I haven't figured out the private messaging on the new site so I'm putting this here. A couple I know have mourned the loss of their Toptul supplier. This may be of interest to them. I believe by the address they are Canadian. I mocked the purchase of a single ratchet and the shipping was ten bucks. I've never heard of them before so I'm in no way endorsing them. Only sharing that there may be a source if anyone is interested.
Source For Toptul
- Thread starter lardy1
- Start date
Professional Tool User
Well-known member
The address for those guys is an hour and a half drive away from where I live. There are guys locally that sell Toptul on an intermittent basis. I bought a Toptul zero degree ratchet off FB marketplace for laughs and giggles and the finishing is indeed very nice. As for the actual tool line up in the toptul catalog, it really isn't that much different your other made in Taiwan offerings. If the tool is available under some other better supported brand like Gearwrench, I'd buy it through an authorized dealer for warranty reasons.
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CryerTool
Member
We are here and happy to answer any questions you might have
Ton ton
Well-known member
Thanks for the nice response.
I recently bought from this site, USA based. I thought they had good prices and the service and ship speed were top notch.
www.jmtoolco.com
www.jmtoolco.com
consti2tion
Well-known member
I think this dude is a member here as well.
good callI think this dude is a member here as well.
dnschmidt
Well-known member
I wish you well. I'm out of the game now but I still believe that TOPTUL is the best value in hand tools that exists. The quality of their wrenches and sockets is world class and they can compete with anybody including Snap-On in these categories. Only weakness I found when selling them was their stupid tendency to skip sizes in their sets (that drove me ******* nuts) and the fact that their ratchets, made by William Tool, are not up to the present world standard from Tekton, Capri and Gearwrench.
consti2tion
Well-known member
I was going to ask why there seem to be multiple distributors on here for this brand. Is the quality really comparable to higher end tools?
dnschmidt
Well-known member
Wrenches and sockets are as good as any in the world. Hazet, Stahlwille and Gedore have nothing on TOPTUL. In fact TOPTUL sort of copies Stahlwille, which is the company they consider to be the world standard. Their screwdrivers are fantastic. Every bit as good as Wera or Wiha. I've never had any PB Swiss so I can't speak to that but I do have Wera and Wiha and TOPTUL's screwdrivers are every bit as good. If it's a forging TOPTUL is as good as it gets. A lot of their stuff comes from other Taiwanese sources such as their torque wrenches and automotive tools. But, by and large, if they put their name on it it's good stuff whether or not they themselves make it. A lot of their air tools come from Kuani Gear and their digital torque wrenches come from Eclatorq. Both top of the line Taiwanese companies in their respective fields.
My problem with TOPTUL centered on one particular person who was my point of contact. She's long gone so that's one problem out of the way. The other problem is that TOPTUL is very ASIA and Euro centric and really doesn't give a **** about the American market. For example many, if not most of their socket and wrench sets, skip 18mm and sometimes 15mm. Anybody that works on American cars knows that Fords in particular are polluted with 18mm fasteners and GM has 15 and 18mm everywhere. I had to buy individual 18 and 15 mm wrenches and sockets to add to the sets that I sold so that I could sell them as without these two sizes the sets would be worthless. I fought and fought to have them change this but to no avail. They make a fantastic zero offset long box wrench set that doesn't have 13, 15, 18 or 21mm in it. They don't even make individual wrenches in this style and size that I could add to the sets.
My problem with TOPTUL centered on one particular person who was my point of contact. She's long gone so that's one problem out of the way. The other problem is that TOPTUL is very ASIA and Euro centric and really doesn't give a **** about the American market. For example many, if not most of their socket and wrench sets, skip 18mm and sometimes 15mm. Anybody that works on American cars knows that Fords in particular are polluted with 18mm fasteners and GM has 15 and 18mm everywhere. I had to buy individual 18 and 15 mm wrenches and sockets to add to the sets that I sold so that I could sell them as without these two sizes the sets would be worthless. I fought and fought to have them change this but to no avail. They make a fantastic zero offset long box wrench set that doesn't have 13, 15, 18 or 21mm in it. They don't even make individual wrenches in this style and size that I could add to the sets.
dnschmidt
Well-known member
The ratchets are pretty pedestrian. Sort on in the HF Pittsburgh Pro level since many are made by William Tool which also makes ratchets for Harbor Freight. The one unique ratchet that they do make that I highly recommend is the model GBAE0201 which is an extendable ratchet that's the bomb. Another good one is the CJHM1228 which is a 3/8" drive medium length (11") flex head that I like a lot as it doesn't have the hated detents which I despise. If you're into 3/4" drive extendable ratchets they make the Godzilla of ratchets the CHES2408 which can be extended out to 800mm. I've always wondered why 3/4" drive ratchets are relatively short as few of them are as long as a long 1/2" breaker bar. Well the CHES2408 can be extended out to 31 1/2" and that should make something move. For some reason many of TOPTUL'S ratchets have relatively low tooth counts by American standards. 72 is the most that they make and most are 36 tooth or below. In that regard they are sort of like Koken which had been until recently fighting the high tooth count battle forever.
Is Toptul superior to Tekton as far as sockets and ratchets? We can get Tekton in a few days, doesn't skip sizes, up to date ratchets... Dunno why the obsession with Toptul since it has almost no availability in the US. I'm sure they're quality, but they're like the PB swiss of Taiwan in the US.
I own both Tekton and Toptul sockets and in my opinion there is no comparison. They were a little slow moving up to higher tooth counts on their ratchets but I would call the ones I carry “up to date.” Yes there is limited availability in the US so you aren’t going to fill your toolbox with Toptul but there is still plenty of options and you get a hell of a lot for the money.
Better quality, yes for the one or two I've seen. Usability? No, skips major sizes effectively making their sets useless unless you only work on very specific cars.
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dnschmidt
Well-known member
Socket and wrench wise the satin chrome finish of TOPTUL is the absolute stone cold nuts. Their screwdrivers are absolutely as good as anybody's. I, since I use to sell TOPTUL and still deal with them on a personal basis, do have toolboxes full of them. In fact several of my friends have complete TOPTUL toolboxes in the rather attractive TOPTUL green which TOPTUL itself filled with tools in Kazan foam as that's the way I bought them in one sizeable $12,000 order. What TOPTUL truly needs is first an American warehouse and secondly they need to listen to some American that knows the local landscape which obviously they do not. I offered to be that for them but they refused. I tried to get them to go to the AAPEX show in Vegas which I thought would really help them to understand and get their foot into the door of the American market. Weird part is that they have an extremely nice trade show booth which they use for the Asian shows and Automechanika in Germany. I kept banging them over the head to do this but to no avail. What I think scared them off was the failure of King Tony which tried that tactic and failed miserably. For those of you that don't know the complete Denny vs. TOPTUL story I posted a long missive on this site called Denny's TOPTUL adventure. You can read all about it here if you're interested: https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/dennys-toptul-adventure-is-coming-to-an-end.387839/ The girl that gave me all of the grief discussed in this write-up is long gone (thank god). I still have a deep respect for TOPTUL but my personal feeling is that there was a period of opportunity when Craftsman had already died and Tekton and Capri were not yet up and running where TOPTUL could have really made a dent in the American market. Sadly, I feel that time has now passed. Doesn't mean that they don't make great tools as they truly do.
vssjim
ALLIANCE MEMBER
The extra long metric combo wrenches are the best in the world, They are not expensive to buy and never fail period. i have either sold or given away over fifty sets and never seen one fail and everybody that has them will say they are the best wrenches they have.
Ton ton
Well-known member
I wish Toptul had a brick and mortar retail outlet on the East coast USA.
dnschmidt
Well-known member
Jim, But you have just given us yet another example of them missing the boat. First off, YOU ARE COMPLETELY RIGHT. The extra long combos are the best in the world and everybody loves them. SO, WHY DON'T THEY MAKE THEM IN SIZES GREATER THAN 19MM where that extra length would really come in handy? I tried to get them to make these up to 24mm (actually I only asked for 21, 22 and 24mm - just three additional wrenches as 20 and 23 are damn near never used. 24mm is about as big as modern cars ever go so I didn't see any need to go bigger than that. But, no dice once again. I've already discussed the stupidity of their zero offset long box wrenches where they don't even make 13, 15, 18 and 21mm versions of this fantastic tool. These would sell like crazy if they did. Rotar is sitting on a gold mine and doesn't seem to realize it. They don't take chances and they don't innovate nearly enough. Dude, I love their **** but it frustrates me that they simply will not listen.
CryerTool
Member
Yes, the ratchets are fairly pedestrian. We carry them mainly for those who want matching tools. We'll have a few more modern ratchets under our own brand next year, including hard-handles. As for physical locations, we plan to add some tool trucks next year to service repair shops and businesses.
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I've place several orders with Cryer Tool and everything has gone great each time. I know the isn't a big deal for most on this site, but I do appreciate that they carry Toptul sockets and wrenches in SAE sizes since I deal with those fasteners quite often. Being able to buy both sockets and wrenches individually is nice to since it's let me piece togther sets with certain size ranges vs. buying premade sets that either don't have everything I need or have uneeded overlap.
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bassbone52
Well-known member
I have an assortment of Toptul products, purchased from member dnschmidt, and have been well-pleased. The extra-long metric combo wrenches are outstanding. At $65 shipped, they were a steal. I love their screwdrivers.
Ton ton
Well-known member
Awesome , any tool trucks in Virginia?
Toptul just like any other brands they got a few gems and that about it .
Thing that made it extra special was the low pricing, take that away and you got a lot equal/better options.
Screwdrivers are about my favourite buy from them, some pliers/grips are good and some not so.
Sockets pretty good in terms of manufacture but size range far from great and this is a big problem and as they source from foundries already making the tools they seem have no ability or desire make tooling fill in missing and useful sizes in sockets or wrenches.
Sockets also fall flat when rest of socketry/ratchet range minimal & below par .
They also got no interest innovate or even simply get inspiration from likes of koken or have any motivation expand into western tool arena in a stronger professional stance .
Toptul air tools was also piss poor effort considering most air tool patents and innovation currently happening through taiwan ,
TE WEI is the highly ranked wrench foundry, you can find same wrench sets under other branding and in taiwan trades they got taiwan brands not even seen or known to west .
Milk them for what was exceptional and you done well and got stuff as good or better than truck offerings, start buying too much just for the brand and you end up with plenty below par tools, but this pretty much true of all brands really .
Thing that made it extra special was the low pricing, take that away and you got a lot equal/better options.
Screwdrivers are about my favourite buy from them, some pliers/grips are good and some not so.
Sockets pretty good in terms of manufacture but size range far from great and this is a big problem and as they source from foundries already making the tools they seem have no ability or desire make tooling fill in missing and useful sizes in sockets or wrenches.
Sockets also fall flat when rest of socketry/ratchet range minimal & below par .
They also got no interest innovate or even simply get inspiration from likes of koken or have any motivation expand into western tool arena in a stronger professional stance .
Toptul air tools was also piss poor effort considering most air tool patents and innovation currently happening through taiwan ,
TE WEI is the highly ranked wrench foundry, you can find same wrench sets under other branding and in taiwan trades they got taiwan brands not even seen or known to west .
Milk them for what was exceptional and you done well and got stuff as good or better than truck offerings, start buying too much just for the brand and you end up with plenty below par tools, but this pretty much true of all brands really .
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vssjim
ALLIANCE MEMBER
They are in British Columbia Canada so I don't see anything outside of West Coast Canada
dnschmidt
Well-known member
Is that a big deal? I noticed this myself when I was selling TOPTUL and shrugged it off as different dates when the stamping dies were produced. The most popular sizes (in Asia) were one style and the less common sizes (that would be all SAE and some metric) were another and some of the less common metric sizes were the same style as the SAE leading me to believe that the smaller size markings are the old style. I think what likely happens is that when a stamping die wears out they switch over to the newer stamp style. Since they likely sell 50X metric to SAE sockets it may be until 2050 before the SAE stamps wear out and get changed to the new style.
CryerTool
Member
We don't do trucks yet, just online. We have discussed trucks, but no date yet and we'll likely start in the PNW
Ton ton
Well-known member
Thanks for the update.
Just tried to order wrenches from CryerTool. Order did not go through. Called the number and the person told me to email the guy who knows about tools. Emailed and waiting for a response. Feeling kinda shaky about all of this TBH.
javyLSU
Well-known member
Delete
CryerTool
Member
Sorry you are having trouble. Please feel free to email me directly at [email protected]
I've just sent you an Email.
CryerTool
Member
got it. Will check into those sizes ASAP
@CryerTool
Any idea on when you'll be restocked on chrome 3/8" drive Toptul 18mm std. & 5/8" deep sockets?
Any new Toptul items arriving soon?
Any idea on when you'll be restocked on chrome 3/8" drive Toptul 18mm std. & 5/8" deep sockets?
Any new Toptul items arriving soon?
My order arrived today. Thank you Chris @CryerTool for all your help.
