what is everones favorite brand of rescue / extrication tools

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I have primarily been a HURST user since I began the fire service. When I went career the dept there used AMKUS. I think AMKUS is the best performance based system out there. 2nd is Holmatro especially since they came up with the "Core" technology.

my dept. is still using Hurst and so are most of the surronding aganecies.
I've only ever used AMKUS, don't have any complaints. As long as they work, and get the job done it's all good to me.
We currently run Hurst tools. They seem to be the tool of preferance. I personally like Halmatro tools. They are lighter then hurst, and you can have one cutting, one spreading, instead of having to muscle around the heavy loads with 2 people.
We use HURST, our 2 neighbors are TNT. I like them both but for power and reliability its hurst all the way, I like the way TNT tools are set up with the twist valves. Hurst recently came out with a nice spreader with the same handles which im trying to talk the dept into putting on the list of "things to get" lol
we use holmatro, but we have a hurst for back-up, the hurst r heavy probably a discontinued model from the 80'.
We use Lucas cutters, spreaders, and combo tool and a Hurst Ram. personally i love Lucas because its lighter than Hurst(which I used during Extrication I) and we just bought the Ram about 3 days ago so no one has practice with it yet but that thing sure ccan extend
We have Holmatro and they seem to work very well, i've never used any others though. Although for roof flaps/removals, 3rd doors, and general cutting of the a,b,and c posts i prefer our dewalt cordless 24volt recip saw. Fast set up, seems to cut just as fast if not faster, less weight to move around, you're not "tied" down by lines, plus the blades are a lot less inexpensive than parts for the cutters.
We have been using Hurst since Hurst began, and we purchased the first Hydraulic Extrication Tool in the state of Tennessee, the model 32-A. Now we have 4 32-B's, 4 Gold series cutters, 6 combination tools, 2 small 2 medium and 2 large rams, 2 teleoscoping rams, and 10 power units.
AMKUS but prefer the ones that stay on the truck and are not needed
We use Amkus and I will tell you this 2 departments in our area use Holmarto and a few times we came to help and our tool would cut things theirs would fail at. I think for pure power Hurst is best I have used both but Hurst is so damn heavy and on a long ops you need a person to just hold it.
All tools work but learning the right way to use them matters.
And the new Hurst "O" cutter is awesome! 1.5" cold rolled steel cuts like butter. Knocks out the pesky nader pins too.
My Vollie dept we have a set of AMKUS they are great. We bought them used in 1993 and they are still in great shape and they are used more then we would like on scenes. We love cutting cars in training we will do full evolutions on any were from 15 to 20 cars durning a basic extracation class and they have stood up to the test every time.

In my paid Dept we just purchased 2 full sets of resQtec tools, jacks, and cribbin. They are state of the art. they are light and verry verry powerful. the cribbin system is cool and gets the job done fast.

I just recenty went to a advanced extracation class and i had the chance to use Champion rescue tools and i was impressed. the are strong and verry versitle. They claim "THE BEAST" which is there cutt/spreader combo is the strongest on the market.

At the same class they had 3 sets of Pheonix tools. By the end o the 3 day class all 3 sets had something wrong with them. The guy teaching the class said after the class he would not recommend them (but not so nicely stated).

But if your are in the market to buy some just get in touch with the company of your choice and i am sure they will be glad to demo you some tools.

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