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[LouisCorney]

I'm considering buying the Halfords Professional 150 Piece Socket / Ratchet set and a torque wrench.

The set seems to get good reviews and has a good warranty, would it cover nearly everything?

My main question is I'm not sure which range torque wrench to buy - 8-60 or 40-200 (ish)? Or would I need both?

The draper torque wrenches get good reviews, and I was also looking at the Halfords ones.

Any advice appreciated for a novice such as myself  

[HGV mechanic]

I'm considering buying the Halfords Professional 150 Piece Socket / Ratchet set and a torque wrench.

The set seems to get good reviews and has a good warranty, would it cover nearly everything?

My main question is I'm not sure which range torque wrench to buy - 8-60 or 40-200 (ish)? Or would I need both?

The draper torque wrenches get good reviews, and I was also looking at the Halfords ones.

Any advice appreciated for a novice such as myself  

not sure about that bit,,, but as for torque wrenches i , personally would get both

[Omega man 2]

I've gat a halfords 8-60 and has done everything I need for an engine rebuild

Great piece of kit

[dad1uk]

Had several Halfords toolkits over the years, for the price they are good stuff.

[Jimbob]

A lot of us have them, at £99 they are not bad value, and guarantee works well,

Spanners are narrow, which is good sometimes, but they can dig in  :-/

I like the fact everything is easy to find, and has its place.

[TheBoy]

The Halfords Pro 150 pc is a decent set at £99.  Note that the new 150pc sets are slightly different to the older ones, I think around the bits being screwdriver bits rather than socket bits.

Also note that the rachet mechanisms are only guaranteed for 1yr.  Also, keep the receipt - every part I've broken (through misuse I have to add ) they have asked for original receipt.

I have loads of socket rails from varying manufacturers - Clarke/Draper/Halfords etc, and its the Halfords ones I keep going back to.

As for torque wrench, one is never going to cover what you need.

[Marks DTM Calib]

As many know, I am not a big fan of the Halfords set for a few reasons.

It contains loads of cheap nasty bits which are of little use.
The spanners are rather awful and useless
Halfords ratchets are pretty shite!

The only reasonable items are the sockets.

Trouble is, you need to buy multiple items in order to get a good level of tools to meet your needs

[Marks DTM Calib]

The Halfords Pro 150 pc is a decent set at £99.  Note that the new 150pc sets are slightly different to the older ones, I think around the bits being screwdriver bits rather than socket bits.

Also note that the rachet mechanisms are only guaranteed for 1yr.  Also, keep the receipt - every part I've broken (through misuse I have to add ) they have asked for original receipt.

I have loads of socket rails from varying manufacturers - Clarke/Draper/Halfords etc, and its the Halfords ones I keep going back to.

As for torque wrench, one is never going to cover what you need.

The Halfords stuff is draper professional re-branded!

[TheBoy]

As many know, I am not a big fan of the Halfords set for a few reasons.

It contains loads of cheap nasty bits which are of little use.
The spanners are rather awful and useless
Halfords ratchets are pretty shite!

The only reasonable items are the sockets.

Trouble is, you need to buy multiple items in order to get a good level of tools to meet your needs

That seems to be the bit they have changed in the newer kits.  Not used them, so can't comment.

As to the rachets, they can take some severe abuse (), the only one I've damaged is a 3/8th one, where the mechanism to retain the attached socket has given up.  Downside, is they are not the 72teeth rachets, so sometimes not fine enough.


The kit does need around £5 worth of socket adapters, which should be included imho.  And loose all the philips/pozidrive/flat screwdrive bits in favour of proper screwdrivers (not that I'm a fan of Halfords screwdrivers - Draper Expert are my preferred weapon of choice).

[TheBoy]

The Halfords Pro 150 pc is a decent set at £99.  Note that the new 150pc sets are slightly different to the older ones, I think around the bits being screwdriver bits rather than socket bits.

Also note that the rachet mechanisms are only guaranteed for 1yr.  Also, keep the receipt - every part I've broken (through misuse I have to add ) they have asked for original receipt.

I have loads of socket rails from varying manufacturers - Clarke/Draper/Halfords etc, and its the Halfords ones I keep going back to.

As for torque wrench, one is never going to cover what you need.

The Halfords stuff is draper professional re-branded!

I wonder if Halfords will replace that draper socket that split on me when I was undoing her sump plug a few years ago, resulting in me smashing my knuckles on the ground (and then again when I thumped the wall in temper because it hurt)

[TheBoy]

For me, I loose confidence in a brand if it lets me down.  The Clarke Pro stuff I've been pretty disappointed with (great rachets though ), though the torx rail is good, and good value.

The Draper set I had, not much left of it now.

I have in emergancies bought whatever Argos had in stock on a Sunday afternoon, most of that 'Ross' or whatever it is is shite, but I still have one of those argos sets (with HEX sockets) that I still use on bastard bolts and long breaker bars.


Its kind of odd what we all get used to and have confidence in  :-/

[TheBoy]

I also use the Halfords rachet spanners that cost around £70 for all sizes from 8mm - 19mm.  They are always on half price offer, again, never let me down. Like their normal spanners, suffer from being thin and digging in, but work well for me...

[LouisCorney]

Thanks.

Is the 150 worth going for over, say, the 120 piece set?

And what torque wrenches (make and range, or combination of) would you recommend?

[TheBoy]

Thanks.

Is the 150 worth going for over, say, the 120 piece set?

And what torque wrenches (make and range, or combination of) would you recommend?

If you get it on offer, the 150pc one is cheaper than the 120pc one of offer.

Sealey make cheap torque wrenches, not always with Nm scale though (Kgm normally), easy enough to calculate though.

[LouisCorney]

If you get it on offer, the 150pc one is cheaper than the 120pc one of offer.

Sealey make cheap torque wrenches, not always with Nm scale though (Kgm normally), easy enough to calculate though.

Don't suppose anybody knows when it will be on offer? ( I think the 120 piece is currently on offer at £99?)

Is a 1/2" square drive torque wrench the one to go for? Sealey and draper look good value, but unsure which ones to get...