Icon vs. Pittsburgh Professional 1/2" Long Handle Flex Ratchet Comparison 

Im one of the 80% that is completely fine with Pittsburgh PRO... ICON is just out of my price range, although they are beautiful, I don't need my tools to be beautiful works of art... It is true, that the Pittsburgh is roughly half the MSRP of ICON, but after the coupons you can use on the Pittsburgh ONLY, it ends up being closer to 1/3 the cost. I got mine on the special 25% off holiday coupons and it was about $24. Which is a whole lot of ratchet for 24 bucks! I believe Pittsburgh PRO tools are the single highest value per dollar tools throughout the entire tool industry. Notice the "PRO", avoid regular Pittsburgh stuff. I have never had a Pittsburgh PRO tool fail me and they can be had dirt cheap and they work. They work great! If you take care of your tools, maintain them, and make sure you are using the "right tool for the job". They will out last you... In MY OPINION Pittsburgh PRO is the "sweet spot". You get both, high value AND high performance. Pittsburgh PRO for LIFE!

One minute in,I'll buy the Pittsburgh

Good explanation of the internals.

Great film, Cat. I like your attention to the details. I'm in the market for a long-handled, locking, flex head ratchet. So far the best deal I found is the Carlyle version in the half-inch drive. I'd just get that one and use the adapter to 3/8" drive. Keep the films a-comin'!

I've had the Pittsburgh one for awhile and have had very good success with it, and I recently lived it with WLG and the action is buttery smooth. Due to the Icon recall I got the Icon 1/2" as well so I'll be interested to see the difference in feel for removing lugs and tight suspension bolts.

I’ve been using Pittsburgh for yrs. and I still have them. Not a mechanic by trade, but I have always wrenched on my own cars and on my friends and family’s rides, as well... 🤷🏽‍♀️

Good stuff. As nice as some of the ICON stuff seems, I just can't justify spending the extra money. I am, however, interested in seeing that new Doyle Ratcheting Multi-Bit Screwdriver. The store closest to me didn't have it in stock yet.

I've never had any problems with pittsburgh pro stuff. Good enough for the home gamer

Good tool review. Iam an electrician so I have no need for a long ratchet like that, but the flex heads are nice. Thubs up.

I had the same problem of the cross screw backing out on a Pittsburgh pro. I screwed it back on with some loctite and so far I haven't had any problems. If you tighten it too much it binds the mechanism. Works great now. Not bad for the money.

Both quality tools that would likely be better than most people will need.

Idk if you already have a video on palm ratchets that come in a set of 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2. But it be cool a video like that. Ive been on the hunt for these palm ratchets that come in a set that are made of aluminium.

I use the icon rachet alot at work and have not broken it yet. Put tons of torque on it.

That Pittsburg has been good to me so far. I just stopped by Walmart this weekend and picked up their 7 piece metric ratcheting wrench set. It seems fine and made in Taiwan. I also picked up their 15 piece wrench set and that's made in India. It goes from 8 to 25mm. I just measured the open ends and they are about the same as my craftsman only shorter on both sets. Will upload videos when i make them. I just uploaded the video on a 1/4 set. I do prefer the craftsman length too bad it's only a set of 6. I needed something affordable and with more range.

For ratchet lube I was told to use this white lithium stuff, it comes out kind of like a foamy less sturdy whipped cream. I have yet to find out how well it lasts against constantly being covered in like brake clean

I really like the Icon ratchets, especially for DIY use. They are of much better quality than your average cheap chinese ratchet. I pay attention to the smaller details that some people might miss, like for example the amount of backlash on the ratchet mechanism, which will effect the tightness of the swing arc. When you ratchet the wrench, is their an additional "dead zone" at play before you actually engage the fastner and apply torque...some ratchets are really loose with this. And even though they advertise 4 degrees of arc swing, because of the loose tolerances you end up in reality back to 5 degrees or more. So why are you then paying more money for the gimmick of a smaller arc, if the tolerances bring that back up in reality. I always test my ratchets before I buy them for that backlash, sometimes with the cheaper ones you might need to pull a few off the shelf before you find a good one. Same goes for the anvil rocking...

I’ve broken the teeth on a 3/8 and because of of that I almost cut the end of my finger off. Switched to the Mac axis ratchets and haven’t looked back. But... since the icon came out I might look at em closely. I’m also a heavy diesel mechanic so I torture my tools and I need reliability and strength. Nothing wrong with the 1/2” Pittsburgh but you can definitely feel a difference between them and tool truck brands. Perfect for home use though.

I kind of want the icon seeing the Paul mechanism reminds me of gearwrench and they're built to be 180% ansi specs dual paw mechanism I'm soldI'm getting some icon ratchets

Great video until I heard the tool truck comment, no one needs those over priced ratchets. They break just as easy as the icon does but they cost 3 times the price and then you have to wait for the tool truck to warranty it. I own snap on, Matco and cornwell ratchets and they are nice ratchets but if I could do it over again I would buy icon over those ratchets any day

The long flex heads are nice. 90 tooth on icon would be nice n smooth