LexusLover
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2022
- Messages
- 367
These days with all the random brands on Amazon it’s tough to know wether you’re getting a too good to be true deal, an actual good deal or a ridiculously great deal. Most times people probably just assume whatever arrives is going to be garbage but I was pleasantly surprised with this purchase and now I’m looking at several other budget tools I want to buy.
Included are pictures of one of my best Amazon purchases so far, the $78 “Meiwaltee” socket set which I would consider an awesome deal (about $1.72 per socket) the set is pretty much a 1/2@ metric master cr-mo impact socket set, they have that professional thin wall taper instead of the small cone taper on the tip that cheaper (and even some not so cheap) sockets have and the sizes offered range from 8-22(no skip) then 24,27,30&32mm in both deep and shallow along with 3 extensions a wobble adapter and a 3/8” female to 1/2” male adapter, the case is hit or miss but if you open it the right way you can avoid the sockets falling out but I’ll probably be switching these to socket rails when I upgrade to a box from my over packed versastack system.
These meiwaltee sockets are probably just as good as the Quinn sockets. It also looks like hf has discontinued the Pittsburgh pro impact sockets which were the same thin wall professional long taper style as these and relabeled the same product as Quinn. Several months ago I had speculated that hf was going to rebrand their Pittsburgh pro products as Quinn and drop a lot of the PP line or rebrand as just Pittsburgh which ***** because a lot of the pp stuff was good quality and I’m gonna have to grab what I can before it’s gone. Like their punch and chisel set and the nitride coated tap and die sets those are all surprisingly good products, anyway the sema show is very fast approaching so I guess we’ll see if they will announce any new Quinn ratchets or sockets then.
Recently I’ve been trying to find some 1/2” metric impact wobble sockets, some mid length 3/8 metric chrome and some metric 3/8” chrome stubby sockets. (Some mid length 1/2” metric impacts would be nice but the only option outside of tool trucks is koken for like $150+ and genius at around $75-85) it would be nice to know if anyone has any first hand experience with the low priced Amazon tools like casoman, mixpower duratech Orion motor tech, ABN, 8milelake, hoursdy, epauto, and others. The 3/8” mixpower chrome semi deep and stubby socket sets which are six point, 6-19mm are about $27-30 each which is ≈25% less than the icon and I would be curious to know how far off the quality are on them or wether they might both be manufactured by apex tools and identical except for the stamping. I would think not likely with the icon but they do look close to the Gearwrench set since they are both 14 piece and the look/ design of the sockets is almost identical. For the wobble sockets the options are mixpower and casoman (which look identical as far as advertising material goes) for $65 before discounts and then duratech for $75 which is essentially a great star product and I do hear good things about their lower priced wrench sets. The duratech set looks good but just because something looks fancier due to packaging or some powder coated coloring doesn’t mean the quality will be superior to the other more plain Jane sockets. I missed out on the icon wobble set that was discontinued due to hf switching part numbers/ suppliers on the 1/2” metric wobble sockets but one product I haven’t overlooked for those of you who would recommend me consider them is the Astro 1/2” nano pinless wobbles which are only $13 more than the duratech and although fewer pieces I think the set starts at 12 and goes to 24 skipping 20 &23 but I’m ok with skipping those sizes as well as 10 and 11 for quality. I could always buy the individual sizes in a tool truck brand in the future if needed.
At this moment I only have 1/2” impact sockets since that’s the best size for impacts. Not too big not to small and good for those large fasteners that are stubborn. Maybe I’ll upgrade and get 3/8” in the future but I could always use a lower setting on my 1/2” gun or if I get a 3/8” gun j can use a low profile adapter for the 1:2” sockets. But I consider 1/2” to be the goat as far as impact socket drive size goes. Then I have the standard deep and shallow chrome in 1/4 and 3/8 and shallow chrome 1/2” just haven’t needed deeps yet and been able to use the impact sockets when I do need a deep 1/2” socket for a ratchet,
I think there is a lot of value in these Amazon tools and the one downside is likely dealing with warranty claims and possibly being denied or having to jump through multiple hoops. But if you can get 2-3 years or more out of a tool that costs equal to or less what a bargain brand or semi pro brand like Gearwrench will cost then that’s a good value. Especially since them primary goal when you first start fixing cars is to get as many tools as you can afford to increase your skill set and capability.there are some tools I’m finding are harder to find bargain price deals on like extendable indexing pry bars and digital angle torque wrenches. But with torque wrenches you’re better off going icon because it’s tough to find torque wrenches with a lifetime warranty and that is definitely a valuable feature.
I was looking all over for Nielsen sockets, specially the xi-on sockets which are the oem for Mac rbrt/ usag / facom comprable product but Amazon only has the 1/4” set which is kind of worthless. Looks like I’ll have to get the large 284 piece craftsman overdrive set to get rbrt sockets. I already have the overdrive wrenches But it would be really nice if SBD just released individual socket rails of the overdrive sockets already. Such a wasted opportunity for sales. Most people these days have no need for sae sockets so even if they could do individual metric master sets and that would be awesome.
Ultimately I’m looking to upgrade some of my cheaper pitsburgh color coded (lgbtq) sockets for something a little more professional as I try to get a job as a starting mechanic apprentice or lube tech depending on what I can get with the tools I have. I have a list of tools to buy but I think expanding my metric socket selection would be beneficial if I want to be trusted with more than just lube tech and tire tech duties. a good percentage of people whk start In shops likely get on the first truck to pull up and get into $5000 of debt at a $100 a week payment or more but I already have about $4500 worth of tools and I think I could outfit myself with enough tools to get almost any job done for $2500. Maybe even grab a second hand tool box setup included in that price. I can post pics of my tool collection if anyone wants to criticize my setup or recommend what I should focus on buying before or after getting a starting tech job.
Included are pictures of one of my best Amazon purchases so far, the $78 “Meiwaltee” socket set which I would consider an awesome deal (about $1.72 per socket) the set is pretty much a 1/2@ metric master cr-mo impact socket set, they have that professional thin wall taper instead of the small cone taper on the tip that cheaper (and even some not so cheap) sockets have and the sizes offered range from 8-22(no skip) then 24,27,30&32mm in both deep and shallow along with 3 extensions a wobble adapter and a 3/8” female to 1/2” male adapter, the case is hit or miss but if you open it the right way you can avoid the sockets falling out but I’ll probably be switching these to socket rails when I upgrade to a box from my over packed versastack system.
These meiwaltee sockets are probably just as good as the Quinn sockets. It also looks like hf has discontinued the Pittsburgh pro impact sockets which were the same thin wall professional long taper style as these and relabeled the same product as Quinn. Several months ago I had speculated that hf was going to rebrand their Pittsburgh pro products as Quinn and drop a lot of the PP line or rebrand as just Pittsburgh which ***** because a lot of the pp stuff was good quality and I’m gonna have to grab what I can before it’s gone. Like their punch and chisel set and the nitride coated tap and die sets those are all surprisingly good products, anyway the sema show is very fast approaching so I guess we’ll see if they will announce any new Quinn ratchets or sockets then.
Recently I’ve been trying to find some 1/2” metric impact wobble sockets, some mid length 3/8 metric chrome and some metric 3/8” chrome stubby sockets. (Some mid length 1/2” metric impacts would be nice but the only option outside of tool trucks is koken for like $150+ and genius at around $75-85) it would be nice to know if anyone has any first hand experience with the low priced Amazon tools like casoman, mixpower duratech Orion motor tech, ABN, 8milelake, hoursdy, epauto, and others. The 3/8” mixpower chrome semi deep and stubby socket sets which are six point, 6-19mm are about $27-30 each which is ≈25% less than the icon and I would be curious to know how far off the quality are on them or wether they might both be manufactured by apex tools and identical except for the stamping. I would think not likely with the icon but they do look close to the Gearwrench set since they are both 14 piece and the look/ design of the sockets is almost identical. For the wobble sockets the options are mixpower and casoman (which look identical as far as advertising material goes) for $65 before discounts and then duratech for $75 which is essentially a great star product and I do hear good things about their lower priced wrench sets. The duratech set looks good but just because something looks fancier due to packaging or some powder coated coloring doesn’t mean the quality will be superior to the other more plain Jane sockets. I missed out on the icon wobble set that was discontinued due to hf switching part numbers/ suppliers on the 1/2” metric wobble sockets but one product I haven’t overlooked for those of you who would recommend me consider them is the Astro 1/2” nano pinless wobbles which are only $13 more than the duratech and although fewer pieces I think the set starts at 12 and goes to 24 skipping 20 &23 but I’m ok with skipping those sizes as well as 10 and 11 for quality. I could always buy the individual sizes in a tool truck brand in the future if needed.
At this moment I only have 1/2” impact sockets since that’s the best size for impacts. Not too big not to small and good for those large fasteners that are stubborn. Maybe I’ll upgrade and get 3/8” in the future but I could always use a lower setting on my 1/2” gun or if I get a 3/8” gun j can use a low profile adapter for the 1:2” sockets. But I consider 1/2” to be the goat as far as impact socket drive size goes. Then I have the standard deep and shallow chrome in 1/4 and 3/8 and shallow chrome 1/2” just haven’t needed deeps yet and been able to use the impact sockets when I do need a deep 1/2” socket for a ratchet,
I think there is a lot of value in these Amazon tools and the one downside is likely dealing with warranty claims and possibly being denied or having to jump through multiple hoops. But if you can get 2-3 years or more out of a tool that costs equal to or less what a bargain brand or semi pro brand like Gearwrench will cost then that’s a good value. Especially since them primary goal when you first start fixing cars is to get as many tools as you can afford to increase your skill set and capability.there are some tools I’m finding are harder to find bargain price deals on like extendable indexing pry bars and digital angle torque wrenches. But with torque wrenches you’re better off going icon because it’s tough to find torque wrenches with a lifetime warranty and that is definitely a valuable feature.
I was looking all over for Nielsen sockets, specially the xi-on sockets which are the oem for Mac rbrt/ usag / facom comprable product but Amazon only has the 1/4” set which is kind of worthless. Looks like I’ll have to get the large 284 piece craftsman overdrive set to get rbrt sockets. I already have the overdrive wrenches But it would be really nice if SBD just released individual socket rails of the overdrive sockets already. Such a wasted opportunity for sales. Most people these days have no need for sae sockets so even if they could do individual metric master sets and that would be awesome.
Ultimately I’m looking to upgrade some of my cheaper pitsburgh color coded (lgbtq) sockets for something a little more professional as I try to get a job as a starting mechanic apprentice or lube tech depending on what I can get with the tools I have. I have a list of tools to buy but I think expanding my metric socket selection would be beneficial if I want to be trusted with more than just lube tech and tire tech duties. a good percentage of people whk start In shops likely get on the first truck to pull up and get into $5000 of debt at a $100 a week payment or more but I already have about $4500 worth of tools and I think I could outfit myself with enough tools to get almost any job done for $2500. Maybe even grab a second hand tool box setup included in that price. I can post pics of my tool collection if anyone wants to criticize my setup or recommend what I should focus on buying before or after getting a starting tech job.
