they made LiO batteries for them; they seem to be holding up okay but have a definite obsolescence built into them.

The M12/M18 tools and batteries seem to be a better investment (as is deWalt I would imagine) only because both companies are seriously invested into them so I predict this technology is going to be around for quite some time. Pretty much every job site I walk on (and likely anywhere in the US), you see either the red & black or yellow & black pack-it boxes, bags and tools and nothing else (except a good old fashioned corded Skil Saw).

For now though, I'm trying not to over invest in a cordless tool line for this reason (but it still happens).

[Panici]

I have a battery powered M18 impact driver. Pretty much have a 3/8" socket adapter in it at all times.
Bigger then a battery ratchet, but has more grunt too.

Certainly has lots of automotive applications, but you are limited to jobs that aren't in a confined space.
These require hand tools, and a battery powered ratchet isn't going to work here.

[gadget73]

Every single battery powered tool I've owned has outlived the battery and available replacement batteries and left me feeling extremely cold towards battery powered tools. I hate throwing away a perfectly good tool just because the company that made it decided to change the battery design so it doesn't fit their older line of tools.

Call me bitter. I'll stick with air powered or manual tools. I've used electric ratchets before, but I find the times they're useful are few and it's often just quicker and easier to use a manual ratchet instead. At least in my case, I doubt I'd ever get my money's worth out of a battery powered ratchet before the battery goes tits-up and can't be replaced.

I seem to be the only contrarian here so far, but I figure it's worth sharing my own thoughts.

Its not just you. I have a DeWalt 20v cordless drill and a leaf blower that uses the same battery. Thats the entire extent of my cordless tool universe. Everything else plugs into the wall, an air hose, or just requires me to do the work. Other than the impact for removing wheels, pretty much everything is hand tools.

except my lathe. I'm not enough of a sadist to have a treadle lathe. Bad enough that its flat belt and uses hand-ground tools.