SUNEX Switches Impact Socket Sets to China, Increases Prices

[WhataTool]

Saw this video:

Headed over to Amazon and sure enough, 90% of Sunex kits are all listed as China now down bellow in the specs chart despite reviews and pictures saying Taiwan on sockets, so they're switching the same existing sets without so much as a new model number.

Then headed over to CamelCamelCamel to at least see what type of cost savings we're getting now, and from every set I've looked up so far the price is either around the same or higher than even in the recent past.

This isn't a China vs Taiwan debate, but it seems like there should be some balance of the scales here that's just going into pockets somewhere, or is best case inadvertently misleading

 

[AJHD]

Unfortunately, it's nothing new for Sunex and plenty of others.
Sunex has just become another "[Insert Company Name Here] has moved manufacturing to China".

I think all the Taiwan Sunex stuff is probably just whatever they have left over. My guess is all new production from a certain point forward will be China, although I'm not sure what will be China and what will be Taiwan (or elsewhere, ie. India). There are a few threads about Sunex with pictures, the new stuff also looks nothing like the old from what I've seen. It seems very obvious which is which thus far.

It reminds me a lot of Gearwrench, you may get China or you may get Taiwan. It can be kind of a **** shoot which one you'll end up with.

 

[scooby074]

I only have a few Sunex tools, but in my experience they are quality. I do kinda agree with the guy.

 

[Callelle]

Shame. I Sunex was basically my go to for oddball singles and large sockets. Maybe Tekton will take up their spot and start offering swivels and the wider variety that Sunex had, I'd actually be compelled to buy stuff from them if they did.

 

[Odd-job]

Thank goodness for decent alternatives. Capri and Tekton (and HF Icon/Quinn?) come to mind. They do have some semi unique offerings though like longer impacting wobbles and sockets with magnetic inserts.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Thank goodness for decent alternatives. Capri and Tekton (and HF Icon/Quinn?) come to mind. They do have some semi unique offerings though like longer impacting wobbles and sockets with magnetic inserts.

For a long time sunex seemed to be the defacto answer for "need impact item". A few years ago this seemed to pivot, at least on GJ, towards tekton.

I bought most everything I needed to buy from them several years ago. Now as the sets of sockets wear out I replace the 1/2 drive with snap on/Williams and changed the 3/8 to tekton. They provided a good product at a very fair price and have very diverse product range. Hopefully this change isn't for the worst.

 

[Fedwrench]

Is grey Pnuematic still made in Taiwan? i prefer blue boxes

 

[joedodge]

I love my sunnex and grey pneumatic stuff. If the quality is the same I could care less where it’s mad

 

[AJHD]

I love my sunnex and grey pneumatic stuff. If the quality is the same I could care less where it’s mad

Remains to be seen. I haven't seen any reviews of the new Sunex actually being used.

 

[mrstop]

Disappointed to see this as I was about to pull the trigger on a Sunex based on favorable reviews and the reported thinner wall versus other brands. I look forward to see if there is any fundamental changes in the design.

 

[AJHD]

The new China sockets look completely different. But I haven't bothered to dig into it more than that.

Chinese counterfeit Sunex Tools 2645 sold by Zoro

The original Sunex Tools 2645 comes in a compact red blow mold case that slides into a carton wrap. The sockets are inserted vertically into the case and are laser edged with company logo and country of manufacture as "Taiwan". The Chinese counterfeit features a large black blow mold case...

www.garagejournal.com

 

[milkovich]

This isn't a China vs Taiwan debate, but it seems like there should be some balance of the scales here that's just going into pockets somewhere, or is best case inadvertently misleading

I'm also interested in keeping the "Taiwan vs. China" thing out of the thread, however, China is infamous for subsidizing some of it's export manufacturing as well as the shipping (like the shipping Temu uses) but I'm not sure they do that in Taiwan. It might explain why Taiwanese production is more expensive. Unfortunately Sunex aggregates their imports at a subsidiary instead of shipping direct so we can't see what Taiwan manufacturers they were using (Capri does the same thing) but it does make brands like Grey Pneumatic more interesting to me if they keep their production where it currently is.

 

[micromind]

Wright is still made in USA.

If they have what you need......

 

[AJHD]

Wright is still made in USA.

If they have what you need......

So is Snap On, but that's not the point...

 

[isb cornbinder]

I love my Sunex and grey pneumatic stuff. If the quality is the same I could care less where it’s made

I bought complete sets of SUNEX in deep and shallow, both 3/8" and 1/2" shallow. I could not tell you where they were made. This much I can say is my Sunex look identical to MAC. I have used them hard at work. I bought my Sunex sockets in the 1990s.

 

[zendriver]

Most companies are in business to make money.

Whatever they save will probably go to their bottom line, not lowering selling prices, unless competition forces it.

Either the newly-sourced tools will hold up - or they won't. China can make anything - if the contractor is willing to pay.

 

[Bannik254]

I have warrantied several hex allen impact sockets, my new 8mm, 10mm, 5/16'', and 3/8'' are doing the job, the new ones look very similar to the new Harborfreight ones, though still slightly different at a detailed glance.

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

eh, I tried to warranty an impact extension, they never did. I ended up replacing with snap on

 

[Mr_B]

Never been a fan of Sunex, they can stick their mainland chinese sockets up their **** .
With global mess/risk of Russia Ukraine war you think these companies be smarter and moving away from China rather than the opposite !

 

[CGarage]

Never been a fan of Sunex, they can stick their mainland chinese sockets up their **** .
With global mess/risk of Russia Ukraine war you think these companies be smarter and moving away from China rather than the opposite !

It comes down to price at the end of the day.
Gray Pneumatic raised prices substantially around the end of 2021. Not to get political but it should be pointed out that the BRICS countries are all aligned with Russia, so not sure what risk you speak of, other than the U.S. and U.K. blabbing on about how China shouldn’t be helping Russia, which has fallen on deaf ears.
I’d prefer to support Taiwan, but it’s for different reasons.

 

[gatewaysysop]

Never been a fan of Sunex, they can stick their mainland chinese sockets up their **** .

Never owned Sunnex. Guess I never will now.

 

[Mr_B]

It comes down to price at the end of the day.
Gray Pneumatic raised prices substantially around the end of 2021. Not to get political but it should be pointed out that the BRICS countries are all aligned with Russia, so not sure what risk you speak of, other than the U.S. and U.K. blabbing on about how China shouldn’t be helping Russia, which has fallen on deaf ears.
I’d prefer to support Taiwan, but it’s for different reasons.

BRICS is like 10 countries .
Risk being investment & production reliance in a country with some volatile aggressive future plans . Cost lot of foreign companies big in Russia, to me Sunex been better sticking with Taiwan or looking at other non China options .

 

[RichRiddle]

There is a set of 1/2" drive Sunex impact metric sockets from 10mm - 36mm (Taiwan Made) in the garage along with 36mm combination wrench. Both work fine, particularly the socket set. Only time will tell if the quality of the tools degrades because of the migration to China.

 

[The Critic]

 

[Odd-job]

Thanks for sharing. How does that replacement socket match up with the rest of the set?

 

[WhataTool]

They definitely nailed the whole transition timing with the impending tarrifs, smart folks over at that joint

 

[ecotec]

I only have a few Sunex sockets. I have 18mm and 21mm 3/8” drive impact swivel sockets, and a couple others.

Like anything else… if I find USA replacements at estate/garage sales, the Sunex move to my cart. If I find replacements for those, they go into my give away/donate bins.

I have been reducing the amount of foreign made tools by going to garage/estate sales and flea markets.

For no reason, last week, I took every ratchet that wasn’t USA out of my ratchet drawer and extension drawer. I still have Powr-Kraft W (Wright) in my extension drawer… but they are coming out next.

I have 10 drawers, so far, that are all USA.

Realistically, I will never have all USA… but that is what I am working towards.

 

[Steve_P]

They definitely nailed the whole transition timing with the impending tarrifs, smart folks over at that joint

I wouldn't assume that Taiwan will be immune to tariffs. The US had tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada, the EU, and Mexico- and last I checked they're all US allies.

The reality is that manufacturing labor in China is about half of that in Taiwan, and I'm not going to look it up, but steel is certainly cheaper in China than Taiwan. So, it'd take a huge tariff on China and none on Taiwan to equalize the two. And my HF Chinese impact sockets seem just as good as my Taiwan Sunex and USA SK. Saying that, I do try to not support authoritarian ruled China with my purchases, when possible, but....

 

[Outahere]

Sunex makes some written comments in response to this video.

 

[AJHD]

The official Sunex responses make me angry. I attached one of them below.

Sunex is essentially confirming that you have no idea what product you're going to receive when you buy their tools, dependant entirely on which item the vendor has in stock or whatever is at the top of the pile they're pulling from.

That's a ******** business model.

Sunex sockets for example are manufactured differently depending on their COO, resulting in two physically and visually different tools.

I only own a single Sunex socket these days, and I sure as **** will not be buying anything from them ever again.

 

[liliysdad]

The official Sunex responses make me angry. I attached one of them below.

Sunex is essentially confirming that you have no idea what product you're going to receive when you buy their tools, dependant entirely on which item the vendor has in stock or whatever is at the top of the pile they're pulling from.

That's a ******** business model.

Sunex sockets for example are manufactured differently depending on their COO, resulting in two physically and visually different tools.

I only own a single Sunex socket these days, and I sure as **** will not be buying anything from them ever again.

“We will decide what to send you, and you’ll like it!!…”

 

[zendriver]

“We will decide what to send you, and you’ll like it!!…”

Is this any different than any other product replacement warranty, that ever existed?

Probably kind of hard to send a USA made replacement for anything, if the manufacturing has already been moved overseas.

 

[AJHD]

“We will decide what to send you, and you’ll like it!!…”

Yeah, basically that should be their business statement.

Is this any different than any other product replacement warranty, that ever existed?

Probably kind of hard to send a USA made replacement for anything, if the manufacturing has already been moved overseas.

I don't disagree, and there are plenty of examples (Craftsman, SK, etc).

But we're talking about buying new products, not warranty replacements.

Simply put, if I don't know what I'm paying for, I will take my business elsewhere. There are no shortage of vendors these days to choose from.

 

[Ohio Andy]

Yeah, basically that should be their business statement.



I don't disagree, and there are plenty of examples (Craftsman, SK, etc).

But we're talking about buying new products, not warranty replacements.

Simply put, if I don't know what I'm paying for, I will take my business elsewhere. There are no shortage of vendors these days to choose from.

I wanted to try the old wright tool. From what I can tell the new ones are completely different in every way with the same part number. Amazon has the old pictures with reviews stating they receive the new blue small handles.

Change the part number

 

[liliysdad]

Is this any different than any other product replacement warranty, that ever existed?

Probably kind of hard to send a USA made replacement for anything, if the manufacturing has already been moved overseas.

This has nothing to do with warranty, even thought that’s a whole nother critter in and of itself.

 

[mikey03]

They expanded to china to meet high demand. That problem of high demand will take care of itself

 

[liliysdad]

I don’t believe “high demand” was a single part of it.

 

[zendriver]

They moved the mfg to China, the same reason everybody else did.

 

[Callelle]

Got my first of the China made Sunex. Really not happy with it, it's just cheap and you can feel it. This'll probably be going back.

 

[L.Cheapo]

I don’t believe “high demand” was a single part of it.

I do.




"High demand" for more profits by the owner(s)/shareholders.

Sunex is free to do whatever they want. I just outfitted a second toolbox and chose Tekton over Sunex and many others. And for this application, I'm quite happy with them.