What is your preferred brand of sockets?

Little Dog

Little Dog

A2OC Donor
European-Union
I ask because my sockets are on the whole 1980s sockets, ratchets, extensions etc. Bought back then and topped up from eBay.

Recently I picked up some Halfords quality sockets as part of an eBay bulk-buy. They are very good and I thought they may be popular with younger DIY car mechanics.

Which brand do you like to work with? I suspect it may give your age away, it will for me ;).
 
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I have a hodgepodge collection from the last few years. Mostly eBay and gifts from relatives.

The best ones I have are actually a small Halfords set which lock on to the handle and only need a very small turning increment to click. There are some imperial sizes mixed in as well so very handy.


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Snap on 3/8 drive ratchet bought along with a matching set of sockets 6mm - 19mm
From the 80’s & still in excellent condition
Halfords pro ratcheting ring spanner’s in 2 planes
Odd sockets from the 40 years working as a
Maintenance engineer.
 
I bought a large Halfords set years ago when on a special offer. It’s given great service and as everything has its place it’s easy to see if anything is missing!
 
For the home spanner-er you cannot beat the Halfords pro stuff. It’s not the best but the lifetime guaruntee means you get replacements just handed to you in a time of need! I have a drawer in my toolbox dedicated to receipts, and they don’t quibble when you rock up with the paper in hand! Like I say, not the best money can buy, but for somone who’s just maintaining and working on their own motors, it’s more than enough.

I’d recommend not sparing the cash on single hex and allen keys though. A good single hex will deal with a fairly well rounded nut very nicey and a shoddy allen key will knacker an allen bolt in seconds.
 
philward said:
I ask because my sockets are on the whole are 1980s sockets, ratchets, extensions etc. Bought back then and topped up from eBay.

Recently I picked up some Halfords quality sockets as part of an eBay bulk-buy. They are very good and I thought they may be popular with younger DIY car mechanics.

Which brand do you like to work with? I suspect it may give your age away, it will for me ;).
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Assorted mixture of Gordon, Britool and Halfords Pro sockets.
 
I thought so, those Halfords Pro keep being mentioned. Only recently acquired some and by accident in an eBay bulk purchase. Good solid quality tools.

Good to see some of the old British brands being mentioned Britool and Gordon. Had both in the past both good brands, sadly both are long gone. I still have a 1980s Britool 1/4 drive set.
 
Damn - didn't know Britool had gone - can't be that long ago as I bought some Britool stuff only a few years ago.

Once I bought a secondhand Britool torque wrench that was missing a few parts - phoned up the sales department and they sent out the bits gratis - always tried to buy their stuff ever since!

Simon.
 
I started with a Britool 1/2" drive Whit / AF set about 50 years ago then added some metric sockets a few year later. Nothing has broken and it's still going strong. Added a Facom 1/4 " drive set fairly recently (good but not worth the money) then supplemented that with a Halfords 'Vortex' set - the one with 'open' sockets. It's not as robust as the Britool but it's handy and can be used most times where deep drive sockets would have been required.
Now tend to buy from the Halfords range to top up anything missing for that special job.

Cheers Spike
 
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spike said:
I started with a Britool 1/2" drive Whit / AF set about 50 years ago then added some metric sockets a few year later. Nothing has broken and it's still going strong. Added a Facom 1/4 " drive set fairly recently (good but not worth the money) then supplemented that with a Halfords 'Vortex' set - the one with 'open' sockets. It's not as robust as the Britool but it's handy and can be used most times where deep drive sockets would have been required.
Now tend to buy from the Halfords range to top up anything missing for that special job.

Cheers Spike
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Interesting comment re Facom. I recently damaged a 1980s Britool 1/4 drive ratchet (should have used the breaker bar) and not surprisingly the repair kit is no longer available. However I spotted Facom R151 was remarkably similar so I picked up a new other on eBay.

Facom R151 is an old Britool ratchet I swapped the Facom ratchet components into the Britool. One vintage Britool ratchet fixed :)
 
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sco said:
Damn - didn't know Britool had gone - can't be that long ago as I bought some Britool stuff only a few years ago.

Once I bought a secondhand Britool torque wrench that was missing a few parts - phoned up the sales department and they sent out the bits gratis - always tried to buy their stuff ever since!

Simon.
Click to expand...

I think Britool Made in England went many years ago. I think it is now owned by Facom and was re branded Expert. That said I have just spotted some tools again branded Britool Expert. Facom are a good but expensive French brand and still manufacture some old Britool ratchet designs.
 
Here's something for fans of old British tools. I have a lock up and I wanted some cheap tools to use there. Picked this up from eBay for £18:

5x9GpOm.jpg


Imperial and metric sizes, chrome vanadium steel, hardly used. Brand Swinborne, never heard of them but they are British and very good.
 
philward said:
I think Britool Made in England went many years ago. I think it is now owned by Facom and was re branded Expert. That said I have just spotted some tools again branded Britool Expert. Facom are a good but expensive French brand and still manufacture some old Britool ratchet designs.
Click to expand...

Could be that it went more years ago than I realise - sure the sales office was in Banbury.

Nobody has mentioned another old English brand - King Dick! Only have a couple of their spanners.
 
sco said:
Could be that it went more years ago than I realise - sure the sales office was in Banbury.

Nobody has mentioned another old English brand - King Dick! Only have a couple of their spanners.
Click to expand...

I did wonder if somebody would mention King Dick. With a few exceptions all of my tools are King Dick.

Still in business, still British but as far as I know manufacture in China from British owned tooling.

https://www.kingdicktools.co.uk/
 
Here is a Facom gem:

7HaI8PR.jpg


1/4 drive finger ratchet (based on a 1980s Britool ratchet) my favorite tool for removing screws from the A2 engine bay under tray.
 
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Just to add some names to the mix (and show my age)
First set bought in the 60s was an Elora imperial set (German). Added metric in the 70s Kampmann also German. Never had a failure though only used for personal vehicle maintenance. Added others over the years, some Britool others Japanese and Halfords. Cheap sockets are never worth it!
IMG_20180616_163308.jpg
IMG_20180616_165321.jpg
 
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I’ve got a mixture but quite a lot of Halfords and Lazer for more obscure single purpose tools. Halfords win with the professional range for me as they break very rarely but are swapped in the shop without any quibble when they have. (Only twice and I was being heavy handed with them so wasn’t that surprised I broke them).


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Machine mart have been good for lots of other stuff. All my axle stands etc and air stuff is from them. Why wife doesn’t like me going there though as I start getting carried away.


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I used to be a tool buyer for a company in the early/mid eighties, first ever job, my first set was through them a 1/2" drive Irimo (Spanish) professional set which i bet all of you have never heard of? The ratchet on that was like a Swiss watch and a joy to use. Sadly most if it has been lost or mislaid pinched over the years and the ratchet finally gave up recently after many years of diy abuse hence the facom sets. The Sykes pickavent socket clip cartridge and extension bars bought from Halfords late nineties has served me well and still going strong.

Pic of the net, the Irimo set bought in 84 so i could work on my first car a 1.6 XL Mk3 Cortina.

s-l1600.jpg




Having read the comment above about Facom not being worth the money surprised me until i checked on ebay current prices! Wow more than doubled/ trebled in just a few short years which i can't understand the hike in price let alone believe what i'm seeing!!! My 12pt 3/8 socket set J.420E 7mm to 24 extension bar ratchet was £54 6 years ago (still got the receipt) which is now about £159 with a discount. About 5 years ago purchased a Facom S.2PB 1/2" drive 6 pt set for £95, a bargain considering the quality and now silly money no doubt. So for the prices i paid, although the Halfords set is good they don't have the resale/desirability tactile feel of Facom.
 
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