Select Home Depot Stores have
3/8" RYOBI USB Lithium Ratchet Kit with 2.0 Ah Battery and USB Charging Cable (FVRC51K) on sale for
$33.05. Deal price is available in store only.
Thanks to Community Member
KatManDude for sharing this deal.
Note: Availability/price may vary by location. Check other stores nearby to see if they have the clearance offer. Look for this message under the price: 'See In-Store Clearance Price'; this will open an 'In-Store Clearance Item' popup, which includes the price at your local store.
Product Details:
- Ideal for furniture assembly, bicycle maintenance, and appliance repairs
- Powered and manual ratcheting solution
- 10 ft-lbs. of powered torque
- 50 ft-lbs. of manual torque
- Compact size for access in tight spaces
- Variable speed trigger and LED worklight
- LED light on the tool turns green or red to indicate the life of your battery charge
- The included USB Lithium 2Ah battery features a USB-C port that also charges mobile devices
- LED fuel gauge on the battery indicates battery level status with the press of a button
- Powered by the RYOBI USB Lithium Battery system for portability and minimal downtime
- 2-year manufacturer's warranty
- Includes:
- FVRC51 USB Lithium 3/8" Ratchet
- USB Lithium 2Ah Battery
- USB Cable
- Operator's Manuals
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Top Comments
Don't get me wrong I have tons of Ryobi stuff--ONE+, 40V, and a few USB Lithium things too incl. the standalone tri-port charger. The vast majority of Ryobi stuff is great for what it is and what it costs.
When I heard about the Lithium USB ratchets coming out, I was pretty stoked. I thought these would be awesome for smaller spaces/jobs/fasteners, the only bad part was the price--$70 USD or $100 CAD MSRP--ouch! But, as we all know you don't buy anything Ryobi at reg. price if you know what you're doing so was hoping they'd be available on sales/hacks more around the $40 USD mark.
In the end what started as eager anticipation ended in...well, a lot of disappointment. I'll make a list to run it down.
First of all, for whatever unknown reason the 1/4" drive model has never gone on sale since release. The 3/8" has on multiple occasions as well as being in hackable promos. To me the entire idea of having this compact "mini" size tool, is to have it be smaller and therefore using smaller sockets would be more ideal. But the 1/4 drive? "Full price for you" since launch and never any less. Someone else complained about this earlier BTW: https://www.reddit.com/r/ryobi/co...ifference/
Secondly the min. price I've seen on the 3/8" has been $50 USD I think (not even the 3/8" has gone on sale as yet in Canada BTW). Even the hackable deal ended up at the same $50ish net price. I've also seen some clearance deals now, again only the 3/8" in-store, for the same $50 price point. I think that's basically as good as you're going to get it...and if you want the 1/4 you're still SOL.
Keep in mind the standard, brushed, "OG" Ryobi ratchets (P344 & PCR01) have been priced down to $70 CAD before on sales/deals, and I imagine must have been priced as low as a similar $50 USD stateside too. Now yes this is a much larger tool but it's also far better performance, even being the "lowest end" and most basic Ryobi powered ratchet. Undoubtedly we can conclude the Ryobi USB ratchets are, quite pricey for what they are. Unlike the bulk of other Ryobi tools, these don't really represent good value.
Let's put price aside! Let's talk about that performance. In short? It's...awful. I ended up trying one and sorry but it has to be said, these things are very weak/slow and I'm absolutely NOT expecting it to break fasteners free (I'm quite aware of the how/why and 'proper use' of power ratchets*--read end note). Even breaking things free manually they're still really weak. They're rated for 10lb*ft which is obviously very low but this is also overrated. But sadly, you don't get even that 10lb*ft--there's a few reviews on YT that show this.
The size. Yes they're compact but TBH they're not that compact, as one might think. It's still a fairly hefty tool and I'd say larger than I actually thought they would be. On the plus side it actually feels pretty solid and sturdy in the hand as a result, but because the performance is so miserable you quickly forget about this positive point.
Okay you say, "so these are not good buys then, what is?" Well for starters let's keep in mind Ryobi's own entry-level ONE+ models. Yes they're much larger and the battery is super bulky the way it is oriented but let's face it you probably have ONE+ batteries if you're on this sub and this is really a better buy for the vast majority of Ryobi die hards. Even better of course would be to wait for a deal/hack to be available on one of the newer HS HP brushless ratchets (PSBRC26 / PCBCR02), of which I've seen various great deals before.
What if you actually want and need something more compact? As ppl that follow pwr ratchet reviews will know, the DeWalt 12V Xtreme ratchets (and impacts) are straight up superstars. The 1/4" DCF504 in particular is pretty darn compact. It's larger than the Ryobi USB ratchets basically only by the battery portion but being 12V that's still quite small. Normally it's indeed a much more expensive tool but it just so happens that there's several tool sellers, selling these for ~$70 USD on Amazon. Only the 1/4" is this cheap but if you're looking for compact, this is the ticket. Not always the best way to go with Amazon 3rd party, but they're genuine tools from reputable sellers (e.g. JB Tool is one of them). I already had DeWalt 12V batts, if you don't it's going to increase the cost but you can get them cheaper if you go on local marketplaces, etc. $70 USD it's almost a no brainer. The performance over the Ryobi USB...they're polar opposites. The DeWalt is in a whole other dimension of performance; and the thing is, it's not much bigger and costs about the same! The trigger on the DeWalt is also perhaps the best I've ever used on a ratchet--incredibly linear so if you want to slow it down/limit torque, it's completely natural and easy to do so.
Anyway TLDR: The Ryobi USB Lithium ratchets aren't worth buying. They're overall quite a disappointment. They are expensive, don't represent good value, and are really poor performers. Further, the poor performance is NOT justified by the price (because they ain't cheap), and it's not justified by the size because though small they're not exactly tiny. If they were available for like $30 or so, then...maybe. But $50-70 (or $100 CAD)? Absolutely not! I don't know what Ryobi was thinking here but these are a pretty certain fail IMO.
*As background, I've owned and used quite a few battery powered ratchets. In the past I've had the Milwaukee Fuel 2557 (older higher torque) which I got rid of as I didn't like it that much. I currently own the HF Herc. 12V extended 3/8; and both the Ridgid 1/4" and 3/8" standard reach models--the Ridgids are absolutely fantastic and way better than the M12 ratchets IMO. However I wanted something more compact on the 1/4" too so I really had high hopes for the Ryobi USB model. And now also have the DeWalt DCF504 of course. I've tried out several others as well (other Ryobis, M12s, Kobalt, etc.), most of which leave things to be desired, but none of which take the title of "worst powder ratchet evar"...which unfortunately goes to the Ryobi USB duo.
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