Socket set - opinions please

[0191mark]

94 Piece, £35 from Lidl this month: http://www.lidl.co.uk:80/cps/rde/xchg/SID-5CE76F21...

Got a German battery charger from there over winter which did what it was supposed to. Was wondering though, if this socket set might be a false economy? Anyone picked these up before? How do you rate them?

[LuS1fer]

Can't vouch for them but I've had cheap socket sets in the past such as Kamasa and they were perfectly adequate for 95% of jobs. It's only the tough stuff where they tend to let you down. For example, I would always buy sockets that grip the sides not the points of the nuts and bolts. At £35, if it breaks, you can afford to throw it away.

[Fire99]

Hard to say. It could be a nice little kit. However, I stand by 'Buy cheap, Buy twice'. Crap tools can cost you alot of unnecessary time.

Last weekend, when changing a part on the Jeep, I used some unbranded adjustable spanner (don't ask where I acquired it from - i've no idea) and the worm gear got stuck with the spanner on the part. It too 2 minutes to fit the part and 15 minutes to remove the spanner!!

[The Wookie]

Fire99 said:

Hard to say. It could be a nice little kit. However, I stand by 'Buy cheap, Buy twice'. Crap tools can cost you alot of unnecessary time.

Agreed, sometimes you can get lucky, but quite often the ratchet mechanisms for cheap/unbranded tools might as well be single use

[dome]

I got a 1/4" drive set similar to this as a stocking filler one Christmas-not a bad wee set. Quality is decent for the money. For the average home mechanic it's a good starting point, if you think you might get more serious then Halfords Professional is the way to go.

[Muncher]

Just buy a Halfords Professional set, it's the only way to go.

[Bill]

Muncher said:

Just buy a Halfords Professional set, it's the only way to go.

£100 for the 150 piece set when on offer (as they always are...) may be 3 times the price but it's till better value I suspect.

[Cactussed]

Bill said:

Muncher said:

Just buy a Halfords Professional set, it's the only way to go.

£100 for the 150 piece set when on offer (as they always are...) may be 3 times the price but it's till better value I suspect.

Do this. Honestly.

[MX7]

I got a 'Dremmel' from Aldi. It couldn't cut through butter.

Halfords is the answer.

[jmorgan]

Muncher said:

Just buy a Halfords Professional set, it's the only way to go.

Picked up one of theirs recently, 80 odd note down from a lot more but a good bit of kit. I don't expect to buy another set for a long time.

Personally £35 sounds OK but when I am hanging on the end of a seized nut and bolt, the last thing I want to worry about is my knuckles remaining attached when a ratchet lets go. I have bought cheap tools off lidl, but ask me self what I will be doing with them and what would be the outcome if they went south.

[rev-erend]

As others have said - it pays to buy good tools.

Good tools will last a very long time but a poor tool might not fit as well
and may cause big problems like rounding off nuts and worst of all may break
with your hand normally on the receiving end of punching something (ground etc) very hard.

[Muncher]

Bill said:

Muncher said:

Just buy a Halfords Professional set, it's the only way to go.

£100 for the 150 piece set when on offer (as they always are...) may be 3 times the price but it's till better value I suspect.

The big Halfords set, some flexi head ratchet spanners from Halfords, a breaker bar and decent torque wrench should serve you well for most things for a very long time.

I've had my Halfords set for 5 years, it's had a lot of use and abuse and i don't ever envisage having to replace any of it.

[8400rpm]

When I went to America I bought a set of Craftsman tools, picked up a 150piece set for the equivalent of about £60. They aren't Snap-On build quality, but they're far superior to most muck I see knocking about over here. Plus they have the lifetime warranty.

As above, a good quality tool will last you a very long time. I'm always a believer in paying a bit more for something better.

My dad always buys cheap tools believing it's better value, and he's always having to replace stuff that breaks. I try to tell him, but you know....

[ExPat2B]

Personally I think that looks like a bargain.

I have a number of halford pro sockets, but I might buy this as a cheap set.

Lidl tools are generally quality stuff, and it looks to be the proper 6 seat side grip sockets as well.

The halfords pro stuff is "okay" but its not *that* cheap and its not as precision enginnered as my Laser kit, and not as well built as the snap on stuff I have.

[daveparry]

For me it has to be TENG they make really good stuff.

[The Wookie]

Also agreed on the Halfords kit. I've only ever had to replace one 1/4" ratchet mechanism, and it only failed because I was being a plonker with it.

I've also cracked a socket, but it happened while I was in the process of hammering it over the top of a locking wheel nut which I'd lost the key for.

I popped down the local halfords with it to buy a new one (locking wheel nut still irretrievably wedged in), and once they'd had a slightly comical go at freeing it, they suggest I try a vice and take it to another Halfords down the road who hadn't seen what I'd done with it. I went home, hammered the nut out with a vice, went to the other halfords and they swapped it, no questions asked

[cptsideways]

I'll stand up & say the stuff is generally very good, I bought a similar set for taking to race weekens & I've ended up using it all the time! Generally their stuff is german made & very good quality, no issues except me loosing bits.

Though saying that Halfwits professional is very good too for the money & comes with a lifetime guarantee

[Easty-5]

daveparry said:

For me it has to be TENG they make really good stuff.

Teng are bloody awful. The ammount of broken Teng tools we have had to replace at work is unbelievable. The only Teng thing I would personally own is a toolboox, and they are still pretty crap in comparison to decent brands.

As has been said by a few on this thread. The offer seems to be a bargain and appears to be proper 6 sided sockets. Got to be worth a punt, even if its just for the sockets themselves.

[marcosgt]

I wouldn't rely on a 1/4" or 3/8" socket set (Which I think those are at Lidl, from the photo).

I bought a small Draper 1/2" set 25+ years ago and then replaced most of the sockets themselves with Metrinch sockets (clever things which fit both Imperial and Metric nuts and bolts by driving the face of the nut or bolt rather than the corners - I know it sounds too good to be true, but after 20+ years I still swear by them) - Actually I suspect my Dad paid for the sockets as presents at Christmases and the like.

Draper aren't Snap-On or professional quality, but the drives (and few remaining sockets) continue to work well. I suspect the Metrinch sockets ARE up there and they've earned their price many times over.

Nothing, though, beats a first hand look, so get down to Lidl and take a butchers yourself.

M

Edited by marcosgt on Wednesday 2nd June 10:41

[skyslimit]

Easty-5 said:

daveparry said:

For me it has to be TENG they make really good stuff.

Teng are bloody awful. The ammount of broken Teng tools we have had to replace at work is unbelievable. The only Teng thing I would personally own is a toolboox, and they are still pretty crap in comparison to decent brands.

As has been said by a few on this thread. The offer seems to be a bargain and appears to be proper 6 sided sockets. Got to be worth a punt, even if its just for the sockets themselves.

I dealt with an engineering distributor in my old job, and the mark up on Teng stuff was pretty high indeed. They also used to see a lot of busted kit coming back in.

I use Snap On, and it's miles ahead of Teng stuff, despite Teng seemingly pitching their products as being on their heels quality wise. But then I've been buying Snap On for over 20 years now, so it's been money invested over a long period of time. My son will inherit those tools from me one day.

If I was starting over, I'd spend £200 buying a cheapy deal to be getting on with, then every month put money aside for getting a quality kit together that'll last you all your life.