New comer questions

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

One thing about Snap-on/ Icon that I hate is the shortness of the deep sockets in the smaller sizes. I consider the smaller sized deep sockets as semi deep. For example if you look at their 10mm compared to other brands it’s way shorter. That’s why I’d recommend Carlyle or any brand mostly over the Icon or whatever too.

 

[Robinson1]

My main thing I like about Carlyle besides the looks of them, is that I don’t like buying tools online, I like to buy them in person. So this is why these online brands people recommend to me I don’t really care about. And Home Depot, harbor freight, autozone, and maybe a few others is basically the only other places to buy tools, and they never have complete socket sets in stock! But my Napa does and they look awesome

I get that. The market is so saturated with imports it’s getting increasingly harder to weed out the decent from the junk. That being said foreign manufacturing and metallurgy has came a long way in recent years.

About a month ago I ordered a 15/16” wrench from Amazon. It was a JETECH brand. Never heard of it before. Price was dirt cheap something like $8. I ordered it fully expecting to send it back. Pleasantly surprised when I got it. Now this wasn’t a wrench that I expected to use a lot. In fact I bough it to throw in a tractor tool box. 15/16 on farm equipment is about as common at 10mm is in automotive. For a tool I expect to use maybe a dozen times a year it’s great. And when it gets lost in the field like every tool on a tractor eventually does I’m out a whole 8 bucks. No I’m not advocating you fill your box with Amazon off brands. But there’s a time and a place for best you can afford and there’s a time and a place for good enough.

You can’t always inspect everything you buy. Unfortunately it’s the culture we live in. Limiting yourself to Carlyle because you can look at them first may be a severe limitation. And it may not, all depends on what you work on. I’ve been in situations where I need a tool now and any tool will be better than no tool. And I’ve been in situations where I had weeks or months to search for a particular tool I wanted.

You should probably take a look at Milwaukee mechanics tools. They’re cheaper than Carlyle, the sets are complete and from what I’ve seen the chrome is great. Sourced from Infar I believe should be similar to Carlyle

 

[Ton ton]

I get that. The market is so saturated with imports it’s getting increasingly harder to weed out the decent from the junk. That being said foreign manufacturing and metallurgy has came a long way in recent years.

About a month ago I ordered a 15/16” wrench from Amazon. It was a JETECH brand. Never heard of it before. Price was dirt cheap something like $8. I ordered it fully expecting to send it back. Pleasantly surprised when I got it. Now this wasn’t a wrench that I expected to use a lot. In fact I bough it to throw in a tractor tool box. 15/16 on farm equipment is about as common at 10mm is in automotive. For a tool I expect to use maybe a dozen times a year it’s great. And when it gets lost in the field like every tool on a tractor eventually does I’m out a whole 8 bucks. No I’m not advocating you fill your box with Amazon off brands. But there’s a time and a place for best you can afford and there’s a time and a place for good enough.

You can’t always inspect everything you buy. Unfortunately it’s the culture we live in. Limiting yourself to Carlyle because you can look at them first may be a severe limitation. And it may not, all depends on what you work on. I’ve been in situations where I need a tool now and any tool will be better than no tool. And I’ve been in situations where I had weeks or months to search for a particular tool I wanted.

You should probably take a look at Milwaukee mechanics tools. They’re cheaper than Carlyle, the sets are complete and from what I’ve seen the chrome is great. Sourced from Infar I believe should be similar to Carlyle

Milwaukee is starting to make hand tools in the USA.

 

[lexustoyotav8]

I would love for gearwrench to be the same as Carlyle but they are not. You can just tell by looking at them even the sockets. Plus it’s china vs Taiwan. Why do people think this? Were they the same in the past ?? Also, I find it insane no one carries JIS driver bits in store since, well, you know millions of Hondas drive around the USA with those stupid JIS rotor screws… but no where to buy in store real quick? What a load of ****

 

[fourjeepin]

I have bought several Carlyle tools the last few years and all have been very high quality. My favorite is the 3/8 flex ratchet. I liked it so much i also got a long 1/4” non flex. Both were very reasonably priced. The 1/2” was quite a bit more expensive last time I checked.

 

[Coach James]

I get that. The market is so saturated with imports it’s getting increasingly harder to weed out the decent from the junk. That being said foreign manufacturing and metallurgy has came a long way in recent years.

About a month ago I ordered a 15/16” wrench from Amazon. It was a JETECH brand. Never heard of it before. Price was dirt cheap something like $8. I ordered it fully expecting to send it back. Pleasantly surprised when I got it. Now this wasn’t a wrench that I expected to use a lot. In fact I bough it to throw in a tractor tool box. 15/16 on farm equipment is about as common at 10mm is in automotive. For a tool I expect to use maybe a dozen times a year it’s great. And when it gets lost in the field like every tool on a tractor eventually does I’m out a whole 8 bucks. No I’m not advocating you fill your box with Amazon off brands. But there’s a time and a place for best you can afford and there’s a time and a place for good enough.

You can’t always inspect everything you buy. Unfortunately it’s the culture we live in. Limiting yourself to Carlyle because you can look at them first may be a severe limitation. And it may not, all depends on what you work on. I’ve been in situations where I need a tool now and any tool will be better than no tool. And I’ve been in situations where I had weeks or months to search for a particular tool I wanted.

You should probably take a look at Milwaukee mechanics tools. They’re cheaper than Carlyle, the sets are complete and from what I’ve seen the chrome is great. Sourced from Infar I believe should be similar to Carlyle

Those Jetech combos look exactly like my King Tony Combos. No idea if they are actually the same, but my King Tonys have held up to several years of use.

 

[lexustoyotav8]

Unfortunately the new Carlyle locking flex heads are absolutely garbage. The old style was way better

 

[lexustoyotav8]

I believe the new ones are 120 tooth

 

[CraigStu]

Different tool brands are different. Sometimes it is an obvious difference in quality, sometimes it is a different design. I just looked and I have 4 different 3/8 drive 14mm deep sockets. Sometimes that hex all the way to the bottom is needed, but many times the hex only about 1.5 nut thicknesses deep will save your day. Just depends on what you are doing. I also don't mind having some cheapies. I have several deep sockets that I ground flats on so I could turn them w/ an open end wrench. Don't really remember the application but that was a fix for a problem. If you have ever worked on any of the L/T V6s replacing the plugs next to the firewall under the intake you know the pain. In Walmart I accidently came across a short flex handle 3/8 ratchet.

The knurled rim lets me spin the plug socket by fingers. The black direction changer is also a push release so I can get the ratchet up off the plug socket. That is invaluable because the socket and ratchet can't be put into position together. So you work the socket down over the plug, pull you hand out, then work the ratchet in there and stick it onto the socket. Reverse on the way out. Tech next to me saw me use it one day and a couple months later 3/4 of the other techs had bought one also. It's a Stanley brand and is still going strong at least 25 yrs later.

 

[BobsYourUncle69]

Those Jetech combos look exactly like my King Tony Combos. No idea if they are actually the same, but my King Tonys have held up to several years of use.

I thought so too , my Ampro combination set looks identical to the King Tony set and when I saw the Jetech i thought it looked the same too. Think I bought a 25mm for $3 on Amazon and while they look similar in the ad , they look very different in person. I'll take a pic tomorrow next to one of my ampro wrenches.
There are some obvious differences , they feel different too.

 

[BWWgarage]

I would love for gearwrench to be the same as Carlyle but they are not. You can just tell by looking at them even the sockets. Plus it’s china vs Taiwan. Why do people think this? Were they the same in the past ?? Also, I find it insane no one carries JIS driver bits in store since, well, you know millions of Hondas drive around the USA with those stupid JIS rotor screws… but no where to buy in store real quick? What a load of ****

I just picked up gearwrench (1) 1/4 and 3/8 combo set with 90T ratchets and (2) 1/4 and 3/8 gearwrench 120T flex head ratchet set. all are made in Taiwan. No opinion on Carlyle vs GW, but you are misstating when you say china as a blanket statement for GW. I’m not saying all GW in china, but mine definitely are Taiwan.

I picked up the Quinn 1/2 master set ... good enough for when I need 1/2 in.

Also, you mention lugnut ... might be worth just buying a deep lugnut set (or singles per your cars(s)).

 

[BWWgarage]

I would love for gearwrench to be the same as Carlyle but they are not. You can just tell by looking at them even the sockets. Plus it’s china vs Taiwan. Why do people think this? Were they the same in the past ?? Also, I find it insane no one carries JIS driver bits in store since, well, you know millions of Hondas drive around the USA with those stupid JIS rotor screws… but no where to buy in store real quick? What a load of ****

TEKTON Hand Tools | Shop Sockets, Ratchets, Pliers, and Wrenches

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“
November 7, 2025
Our new screwdrivers have Phillips tips that meet JIS standards (Japanese Industrial Standard). In this blog post, we’ll shed light on a highly confusing and widely misunderstood topic — what is the difference, if any, between JIS and Phillips drivers?
…”

 

[zendriver]

And here’s the inside of the icons… what the hell is that bs???? It’s not even a true deep socket, doesn’t seem good for lug nuts

Why would anyone use a regular socket on a lug nut? That's what impact sockets are for.

Otherwise, that design make the deep socket much stronger IMO.