Digital vs Mechanical TW

[boom_bap]

What are peoples opinions of digital vs mechanical torque wrenches? I'm in the market for a torque wrench (maybe 2) that I can trust.

I've read around a bit and I see people recommending the CDI, the PI, the Snap-On, etc.
I see people saying their $20 harbor freight is just as good. I don't see much recommendation of digital.

Currently, I have a 1/4 Tekton 20-200 in lb, wrench that I use for torqueing belly pans, and intake gaskets, valve covers etc. I have no idea if I can trust it, but nothing has leaked so far and its solved my problems. I also have an ACDelco 1/2 14.4-150 digital adapter I use for torquing lugs.

I've read so many varying opinions on what is good and what isn't I have no idea at this point, what to buy. I have a hard time buying Icon just because harbor freight, but didn't hesitate to buy a US General 5 drawer cart from them (which is awesome). As an example, some people have nothing but bad things to say about PI (over torqing bolts etc), while most say they're great.. So which is it? I'm guessing those people just don't know what their doing?

I am looking for a 1/2 and maybe even a 3/8 so I can bridge the gap between the 16.6 lbfts of the 1/4 and the common 30 ftlbs of most 1/2 wrenches.

I am leaning away from digital because batteries sound annoying, however if they are more accurate for the lifespan of the tool, then I'll go that route I suppose. I am a diyier, non-pro, who does all the maintenance on my truck and sedan. I enjoy the work and challenge, but I don't want to be out fixing **** every weekend if you know what I mean. I do like quality tools, but I understand there is a middle ground. Prefer made in usa, but sometimes that is out of the budget. Hopefully that paints the picture. I just care about a tool that does the job well everytime I need it to.

 

[zendriver]

Digital torque wrenches is just another battery to deal with iMO

I have a harbor freight and a craftsman click style torque wrench.

I haven’t snapped off any fasteners or had them come loose and Sally much do their job OK

 

[Neggy]

although my "go to" is a near 40 year old pre digital Snap-On, I would have no problem using my 50 year old Craftsman beam type, no click no battery old school torque wrench

Battery operated torque wrenches, caipers, micrometers, etc are for people who were not trained to use the conventional tool the correct way ... although I lent my click ytpe to a ffriend who proceeded to ignore the click and broke multiple rocker arm studs in his Buick V6

 

[Odd-job]

The GJ consensus is always to eventually buy both, but this is going to be highly opinionated. Went on a similar journey as a DIYer a while back and eventually ended up with a selection of digitals.

Mechanicals are definitely nice and low fuss with no batteries and can be dropped in coolant without too much worry. While I like my CDIs the lower ratchet tooth count drives me nuts in tight places. Think of the old notorious Craftsman 36 tooth ratchets.

Digitals are nice especially if you don't like math. Things requiring angle. Also nice not having to convert for newton meters if you deal a lot with Euro/global stuff, etc. My digitals don't vibrate, but I could see them being annoying if you can't see the lights or hear the beep.

One last thing, if you are lazy like me... for some reason unwinding the click types (so they don't lose calibration) I find really annoying. I just leave my Quinn/Eclatorq 1/2 digital set to 100 ft/lbs when I want to tighten lug nuts on the family fleet which is probably 90% of the use of my 1/2 inchers. Maybe split beam, dial or beam types would be a nice alternatives or compliments to digitals.

 

[qqzj]

The best thing about digital ones is that they often come with an angle gauge. That is nice.

Among the mechanic torque wrenches, the GearWrench 120xp flex head is really easy to use.

Fine tooth
Flex head
No concern that the torque setting knob can become lose when torquing
No need to reset to the lowest. (But to put it into the case, you kinda have to.)

Here is my review.

Show off your GearWrench tools!

Let's do this differently. Each post has this format so we know how many GW tools you have and whether you are a pro or home warrior. For example: John HW 10. John is a home warrior with 10 GW tools so far. Joe Pro 20. Joe is a professional with 20 GW tools. I am going to try to get to top 10...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[IndyGarage]

Went to use my digital the other day and batteries were dead. Didn't have time to figure out how to change them or what kind it used. Pulled out the 1970's Craftsman beam wrench and finished the job.

 

[cvairwerks]

What'ch gonna do when your doofus buddy drops that digital unit and shatters the display and the vendor tells you that parts are no longer available and it's only 5 years old???? Snap On still supports the 3/8" flex head, manual set, torque wrench that I bought almost 40 years ago.

 

[jsmeece]

Non professional here, I have 13 torque wrenches I have gathered over the years, 3 USA made Craftsman (one beam and two clickers all 1/2 drive) one of clickers I keep outside and use it for only lugnuts. Have three HF ones (1/4, 3/8, and 1/2), I picked up only because they were clearing them out at $10 a piece during one of their sidewalk sales, still have never used them, probably never will. But if someone ask to borrow a torque wrench they will get a HF one. Six Armstrong (two 1/4 (64-031, 64-032), two 3/8 (64-041, 64-046), one 1/2 (64-084) and one 3/4 (64-095) and two Matco flex heads 3/8 (TRB75F) and 1/2 (TRC250F); all of these I store in the house and take them outside when needed.

I never really seen a reason to get a digital one, or even an angle one. I have no intension of ever doing any major head work or removing a crank or rod so I don't need angle capability. I would chose a torque wrench type and style based on the type of work you will be preforming and then go from there.

 

[qqzj]

To torque crank pulley properly, you need angle gauge. Of course people can avoid it using various ways.

 

[jsmeece]

To torque crank pulley properly, you need angle gauge. Of course people can avoid it using various ways.

Not on all vehicles, especially older ones you don't. Didn't need to on the last crank pulley I replaced, 1999 Ford Ranger 3.0 liter.

 

[seber]

Both styles will experience accuracy drift but for different reasons. I see no advantage to digital unless it includes angle. On the other hand, battery replacement can be a major hassle if you are an occasional user. I use split beam style and I love it.

 

[Professional Tool User]

Going with digital only makes sense if you need to do angles. Otherwise, you are not really making your life easier.

 

[ycgoat]

I think quality is the biggest concern. I have a mechanical click type (probably HF) and felt like I was going to break a bolt, so I went out and bought the only beam type I could find (another cheap from Advance auto) and sure enough, I was trying to over torque the bolts. This wheel related on my 2500 Chevy but I do not remember exactly which part.

 

[Snapped-off]

I'd love to have some digital techangles, but being a DIY hack my usage just can't justify one. I ended up with 3 CDI clickers, and a few dial wrenches.

I just use an angle gauge as needed for TTY stuff.

 

[Steve_P]

For home use, a clicker is all you need. If you need the angle readout, just mark the head of the bolt and the surface it's against and tighten until you reach the desired rotation.

 

[boom_bap]

If I am honest with myself, I don't need angle, if I ever do I suppose I'd be out to buy another one, and hopefully the project would justify the price. That being said if a clicker and a torque angle are similar in price well then I'm not sure.

Realistically, I'll get a 1/2 inch clicker either spring or beam, and it will be used for tire rotation, cv axle replacement (axle nuts), other suspension work. IF I get a 3/8 I'll use if for anything my 1/4 or 1/2 can't do (10-50 lbft). I'm replacing my gfs lug nuts today cause the last tech clearly didn't torque them and they were easily 200 lbft on a 76 spec. They are the toyota onces with teh aluminum two piece design, so they're all deformed its a nightmare.

Quality is longevity (if that exists anymore) are my priorities.

 

[zendriver]

I could see (no pun intended) how digital would be better for some (me)to set.

On a click TW I have a hard seeing to aligning the settings on the twist knob. Numbers are very and not much contrast.

 

[theoldwizard1]

The BIG win on good digital torque wrenches is when you need to "torque to 100 lb-ft and the 60° more"

 

[IndyGarage]

The BIG win on good digital torque wrenches is when you need to "torque to 100 lb-ft and the 60° more"

So why would you need anything more than a 100 ft lb wrench? Just torque it and turn it 1/6 of a turn more. You don't need an angle gauge to divide a circle into 6 parts.

 

[WWheeler]

If I worked using them every day I'd have a Snappy Digital Techangle for sure.
As a home gamer my vote's for Precision Instruments Flex-head Split Beams. They just work.

 

[quickfarms]

All of mine are click type

1/4”, 3/8” and 1/2” old craftsman

and two 3/4” protos

I have taken the 1/2” and two 3/4” ones and set them at the same torque and they all clicked the same

 

[matt_i]

The "click" eventually needs internal lubrication so it stays consistent. Otherwise the results get skewed by friction. I have seen it with my own eyes.

Seeing as digital just has a strain gage in it, there is one less moving part to mess with. The electronics, however, once fried, are a throwaway most likely.

 

[General Geoff]

Old style beam wrench has no moving parts to lubricate, no springs that wear out, and no electronics to fry. Calibration is as simple as bending the needle to point to zero at rest. Bonus, they're more accurate than most clickers and electronic torque wrenches.

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These things were collecting dust on shelves at $20 a few years ago but it looks like all the stock is sold, and the price has gone up.

Still, $50 for a dead accurate made-in-USA torque wrench is hard to beat.

 

[39 LaSalle]

I'm a home gamer myself. I use a torque wrench maybe once or twice a year. This will be an unpopular opinion for some, but I use a Quinn 1/2" digital torque adapter, and I also have their 3/8" digital wrench for smaller stuff and have been very pleased with the results. I also have an old Craftsman beam type wrench. The reason I went digital is because I don't always have the luxury of being able to physically see the gauge when I'm torqueing something. For example, laying under a car and trying to hit 90 ft. lbs. on an axle u-bolt ain't happenin' when I'm trying to wrestle the wrench and can't keep an eye on the gauge because of the angle of it while pulling on the handle. That very audible beeper which tells me when I am getting close and when I'm spot on is pretty handy.

 

[dnschmidt]

As a person with at least 25 torque wrenches, who also sold torque wrenches (Eclatorq), I prefer the clickers for any job that doesn't employ torque to yield fasteners that require angle measurement which is where the digitals, that include angle, pull away from the pack. The digitals are just harder to use in modern cars that provide zero room since you'll not be able to see the display in most cases anyway. Yes, they beep and vibrate and have beautiful flashing lights but for most part you'll not see them when they are in real world action anyway. I'll give an example. I torque my oil filters on my cars. The oil filter on my Camry is in a location that doesn't enable me to see my digital torque wrench’s display when I’m installing the filter so I have to rely on its beep. The digital is thicker and more bulky than my clicker and basically I gain none of the advantages of the digital (more accuracy due to its strain gauge technology that is inherently better than any spring) a beep or a click sound about the same to me and the smaller form factor of the clicker is an advantage.
If you’re building engines on a stand you need a digital with torque angle. If you’re torqueing stuff in place on a car a clicker is better and faster.

 

[qqzj]

Suppose you need to torque to

As a person with at least 25 torque wrenches, who also sold torque wrenches (Eclatorq), I prefer the clickers for any job that doesn't employ torque to yield fasteners that require angle measurement which is where the digitals, that include angle, pull away from the pack. The digitals are just harder to use in modern cars that provide zero room since you'll not be able to see the display in most cases anyway. Yes, they beep and vibrate and have beautiful flashing lights but for most part you'll not see them when they are in real world action anyway. I'll give an example. I torque my oil filters on my cars. The oil filter on my Camry is in a location that doesn't enable me to see my digital torque wrench’s display when I’m installing the filter so I have to rely on its beep. The digital is thicker and more bulky than my clicker and basically I gain none of the advantages of the digital (more accuracy due to its strain gauge technology that is inherently better than any spring) a beep or a click sound about the same to me and the smaller form factor of the clicker is an advantage.
If you’re building engines on a stand you need a digital with torque angle. If you’re torqueing stuff in place on a car a clicker is better and faster.

Why don't you benefit from more accuracy?

 

[71firebird400]

As a recent convert from micrometer-style to split-beam I can say I never want to go back to wearing out my wrist twisting one of those things again. It'll be split beams and maybe digital for me from now on.

 

[boom_bap]

I think you'd need a 1/4 micro or do they make those in split beam too?

What are all the brands people have had good luck with, other than Snap-on and precision? I'm trying to get a feel for what is worth the money and what isn't.

 

[cvairwerks]

Why don't you benefit from more accuracy?

Resolution and accuracy are two different things. Resolution is the smallest incremental change that will register, while accuracy is how close the measurement is to what is actually being measured.

 

[dnschmidt]

One thing I do like about digital torque wrenches is that I'm a metric kind of guy and I think in N-m not ft-lb. I've got Japanese and German cars and all of the specs are in N-m and converting these to ft-lb is a pain in my ***. Here's an easy way to remember how to go from N-m to ft-lb. WHAT IS THE MOST POPULAR COMMERCIAL AIRPLANE IN THE WORLD? The 737. 0.737 is the conversion factor between N-M and ft-lbs. If you have 20 ft-lb divide that by 0.737 to determine the number of N-m. In this case 20/0.737 = 27 N-m. if you have N-m multiply by 0.737 to convert to ft-lb, 40 N-m = 40 X 0.737 = 29.5 ft-lb.

 

[RedneckWelder]

I think you'd need a 1/4 micro or do they make those in split beam too?

What are all the brands people have had good luck with, other than Snap-on and precision? I'm trying to get a feel for what is worth the money and what isn't.

Snap on owns CDI and that’s who makes their torque wrenches. Snap On puts a nicer ratchet head on them but you can buy CDI TWs as well. The Snap Ons are,like most things from them, overpriced as **** (you’ll pay for a 1/2 what my CDI 3/4 costs new).

Precision Instruments makes a nice torque wrench as well. Other brands like Cornwell appear to use PI as their maker.

The digital Hf Quinn and Gearwrench (same maker, several other brands as well) are decent.

Get yourself a flex head whatever you do.

For me my TWs aren’t used every day so click type is best for me and there are two kinds of those- the micrometer adjustment (pain in the ***) and split beam (quick and fast)

When I do use a torque wrench I do a ton of turn after torque stuff and I use a paint pen and mark on the socket and at the bolt corner I want to stop at so really the turn feature of digital TWs is not needed for me plus many of my turning would exceed the capacity of the TW so I use an impart, HYTORC or a breaker bar to do the turning.

 

[aussiek2000]

Only time I use a torque wrench in on TTY fasteners. So a digital one that can do angle is what I prefer. Currently using a matco 1/2" because its shorter length than SO make it a little more handy.

 

[WWheeler]

Snap on owns CDI and that’s who makes their torque wrenches. Snap On puts a nicer ratchet head on them but you can buy CDI TWs as well. The Snap Ons are,like most things from them, overpriced as **** (you’ll pay for a 1/2 what my CDI 3/4 costs new).

Precision Instruments makes a nice torque wrench as well. Other brands like Cornwell appear to use PI as their maker.

Worth noting in this context that up and until ~2003 or so Precision Instruments made all of their torque wrenches exclusively for Snap-On. When Snap-On decided to change suppliers PI began selling them under their own brand to be able to continue to stay in business. Snap-On must have had some considerable stock of PI torque wrenches or there must have been some sort of arrangement because all the way up through at least 2010 they were still selling PI-made torque wrenches alongside their CDI ones on their website.

EDIT:
Not sure it's been mentioned in this thread but also worth noting the differences in reliability of the different styles. Digital torque wrenches offer the greatest accuracy because the sound lets you creep right up to the desired torque setting and stop right there. Digital torque wrenches are new enough their long-term reliability remains to be seen but I sorta doubt I'll see 20yr old versions that pass a calibration without adjustment like split beam and beam-style ones often do. The pro-models like Snap-On's Techangle seem to be up to the task but I believe they only come with a 2 yr warranty IIRC. Now that there is a plethora of consumer-grade digital torque wrench brands that are new to the market the reliability and accuracy of them is at best for now a your-guess-is-as-good-as-mine kinda thing.

Click types always will vary if ever just slightly just over the desired torque setting which depends on how hard the user pushed it past the click which can very slightly or by a lot if the user is more careless.

As far as clickers go the split beam is FAR more reliable long term than dial clickers because they don't rely on a spring inside that as it wears out the accuracy will suffer. How long will a dial clicker stay accurate depends on the user remembering to reset it to '0' for storage after every use. Judging by dial clickers we use in a factory setting every day that get a quality calibration every month they do tend to stay pretty accurate for a long time even when often left not set back to 0 like they should, That said, if you leave a dial clicker stored for a long time set to half or more of its range then you won't know unless you have it calibrated which for most dial clickers would be almost ridiculous to have done since it can cost as much or more than the wrench did in the first place.

 

[VolvoRyan]

Cheap digitals are more for looking cool, IMHO.

The Project Farm guy demonstrated that cheaper clickers tend to wander a bit more than the fancier ones after repeated use.

I prefer to go a bit upmarket for a plain-jane clicker..... and like the old-fashioned bendy ones for things less than 20 ft-lbs.

Angle tightening isn't hard to do with a breaker bar. Between the flats and points on a fastener, you've got 30 degrees of resolution. A dab of white out makes it easy to see where you are.

-Ryan

 

[dnschmidt]

Angle tightening isn't hard to do with a breaker bar. Between the flats and points on a fastener, you've got 30 degrees of resolution. A dab of white out makes it easy to see where you are.

Not really unless you have transparent aluminum sockets (Yes, I'm a Trekkie). Yes, you know where the stopping point is since that's visible but you can't see where the mark on the point of the bolt is unless you've marked the outside of the socket at the same location. You have to continuously check to see where you are so that you don't go over.

 

[VolvoRyan]

Not really unless you have transparent aluminum sockets (Yes, I'm a Trekkie). Yes, you know where the stopping point is since that's visible but you can't see where the mark on the point of the bolt is unless you've marked the outside of the socket at the same location. You have to continuously check to see where you are so that you don't go over.

I'm a sucker for the fourth movie, too! "Hello computer".

Fair enough. Seems I deal mostly with flange bolt/screws/nuts, and the flange is always visible. There are some fun other ways to get angles, too. I've also put paint marks on the outside of sockets when it really matters.

-Ryan

 

[Lucid Moments]

I had a buddy that was an old retired mechanic. Had an old Snap On split beam style torque wrench (One of the PI made ones) that he couldn't remember for sure when he bought it. Best guess was in the early 70s. Took it to a to a Snap On truck in 2019 and it was still in spec.

I don't use torque wrenches often so I stick with non-electronic ones. Nothing I hate worse than picking up a tool then having to sort around to find batteries so I can use it.

 

[visionguru]

I am leaning away from digital because batteries sound annoying, however if they are more accurate for the lifespan of the tool, then I'll go that route I suppose. I am a diyier, non-pro, who does all the maintenance on my truck and sedan. ....

Batteries is 100x easier to deal with than worrying about the accuracy of the wrench or having to dial down to the lower settings. I use Energizer Ultimate Lithium, which can hold up power for 20 years, AND will never leak.

Digital is definitely more accurate and consistent over time. I started with a 15 year old Snap On digital (none angle), and found that it was still dead on. I think Snap On specifies 5000 torque counts as interval between accuracy checks for digital. For a DIYer, that's basically a lifetime.

The beeping, warning lights, and vibrations make digital a superior tool, especially at lower torque settings (such as 1/4").

 

[corn chip]

hands down stahlwille is my recomendation but a new one may cost far more than your wanting to spend just for lugnuts and drain plugs. if your not opposed to used ones there might be some on ebay for reasonable price

 

[RedneckWelder]

Not really unless you have transparent aluminum sockets (Yes, I'm a Trekkie). Yes, you know where the stopping point is since that's visible but you can't see where the mark on the point of the bolt is unless you've marked the outside of the socket at the same location. You have to continuously check to see where you are so that you don't go over.

That’s why you put a paint mark on your socket at one of the hex corners and use that as your indicator.