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Toptul order arrived (pics)

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posaune

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Collinsville, Connecticut
Yesterday was a good day!

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I returned home from working in Toronto to find two boxes from Mike. Below are some more detailed pics of the contents.

First though, some background:

This is my first Toptul experience and I hadn't seen any Toptul tools except on the internet previously. The order was made solely on the reports here. My thought was that as a shadetree wrencher with not much in the way of disposable income, I would buy things that I have needed/wanted in the past, but didn't buy because the cost-to-usefulness ratio didn't make sense to me (at least for tools of decent quality). Until a couple years ago (when I joined this bad BAD forum :shocking:), almost all of my tools were standard Craftsman. Now I have a mix of Craftsman, PB Swiss, Proto, SK, New Britain, Blackhawk, Snap-on and Gearwrench.

On first inspection, these tools look and feel as good as anything I own. I am not really a tool polisher to the extent that some others on here are, but I do expect tools to be well finished from the factory. These are. The insides of the sockets look better than anything I have from SK or Proto and the chrome on the wrenches looks great. I think I am really going to like the locking extensions too. I already prefer the way they lock to the significantly more expensive SK set I have.

I know I am repeating what many others have said, but I would also can't say enough good things about Mike. Though, as pointed out at length in other threads, the business is still having some teething problems, I encourage anyone on the fence to try out Wren Hand Tools. Mike is easy to deal with and eager to help. That seller on ebay from New Haven? He is about 40min from my house. *I* still had my stuff shipped from Washington State. I will in the future too. :thumbup:


Swivel sockets - everything offered by Toptul, I think. Metric 10-19mm are on the top, SAE on the bottom. All are 3/8" drive.
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I ordered a bunch of wobble extensions but Mike was out of many due to a change in production or some such. These two 1/4" ones are slightly different - I wonder if one is a newer stye.
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knurling worthy of Merk?
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3/8" drive:
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---more coming---
 
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posaune

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24" 1/2" drive breaker:
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One of the only flaws I've noticed is that the band(s) around the handle are not complete. I am not at all bothered by it, but will include pics in the interest of full disclosure.
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And finally, not everything from Wren Hand Tools comes from Taiwan. Apparently some of it comes from "CHINA A" :lol_hitti Actually, it is quite a nice pen...
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The Muffin Man

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posaune said:
And finally, not everything from Wren Hand Tools comes from Taiwan. Apparently some of it comes from "CHINA A" :lol_hitti Actually, it is quite a nice pen...
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Click to expand...

Thus true, yet the ink cartridge is from Germany :thumbup:

Thank you for posting the pictures Posaune. I've been eying those extra long wrenches for quite some time, and this thread has put me on the brink of pulling the trigger.
 
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Joelfke

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ive yelled at mike about this but toptul REALLY needs to make 1/4" drive swivel sockets and 3/8" drive impact swivels....those 3/8" non-impact ones look amazing...let us know how they hold up
 
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dede2897234

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posaune,

I purchased the Toptul 10 piece midget dynamic metric wrench set from "rocco24k" (RP Auto Supply) on eBay from New Haven, Connecticut last week. RP Auto Supply is an outstanding seller to purchase from on eBay. I have never purchased any tools made by Toptul in the past. RP Auto Supply e-mailed me a UPS tracking number, packaged the wrenches carefully, and shipped them to my home very quickly. I was very impressed by the quality Toptul emphasizes in the manufacturing and finishing processes of their wrenches. I wish Danaher Tool Group did the same with Crapsman! I spoke to Mike from Wren Hand Tools this evening. He was very pleasant to speak with and answered all my Toptul questions. I plan on placing my next Toptul order with Mike. However, in the future, I would not hesitate to place another Toptul order with RP Auto Supply.
 
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posaune

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dede2897234 said:
posaune,

I purchased the Toptul 10 piece midget dynamic metric wrench set from "rocco24k" (RP Auto Supply) on eBay from New Haven, Connecticut last week. RP Auto Supply is an outstanding seller to purchase from on eBay. I have never purchased any tools made by Toptul in the past. RP Auto Supply e-mailed me a UPS tracking number, packaged the wrenches carefully, and shipped them to my home very quickly. I was very impressed by the quality Toptul emphasizes in the manufacturing and finishing processes of their wrenches. I wish Danaher Tool Group did the same with Crapsman! I spoke to Mike from Wren Hand Tools this evening. He was very pleasant to speak with and answered all my Toptul questions. I plan on placing my next Toptul order with Mike. However, in the future, I would not hesitate to place another Toptul order with RP Auto Supply.
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that the guy here in CT is a bad guy or anything. I would just prefer to support someone who is active in the GJ community. I buy lots of things from ebay (and have never had a problem) and because I SO hate to use the phone I *might have* gone that direction for Toptul as well. When I looked though, the ebay guys didn't have everything I wanted AND they were more expensive. That kind of sealed the deal for me.

I bought a lot of my GearWrench stuff after the guys showed up on here. The same goes for PB Swiss. Maybe it makes no difference in the long run, but I really like to see that reps for companies are here and listening (at least a little!) to people who care about tools. If someone from Craftsman was here, maybe they'd get more respect! Well, except from Merkava... :spit:
 
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Stuey

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posaune said:
I bought a lot of my GearWrench stuff after the guys showed up on here. The same goes for PB Swiss. Maybe it makes no difference in the long run, but I really like to see that reps for companies are here and listening (at least a little!) to people who care about tools. If someone from Craftsman was here, maybe they'd get more respect! Well, except from Merkava... :spit:
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The Gearwrench rep is a rep from the manufacturer. The "PB Swiss" rep (if I recall correctly) is a distributor (Count On Tools), as is Mike (Wren Hand Tools). The distributors represent their own businesses, not the companies whose goods they carry.

Personally, I'd like to see both manufacturers and distributors maintain a presence here.

There was a Craftsman presence on Twitter, but they abruptly disappeared.
 
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posaune

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Stuey said:
The Gearwrench rep is a rep from the manufacturer. The "PB Swiss" rep (if I recall correctly) is a distributor (Count On Tools), as is Mike (Wren Hand Tools). The distributors represent their own businesses, not the companies whose goods they carry.

Personally, I'd like to see both manufacturers and distributors maintain a presence here.
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You are totally right, of course - on both counts. I do think that these distributors are slightly different than say, someone who manages a Sears hardware or someone who distributes SK though, since there are so few distributors of Toptul or PB Swiss in the states. Not that I would mind having Sears or SK or anybody else here! It was great to have Billymade's Sears info, for example.

I'd like to see both manufacturers and distributors too, but sadly I doubt it will ever happen.
 
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wrenhandtools

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Just for the record....I contacted Toptul because it is SUPPOSEDLY agreed that no Toptul should be sold on Ebay...at all. None. They specifically asked that I not do that. I had no problem since that wasn't in my plans at all. I have contacted them and they will be getting in touch with this RP Auto supply. I don't know what will happen, but it is quite possible that unless this person gives Toptul a big order....they will not be able to buy from them again. Of course I can't know anything 100% but I can say that Toptul isn't happy to see their brand on Ebay. This in no way says that the seller isn;t a good business. They probably are just fine. I only have a VERY slight problem with them selling on Ebay. I don't mind the competition.

Sincerely,
 
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Merkava_4

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One of the only flaws I've noticed is that the band(s) around the handle are not complete. I am not at all bothered by it, but will include pics in the interest of full disclosure.
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Are you going to live with it, or ask Mike to swap it out?
 
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posaune

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Merkava_4 said:
Are you going to live with it, or ask Mike to swap it out?
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I know that this will make no sense at all to you, but...


I am going to live with it. :D


I try to limit my extra crazy ocd to a few things. That breaker is going to get used and scratched anyway and you really have to look at it closely to see that the bands aren't complete.
 
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posaune

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bmwpower said:
How much were those locking extensions?
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Which - the chrome or impact?

Chrome ranged from $3.23 to $5.95ea and the three impacts were $6.83, $7.84 and $10.63. These are old prices I think, but they are also before the discount.

Merkava_4 said:
I'm glad the slightly less than perfect breaker bar has a good home. :)
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Island of the misfit tools? :lol_hitti

Have a Snap-on wrench with a chip? An F80 without the USA stamp? How about a slightly bent SK wrench. Just send them to me! I'll be happy to foster them and treat them with honour and respect as though they were perfect. :lol:
 
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supraman1990

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Just to update you guys on the RP Auto Supply guy. He is discontinuing his toptul stuff. I was contacted by him in E-mail about him discounting everything as he was discontinuing the Toptul brand. When I inquired as to why he told me that their really just wasn't enough profit margin in them. He is a nice guy, and I talked to him at length a few times, but he will no longer carry Toptul after he sells off all his stuff. He is running some decent deals on stuff right now, but he will not be for much longer I am sure. Also, I owned a full set of the locking polished extension 1-2 years ago when Toptul was solely distributed by a guy about an hour from me in Charlotte. They were very useful at first, but as of this time, every single one of them that I used even semi-regularly has the black locking part broken off. I don't know if they have changed the way they design them now, but every one of them is broken off. They would just slide right off the extension after some use. They worked like a charm before, but I don't know that I will order anything but the standard stuff any more, for that reason.
 
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rp5000

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wrenhandtools said:
Just for the record....I contacted Toptul because it is SUPPOSEDLY agreed that no Toptul should be sold on Ebay...at all. None. They specifically asked that I not do that. I had no problem since that wasn't in my plans at all. I have contacted them and they will be getting in touch with this RP Auto supply. I don't know what will happen, but it is quite possible that unless this person gives Toptul a big order....they will not be able to buy from them again. Of course I can't know anything 100% but I can say that Toptul isn't happy to see their brand on Ebay. This in no way says that the seller isn;t a good business. They probably are just fine. I only have a VERY slight problem with them selling on Ebay. I don't mind the competition.

Sincerely,
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Hi, this is RP Auto supply. Wren I have been following your posts for some time on this forum, and for the most part you give me the impression of a bad business person. I’m not going to discuss the details of this, but I will appreciate it if you do not make up untrue statements and speak for Toptul as a whole.
 
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supraman1990

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Sadly it is. Now, not to say if loved and cared for they wouldn't last forever, but in the past I enjoyed abusing my tools, and the tool didn't like it.
 
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wrenhandtools

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Supra....why don't I send you one or two for free to see if they've improved them or not. I'm not worried about you breaking these or not. I'm truly curious to see if they're the same. Two orders ago they weren't available and maybe they changed something and maybe they didn't.
sincerely,
 
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supraman1990

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wrenhandtools said:
Supra....why don't I send you one or two for free to see if they've improved them or not. I'm not worried about you breaking these or not. I'm truly curious to see if they're the same. Two orders ago they weren't available and maybe they changed something and maybe they didn't.
sincerely,
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Fine with me Mike, I'll put them to my test and see if anything changed. I'm actually headed to pick up my phone right now to throw an order at you, so speak to you in a few minutes. I'll let everyone know if they changed anything to improve it.
 
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simonb

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wrenhandtools said:
Supra....why don't I send you one or two for free to see if they've improved them or not. I'm not worried about you breaking these or not. I'm truly curious to see if they're the same. Two orders ago they weren't available and maybe they changed something and maybe they didn't.
sincerely,
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hey rp5000:
this is what seperated mike from everyone else.

i have ordered from him once and am placing another order with him tomorrow; he is by far the best tool guy i have met.

i stopped buying from truck; i buy from mike.
 
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GT89mustang

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wrenhandtools said:
Just for the record....I contacted Toptul because it is SUPPOSEDLY agreed that no Toptul should be sold on Ebay...at all. None. They specifically asked that I not do that. I had no problem since that wasn't in my plans at all. I have contacted them and they will be getting in touch with this RP Auto supply. I don't know what will happen, but it is quite possible that unless this person gives Toptul a big order....they will not be able to buy from them again. Of course I can't know anything 100% but I can say that Toptul isn't happy to see their brand on Ebay. This in no way says that the seller isn;t a good business. They probably are just fine. I only have a VERY slight problem with them selling on Ebay. I don't mind the competition.

Sincerely,
Click to expand...

Seems like an easy way to get rid of your competition. Not a very nice move.
 
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