The difference between the two is the way it fits the bolt head. The Matco version has the point to grip the fastener on 4 sides rather than just 2 and also the Matco is machined to more exact tolerances. If you are needing a wrench like this, it’s normally because it is in a VERY bad place with extremely limited access and it’s probably pretty damn tight as well. The way that wrench head fits that fastener and that 0.010”-0.015” tighter tolerance could very easily be the difference between a successfully completed job and a rounded off fastener.
If you’re a home user, this may not be the biggest issue. You cuss at it a bit, find another way to get it off that will probably mean cutting or damaging something else and it costs you a few more dollars.
If you’re a professional, that rounded off head can cost you HOURS and having to bill the customer for another part or having to eat the cost of something. Billing a customer for something else can cause the loss of a long-term customer as well as their family and friends as well as the $100+ an hour you lose while you’re fixing what just happened. Time is money and that customer has a mouth and fingers to tell everyone they know both good things and bad things about you. A rounded off head can end up costing you TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars in the long run from the time lost that you could have been getting paid to work on something else as well as all the business the word of mouth could have brought you.
When you look at this from the professional/business standpoint, that $422 extra you spend to PREVENT a time-loss and/or customer-loss event is WELL worth it when you look at how much something could cost. A professional working on flat-rate can easily lose his *** in the event of ONE fastener rounding off. Yes, crowfoot wrenches are nice and yes, there are flare-nut/line wrench crowfoot sets, but sometimes those aren’t practical to use. If you’re having to put them on a ratchet to get the angle right, you’re in a super tight spot, and the stupid ratchet keeps spinning while you’re trying to get the crowfoot on the fastener, it can cause a LOT of frustration and consume time that isn’t necessary. A breaker bar may not work either because you can only attach the crowfoot in 90° increments but you need 30° or 60°. Sometimes you just need something fixed that will not cause you more problems than it does good. I’ve sat there on an airplane before trying to turn a B-nut on a hydraulic line and I had to use an angle wrench as well as a standard combination wrench with the 15° angle open end, switching sides of the angle wrench and to the standard wrench, flipping that wrench, and turning that stupid nut 7.5°-15° at a time for 10 rotations while my supervisor was breathing down my neck because the flight was already delayed 45 minutes when the plane got to the hangar and little Johnny wants to see his grandma. Do you think I had time to fumble with a bunch of bullsh!t under that kind of pressure?!? No, I didn’t. My company was losing $5,000 a MINUTE that we didn’t have the airplane at the gate because we were a contracted regional carrier and we got fined that much when we had delays. And then what if I was using a cheap wrench that had 0.010”-0.015” more tolerance between the nut and the wrench plus only turning on 2 sides, that nut got rounded off, and we didn’t have a replacement line in stock so if it got damaged, we had to do an AOG (Aircraft On Ground) rush from BRAZIL?? It would have resulted in a cancellation which would have cost the company $250,000 in fines plus having to reroute or refund passengers. And that is just for that ONE flight. What about all of the subsequent flights that plane was supposed to make until that part arrives, is installed, and is finally signed off as airworthy? That $422 prevented MILLIONS of dollars from being lost and probably me losing my job. Then you have the whole tool truck advantage, at least with my dealer. What if my tool breaks in the middle of a job and I can’t just go drive to Sears while I’m on the clock? My Matco guy will RUSH to me and replace my tool in about 15 minutes while I work on a different part of the job.
Again, the home user cannot see these benefits or disadvantages but the professional and/or business owner can certainly see them. So, don’t knock on the guys that do spend big money on tools; a lot of times there is an EXPONENTIALLY higher dollar amount at stake. Now, if you’re trying to change your steering gearbox on your 1998 Chevy K1500 and you need an angle wrench to get one of the power steering lines off in your driveway, fine, go buy the cheap ones because the most they will cost you is having to cut the line so you can get a deep socket on it and you’ll have to buy a new line for $85 or make a new one yourself for $25. You’re still into it less than 1/4 the price of the Matco set. Hopefully my detailed explanation didn’t bore everyone!
@jgromada: I added some breaks to make it easier to read. Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes!
