Capri and Icon beat Snap on

[cptbarkey]

Pros will place a premium on the small heads and low backdrag more than the brute force strength. Because pros don't abuse tools, they rarely break them and don't need the strongest possible tool to offset the foolishness of the user.

Not really, its a sales tactic to get someone to buy more then what they need.

Wrenches are there to hold what my Impact ripped off on the opposite end. Backdrag means jack squat.

Snap on comes with a warranty that it's price commands, Gearwrench the best you are going to get is mail order service. I dont care what some authority sounding person on Youtube says, time is money.

 

[Trav]

A working mechanic and a real pro are hardly the same thing. Think Eric O if south main auto, not tge youngest kid at the tire shop.

If you don't think Eric O doesnt break tools or uses them in some sort of "mature" professional way working on that rusted crap he works on I have a bridge to sell you. You seem to have the image that a pro is like an A&P mechanic that uses shadow foam in their boxes. That is only so they can account for any all tools and not have a 10mm rolling around in something when they are done with the job.

There are real pro mechanics and hack mechanics you don't seem to know the difference.

 

[CarlB]

You have not worked with many working mechanics or you would not make that sort of statement. "pros" abuse the tools a lot more than a DIY or joe homeowner ever would, many times I have sacrificed a tool just to hopefully get the job done or ground or bent it to make a special tool.
You will find one of these gadgets in many a mechanics drawer. I do my best to take care of my tools but I am not kind to them either and would not use an extender if there was any other way, if not stuff starts getting abused.

View attachment 287320

How tight do you figure a M12 bolt is going to be after being in service under a car in the rust belt for 10 years or longer? It is not going to be 125Nm that I can guarantee but it still needs to come out . I never said Snap on are bad tools but some of the crap they put out recently is genuine crap and not worth the price of cheap chinesium. I much prefer Hazet or Stahlwille, old Dowidat, Elora and a few others. Equal quality to Snap on and very much pro level tools at a much lower price point because of Snap on business model not because they are cheaper tools.


They are for entertainment but do prove a point. You don't have to spend upward of $600 to get a tool that works well and made of like quality steel. The "The snap-on tools are excellent and reflect the mature understanding of professionals that there's more to performance than brute strength" comment is absolute rubbish and I hope you made that in jest.


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The truth between the two extremes presented is somewhere in the middle. If ultimate strength is the goal, then use the ranking accordingly. Alternatively if warranty, backdrag, price or other elements are priority the scores are there for alternatives. Not everyone has identical use cases for their tool selection or method of working, it's why we have options.

There is a lot of room for nuance and y'all seem to be operating on the edges. One brand is overpriced to some of us, while to others it's well worth it. Neither is wrong.

 

[D60]

If you don't think Eric O doesnt break tools or uses them in some sort of "mature" professional way working on that rusted crap he works on I have a bridge to sell you. You seem to have the image that a pro is like an A&P mechanic that uses shadow foam in their boxes. That is only so they can account for any all tools and not have a 10mm rolling around in something when they are done with the job.

There are real pro mechanics and hack mechanics you don't seem to know the difference.

That guy's a surgeon with O/A. I mean I'm a metalworker and hot works don't scare me -- I regularly shower in sparks and don't flinch -- but he applies heat very near things that can melt and does a great job. I'd likely set a CV boot on fire

And Eric is doing fine. Don't think he won't bend, modify or destroy a SnapOn tool to get the job done (although I can't say I've seen him do this). It's a rounding error in the revenue from the video he's making. For him the real costs are all the scanners he has or the alignment rack he says is always broken.

 

[Trav]

That guy's a surgeon with O/A. I mean I'm a metalworker and hot works don't scare me -- I regularly shower in sparks and don't flinch -- but he applies heat very near things that can melt and does a great job. I'd likely set a CV boot on fire

And Eric is doing fine. Don't think he won't bend, modify or destroy a SnapOn tool to get the job done (although I can't say I've seen him do this). It's a rounding error in the revenue from the video he's making. For him the real costs are all the scanners he has or the alignment rack he says is always broken.

That is the bottom line, you do what you have to to do the job. I had to put tapered alignment shims in a VW rear beam axle which involves using a special VW 16mm double box wrench which I have if you don't want to trash the rear hub(s) at $120ea. Some jack wad didn't want to buy new TTY bolts so they put 10.9 in there with a 17mm head, I modified a perfectly good Hazet to get the job done, I replaced the bolts with the correct ones and replaced the tool.
I get to deal with a lot of stuff Eric O has to deal with, it is the same rust belt with the same horribly rusted crap, a smoke wrench is a must.

 

[Astro14]

I’ve modified, by grinding, bending, cutting, whatever, plenty of tools. None of them were snap on.

Some of them were quite good. Some not.

But the ones that I ground, bent, or damaged, to get the job done were replaced at my cost.

And I kept every single one of them. I have a “miscellaneous tool“ drawer, just in case I ever have to do that job again.

 

[demarpaint]

I’ve modified, by grinding, bending, cutting, whatever, plenty of tools. None of them were snap on.

Some of them were quite good. Some not.

But the ones that I ground, bent, or damaged, to get the job done were replaced at my cost.

And I kept every single one of them. I have a “miscellaneous tool“ drawer, just in case I ever have to do that job again.

I altered or had altered a few tools myself over the years, and still have them. I remember replacing the TFI module in my 88 E-150 4.9L about thirty plus years ago. I gave a 1/4" drive deep socket to my brother to make it thin enough on his lathe to fit the bolts holding it down. When done it looked like a quality factory made tool. I reshaped my fair share of open end wrenches too.

 

[Astro14]

I altered or had altered a few tools myself over the years, and still have them. I remember replacing the TFI module in my 88 E-150 4.9L about thirty plus years ago. I gave a 1/4" drive deep socket to my brother to make it thin enough on his lathe to fit the bolts holding it down. When done it looked like a quality factory made tool. I reshaped my fair share of open end wrenches too.

Custom line wrench for a Mercedes steering rack. No combination of crows foot or straight line wrenches would fit.

 

[D60]

I altered or had altered a few tools myself over the years, and still have them. I remember replacing the TFI module in my 88 E-150 4.9L about thirty plus years ago. I gave a 1/4" drive deep socket to my brother to make it thin enough on his lathe to fit the bolts holding it down. When done it looked like a quality factory made tool. I reshaped my fair share of open end wrenches too.

I always wanted to replace those w SHCSs, but you don't really have line of sight so the problem is KNOWING you need a hex key instead of a thin wall socket NEXT time.

 

[demarpaint]

I always wanted to replace those w SHCSs, but you don't really have line of sight so the problem is KNOWING you need a hex key instead of a thin wall socket NEXT time.

Mine isn't in with a hex key, it's bolted in with two 5.5mm bolts. We took a 7/32" 1/4" drive deep socket and sacrificed it.

 

[nthach]

This is really starting to remind me of scuba gear. There is a similar debate in the scuba community about Scubapro - which is considered by many(who aren’t “tech” divers with a GUE/TDI certification, Halcyon is the darling there) to be the best(if you stick to their higher-end lines) but also overpriced, an hyped up marketing machine and hostile to self-repair. A brand called Deep6 has made a splash in the diving community, no pun intended. It’s a parallel to HF - made in Taiwan, no-BS marketing, people rave about them for the price/performance ratio.

I recently bought some tools from HF - Quinn sockets and an Icon long-reach 3/8 flex ratchet. I’m hard pressed to find the difference compared to my almost 20 year old Snap-On Dual 80.

 

[Trav]

The G2 ratchet is proving to be very good ratchet. I have the 1/4 and 3/8 and so far I cannot find one bad thing to say about them, Koken level back drag, well engineered internals, Matco style locking mechanism, lifetime walk in walk out with a new one warranty, all good stuff.

 

[D60]

The G2 ratchet is proving to be very good ratchet. I have the 1/4 and 3/8 and so far I cannot find one bad thing to say about them, Koken level back drag, well engineered internals, Matco style locking mechanism, lifetime walk in walk out with a new one warranty, all good stuff.

He's got a good point about SnapOn botching the 100T versions as far as customer loyalty. Reminds me of Ford with the 6.0 and 6.4 and 3V; as a result all SuperDutys '03-10 are dead to me. Plenty of people walked from their literal Found on Road Deads to Cummins and Duramax.

@The Critic didn't like the teeter totter locking mechanism and dumped his.

I don't feel bad for companies when they soil the bed like this. There's a thing called product testing ‐‐ do more of it.

Personally I don't really see the need for locking at all, but some guys like it I guess.

I do wonder about the thinner yoke on G2. Hope it holds up.

Finally, that guy is nuts to adapt a T10 to a 1/2" Milwaukee. I'd try a zesty impact driver then a 3/8" impact wrench. But you can't argue with results and he didn't snap the bit.....

 

[D60]

The vid comments claim D80 internals fit the G2 Icon. Interesting and amusing if so.

 

[Arc]

This is just flat out wrong because it goes way too far. Snap-on might be over-rated and/or overpriced, but to say that snap-on is NOTHING but marketing as if the tools themselves are just complete junk is simply and grossly incorrect.

Im not saying they are junk but they are no better than any of the others. You get absolutely nothing for the added cost.

 

[Arc]

Not totally true. As someone who wrenched 35 years on school buses for a living, I will tell you from experience that it is no fun fighting inferior tools. In a lot of cases the current crop of Taiwan tools is pretty good for most things. There are times though where "pretty good" doesn't cut it. I currently use an Icon 1/4 sae/metric socket set at the mower shop daily. The ratchet was garbage after a few months and while the replacement was easy, the new ratchet is the same short lived crap. I splurged for a Koken, it is not much better. Very loose and sloppy on the flex and ratchet mechanism after a year of use. Very disappointing but it still performs better than the Icon.It will be replaced with a Snap On in the near future. I tried imported air tools in the bus garage, they worked OK at first, but the inferior materials used made for accelerated wear and failure. If one is serious about wrenching, sometimes you have to step up.

1/4" sure does come in handy even if they are easy to break.

 

[KGMtech]

I have done a bunch of projects with Taiwan and the quality can be absolutely superb...
I had a USA made light fixture that was very large and it was $800 nothing fancy at all.

I wasn't real impressed with it. I ordered the same size and design from a Taiwan maker for $149...
The quality was far better... a beautiful fixture... that was in 2012..

Brought in many lathes in the day and Taiwanese over Chinese made was $800 on a $5k lathe...no comparison at all... and Chinese shipping was so bad the difference ended up being $300 only for the Taiwanese lathe.

Taiwan makes 67% of the WORLD'S threaded fasteners, they know what they are doing and do it with high efficiency and low costs.

 

[Zee09]

Taiwan makes 67% of the WORLD'S threaded fasteners, they know what they are doing and do it with high efficiency and low costs.

Yup and high quality if you pay a fair price

 

[Hohn]

Im not saying they are junk but they are no better than any of the others. You get absolutely nothing for the added cost.

A smaller head and the lowest backdrag are hardly “nothing”. Readily available service parts and rock solid warranty are hardly “nothing”.

You might not get enough to justify that higher cost, but you can’t say you get *nothing*.

I’m not a snap-on fan boy. Like I’ve said before, my box contains a single solitary SO tool, with the rest being Tekton, Capri, Icon, Astro, etc. Generally all Taiwanese.

Saying the high price of snap on isn’t worth it is a fair criticism. Saying they are “no better” than most other tools is simply not the case. Snap On still has several tools that have no equal.

Snap on line wrenches, for example, are almost universally acknowledged the best the best you can get and head and shoulders above the #2 finisher. Now for you and me, the #2 might be sufficient. Or the #3. But that doesn’t mean that the Snap on isn’t the best.

 

[Hohn]

Taiwan makes 67% of the WORLD'S threaded fasteners, they know what they are doing and do it with high efficiency and low costs.

Taiwan is always my first choice for hand tools. Icon, Capri, Tekton, Astro, you name it— I’m almost always looking Taiwanese first. Why? Because rarely is any tool better in terms of actual precision and quality, and in the tiny few cases where you can find a better tool, you will pay 3x or more the price for that tiny increment of improvement.

As a home gamer, taiwanese made is a superb balance of cost and quality. They definitely have the tool and fastener thing figured out.