Holmatro SCRT

[SamsonFCDES]

Anybody useing this tool yet? We are have been giving this tool some thought, but we have not had any hands on yet.

Just wondering if it has any glaring flaws?

Is it powerfull enough?

How long does the battery last? This might not be a big deal of you have half a dozen batteries and a bank of chargers hooked up to you inverter.

How does it handle compared to a conventional hosed tool?

Is it durable?

Has anybody or any major department been useing these yet?

Thanks

[aglass]

Our department is considering them also, but
I am having trouble finding input on Holmatro´s SCRT.
This link may answer some of your questions:

http://www.holmatro-usa.com/scrt_faqs.htm

Good luck!

[MetalMedic]

You might want to post this in the "University of Extrication" forum where you will more likely encounter folks who have had exposure to this tool.

[Co11FireGal]

My dept. has one...SCRT spreader/cutters combi...

Great as far as light weight and easy to operate goes. We bought it because we have lots of places where over the hill extrications are necessary. We haven't used it a whole lot because, honestly, we're afraid to depend on it. We used it for an extrication class and it wouldn't even cut through the B-post on a mid-sized car. We have used it to pop open a trunk, and other small things like that, successfully. For my dept., it was a HUGE waste of money that could have been better spent on something else.

We absolutely love our Holmatro hydraulic tools, spreaders, cutters, and ram, but I would not recommend an SCRT combi to my worst enemy...just not enough power for some of the jobs we deal with. It may be okay for light duty...VERY light duty...but a tool that won't even cut a B-post?!?!

[Attack6]

We have used ours for 2 years now and like it. It does have the power to be used for extrication. We use the battery until we are able to get our power supply from out attack piece in place. Usually takes under a minute. We then plug it in and go to work. Yes we have used it to cut vehicles...and it works well.

[cdmrtn7]

That department I'm currently running out of (Paid Paramedic out of a volunteer house) just put theirs in service last night. They were drilling with it. I got to play with it 6 months ago when then were considering it.They are surrounded by Hurst tools, so they didn't feel they needed a full tool. They also do a lot of RIT stand bys, and they wanted it for that as well.

If you are used to a full power rescue tool, you are going to hate this, or any other lower powered tool. I told them to make sure they train their newer firefighters on this tool before they attend a Vehicle rescue technicians class. You need to have a lot ofinesse with these tools. Once you get a full powered tool, you will have no problem adjusting.

You can get just over 20 minutes with a fully charged battery, just off the charger. It does work well off the AC power. It has a DC power cord as well, but works at half speed (12 volts, vs the 24 volt batttery pack.)

They had no problem with B posts, although the C-posts gave them a little problem due to the small size of the cutter openings.

My personal opinion is the price might be a little steep for what you get (As opposed to spending the money on a more traditional style tool.) You should give one a try before you make up your mind. The HRT dealers in PA seem all to willing to allow full trials.

[42VTExplorer]

Nice tool to have if everything else is tied up, which is why we purchased it. We aren't using it 'front-line', but it's on our second due. Currently we have two 'full' setups (cutters, spreaders, combi tool, rams, airbags+manifolds, cribbing, some 'struts', etc) but the second set is aging and is not in use. The 'Bug' as we call it was purchased so that if we did get a second run, or if the rescue pumper was tied up we could have some tools there while we wait for mutual aide.

Battery life for us has been right around 25 minutes depending on how much we use it. We have had trouble with cutting some of the posts if they are larger then the 'typical' mid-size vehicle. Not due to power, but just because of size and getting the proper positioning with the tool. Durability of the piece has been great, we've experienced no cracking/chipping/breaking of the blades and arms on ours, so we're impressed with the quality of service we've received...Although we found that we were finding that during training we had the blades doing the 'scissor' like effect, caught it early on and haven't had trouble with it since.

I'd rate this about a 8/10 when compared to our Holmatro and Hurst tools (All hosed/gas-electric pumps). We're quite impressed with it, and are waiting to see it's response on it's first run, hopefully it will be that of what we saw on the training grounds.

-42

[WRENCH]

My Dept. is thinking of buying onr to keep on an engine. The main difference is we want to use it to be able to pop hods for car fires or mva

[42VTExplorer]

Uhhhhh I don't think I would want to pop a hood with an electric tool if the car was on fire.

Especially the one we have.