Here's a few things I have. The wrenches and ratchets were talked about in another thread and have been used daily since 7/5. I really like the ratchets. I only grabbed 3 open stock wrenches in 10, 13, and 15 to try out. With several drawers of metric wrenches, I'm not in the market for whole sets despite picking up a proto set the other day.
back to the subject at hand. I picked up two very complete metric socket sets yesterday, one in 1/4 and the other in 3/8 drive. The 1/4 set comes on a single vim type rail with 6 point sizes in 4-15mm. The set even includes 4.5 and 5.5 mm sizes. The sockets have great chrome, are well finished inside and out, have decent sized stamped size markings, and all have nice cutouts in the square drive end for drive tool retention balls, and feature off corner engagement. The set retails for $39.99 but, there are discounts out there that drop the price down.
The 3/8 drive set is also very complete running from 6 to 24 mm without skipping. The set comes on two vim style rails. Nice chrome, excellent finish, nice broaching, etc. The Carlyle sockets are a hair taller than other brands. You would be hard pressed to find a more complete 3/8 drive 6 point set for less than $72.
Let's talk about the knurled band for a moment. On most brands the knurled band on metric socket is an identification aid for metric sockets. The knurled band on Carlyle socket is in the center of the socket and is deep enough to aid in finger spinning. However, as I have mentioned when talking about knurled extensions, you need the knurling around the square drive area. Which is where Gearwrench puts it on their metric sockets.
I'll swap out my regular sockets on my work cart and see how these do.
Carlyle tools aren't meant to make you give up your truck brand tools and most home owners don't shop NAPA for anything, let alone tools. The Carlyle line is simply another choice. I'm interested in seeing their open stock availability increase to try some of their stubby wrenches in 8 and over 19mm sizes.
