Grey Pneumatic First Impressions

[BOONEY7750]

Decided to try a post. I consider myself a pro-sumer. I am a little bit of a tool snob and prefer USA made. I grew up in a family owned Hardware Store and that is what we sold when I was a kid. I own a small landscape company and work on small fabrication projects, trucks, and a K-5 Blazer rebuild that is going nowhere fast. I was tired of going to a box store to buy single impacts in a pinch as needed and wanted the most complete set I could get, skipping the fewest sizes, at a decent value. I have Snap-On, Matco, USA Allen, Williams and most the decent import brands so I am familiar with quality. I like my truck brand stuff fine and really like the ratchets and wrenches. I just couldn’t afford truck brand impacts. With the quality of Milwaukee battery impacts improving and my collection growing, it was time to invest in a decent collection of impact sockets. I researched extensively. I am aware some people have warranty issues with GP. I didn’t like the size selection of Gear Wrench. I liked the Sunex, but it felt they had fluff pieces I wouldn’t want in sets. I didn’t consider Harbor Freight, I did look closely at the Northern Kluth sets as they are made in Taiwan, supposedly by Titian. I didn’t like the opening size on the deep sockets through the throat and the skipped sizes, but there was a lot of value in the Klutch brand for people looking to save a buck.

I went with Grey Pneumatic from Airtoolsforless.com 3/8 master set with all shallow and deep standard and metric sizes including 20 swivels in a nice case. About 81 pcs. Standard and deep 1/2 sets in standard and metric across 4 sets in cases. About 110 pcs. 3/8 and 1/2 extensions, universal, and up and down size adapters in 2 sets with cases. Free shipping. Arrived in 2 days. Under $740.


I am very satisfied. I don’t have much wrench time. However, quality seems very good. All sockets inspected and appear well machined. There is a small bur or scratch on the inside of square drive on the 36mm 1/2 standard depth. No other flaws noticed. All are laser etched and stamped. I like the rounded inside corners to not strip out fasteners. The ones I have used stay tight on anvil and come off firmly, but predictably when removed. The cases lay flat in my tool box. They have a hidden handle in bottom that can be used to carry the set if desired.

Overall I’m pretty impressed. The only real fault I see is the defect mentioned above and I question the collar size of some of the smaller 3/8 swivels. Seems rather large.

Very happy.

 

[BOONEY7750]

Should be noted I took pictures on phone and attempted to post. I don’t have a way to transfer them to an acceptable format apparently.

 

[Yarpo]

Should be noted I took pictures on phone and attempted to post. I don’t have a way to transfer them to an acceptable format apparently.

I always upload my pictures to various image hosting sites, should be able to do that and then link them. Unfortunately imgur doesn't work but you could try tiny pic

http://tinypic.com/

 

[tonyciambrone]

GP duo-sockets rule. 1/4" and 3/8th wouldn't buy anything else to replace them.

 

[BOONEY7750]

I am going to work these a little but I can see a set of DUOS in my truck.

 

[The Tool Tyrant]

I have had 3/8" & 1/2" drive SO impact sockets for years, but when I needed 3/4" and 1" drive impacts to use on my Cat crawlers, I went with GP. So far, I have no complaints as they have worked well and I see no issues at all at this point.

 

[CodyY]

Have used and sold GP sockets for over a decade.

They're great.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Wamsutta]

My only issue with GP is they choose not to countersink the square drive end. It's not a huge deal, but countersinking does help "funnel" the extension into the square drive end quicker and easier.