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Cheap socket set for vacation house?

mike93lx

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He didn’t give a price range for what he was looking to buy. With a coupon that’s about $300. Not exactly SnapOn pricing for a very complete set of tools that are probably more than adequate and would cover just about anything you’d work on around the house.
I agree and I was reading your comment out of context
 
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gba2331

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Whatever cheap set you buy will inevitably be missing the one piece you really need. Since this is a vacation house and you don’t get there often, time is probably more important than money (to some degree), so buy a decent kit like this and get the job done vs. saving some money but having to remember to bring X the next time you find time to get away to the vacation house.

 

rust in the eye

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Okay, to quell all the objections to cheap tools, Harbor Freight, etc.
At minimum you'll need a full Snap-On set with 6 and 12 point sockets, shallow and deep in 1/4" & 3/8" drive, metric and fractional inch, no skips. Several ratchets and at least three different extension lengths for each drive size. Could probably roll it into the vacation home's mortgage.
Seriously though, if willing to invest a little time a good quality used set can be had cheap. I've been culling and struggled to get $10 for a 10 pc set of 3/8" US Craftsman sockets. Otherwise the HF stuff will serve you just fine to assemble KD furniture, kids toys, BBQ grills etc.
Frankly, I no longer keep any sockets in the house as they are seldom useful. Most repairs require driving screws or turning open end wrenches on pipes. I surprised myself at how few tools are actually needed at hand for most repairs.
 

IndyGarage

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I think a set like this would be good. Around the house I tend to use lots of tools besides sockets. Good screwdrivers (not bit sets) and hammers come in handy.

Craftsman Amazon Set
I bought that set for my daughter when she moved into an apartment. She actually used the hammer and a screwdriver a couple times, but when I came over and needed to do things it came in handy.
 

Citation

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This looks like a really good set for the money
The down side is the parts are all "black chrome" so harder to see if dropped. The up side is this is a very good range of sizes including deep sockets for a reasonable price. $63 for 1/4 and 3/8 shallow and deep with no skips in the useful size ranges. Zero fillers. I think I had fewer sockets the first time I pulled the head off a car on my own.
 

Davefr

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actually.... I do pretty much all of the work on this house... and I can pretty much count on one hand the number of times I've had to use a socket and ratchet to fix something on the house.
wrenches now and then, yeah... if I have to screw around with plumbing maybe .... but sockets?
what's in my house that I'm going to put a socket onto?
I'm glad I had my old SAE socket set at the beach house last Sat. I had to replace the garage door opener and it came in pretty handy.

For vacation house tools, my strategy is garage sale finds and hand me downs from when I upgrade my main tools.
 
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Sumboodie

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tiny 1/4" SAE set (3/16" - 1/2") - look at KAL sets on Ebay (US made - actually damn good stuff) - it's a ***** item and there's a seller who's got a couple dozen of them dirt cheap. (I can't sell my own that cheap.)

3/8" drive SAE = you can find all the Thorsen/Giller you want on Ebay crazy cheap. You can't GIVE the stuff away, for some reason. I'm not even sure I want to list mine considering what I am seeing selling prices go for.

TEKTON is turning into a top-shelf line, but they're not as crazy cheap as they were before.

SAE is useless if you have to work on any cars built in the last 20 years.

Fixed.
Metric was barely a thing on domestics until the late 90s.
 

mike93lx

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I get the majority of stuff around the house fixed with this arrangement. Replacing a toilet, changing a valve, swapping a switch or light fixture, putting together or tightening up furniture, hanging a TV, etc. Stud finder is on a shelf just to the right with wall anchors, batteries, super glue, painters tape and a hot glue gun

I want to upgrade a couple things, but they'll just be better versions of the same tools. I only haven't because those better versions are in the next room20230918_145226.jpg
 
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ChevyEFI

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What's the nearest store? Choice would be simple if you go by that. Kobalt if Lowes. Pittsburgh if HF. Milwaukee if Ace?
 
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