Hi!
I don't remember how many times I started to compose a reply to this thread, and then just endet up deleting it again ... Let's see if I hit "Post reply" this time.
Sonic popped up on my radar quite a few years ago when they started to sponsor my favorite, automotive related, YT channel. But it still took some more years before I would get my first (and only) Sonic Equipment tool, a 1/4" ratchet. Actually a merchandising product from said YT show hosts. It's a decent tool, nothing more, nothing less. Just like others have pointed out, it's (for the most part?) rebranded tools. Positively sticking out, many of the pliers are NWS, Made in Germany.
They used to have a testing & evaluation kit for sale during those first years, included was a 3/8" ratchet, socket, NWS combination pliers and a screwdriver, IIRC. Never bothered to buy it, simply because it would have been another "kit" thrown into my toolbox, my curiosity wasn't strong enough and I already knew and have used NWS pliers anyway.
Speaking of price, and I'm only talking EUR/ German pricing, and to stick with NWS, you can actually buy the NWS Pliers for a little less from different vendors than what Sonic Equipment charges for them.
Other tools are priced quite competitively. Quality wise, judging solely from my 1/4" ratchet, it's just like all the other competitively priced tools sold under brands like "GedoreRED" (formerly known as Carolus), Würth Zebra, (...). The tools work & hold up to regular commercial/professional use.
Reaching out to Sonic Equipment they sent me a catalog which held actually no surprises. Compared to Snap-On, Stahlwille, Hazet and Gedore - it was missing quite a few speciality tools - but other than that they offer the typical full range of mechanic's hand tools. IIRC there were no machining tools for sale.
What caught my eye was their line of shop equipment, which today are actually two lines, MSS and MSS+. Both lines are, how could they not, highly competitively priced - the latter being a bit more "high-end" than the first. Speaking of prices, you can currently get a 2.6m module consisting of one large cabinet, 2 hanging cabinets, peg board, drawer unit and another cabinet unit - fitted with stainless steel worktop for 2.5k EUR. That is less than what some fairly simple Snap-On cart(s) would run for (list price).
There are quite a few options if you want to buy shop equipment here in Germany, which range from low-end (buying single cabinets with a COO somewhere in Asia), over middle ground (buying 2nd hand from industrial sales if you have the time and find something, for example) to high-end (having someone come out from one of the big European/German players in the field of shop/trade/industrial supply and do the whole planning and layout for you). And obviously quite a few options in between.
So if I imagined I was starting some type of repair/workshop and I besides wanting a clean, tidy, professional appearance (for customers who drop off their cars, or who (pre-Covid and after Covid) need to partly pass through the shop to enter the office/ checkout counter), I wanted an efficient way to store and provide to my employees (speciality) tools, materials, consumables - I would definitely be giving Sonic Equipment a closer look.
It's not uncommon when starting a business to have either an investment loan, or a founding capital loan, maybe even a small grant - so you're on a rather tight budget - and Sonic's pricing & quality (10 year warranty on shop equipment) aka "bang for the buck" is not too shabby. I know, if I was starting a business requiring shop equipment, I'd be looking into this way before making a "crazy financing/loan stunt" just to be able to get my stuff from one of the high-end big-players - and after ten years of being successful - enough time has passed for evaluation of that equipment, and either to stick with the brand, or go another route - by then it's literally written off anyway.
To me, Sonic Equipment is tools and shop equipment for commercial needs out of one hand on a budget.
One of the hosts of said YT channel sat in one of the empty drawers of a (fixed) drawer unit after receiving the equipment installed by Sonic in his shop.
All that said, if one has time and patience, you can most certainly find hot deals for used equipment and in the end have the high-end brands equipment & same appearance on a similar budget - but when starting out commercially time pressing to be productive earning cash, you seldom will have the time & patience for that.
So my opinion is, they definitely have their place.
Kind regards,
Oliver
