Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
...or anyone else who has lived in Germany.
Here in the states, we have expensive tools such as Mac, Snap-On, etc. In Germany, what are the equivalent "boutique" tool brands?
I don't know I'm qualified, since I didn't give a truck about tools as a lad, and when I got back to Germany, I don't exactly live and breathe tools.
We don't have boutique tool brands. We have decent quality tools, which are inexpensive and pretty good. One common brand is Lux (Lux-Tools), which is a popular brand with everyone, including professinals. Lux products, which are made in various countries, are ubiquituos in Europe:
http://www.lux-tools.com/en/about/index.html
Then we have top notch tool makers, but they aren't "boutique" at all. You can find their products in every tool shop in Germany. I see this type tool shop in the US only in industrial areas and often they don't do retail sales. In the US you have to buy from Zelenda etc.
Hazet
http://www.hazet.de/en.html
Gedore (Rahsol - Dremotec Group):
- Gedore
- Dako
- Habero
- Ochsenkopf
- Metec
- Klann
- Carolus
If you buy a German service manual for VW, Audi or Porsche, the recommended specialty tools are usually made by Hazet.
The distributor of Gedore in the USA is Klann Tools.
http://www.gedore.de/en/produkte/index.html
http://www.gedore.us
There are other top notch industrial tool makers, for example, Saltus (Weber Tools), which has been mentioned, Facom, and Scala. I have seen Facom in the US.