Great timing guys! My Snap On E torx sockets actually came in a day early. This is my first set of snap on tools, so I was excited and interested check them out and this thread made for a good comparison. I pulled out the E12 from the Snap On set and compared it to my old HF impact E12. I had a brand new, never torqued BMW E torx axle to diff bolt and used it for the comparison. (I know one is an impact and one isn’t...)
Two things jumped out to me in the comparison:
First, snugness:
Both are very similar. If anything, the HF impact may be slightly more snug but either way it’s almost identical. Not having torqued anything down with the Snap On, I can’t say if the SO is made less snug for a reason such as contact point etc. in any event, the HF did feel a tid bit tighter on the fastener - just an observation.
Second, depth of acceptance:
This is the best term I can think of for this. The MOST noticeable difference between the two is that the Snap Ons are cut with a deeper dish. This literally jumped out at me once i opened the package. They are obviously very nicely made but that was the first notable difference I spotted. Fitting each socket onto the fastener made this difference even more noticeable. The E torx head does not fit as deeply into the HF socket as it does the Snap On - this is VERY noticeable as you can see in the pics below. Not that there is any surprise here but the Snap On is superior in my opinion because of how much deeper it accepts the fastener.
One issue I have had with the HF impacts is that I had to be extra careful to make sure the socket was pressed on very firmly so the socket would not back up and strip the top of the fastener. Comparing the SO side by side with HF, this difference clearly makes the SO superior. Obviously I’m not making any break through discovery here that SO>than HF though
