Which 3/8 Inch Cordless Ratchets Brand Wins?
In our test we compared 4 3/8 inch cordless ratchets options head to head. Milwaukee M12 came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Milwaukee M12
Price shown in test: $162 for the ratchet and starter kit
Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Makita
Price shown in test: $189, the most expensive brand tested
Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
ProStormer
Price shown in test: $59.99, the least expensive brand tested
Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The quick take
The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.
“Milwaukee definitely seems to have done the best in this showdown, but I also really like the Makita quite a bit.”
Best in 2 of 9 measurements, including Actual weight and balance and Estimated lug nuts installable per full charge.
Best in 2 of 9 measurements, including Maximum torque test and Rusted/damaged thread removal, 30 second test at 4.3 ft-lb resistance.
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Spec claims
- 1Milwaukee M12
claims 35 ft-lb torque, 0 to 250 RPM, weighs 1.5 lb, 10.75 in length; tool made in China, M12 charger, two 4 amp hour batteries, battery cells made in Korea or Malaysia with additional processing in China; has a trigger lockout feature
- 2Makita
claims 0 to 800 RPM and 35 ft-lb torque, overall length 13 7/16 in, dual drive (usable as both 3/8 in and 1/4 in), trigger lock feature, can be used without the battery as a manual ratchet; tool made in China, battery cell made in Japan with further processing in China, charger and tool bag made in China; 1 included 2 amp hour battery and charger; auto powers off after 1 minute of continuous use
- 3Earthquake XT
claims 60 ft-lb torque, 0 to 170 RPM, variable speed paddle with electronic brake, compact head design claimed, 2 amp hour battery with a 12 volt charger; tool made in China; ships with only 1 battery versus ProStormer's 2; no trigger lockout feature
- 4ProStormer
claims to be very light at 1.85 lb, 2,000 mAh battery, claims up to 30 ft-lb torque and 230 RPM, comes with a second battery, charger and several sockets; made in China
Actual weight and balance
- 1Milwaukee M121,083 g
(2 lb 6.2 oz); weight split 511 g / 570 g, giving 47 percent head-side / 53 percent handle-side, the best balanced tool along with Makita's 50/50
- 2Makita1,066 g
(2 lb 5.6 oz); the most balanced tool of the test at a 50/50 weight split
- 3Earthquake XT1,352 g
(2 lb 15.7 oz, just under 3 lb), the heaviest of all four; weight split 839 g / 511 g, giving 62 percent head-side / 38 percent handle-side, the least balanced tool of the test
- 4ProStormer843 g
(1 lb 13.7 oz); weight split 472 g / 372 g, giving 56 percent ratchet-end / 44 percent handle-end
Noise level
- 1Milwaukee M12about81 dB
similar to ProStormer
- 2Makita80 dB
the quietest of all four brands
- 3Earthquake XT86 dB
the loudest of all four brands by a clear margin
- 4ProStormerabout81 dB
similar to Milwaukee
Head size
- 1Milwaukee M12
described as the most compact head design of all four brands; transcript gives figures of 31.12 and 29.66 (units/axis not explicitly labeled in the narration, presumably mm front-to-back and side-to-side) right before this claim
- 2Makita39.35
(unit not restated in this sentence, presumably mm); both Milwaukee and ProStormer have smaller heads than the Makita
- 3Earthquake XT43.28 mm
front to back, 40.3 mm side to side, notably larger than the other three brands despite the compact head claim
- 4ProStormer36.91 mm
front to back, 30.37 mm side to side
No-load RPM
- 1Milwaukee M12
advertised up to 250, actual measured max of 490, the highest of all four brands, well above its own rating; best low-RPM control of the test at a minimum of 15 RPM
- 2Makita
advertised up to 800, actual measured max of only 361, well short of its own rating and not nearly as fast as the Milwaukee; minimum RPM of 39
- 3Earthquake XT
advertised up to 170, actual measured max of 256, better than advertised; also reaches as low as 30 RPM at slow speed
- 4ProStormer
advertised 230, actual measured 319, better than advertised
Trigger delay / brake
- 1Milwaukee M12
faster off the line than Earthquake, barely slower off the line than ProStormer; does not brake as quickly as Earthquake or Makita
- 2Makita
has an electronic brake for a quick stop; ProStormer was only a fraction of a second faster off the line, described as very close
- 3Earthquake XT
much better/quicker brake than ProStormer and Milwaukee; slower off the line than the Prostormer and Milwaukee
- 4ProStormer
slightly faster off the line than Earthquake and Milwaukee, and a fraction of a second faster than Makita, but does not brake as quickly as Earthquake or Makita
28 lug nut removal speed test
- 1Milwaukee M121 minute 22 seconds
2.93 seconds per lug nut, the fastest of all four brands
- 2Makita1 minute 27 seconds
3.11 seconds per lug nut
- 3Earthquake XT2 minutes 9 seconds
4.61 seconds per lug nut, a little over half a second slower per nut than ProStormer, described as noticeably slower and vibrating more
- 4ProStormer1 minute 52 seconds
about 4 seconds per lug nut
Maximum torque test
- 1Milwaukee M1229.9 ft-lb3rd
(transcript states "29.9 lb" without the ft- prefix, but context matches the ft-lb test throughout), 3rd place behind Earthquake and Makita's tied 32.8 ft-lb
- 2Makita32.8 ft-lb1st
tied for 1st place with Earthquake
- 3Earthquake XT32.8 ft-lb1st
tied for 1st place with Makita
- 4ProStormer18.6 ft-lb
a distant 4th/last place, described as not bad for a budget tool
All measurements (12 more)+
Rusted/damaged thread removal, 30 second test at 4.3 ft-lb resistance
- 1Milwaukee M12101 rotations
called very impressive, narrowly edged out by Makita's 104
- 2Makita
started faster than Milwaukee but slowed around the 17 second mark, finished with 104 rotations, the best result of the test, narrowly ahead of Milwaukee's 101
- 3Earthquake XT
off to a great start, faster than ProStormer initially, but gave up at 23 seconds and could not get going again; 57 rotations total
- 4ProStormer
spinning the engine fine but visibly slowed by the load; 38 rotations total
No-load run time on a full charge
- 1Milwaukee M1271 minutes 20 seconds
by far the longest of all four, described as totally crushing the competition
- 2Makitajust over30 minutes
shorter than expected partly because it must be manually re-triggered every minute due to the auto power-off feature
- 3Earthquake XTjust under28 minutes
the shortest of all four brands, attributed partly to its slower RPM
- 4ProStormer49 minutes 40 seconds
about 19 minutes longer than Makita despite being the cheapest tool
Breakaway torque loosening test
- 2Makita
longer handle provided more leverage, made easy work of removing both lug nuts
- 3Earthquake XT
longer handle provided quite a bit more leverage, no problem removing both lug nuts
- 4ProStormer
did just fine on both lug nuts with no apparent damage despite the shorter handle
- 1Milwaukee M12not tested
Charge time from fully drained (2 amp hour battery)
- 2Makita61 minutes 29 seconds
the fastest of all four brands
- 3Earthquake XT91 minutes 35 seconds
by far the longest of all four brands
- 4ProStormer74 minutes
about 13 minutes longer than Makita
- 1Milwaukee M12not tested
Estimated lug nuts installable per full charge
- 2Makitaabout585
- 3Earthquake XTabout364
the lowest of all four brands
- 4ProStormerabout745
- 1Milwaukee M12not tested
Side-by-side race vs Makita
- 1Milwaukee M12
won all 3 rounds, described as close
- 4ProStormer
lost all 3 rounds
- 2Makitanot tested
- 3Earthquake XTnot tested
Side-by-side race vs ProStormer
- 2Makita
won all 3 rounds
- 3Earthquake XT
lost all 3 rounds
- 1Milwaukee M12not tested
- 4ProStormernot tested
Breakaway torque loosening test (lug nuts tightened to 90 ft-lb, 77.6/77.4 ft-lb breakaway torque)
- 1Milwaukee M12
shorter handle meant less leverage and more effort required, but held up fine removing both lug nuts with no damage
- 2Makitanot tested
- 3Earthquake XTnot tested
- 4ProStormernot tested
Charge time from fully drained (4 amp hour battery, not a fair comparison to the others' 2 amp hour batteries)
- 1Milwaukee M1279 minutes 30 seconds
called pretty impressive given double the battery capacity
- 2Makitanot tested
- 3Earthquake XTnot tested
- 4ProStormernot tested
Estimated lug nuts installable per full charge (calculated from install rate and run time)
- 1Milwaukee M12about1,457
the best of all four brands
- 2Makitanot tested
- 3Earthquake XTnot tested
- 4ProStormernot tested
Side-by-side race vs Milwaukee
- 2Makita
lost all 3 rounds, described as close
- 1Milwaukee M12not tested
- 3Earthquake XTnot tested
- 4ProStormernot tested
Side-by-side race vs Earthquake
- 4ProStormer
won all 3 rounds
- 1Milwaukee M12not tested
- 2Makitanot tested
- 3Earthquake XTnot tested
How it was tested
- weight and front/back weight balance
- noise level (decibels, measured 24 in from the ratchet)
- ratchet head size (front to back and side to side)
- no-load RPM, minimum and maximum
- trigger delay / brake response (side by side slow motion)
- 28 lug nut removal speed test
- side-by-side lug nut removal races
- maximum torque (electronic torque adapter test rig)
- rusted/damaged thread removal against engine brake resistance, 30 second rotation count
- breakaway torque loosening test on lug nuts tightened to 90 ft-lb
- battery charge time from fully drained
- no-load run time on a full charge
- estimated lug nut installation capacity per full charge (calculated)
“Milwaukee definitely seems to have done the best in this showdown, but I also really like the Makita quite a bit.”
