Socket set for my wife?

[gj67stang]

I've slowly been accumulating tools for my wife's craft room/around-the-house toolbox. I think she's ready for a set of sockets soon. She certainly won't be using them much and when she does they surely won't see anything too serious. This brings me to my question: what set would be best for my wife (who is decently mechanically minded)?

-full set of short and deep in both metric and SAE
-just SAE and metric shorts
-sets of metric and SAE semi-deep/mid-length
-a "universal" spline drive set
-an option I didn't think of


Thanks for your advice and opinions!

 

[willhollin]

One of those Vortex sets would be the most useful I would imagine.

 

[theoldwizard1]

1/4" drive short SAE and Metric. Hand spinner, 3" and 6" extension, ratchet and universal. My wife likes "boxed" or pouch sets. Check Craftsman. This should cover 90%+ of what she might encounter.

I would hold off on 3/8" until you see how she likes/uses them.

 

[Burtonrider10022]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JPWD92/?tag=atomicindus08-20

60 Piece, 1/4" & 3/8". SAE & Metric. Stanley seems to be "OK" around these parts, but for $30 it's not a bad deal.

OR! Actually, the Craftsman 220pc. kit is on sale for $89 w/ free shipping. -$10 with SAVEONTOOLS and then -$5 with SEARS5OFF50 for a grand total of $74 +tax for 220 pieces of Craftsman. 1/4", 3/8", & 1/2" drive sizes, and a screwdriver.

 

[emeraldcoupe]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000JPWD92/?tag=atomicindus08-20

60 Piece, 1/4" & 3/8". SAE & Metric. Stanley seems to be "OK" around these parts, but for $30 it's not a bad deal.

i'll second that stanley set. i have that one also and it's my junkyard set. it's held up great, haven't broken anything yet. and it's cheap enough that if i lose any of it no big deal.

 

[Outlawmws]

What is she likely to work on? If she's not doing "car stuff" I doubt she will see much metric, unless she does a lot of import furniture with "some assembly required"; and there they mostly standardize and give you a throw away, often plastic, tool to use.

So if the above is basically true, I'd say 1/4" drive SAE only and both short and deep. w/ a flex head ratchet, a couple of extensions and maybe a universal adapter, plus a driver handle.

 

[drabe7]

i'll second that stanley set. i have that one also and it's my junkyard set. it's held up great, haven't broken anything yet. and it's cheap enough that if i lose any of it no big deal.

i got one of those sets to keep in the car. pretty good set. i put a 2' cheater on it and it didnt break