Who Are These Non-Slip Wrenches Fooling? Icon v Snap-On, Milwaukee, Metrinch, Dewalt & More 

They tend to review completely different types of products

Project outhouse is a joke

@@robertcasey3528 nope

@@robertcasey3528 is a joke

Oh you and me both. Us showing the results sometimes make it look like we know what's going on, but often we go into this knowing as much as you guys

Why would you consider lying in the first place? Just curious. They're just tools!

It’s just a figure of speech, gramps.

...like those "universal" socket wrench sockets?... Remember those things? I think they still sell them. Saw a TV commercial the other day for one that was being discontinued (so "buy now before they're gone forever"). The ones we had actually worked for really weird shaped things like wing-nuts and stuff like that, but it didn't work at all for most bolts. Only really worked for 3 exact sized of bolts if you got the wrench perfectly centered, but everything in between would strip the bolt and/or damage the socket itself.

@@mediocreman2 _Oh you sweet innocent child, the world is built by men wielding tools...._

Snap On was popular with gearheads at my university, but probably mostly due to exclusivity. They're good to great tools. They're also expensive and hard to purchase unless you work at a factory where the Snap On truck routinely stops (the Boeing plant had Snap On trucks making weekly scheduled visits). The convenience factor of a good-to-great tool available essentially on your doorstep meant that, while eating on your lunch break, you could pick up a replacement or new tool to make your job significantly easier. Hence, the cost is much less of an issue even for skilled/unskilled laborers and salaries that matched. Perhaps that also added to status and mystique to poor college students. The farmers and contractors I worked with were usually a better judge of cost/performance. They swore by USA made Craftsman wrenches (really any hand tools that didnt have moving parts). Ryobi battery power tools (because the batteries were so cheap). If you were to poll the most talented Mechanical Engineering colleagues I graduated with, they're probably about 5% USA made everything (even if it sucks), 60% Harbor Freight, and 35% everything else. The Harbor Freight colleagues are not purists; cost and convenience is their primary driver but Harbor Freight holds a special spot because they're probably a 60/40 split on being a complete hit or a complete miss, and virtually all of it is priced in the "complete miss" territory. So especially for people doing a lot of diverse jobs requiring specialty tools, they're a great option that doesn't require much research. Said friends tend to spend disproportionate amounts of money on garage space, houses, vehicle lifts, etc.

My father owned a garage for over 60 years. When I started working there I sampled a lot of tools and SnapOn were clearly superior in almost every way except for price. Having the sales truck come by once a week and take care of you on credit didn't hurt either. Things have changed in the tool industry and now there are other good options. At some point I realized my SnapOn tools were too valuable to carry around in my car so I bought a cheap set of Craftsman for that. I've used them for a lot of work and they worked perfectly OK even though they weren't as pleasurable to use. I was always of the opinion that you could study each tool type and there were different price levels that would be acceptable for that particular tool. That still works but there are more options now. Applying that reasoning there are still a few tools that I prefer buying from SnapOn but there are more and more that I find acceptable from lower price manufacturers.

I wonder why Americans have this problem. How to chose your tools if i lived there i just would buy from the closest store so i cuold get the warranty right away if something went wrong. Id buy from auto zone or home depot. In latin america we use cheap tool and even if we wanted the best there is no way to claim the warranty

@@adrianchavez819 Well you clearly don’t understand that many Americans happen to be auto technicians and rely on their tools to make a living. This is why Snap On dealers exist. They come directly to your place of work for warranty and tool sales so you don’t have to waste your valuable time traveling to a brick and mortar store for that. Also, you can’t rely on some cheap autozone/Home Depot soft China tool when you are working in a shop 5-6 days a week. They don’t last like American or Japanese made steel(‘meaning they wear and lose tolerance, thus stripping fasteners). So it’s not just about warranty. Snap On and other tool truck brands also make tools you can’t get from the cheapo places. America is vastly different from your country in every way possible. Now the less expensive economy stuff does have its place for DIY. That can’t be argued. The Taiwanese are stepping up their game and it’s good to see. However, tool trucks offer a service that’s hard to overcome.

@@nordicpride9708 well i am a mechanich myself and just don't understand that part but like you said different countrys economy and many more things

You could say the URREA performance was piss-poor...

They are definitely an OEM that advertises a design like that on their website, however if it's an unprotected design or licensed design that Milwaukee or Icon for instance asked their wrench factory to use, you wouldn't see that factory advertising it on their website.

@@TorqueTestChannel I’ve looked through nearly every major Taiwanese tool manufacturer’s website, Infar is the only I can recall showing this open end design. Also, their “stock” wrenches also use the same font as the ICON/Carlyle wrenches.

Loved your long term use test on the Icon set you did from couple years ago. Though, disappointed that the no slip ridges/teeth were wearing down. Your recent short of the Icon ratcheting socket wrench being overpriced (comparing to that whole case wrench set) was eye opening. Ty

@@emilja.4205 you’re welcome 👍🏻

@MrSubaru1387 You're spot on about them being for DIYers or weekend mechanics like myself. I like seeing all these tests of different types of wrenches and sockets. I was genuinely surprised to see how much grip these Icons had. I know a couple old heads who have Metrinch case sets they bought over 20 years ago and still use em today. It's interesting how well they worked. The ones that bother me the most are the "Universal Spline". Those truly suck and are just a gimmick.

Agreed. It also further demonstrates how good Todd over ar PF is at coming up with real-world test rigs - even without as much technical measuring equipment, he knows how to put things through their paces. Really great to see the commonalities in the results!

@Ben C since when is being a mechanic a prerequisite for conducting product tests on things like chainsaw blades and leaf blowers? His methods are a little goofy sometimes but he has integrity, which I personally appreciate. Not sure who pissed in your cheerios but you've got a pretty narrow world view, man. Lighten up - a person doesn't need to be an "expert" to gather data and voice their opinion on something.

@Ben C I regret to tell you that real people buy those Amazon specials all the time. And even if they do suck, testing them is important.

With project farm, TTC, and holdener, nothing in the automotive industry is safe from testing!

@@AllThingsMech kinda interesting at how often project farm and the torque test channel get mentioned on legit mechanics sites. Like Facebook, RU-vid etc. That's a lot for an Amazon employee

yeah because that wrench would likely be coming out because the fastener is already severely damaged or corroded and does not have access to a closed end or socket.

If a nut or bolt ever gets to that point it was time to replace it, probably clean the threads of whatever part it went too. Most cases if I push a fastener that hard, something is going to snap first.

I know right, you over here being a savvy shopper buying good tools then you hear people like MrSubaru come out and call your tools "A wannabe tool brand" and "if you wanted to go cheap then why not go all the way and get the OEM off amazon" like ouch... thats not fair, mad cause their snap on has to defend its throne.

@@dirtyvinyl8817 yea it's just how it is. I almost want to buy the icon tool box just to piss them off lol. Though I will most likely be purchasing a used snap on box

@@extrasteez5727 Might want to consider the US General boxes if Harbor Freight offers those in the size you want. They're not as featured as the Icons, but the cost savings is pretty damn solid.

Fools can’t be reasoned with. Icon makes some good stuff.

@@dirtyvinyl8817 I have had 2 cheap wrenches beat my snap ons. Husky and ICONS. When the snap on slips i just use a husky or ICON. Granted they are the older normal style snap ons no flank drive crap.

This. Cause damaging bolts is not cool if it obviously be avoided.

Why there no grade 2/3 bolt on a car so pretty useless test And for such cheap bolt no need for extreme torque the gonna snap way before it reach the damaging point

@@legros731 Same reason they use coupling nuts to test everything, the softer bolts *should* test the designs of the different style wrenches and be less forgiving than a grade 8 or a 12.9 would. You can damn near tighten a grade 8 with vise grips without damaging the bolt head, but not so much with a soft bolt. And I'm not discussing going to a failure amount of torque, but whatever amount of torque that particular size/thread bolt calls for. If a wrench design can tighten a bolt to its specified torque without leaving damage, I call it win.

@@legros731 It's a way to exaggerate differences that might be hard to otherwise cause on purpose. It's kind of like when people compare graphics hardware on benchmarks running at 800x600 resolution, even though you know those guys are running games in 4k these days. I'd like to see it, because exaggerating differences is a sort of redneck T-test, in that you can account for chaos in test results without having to to hundreds of trials, because bigger destruction is easier to measure. However, a test on grade 5 and 8 bolts makes sense as well for the obvious real-world results, at least in an automotive context. We do also have to remember that fasteners exist on many more things than just cars.

@@legros731 There are other things out there besides cars man. You do know where your food comes from right? FARMS! lots of farm equipment use grade 2 bolts. You may laugh at that but honestly when grade 2 is used in the right place they become much easier to deal with. Basically you just snap it off and your done. No worry being there is a nut and bolt combo everything falls right apart making life easy.

~Urrea, I just met a girl named Urrea, and suddenly that name will never be the same to me...~

Piss acid brand lmao

@@craigmiller332 Are you taking the piss??

I own some Urrea tools, they are pretty decent (quality on par with Gearwrench). I also own alot of Proto, they still make excellent tools, most of which are US made

Take your “my buddy told me so now it’s facts” story somewhere else bruh. Proto still makes good tools.

Gearwrench seem to be all over the place, my one recomendation or trend is buy their Taiwan stuff.

@@TorqueTestChannel a list of the best Taiwan tool manufacturers would be EXTREMELY helpful. Would be nice to support quality toolmakers from a country with an uncertain future. Also a list of Taiwan companies to avoid would be good, although possibly outside your scope. Thanks again for the honest work. Guys like you and Project Farm do a great job of verifying tool quality.

@@craigmiller332 lol

Inconsistencies with bolt head diameters, especially the Chinese trash from the big boxes.

Ive noticed that too. Not always a bad thing but gets aggravating tho.

The kind of gut-wrenching fun where you close your eyes ahead of time.

I was sold the Carlyle as being the tools that are going to be the closest to the trucks and that was before. I have a small collection of them, but they were always so expensive compared to Craftsman, and to be honest, I expected tools from AutoZone, ORielly, and NAPA to be kind of meh. It seemed like you'd be better off getting the same quality from Northern Tool. Now it seems like ICON is around it will probably be the prosumer choice of people that buy in brick and mortar. The nice thing about Carlyle is that they have tools by unit instead of requiring returning a complete set.

9 1/6 on a grill ?

the reason why i love my milwaukee wrenches even though there's two other very very similar wrenches out there, is because the rounded edges of the wrench body it self, both icon and Carlyle have almost square edges on the wrench body, the Milwaukee isnt and i personally think the chrome is better on the milwaukee, the icon and carlyle seem noticeable duller and the Milwaukee has what i call a "gun metal chrome"

I don’t put nearly as much trust in HF quality control as you do clearly, I see wrenches like that and think about buying them is similar to paying to lose my front teeth.

@@alexmills1329 To be fair, HF has some decent stuff, especially depending on usage. I don’t like their wrenches, and this video helps back up why, but HF is an affordable brand for a lot of people that don’t need pro quality.

@@alexmills1329 HF is good for the tools that do their job or don't, like a screwdriver, or an impact socket.

@@JakeNaughtFromStateFarm considering Icon comes from HF and they were super high up the list I’d say they have some decent stuff

i love the cheap tools as well. i see alot of 10mm or 13mm bolts and use either the standard pittsburgh wrenches or the more expensive ratcheting ones. most times i see the tolerances on the ratcheting ones are worse, that is the open end of the wrench (not the ratcheting end) seems like there is much more play and the open end rounds over easier.

A grinder will make any wrench a thin wrench

@@Spacecadet3890 but who wants to grund and cut expensive wrenches ?

@@joeyf504327 idk man idk why buy cheap wrenches because they will fit when you can modify a nice one to fit? I work in a machine shop so odds are if i gotta cut one up for something its going to get used again and again, if your working in an auto shop i would think it would be the same, i wouldn't want to ruin one wrench out of a complete set for one job but I have no issues cutting down like my 3/4 proto so it's now weaker because i had to make the head smaller to fit somewhere but i just ordered another single one so my set is complete and I have the specialty one i need for the next time thats my logic. I buy USA made whenever i can too but thats more to support local manufacturing and they feel good then i need them.

Or snap on for that matter they invented the flank drive tech all other are just copycat

@@legros731 actually I think it was Wright bit I'm not 100% sure. Either way they both are on top of the Torque Channels best performers.. 😁👍

@@OneMechanic not saying snap on was the winner just that they invented the flank drive and all the other are copy of the original design the snap on is less aggressive and don't mar as much the fastener while working as good or better than the other

Don't bother with Snapon, overpriced for the same if not only marginally better performance. Both Snapon and Icon have lifetime warranties with Icon being a third the price most the time, and with more locations to get replacement tools at rather than trying to flag down/contact a Snapon dealer truck. That Snapon name tax is pointless.

Their pliers wrench is also worth picking up. Just wish they made more sizes

Rule of thumb, when one fails, just upgrade it a wrench at a time

Well i have the snap ons the older non flank drive and the ICONS will keep going after the snap on slips. I am also using the old normal open end ICONS as well. Non of that fancy non slip crap for me. So to me the icons are worth more then the old snap ons. Next best part is the icons boxed ends have no taper to them so even the box end out holds snap ons. Like my a lot! I have no need to buy anymore snap on wrenches. Not sure why you would either.

The milwaukees where worth the $ 500 between reg and ratcheting.

Project farm tested some were jokers. Interesting results

I couldn't have said it better. Got my set back when it was still on TV and still use the same tools to this day. They've been through 8 cars and 2 motorcycles worth of maintaining, repairing, rebuilding, and even building, and nothing has given out yet. Aside from the obvious (lots and lots and lots of 12&13mm on old Beetles), I'm not even sure when I'm working on metric or imperial anymore. Just eyeball it, grab what fits, and work.

@@ImnotgoingSideways I think you can and did say it better. Much better. :) Only thing that I have broke is the ratchet selector lever…I used a giant pipe slide of the handle for a breaker and I broke the lever’s leg. I never replaced it because it still works just fine. I do have to replace my 14mm wrench, I think I left it in a vehicle I sold. I’ll have them til I die for sure.

@@Todd66 I have to agree with you guys that Metrinch socket sets are awesome. I've basically had a set that I bought at Sears my first year in college in 1994 and still have a good amount of the set still. However I've used them for everything over the years including as my work socket set in the trades and over the years I've lost a few sockets and wrenches du to my carelessness in my younger working years. I treat what I've got left kinda like gold lol. Actually thinking about spending the money on a new set but when I search haw to get some the sites available to buy them seem a bit sketchy. Oh and the only thing that ever broke in my set was the ratchet selector tab as well. And even though the ratchet still works. Just Love my Metrinch set and wonder why they are not still popular today.

I am reading these good reviews all the time when i started to look up metrinch. I just bought a set on craigslist. Can't wait till i get it in the mail.

Yeah I bought a 1/4" & 3/8" Drive socket rails of metrinch years ago and believe them to be everything that they claim to be.

Metrinch set owner here, bought mine somewhere in the early 90s. They haven't failed me and saved me many times working on other people's messes of cammed out damaged nuts. My only complaint is the blow molded case

I can say the same with the Carlyle sets, these non-slip jaw designs have been game changers.

Oooo, that's a good example

My solution to the lock nut seized to the tie rod bad enough that the wrench on the tie rod rounds has always been to lock Vice grips around the rod so they’ll hit up against the sway bar or lower control arm of whatever then feed the lock nut lots of PB blaster and heat till I can get it moving, then work it back and forth till it starts turning…and if you want the next guy to thank you, grease the hell out of the threads when you replace a tie rod end…your mileage may vary, I’m down south now (started up north) so the rust isn’t so bad.

@@cnf6045 thx for that tip! I work on cars in excess of 150k miles all the time doing alignments.

@@mmix224 no problem! You don’t have to get them that hot, usually MAP gas does the trick, don’t gotta break out the acetylene. It’s really funny at my shop, I’m the least experienced tech in terms of time, but the most experienced in terms of dealing with seized rusty crap…a funny one happened a couple weeks ago, completely unrelated to the tie rods…had a F250 with broken lug nuts in the rear(the nut part had broke off and it was just the cone holding the wheel on) so we pulled the axle, undid the hub where it mounted to the axle, took the whole wheel and brake off, then we’re staring at this big ole deep dish caliper with the back of the lug studs at the bottom, too deep to get a grinder or anything in, and so hard that a drill bit wouldn’t touch it…so I’m like ‘I’m gonna go home and grab my acetylene rig.’ (We don’t have shop acetylene, which is stupid) And the other techs are like ‘no, that’s like a 400$ hub, you’ll mess it up.’ So…we started trying to burn these studs out with a carbide burr…which was stupid slow, did that for like 3 hours, didn’t even get the first one…and I’m like ‘screw this, I’m getting my torch’ got it, they’re both geeking out cause they think I’m gonna screw up the hub, I just blew like 1/2 inch through the center of each stud and got the edges hot enough to take the temper out, knocked the edges off with an air hammer chisel, and pushed beat the studs out with a punch, didn’t touch the hub…other techs are like ‘holy shit you’re pretty good with that thing’ and I’m like ‘thanks’…but in the back of my head I’m thinking ‘I know mechanics up north who would’ve skipped this whole taking off the wheel ordeal, torched the lug nuts out from the front, not touched the wheel, not touched the stud, and been done with all this shit in 30 minutes.’ 😂

Don't forget ball joints where you need a wrench to get off as well. I've found V groove wrenches and adjustable wrenches are the best for this and also work better where you need line a wrenche too.

@@ShainAndrews what do you mean?

@@ShainAndrews you can buy them directly from Harbor Frieght, you have to call

@@ShainAndrews I've never lost one. Because they're so prized, I make sure after every job my tools are back where they belong.

@@ShainAndrews U buy a new one? Also u shouldnt be losing tools

What tools are they? I want them

@@philhunt1442 it's the snap on by just hearing those words lol

Will be good to see how Halfords Advanced compares. A rust test would be good as some tools rust as soon as they are removed from the packet.

I've had my metrinch set since the 90s, best set ever. Work on old stuff, it's a must have!

Multiple tests are often done with the same equipment, and the different results are taken in to consideration before presenting that 1 result. Additionally, when numerous tools are tested and then an earlier tool is re-tested, sometimes weeks or months later, similar results are achieved. For the purposes of what's being done, what you see here is more than reasonably accurate or representative. Test equipment is also checked/tested/calibrated. The tiny differences that what you're talking about would make, are they really going to change the results by anything worth bothering with?

@@chrisdavidson911 yes, that’s why I used the word “significant”.

@@superspeeder indeed, but what actually is "significant" with thread clearance etc? and again, would it actually make any difference worth noting? Do you really think those things would have changed these results so much that they're actually in the wrong order on the results chart of each test? As was mentioned at the start, multiple tests were done with each tool.

@@chrisdavidson911 significant is a subjective term, but without testing we simply don’t know. A lot of this information is likely available in published standards for fastener manufacturing, but why bother with the theoretical approach when you can just test it? The answer could be that the contributions are so small they are of no concern, but again, without testing you don’t know. We should never assume for anything we can test.

u best be joking

@@schlomoshekelstein908 Milwaukee could literally release red pieces of feces, and fanboys would swear how good it is.

Fanboys smdh

@@CP-mb7ly I own probably $50k in snap-on, $20k in Matco, any maybe $5k in Mac tools, $5k in Milwaukee. Hardy a fanboy. Just a professional mechanic with his opinions

@@ILYxIW weird flex but ok

I like your bang for the Buck idea.

Depends on who's spending the buck and whether or not it is deductible 😀. Economic term called "marginal utility." Marginal refers to how you spend your next dollar (mutually exclusive decision), and utility is its usefulness. Price is a too subjective. I am here evaluating a final, one-and-done set purchase. Mechanics have other considerations. Glad these videos are here. I can point to two cheap ones that fell off my list, and I can also point to two more pricey brands that also fell off my list.

No there isn’t it’s all the same junk wherever you go

I have some of their tools, being in the UK, not sure how I feel about them. They’re pretty cheap, so get abused, obviously, and still holding strong, so I’m happy I suppose 😄.

@@dieselhatz4247 I wouldnt call Unior very cheap, like a 16mm wrench from them is still like 10 bucks.

Yeah +1 for Unior, they have a strong name!

@@TheSir2005 They are £7.50 in the UK, which is cheap, as Stahlwille is £17.44 for the same size. Both European made. Dollar prices will be higher.