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[Diamond Black Geezer]

As title. Just a note to say the 200-piece is now on sale at £260 down from £325. The 175-piece is now back up to RRP, ( though you may get lucky and your local branch hasn't updated their prices on the 175 .) changed the prices yesterday 

Obviously another nice chunk off if you have a Trade Card.

[TheBoy]

Just under £250 on trade.

Often with trade, if something is on offer, it can be cheaper to buy retail, so you always need to be careful.


I have the older 200pc sets, and they are excellent. Not sure £250 excellent though. And they are bloody heavy.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I bought the 170 piece set a couple of years ago.

£100 delivered.

[TheBoy]

I bought the 170 piece set a couple of years ago.

£100 delivered.

2 or 3 years ago, they all jumped significantly in price, and now never have the 50% offer.

I think the 200pc ones I bought were £120 each, collect in store.  Defo worth that price

[biggriffin]

Got the 200. Piece few years back, at 50% off after Christmas, paid using vouchers, Think it was £100.

[Nick W]

Just under £250 on trade.

Often with trade, if something is on offer, it can be cheaper to buy retail, so you always need to be careful.


I have the older 200pc sets, and they are excellent. Not sure £250 excellent though. And they are bloody heavy.

If you're starting from scratch, not storing them in a chest, and need to be reasonably mobile it's a good deal because it gives most of the tools you're going to need in one box. After all, this little lost would cost rather more:





and it only does 8 to 19mm in 3/8 drive. The rail is over £20 even if you don't buy it from Snap On....

[TheBoy]

The Halfords ones fit chests really well, as they sell the chest trays for their socket sets.


With Snap-off you have to be really choosey now, as some of their stuff is a bit crap.  I note that more and more stuff is no longer covered by the lifetime warranty.  Its only real advantage is they make it easy to buy, and on the drip as well.

[Broomies Mate]

The Halfords ones fit chests really well, as they sell the chest trays for their socket sets.


With Snap-off you have to be really choosey now, as some of their stuff is a bit crap.  I note that more and more stuff is no longer covered by the lifetime warranty.  Its only real advantage is they make it easy to buy, and on the drip as well.

Probably the only reason they actually sell anything.

Let's be honest, Mechanics starting out are not on good wonga, and the thought of a new impact driver, or socket set at £15 a week is a good proposition for them.

[Nick W]

With Snap-off you have to be really choosey now, as some of their stuff is a bit crap.  I note that more and more stuff is no longer covered by the lifetime warranty.  Its only real advantage is they make it easy to buy, and on the drip as well.

I wouldn't buy the spanners again, as I don't like their shape.


Their ratchet screwdrivers are the only ones worth having; the master set is expensive, but is actually good value.


Ratchets are excellent, and are available in lots of styles/lengths to help access, but by the time you've bought ordinary, long, flex head and stubbies you're talking real money. And similar quality is available for a lot less.


1/4" drive sockets and extensions are well worth the money; SO ones are thinner but strong, and  better finished than most others -  I rarely use anything else on 15mm  or smaller nuts. The 3/8 drive(I do have imperial and metric) isn't as good an improvement, and I'd need to win the lottery to justify 1/2" stuff. Although the long 1/2 flex head ratchet, which I used so much it's the only one that's needed a rebuild - I must have done 100s of wheel changes with it, and a lot of suspension work - owes me nothing. I might change my mind if working on trucks for a living, although most of the heavy mechanics I worked with only had commonly used sizes.


Specialist tools need a lot of consideration between cost/value/necessity and how much you actually use them, I'd rather buy a range of cheaper things  like pressure testers(coolant, fuel, oil etc), bearing pullers and so on than  just one expensive but limited set.


If working on interiors, or anywhere else where access to screws is limited, THIS will pay for itself in no time. You can buy cheaper(and more expensive bit drivers) but the Wera one is the best.


I would prefer hand tools not to be highly polished, but it seems I'm in a minority


Tool boxes/chests? Just no.

[TheBoy]

I rate all Wera screwdrivers .  But utterly detest bit sets with a passion

[Nick W]

I rate all Wera screwdrivers .  But utterly detest bit sets with a passion

yes, bit screwdrivers are a necessary evil. They remove the need for dozens of different types, and you still have to buy others.  Common screws, eg #2Pz, get specific tools.


The Wera Bit Check's advantage is that it is tiny! It's barely any deeper than the bit, so you could easily undo a screw on the side of a seat runner without the tunnel causing problems - as an example. Although the actual ratchet mechanism seems to be common to all these tools, mine was noticeably tighter and smoother than  the others that we tried. The clip it comes in holds several bits tightly, so it's excellent for small portable toolkits. I made a Schraeder valve-core bit for mine to use on poorly placed valves.

[Nick W]

Some familiar tools for comparison:





it comes with #1&2 phillips and Pozi bits, and the others are small Torx.


It's also supposed to be good for 70Nm, although there's no way you'll be applying that much torque without a cheater bar


Superb tool


I would probably buy a Wera 1/4drive socket set if I had to replace the SO stuff I have. Almost as good, much cheaper.

[TheBoy]

They have a place in life.  Thats about the nicest thing I can think to say about bit sets.