Cutters, Spreaders and Hydro tools, whats your favorite?

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on August 17, 2009 at 12:52am

Luke, NFPA ratings are important here, because they're the only national point of reference we have for a lot of fire-rescue tools, procedures, and design/performance standards.

I realize it's not important to you, so just ignore it.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on August 17, 2009 at 12:50am

Luke, That problem was why Holmatro didn't make the finals in our recent tool purchase competition. It came down to Hurst and Genesis, and Genesis won due to the motor overdrive feature, the boron-cutting ratings for the cutter and combitool blades, higher cutter cutting force, and lower cost.

The trigger design is a plus (no chance that a car part will operate the trigger if you cut into tight corners or if the tool moves laterally). The Hurst and Genesis designs both have twin-hose, single-coupling features that can be connected or disconnected without a dump valve.

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Permalink Reply by Asst Chief Tim Cook on August 25, 2009 at 11:20am

Ben,have you tried the resQTek EWO tools. I favor them over even Holmatro. Not a big fan of Genesis.Tried 'em but not real impressed. T.C.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on August 28, 2009 at 8:39pm

We looked at them but the new Genesis beat them hands-down in the competition. The only brand that came close was the new Hurst.

I've also seen two ResQTek cutters break doing routine (non-fortified steel, just regular old sheet metal post) cuts. Needless to say, I'm not thrilled with their quality control. I've seen broken Amkus and Hurst tools, too, so I'm not singling RQT out, but I can safely say that I've never broken a Hurst tool. I have, however broken two Amkus cutters and a spreader doing routine work that they should have been able to handle.

I've also spent several years of my career pulling up as the 2nd due rescue and starting the extrication by using Hurst tools to remove stalled Holmatro tools from the opening, then completing the extrication.

Have you seen the new boron-rated Genesis tools? If not, you might be surprised at the improvements.

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Permalink Reply by Asst Chief Tim Cook on September 19, 2009 at 7:06pm

Yes,again nothing about Genisis impresses me.I've cut a LOT of "iron"with both the Holmatro and ResQtek EWO tools.NEVER had a blade problem.We're upgrading all our tools this year.I hope to have the rescue engine completely upgraded by Thanksgiving.

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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on September 30, 2009 at 2:45am

We've used our Genesis tools on several recent extrications - including two complicated ones - with great results.

Our rescue guys LOVE them. If the budget holds up, we'll likely be getting additional Genesis tools. The single couplings that you can connect and disconnect without using a remote dump valve are particularly nice features.

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Permalink Reply by Martijn Boeijink on September 18, 2009 at 4:32pm

well, in the netherlands the HOlmatro set is the most used product.
The volunteer station where i am chief we have on both trucks holmatro, i could find a bether than these sets
the station where i work as proffesional we have also holmatro

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Permalink Reply by Heath Hudson on September 25, 2009 at 10:05pm

In Denton we carry nothing but TNT. I have used Hurst and Amkus also during my career but have had the best results out of the TNT. We have 6 Engines, 1 quint, and a rescue truck that all carry a set of TNT tools on them.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Methner on November 2, 2009 at 8:53pm

Little Garry is Right... TNT is JUNK!
Holmatro... ok.... HURST Number One for a reason.... dont just ask salesmen about them as technical people... call code4usa for answers... or visit code4usa.com
compare apples to apples not apples to squash

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