FigureItOut
Well-known member
I recently asked for opinions on the Sunex 1/4" drive deep magnetic sockets. No first-hand opinions but I ordered them and thought I'd share my experience for anyone else looking for this style.
I noticed immediately some odd things, the size of each magnet and the ring surrounding it were neither consistent nor the proportional to the socket. The labeling also was odd. Some individual sockets were marked with a part number for that individual socket, others marked for the equivalent non-magnetic and others had no part number at all.
Then I saw the depth of the magnet in each socket was very strange, no consistency at all. The smaller sockets had the magnet resting in the socket, with the spring extended, so deep that you could never grab a socket. Not only that, but the depth jumped all over the place, with no pattern related to the size of the socket.
I decided to some measurements. I measured from the end of each socket to the magnet with the spring extended, then again with the spring compressed, and wrote these measurements down with a third row for the spring travel, or difference between the two measurements. Getting an overview this way it was obvious they were very flawed.
I hope I word this in a way that is easy to grasp. The greatest compressed depth was 14.2 mm, with 10mm travel, on the 7mm socket. Compare that to the extended depth of the 6mm socket which was 11mm, and only traveled 1.5mm. Then the 10mm socket with compressed depth of 9.7mm and 3mm of travel. Those out of whack comparisons were all over the place.
Obviously, I returned them, or rather replaced them another identical set. The new ones were as bad or worse.
So I thought I'd give the GP set a try, after seeing the specs on their website showing the compressed depth a full 10mm deeper than the best measurement I got on the Sunex set.
I was eager to check these measurements when they arrived, which I've just finished doing. I found every measurement to be within .25mm of the stated spec. Also, the springs move smoothly and consistently, in stark contrast to the Sunex set.
To summarize, if you're looking for this style of socket in a full set for around $100, it appears you have these two choices. In my mind, the Grey Pneumatic set is the overwhelming winner.
I noticed immediately some odd things, the size of each magnet and the ring surrounding it were neither consistent nor the proportional to the socket. The labeling also was odd. Some individual sockets were marked with a part number for that individual socket, others marked for the equivalent non-magnetic and others had no part number at all.
Then I saw the depth of the magnet in each socket was very strange, no consistency at all. The smaller sockets had the magnet resting in the socket, with the spring extended, so deep that you could never grab a socket. Not only that, but the depth jumped all over the place, with no pattern related to the size of the socket.
I decided to some measurements. I measured from the end of each socket to the magnet with the spring extended, then again with the spring compressed, and wrote these measurements down with a third row for the spring travel, or difference between the two measurements. Getting an overview this way it was obvious they were very flawed.
I hope I word this in a way that is easy to grasp. The greatest compressed depth was 14.2 mm, with 10mm travel, on the 7mm socket. Compare that to the extended depth of the 6mm socket which was 11mm, and only traveled 1.5mm. Then the 10mm socket with compressed depth of 9.7mm and 3mm of travel. Those out of whack comparisons were all over the place.
Obviously, I returned them, or rather replaced them another identical set. The new ones were as bad or worse.
So I thought I'd give the GP set a try, after seeing the specs on their website showing the compressed depth a full 10mm deeper than the best measurement I got on the Sunex set.
I was eager to check these measurements when they arrived, which I've just finished doing. I found every measurement to be within .25mm of the stated spec. Also, the springs move smoothly and consistently, in stark contrast to the Sunex set.To summarize, if you're looking for this style of socket in a full set for around $100, it appears you have these two choices. In my mind, the Grey Pneumatic set is the overwhelming winner.
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