You should have compared the Icon to Bondhus. I have the Bondhus colour-coded sets and they are virtually identical (visually), and the case is a functional equivalent. Bondhus are more reasonable about the sizes, though - they give you what you need, but not the never-seen sizes.
Exactly. I like Doc, but the ignorance and the comments are annoying sometimes. "Claims, cut corners, china, etc." when they aren't even accurate. It's obviously a diff style. Reminds me of politics. Emotion over logic, reason and research.
I use hex wrenches every single day. Regular old L wrenches, T handles socket bits, 1/4 inch bits, you name it. In my experience for the money you can't do much better then Bondhus for every day use. I do have PB Swiss wrenches and absolutely love them. They are definitely premium but I'm not sure I can justify the price when their performance isn't measurably better than something from Bondhus or Wiha. All that being said I like some Icon tools, and some of them are a great deal for the money. These hex wrenches miss the mark big time. I bought one set, gave them to a kid on the job.
I have a beautiful PB Swiss shorty set that is perfect for routine use, but if the fasteners are really tough and in danger of being rounded out, then I reach for my Wera. That Hex-Plus feature really works. It will remove stuck fasteners when all others fail.
I use those Wera at work and I like the rubber coating on them due to not wanting to short out some low voltage contacts. That ball end has helped me out many times but that case is a pain in the butt. Not the easiest getting them out and back in.
I really do need to invest in a couple of sets of regular allens like that. I've focused on building up my socket style bits and have neglected to upgrade my old, miss-matched allens.
The Wera hex key set is great. I had the color coated ones and ran into a problem fitting it into tight sleeve slot because of the extra thickness, I switch to the Wera Hex Plus (without the color coat) and they been working great, and don't have the extra thickness. To me it's not a big deal to just have the chome finish instead of colored.
For 25 bucks Harbor freight can eat crow. I can get Bondhus made in the USA ball end hex keys for that price, and I guarantee the angle and fitment will be perfect.
Looks like Icon tried to leave as much thickness to the neck of the ball end as possible since that is the weak link in a ball end hex. A good idea if you want to use cheaper steel and reduce warranty claims, not so much better for the end user. Great review
I think it's equally advantageous to the end user that they left material there. I can't imagine it would be fun trying to get a broken ball end out of whatever you were trying to fasten
I was worried about that first time I saw them but never happened to me. There were maybe a couple times I felt what might have been a bit of a give so I let go of it and had no issues.
The Eight tools taper end are strong enough to take a fastener to full torque. They even give you a pipe to put on the short ends to get more torque. The taper end grips harder in the fastener as you angle the wrench.
yeessss..... wera is indeed prefeerred choice for hex (allen) bit profiles. due to the hex plus + profile being flanged to really grab and dig into the corners of a rounded off allen. i wouldnt use anything else! but especially for certain smaller sizes, like below 2.5mm and when the bolt is so tightly torqued up. or over torqued (too much). because then in those conditions there is a very high likelihood of a failure and rounding out the allen bolt. so wera wera all day every day wera for hex... unlless wiha also offers similar "flanged out" hex profile. but i am not so certain that is the case. since most brands is standard hex. however for actual "hex bolts" i.e. not allen the opposite, regular nuts and bolts... then indeed other brands does offer special "grabbing" profiles for the sockets. and there exists a variety of such special grabbing shaped socketry
I’ve found the icon line works great for me for price and quality and returns. All my wera ( which is one of my favorites) I never return em or warranty em. Hft I just pull up to the store and swap it
Harbor Freight claims these hex keys are, "designed with a ball end for an entry angle of 20° for hard-to-reach fasteners." I read that as 20 degrees off normal. If combining sides to reach the total degrees, then reaching a 20 degree away fastener would be impossible.
I have both sae and metric hex sets from PB swiss. I also have set of torx T6 up to T25 with a beautiful knurling on the shafts PB 3411.H 6-25. I wish they had made a full set from T6 all the way to T40
The grey cases PB sets are more comprehensive, but most folks probably don’t need the 3 or 4 more… and the holders/cases aren’t special. Additionally, they are on the higher end of the price spectrum, but a great warranty. Not as fast as a truck that comes to you or a store you can go to. I just can’t say I’ve ever been disappointed in my dealings with that company.
I’d like to see how the torque is with that one at 26 degrees and the icon at 13 I bet that 26 isn’t close to the icon at 13. I guess I’m asking is there a point when it’s sideways like that that it effects the grip strength
I bought the "Bondhus 20399 Ball End L-Wrench DoublePK w/BriteGuard & GoldGuard Finish" a year ago in a place where rust is a big challenge and they've really held up well. As someone who only uses them occasionally they are a great value for the quality and that it came with both fractional and metric.
You say the ball end fails...but will the Swiss really do the job at that extreme angle? I would like to see how much torque they can handle without cam-ing out.
You do know that 20 degrees claimed would be out of 360 degrees, so you take the 12 or 13 degrees you went to one side and also add that to the other side to come up with 24+ degrees.
Harbor Freight claims these hex keys are, "designed with a ball end for an entry angle of 20° for hard-to-reach fasteners." I read that as 20 degrees off normal. If combining sides to reach the total degrees, then reaching a 20 degree away fastener would be impossible.
Icon got a half decent review? I still rather spend more money and receive better quality. I'll make one honest point, I did purchase the Icon bit set with locking flex head ratchet last year and found it to be pretty useful and especially loved the case it came in. However, I'm doubtful I'll cave and make another HF purchase (except maybe heat shrink, glue, and zip ties)
Eight tools from Japan has the best ball / taper ends of any wrench in existence. They can be purchased from a website out of Arizona. I simply cannot understand why no youtuber has picked up a set and tried them. They sell the hex keys with a pipe to put on the short end for more torque on the ball / taper end.
