Digital electronic torque wrenches?

[turbobu]

I did some searching and what little I found was old info. So how do the digital torque wrenches available today compare Snapon, Gearwrench, Craftsman, Whatever is available off of the other tool trucks, etc... I'm in the market for one and I'm a hobbist working with LS engines and motorcycle engines Japanese and American bikes.

 

[mrholeshot]

If you use it costantly and have a climate controlled enviroment I would say invest in one but if it's something you are using as a hobby I would say buy something that will last for a fifetime. No much of anything digital will last last for more than about 10 years. Using it costantly will pay for itself.

 

[reptilezs]

work supplies a snap on for me

 

[LEVE]

I guess you've got a few choices, beam, clicky, or digital.

Me, I like the clicky style for my DIY shade-tree kind of work I'm always doing. I hear they're not as accurate as a beam or a digital. They do just fine for my usage on heads, transmissions, axles, lug, valve/oil pan covers, and the like.

Often I'm not in a good position to see a beam or a display on a digital. Then the audible click is a boon, it doesn't care what position I'm in... I can still hear it when it reaches the limit.

So far, in the 20 years I've owned my Great Neck clickly style torque wrenches they've never let me down.

 

[canuckian]

I've been looking at (drooling over) the Snap On digital torque wrenches for a while now and the effects a non-heated shop would have on them never even ocurred to me. Guess I'll stick with my el cheapo twisty handled ones for now.

 

[muddyjoe15]

I had a friend tell me the angle meter on the snap ons are off. He tested on a bolt in the vice and said it was about 25 degrees off. Now weather he got a defective one or if this happens with all of them i dont know.

 

[boogerboy72]

ive used my matco one, with angle feature, to put on roughly 10-15 heads on cars, none have come back from "lose bolts".

that being said, im looking to still pick up a PI split beam 3/8ths one.

 

[wafrederick]

The digital electronic torque wrenches are more money and have one huge advantage.Can tell you if you overtorqued a fastner and this can happen.Green means good and red means you overtorqued.I do not like the beam type,worst one to read in dark spots.I like the clicker type better and I use my matco right setting it to the lowest number when not in use.Once it clicks,it is torqued.The hosts of Trucks need to learn how to use a torque wrench right,don't jerk on them.

 

[turbobu]

I've borrowed a buddies older tech100 3/8" before and I liked using it. I don't think it has the angle feature although I do torque a high percentage of torque to yield fasteners. I was really wondering how the others staked up to the Snap-on tech wrenches. I'm mainly interested in 15-100 foot lbs + angle. but not sure how important the angle feature really is to me, I've not building $20k+ engines, and degrees can be eyeballed closer than +/- 20 degrees as stated above. For 1/2" drive stuff clicky is OK for me.

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

I have a set of 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 CDI electronic wrenches and prefer them in most situations when working on anything around an engine, transmission or similar. They are very precise, varying temps don't bother them (mine live in a barely heated garage), have audible sounds plus the color bars to let you see where you are and can be used out of position unlike a beam style wrench.

Are they the be all, end all? No, I still use my 1/2" Snap-on clicker and need to replace my 3/8" that grew legs about 3 years ago. I like them for wheels and when I am working on an older car (At my age, old cars, old style torque wrenchs and old farts go together...)