What do you guys think of the cross force or twisted wrenches? Is Snap On the only maker with the ridges in the open end? I'm pretty sold on flank drive plus.
Cross Force is a good idea and makes for the best wrench comfort you'll find.
Snap-On is not the only manufacturer of that style of open end any longer. Many of the Taiwanese wrenches have begun to do a similar variation. Matco 9 series ratcheting wrenches, and MAC ratcheting wrenches both have teeth + indents.
Wright Grip is just the teeth and as far as I know they're the only ones with a teeth only design.
In my experience the best open ends to really lean into are the Matco/Armstrong design. Snap-On FD+ works excellent as well but chews the hell out of the fastener when you clamp down while the Matco/Armstrong grip about as well and leave almost no damage. The JH Williams open ends are about the same as Matco/Armstrong in their design also, perhaps even better since they have two indents allowing them to work regardless of which way the wrench is. Matco/Armstrong need to be pushed/pulled in the normal direction of rotation because the indents are offset. These designs are fairly straight forward and function on the same principal as a modern socket where it has rounded corners to force off corner engagement. Take away the material where the corners would usually meet torque from the socket and you force it to engage further up the bolt/nut where the material/contact point is more substantial.
I've gone through a lot of wrenches, including a few German. My take is this
The truck brands generally make the longest "standard" wrenches and also offer extra longs that most brands dont. I like a long wrench so this works for me. All the truck brands form really nice box ends on their combos. MAC and Cornwell stand out to me as just looking the cleanest as far as box end forming goes. No measurements to back that up, its just my perception of the quality of the box ends as a whole having owned a few sets. Snap-On and Matco seem to produce a box end with more rounded walls.
You can buy, what i'd call, a boutique brand in the US (Hazet, Stahlwille, Gedore, KTC etc..) but truthfully there is no need. There are just far too many options readily available to us and none of those boutique brands make a wrench that is really superior to any product of the top US brands anyway. Buy those tools because they're unique in where they were manufactured and perhaps unique in cosmetic design (forged offsets/I-Beams/satin finish etc..), but that's about all they have going for them. You're trading away ease of service/replacement for it. Cost is a wash. When i got my Hazet sets the cost was about the same as a new Snap-On set would sell for on ebay. When it comes to innovations in hand tools the US brands are generally ahead of the rest of the world anyway so you're not gaining anything there. Snap-On in particular has a massive wrench catalog that dwarfs most of the competition so if you like to stick to 1 brand then its a no-brainer.
But in the end just buy what you want to use. If you're psyche says you'd really prefer the feel of a german wrench, get a german brand, if you want a US brand, get a US brand. If you just care about keeping the budget down, get a Taiwanese brand. They're honestly all good.
