German 1/4” Ratchet Comparison With Bonus Icon Tools Unboxing 

I have the same, bought a Koken ratchet because of the hype, but compared to my HP Hazet ratchet it feels a bit flimsy and there is a lot of play compared to the Hazet.

Gearhead thanks! 👍👍

The maintenance Man Thanks! 🍻

xephael when your ready, she’s there for ya! 🤣

vls nice store, thanks! I’m saving that website for sure!

Some craftsman tools gives me diseases because majority of newer craftsman is like husky. 😂😭 made in China. I rather buy older craftsman tools. Hold my beer though

@@JTB128650 I have quite a few husky and I think some are made in Taiwan... I don't really care where it's made, if it's made well...new craftsman doesn't seem that good.

@@xephael3485 Some are made in the USA from back in the old days. SK tools, Williams, Armstrong, gearwrench and old craftsman are amazing tools. That time when their was many series of Craftsman available options to pick from in store. I love SK sockets. It's expensive, but it's worth the money if you get it cheap. I am thinking of buying a hazet tool set. I feel like lower teeth ratchets are stronger than a fine teeth ratchet. I repair tools and do other things. Craftsman rachets didn't let me down though. People talk about Icon tools. I stay away from it. It's all overpriced to buy at the stores. I could get better tools for less than what they are selling their tools.

gbowne1 nice! Hazet has some good stuff!

410 Auto Tech Icon fever! 🤣

Well it depends on where you buy, here on Amazon germany it costs 37€

@@timmjosewski3748 2 years later it's 47€ in April 2024. That did not keep me from buying one though.

VENOMVETTE 10mm game on point! Lol

MrSubaru1387 haha! Yup! On here too!

Junk From Work 👼 🤣

AutobahnDan 🤣

Budget Panther Fan thanks! That would be cool! I have 1/4 inch finetooth ratchet from craftsman but the locking for the socket wore out. I’m just gonna send that one home

Lukas Meyer nice! Gearwrench has new 90 tooth line coming soon!

miguel mendez yeah, and it’s the only head that you’re able to swap out on the extra long handle. I had to buy a whole new ratchet to convert my extra long handle to 3/8.

AutobahnDan I did the same 3/8 swap but with the short flex handle for tight areas especially removing spark plugs by the firewall.

miguel mendez yeah, I used the heck out of the old set up as you can see with that old handle. I have an entirely new 3/8 set up now! Smooth as butter!

Darrian Robinson it does, and it sure is strong for its size!

@@AutobahnDan I can tell not for nothing it looks like it ..it cought my attention immediately to me that was more of a attraction then the add on to the video honestly speaking Great video

Lone Star Auto I own one of those yellow ones! They are nice!

ClientGraphics thanks! just my iPhone XS. I’m finding out no matter how much lights I add to my setup, the phone tends to dim it down with the white background. I’m gonna have to go through all my shots and brighten them up one by one next time..

ClientGraphics hey dan try using your flash when recording for up close that’s what I do

Davion Martinez I’ll have to give that a try! Thx!

The Mount of Olives Channel with Gary Sawyer I looked back on the knipex Instagram page Because I could’ve sworn I saw knipex Show Hazet underneath the insulation. I must’ve seen it somewhere else, but it said something like Knipex being proud to have Hazet as their socket of choice.

neville pretorius it was a “why not” thing when I went to Harbor freight to check and see if icon was there. My smallest Snap On 1/4 was more similar to that icon so I decided to make it a side thing at the end... I was also curious to check it out, i’m still kind of in the middle on it..

Nepros japan better

Yota Doug's Tool Collecting Channel hand tools from Germany can get it as well.

Andy Lopez Link in the description, Saves you time from finding all the current coupons👍

I was eventually going to check out Gedore and Elora, but the amount of tools I got just got way too overwhelming and I don’t even have time to go through it all😅

Hmm, so from what I remember, I followed up with some Germans and their response is that there is no snap on of Germany. All the companies over there have one or a few really good tools. For example Knipex has the best pliers. Stahlwille has the best wrenches and do have some good ratchets. Gedore actually makes a lot of their stuff in Germany, i’ve been meaning to look into them more. Hazet recently launched some good ratchets, but I have been noticing that they have a lot of stuff in their catalogs made in China and Taiwan..

Milwaukee is super easy backdrag that alot of guys overlook or don't like. It's also one of the strongest 4sho, the 84tooth and 90tooth GW and 120xp SATA and Geawrench are all super smooth and best bang for the buck..IAlso have the SATA-120xp bcuz there identical to the GW but 20$ cheaper! Icon are really easy backdrag and cheap..MAC Axis of course. Koken is high$$ and top notch but high$$.. Snap on is very smooth. Proto basically same as MAC. But the first few I listed are great ratchets. Geawrench is awesome and great price. And I'm telling ya, the Milwaukee is so easy on the back drag. For 36$ 3/8 It's a great piece..And- Icon 90 tooth are my top 3 best bang for the buck. Hope this helps you.. I just bought the 4piece GW 90tooth flex head set for 109$ bcuz I have the new GW, 90tooth stubby 4.5inch and I love it. It's so smooth and balanced. And it's got a 3/8 drive. Backdrag is smooth so that's why I got the 4piece and I own the GW120XP flex head 4pc

@@michaelmangino9819 Thanks a lot for taking the time! I'll have to do a bit of research, but out of these the only one I know you get for sure here in Germany is probably Snap On... I feel like there must be a German option like Hazet, Wera and so on... Got a bit set from Wera in the meantime: The mini ratchet is roughly 60 teeth and semi light back stroke...

Thanks for watching! Wow! This was a while back! Lol, always good to grab the quarter inch version to test them out first. The Stahlwille should still be available at KC Tool👍👍

Jason Babila KC Tool has them in USA and they are good to order along with the deal of the day to get free shipping over $49. Handtools from Germany has them a lot cheaper in Germany and the shipping is not too bad. Links in the description..

Thanks, I’m interested with the Stahlwille

Jason Babila 👍👍

Only seen them a couple times, pretty basic, I like the grips but that’s about it. Stay away from the Gedore Red, they’re just Amazon Taiwan sets..

@@AutobahnDan yeah I've seen they have that "economy" line. I always see on the German language car forums they all say Gedore hazet and Stahlwille. I just never see Gedore in America

Facom is owned by stanley , which also owns macTools, and most of their tools are made in taiwan :(

not according to Hazet. HP stands for HiPer which refers to HiPer fine-tooth

I’ve been asking the German Folk and got mixed messages... Best answer is that each company in Germany makes the best of a few things.. Knipex=best pliers.. etc..

@@AutobahnDan some impressions from germany : Yes a wrench is a wrench but snap on is mostly associated with bikes. aircraft and automotive, so is hazet. Snappy commands the highest prices, so does hazet, albeit not as insane as snap on. Snap on pays attention to detail when it comes to design and surface finish, just like hazet as well. Only that germans seem to like sandblasted chromed, I like that american style high polish, single piece, no plastic grip, much more. And yes, knipex is the king of pliers, not even nepros and keiba can compete.

Thank you for your time to write this up. I am Russian myself but i sure do know and always value Germany engineering. I trust and strongly believe in German precision. I own 5 German cars (VWs and AUDI), and a few Soviet ones i am restoring. My son mostly plays with toys that are made in Germany. It is my religion. With that being sad i started buying German tools. I spend my time on research and understanding based on my knowledge on what do i need. So far i picked some some Gedore Red sets, Wera, Wiha, and Knipex. How do Germans look at Gedore Red? I understand that it might be not as good but sure better than most brands on that price range? Am i correct on that? I do plan to pick up some Hazet sets as my favorite car brand did use back in the day. Older VWs and Porsches came with hazet tool kit. So far i've been pretty happy with Gedore Red although i have not put it through serious work yet. As far as wrenches i have a few USSR made sets which are bulletproof. Thinking of keeping some just for collection. I seem to find quite a few lots online on older Gedore wrenches for great price. Thanks in advance.

@@user-lz2hd6wc7f I found a lot of pleasure in reading your post. You are spot-on about German quality and the unmatched precision of German engineering. This being said, I would like to respond to your question regarding the Gedore Red. It is indeed the best you can buy at that price-point, but be advised that it's NOT a true GEDORE. When we, Germans say Gedore, we mean GEDORE and there is only one Gedore and it's not red. The Red line is made to be able to ramp-up numbers (sales number that is). It's made out of chinesium but I will say they must have a better quality control and requirements then other because they are solid tools. Are they German, not so much, simply because they have never seen Germany. Not to WERA... I used to live close to the WERA factory and we would see at out weekly flee-markets (Flohmarkt) a lot of WERA screwdrivers; all were made in our local factory. Not anymore (sadly). They still make some stuff there, but they moved the majority of the production to the Czech Republic and Taiwan. To me this is sad; I no longer buy WERA; I'm pissed and I'm over this brand. WIHA... Another beauty... I hate it when people and I mean companies become greedy. I'm not even going to spend time with WIHA, just google their manufacturing locations. Some stuff is still made in Germany, but it's not something you would know ahead of making your purchase. Now you mentioned HAZET. HAZET is most likely the best of the best; end of story, BUT... I grow to love Stahlwille so much, that I have to keep these two on the same level and there is the real GEDORE which is on the same level. All these don't make ANY compromise and all are made in Germany and Germany alone. HAZET has the strongest 1/2" ratchet in the world (and I have one of those LOL). As far as cars, In our household we have two Golf 2.5l engines automatic 187HP (one with 9k miles and the other one at about 30k-ish - both were new), a Mercedes SLK and GL... I use d to wish back in the day (as I did my military service) a Lada 1200 - you guys call it Jiguly, but I never got one. My first car was a Fiat 850 (LOL)... My first NEW car was the Golf II 1.8l gas, back in 1991 (last year of manufacturing for the Golf II. All the best!

I don’t remember what I did in this video.. 😂 Seems to be popular because of the icon I guess🤷‍♂️😂

@@AutobahnDan those icons are very smooth. No matter how bad you make fun of it.. For the price I think there pretty good

@@michaelmangino9819 It’s just your standard Taiwan stuff, the problem is that it’s overpriced for what it is. Definitely have to shop around when getting those.

@@AutobahnDan yea I got allot of icons off eBay for really cheap.. How well they hold up I have no clue. Just by how they feel compared to all my other ratchets in the 90tooth area they seem to be very smooth on backdrag . And that's about all I'm saying. 25$ for icon vs a 129$ Mac axis. However I'll never pick a icon over a MAC Axis as MAC is my hands down Fav ratchets. But for a cheap bunch of ratchets I got a dang good deal on them. And only live 10min away from HF.. I don't use my MAC much bcuz I like to keep them nice on all honestly. I love GW new 90tooth and there old 120xp, and SATA. So I grab those 1st

@@michaelmangino9819 I hear those Mac ratchets are good but I can’t recommend those for everybody and myself as well because I don’t have a Mac tool guy, not everybody has a Mac guy, so the value is thrown out the window.. online can’t sell them at dealer prices, it wouldn’t be fair to the dealers..

KONAMAN Studio lol, there still may be a small chance! It’s all about pricing for harbor freight for now... cheers man 🍻

Mike McKay yep! Got a video somewhere buried around here! Lol

@@AutobahnDan OK I am catching up on the backlog haha

Mike McKay haha! Nice!🔥

BTW, for breaking in ratchets I put a 1/4" square to 1/4" hex and then use my M12 brushed drill in setting 1 (Slowest drill I have) and ratchet it for like 20 seconds in each direction, then let it cool and go back and do it again and again like 20 times. Then break it down and relube it(Think of a first oil change on a new car, clean out the break in gunk). It works well for me.

BMack37 I just do a couple jobs that require a little bit more torque for a 1/4” for a while that has a lot of fasteners. When you’re freewheeling it like that, You’re not really getting into the teeth.

@@AutobahnDan Yeah but it softens up the backdrag, it's basically honing the teeth.

BMack37 I’m old fashioned.. I like to develop a relationship with my ratchets.. that sounded wrong..🤣

@@AutobahnDan hahahaha

Arggg matey! 🏴‍☠️ throw a Koken on the starboard side! Swab The deck with some Snap On! 😂😂😂 Crack open a barrel of some Proto! … everybody’s got different jobs and preferences.. needs

Good England

I am not entirely shure about this. They made the Cyclops- style ones in czech stated on their website but I was in Taiwan recently and I found there some Bit - ratchets marked " Endura " - and the bit and ratchet - section looks and feels exactly same on Wera, KS- Tools, Berner, Topeak and Facom- brandet ones. So there is a very high possibility that they are made in Taiwan. But they are good quality. I use the Facom R180 T very often because of its lockable ( ! ) swiveling head .