Tool Brands

[Barks]

KING TONY FTW...

Seconded....

I bought my King Tony set (6-32mm metric, in 1/4 3/8 and 1/2" drive) from the field days a couple of years back now. I have given the thing a hell of a lot of punishment (including putting the 19mm 1/2" socket on the end of my rattle gun) and nothing's ever cried enough.

My uncle has been a mechanic for about 30 years now and he swears by King Tony too, he said the only socket he's ever broken was a 17mm 3/8", but that's because he had it on a frozen suspension bolt with a 3/8" to 1/2" adapter, a power bar and then a 3' pipe on the end, and he started hanging off it.......

[Sick Puppy]

Hey everyone, thanks heaps for your input, it's appreciated! Another long post I’m afraid, but then I’ve been shopping and reading...

i was going to recommend powerbuilt for best bang for buck (we sell it!)..... but seems u dont like it!

Warwick, you work for Toyota don’t you? You sell PB stuff too?! Whaaa?

Initially I wasn’t going to consider Powerbuilt after reading about their ratchets (basically crap), but I reconsidered after I went to the Toolshed in Petone, and the guy there suggested one of their chests as an alternative to buying piecemeal, which is why I asked about buying a chest- seemed like a good idea at the time! The fact they have just started selling the UK helped too...

I’m sure the Powerbuilt stuff is pretty good value for money, I guess my impression is as much how they feel, the sound they make etc. The King Tony ratchets felt good, the Koken ratchets felt better, but in comparison the Powerbuilt one felt and sounded tinny, and the selector lever was really loose, which didn't reassure me about it lasting- generally when stuff like that moves around, it isn't designed to stay long in this world! lol

I don't understand what you mean about the ratchet selectors feeling funny? All our ratchets have normal steel selectors?

The set I looked at had a ratchet with a selector dial that you moved around- felt funny to use and dial moved around just like PB selector dial- not very reassuring! Hell, the Powerbuilt ratchet with the dial felt better! It was also fibre-reinforced- nah, just looked and felt wrong! Having said that, they are used by the Porsche dealership on Green lane... I’ll have another look.

I went to Waitemata Hydraulics in Auckland (was up there for a volleyball tournie) and they reckoned their tool rep had seen a study/ experiment result showing that the King Tony stuff failed only a few hundred RPM under Koken in some test or other (whatever that meant), with Powerbuilt faaar behind, so the King Tony stuff looks really good value for money. I am inclined to go for the King Tony stuff at the mo, but Koken feels that bit better- worth the $100+ more though?

Ideal world, I would like to get everything I need at once with storage to match, but then I would also have Stahwille... it's not an ideal world, so I'll make do. (of course, if I could locate Stahwile gear second hand... ). I want something that will last within the boundaries of what I can afford and frequency of use, so I’ll have a hunt around the Koken and King Tony websites and see what they have- pity their webistes like all asian ones suck! Man, if I could website design and speak Japanese/ Chinese I would make a bomb!

The King Tony set I quoted in my last post looks good, (the ‘Racing’ box is allegedly made by/ for a German tool company beginning with S... ) but I can’t see myself using the Imperial stuff, and it has offset wrenches- anyone find these useful?

Also, has anyone looked at importing stuff? I’m figuring it’s not a go because of freight, but worth asking...

[Mr Revhead]

yeah i work for toyota, and yes we sell powerbuilt. sort of!
we get it gor the techs, and sell a few kits. its not something we're big into.

[TRD_ZERO]

I just got a 36 and 24 piece king tony socket set for $140 and the quality isnt shiz

[Muzzie]

ive got a lot of powerbuilt stuff, never had any problems, its not overly expensive and its got lifetime guarantee

Ditto. I even use my poor 3/8 drive ratchet on wheel nuts

[Jet_boy01]

I have a Stahlwille set, outstanding set of tools. Everytime time I use another set of a friends or anything I never ever regret it, worth a few $$$ but will last my lifetime Im sure.

Same as this one Im fairly sure

http://www.stahlwille-online.de/index.p ... 8&pid=4025

[Dell'Orto]

I priced up a Stahlwille 3/8 drive set for an insurance claim, and the basic 36pce set was something like $1500 retail But yeah, they're tools that you'll give to your kids.

[rollaholic]

i've never had a problem with my powerbuilt sockets, if you are worried about the feel of their ratchets (though mine has served me faithfully every day for three years) you could always splash out on a snap on ratchet for example.

worth remembering, i think someone mentioned it already - ratchets are for speeding up the threading / unthreading, use a breaker bar for the intial oomph... but yes, im highly guilty of picking up the breaker bar only after my ratchet has failed to loosen something

i can also reccomend the repco branded tools, i particularly like their pliers and sidecutters etc. much nicer feel than the powerbuilt ones, though you pay for it.

if you want to buy good tools, then i think the money is best spent on the hand tools - spanners, ratchet, pliers etc.

[Muzzie]

i've never had a problem with my powerbuilt sockets, if you are worried about the feel of their ratchets (though mine has served me faithfully every day for three years) you could always splash out on a snap on ratchet for example.

worth remembering, i think someone mentioned it already - ratchets are for speeding up the threading / unthreading, use a breaker bar for the intial oomph... but yes, im highly guilty of picking up the breaker bar only after my ratchet has failed to loosen something

i can also reccomend the repco branded tools, i particularly like their pliers and sidecutters etc. much nicer feel than the powerbuilt ones, though you pay for it.

if you want to buy good tools, then i think the money is best spent on the hand tools - spanners, ratchet, pliers etc.

I didnt have a breaker bar handy lol.

It still works awesome though, I think theres a rough tooth in it but lifetime wareanty for the world

[Sick Puppy]

Whoa, heaps of support for Powerbuilt! Fair enough, it does get good reviews for its value for money buth here and in Oz, and as I said, they are in the UK (though their distributor got a spanking for 'spamming' a google forum lol). I had considered grabbing a set and then ratchets from an upmarket brand, reason I didn't was added cost as well as well, the ratchets are pretty much the thing you use the most, and what I imagine manufactured spend serious coin developing... if they make ratchets that feel tinny (well, to me anyway), then what's the rest of their stuff like? Seriously though, I'll give 'em a serious look next week!

TRD Zero, where did you get your KT stuff from? Sounds like a good price for two sets... even if they're not... the shiz

Erm, what does 'the shiz' mean?

[TRD_ZERO]

I had a mate that worked in trade supply store, so i asked him if he could sort me out he said the best he could do the two sets for is cost plus $2 so i guessed that is the best price id ever get them for. What i meant by quality isnt shiz, is the quality isnt bad either. So yeah best advice is to go get someone in the the trade to sort you out.

[RAZA]

I bought a big powerbuilt set and broke the 3/8" ratchet after very little use.

Tried taking it back to repco in henderson where i got it and they weren't keen on replacing it as i'd lost the receipt, tried 2 other repcos in west auckland and neither would help, eventually gave up. Still have the broken ratchet sitting in the garage.

because of that I'd think very hard before buying more powerbuilt tools.

[Si]

So you wouldnt by X brand of tools because they didnt replace it after YOU lost the receipt?

[Dell'Orto]

I bought a big powerbuilt set and broke the 3/8" ratchet after very little use.

Tried taking it back to repco in henderson where i got it and they weren't keen on replacing it as i'd lost the receipt, tried 2 other repcos in west auckland and neither would help, eventually gave up. Still have the broken ratchet sitting in the garage.

because of that I'd think very hard before buying more powerbuilt tools.

Thats a pretty poor excuse really. If Repco wont take it, then go to another Powerbuilt outlet, all anyone does is just send it back to Alltrade for repair.

[RAZA]

So you wouldnt by X brand of tools because they didnt replace it after YOU lost the receipt?

Being that the warranty is for a lifetime, I didn't expect having a receipt to be a pre-requisite for making a claim. I feel it is unreasonable to expect someone to keep the receipt for ever. In fact the ink on most receipts would have faded away to nothing after a few years anyway, even if they were kept.

That aside my point was more that I wouldn't buy it again because it broke. The dissapointing service afterwards just made it worse.

I've also tried to find contact details for powerbuilt directly to inform them about the lacklustre service from their agent repco and my dissapointment with the ratchet for breaking in the first place, but couldn't find them in the whitepages and the only contact details on their website seem to be for repco anyway.

[Sick Puppy]

I've also tried to find contact details for powerbuilt directly [...]but couldn't find them in the whitepages

Since they are marketed by Alltrade Inc, is this of any use?

Alltrade Tools NZ Ltd, 123 Nazareth Ave Christchurch 0-3-338 9620 Found them in White Pages...

Finding the Repco head/regional office may also be of use, as well as giving an approximate time you purchased the set and which store you purchased it from. Otherwise, as mmm, Boost said, take it to a Toolshed or other Powerbuilt distributor and see if they'll replace/repair it.

Hope this helps!

[rollaholic]

it does seem like theres two versions of ratchet out there - like i said mines been sweet for 3 years.

yeah powerbuilt isint the greatest, but it gets the job done.

[Sick Puppy]

I just got a 36 and 24 piece king tony socket set for $140

Just had another look- nice one man, I gotta say that that is an awesome discount!

[Muzzie]

So you wouldnt by X brand of tools because they didnt replace it after YOU lost the receipt?

Being that the warranty is for a lifetime, I didn't expect having a receipt to be a pre-requisite for making a claim. I feel it is unreasonable to expect someone to keep the receipt for ever. In fact the ink on most receipts would have faded away to nothing after a few years anyway, even if they were kept.

That aside my point was more that I wouldn't buy it again because it broke. The dissapointing service afterwards just made it worse.

I've also tried to find contact details for powerbuilt directly to inform them about the lacklustre service from their agent repco and my dissapointment with the ratchet for breaking in the first place, but couldn't find them in the whitepages and the only contact details on their website seem to be for repco anyway.

Exaclty why I photo copied my receipt onto decent paper

[Barks]

I bought a powerbuilt ratcheting ring and open ender spanner set a while back, and the 13mm lasted for one day of use before it spat the dummy. I ended up taking it back for a full refund on the set and replacing it with a kingchrome set. I've also got my hands on a craftsman 13mm RR&OE which has lasted well, thogh craftsman can be difficult to get you hads on in NZ. If you know anyone heading to the US however, cheap as chips from Sears! (About $NZ50 for a set you'd pay $150 for here)

Anyways, what was my point......

Ah yeah, IMO powerbuilt isn't the best quality tool out there by any stretch of the imagination, it's more designed for the once in a while mechanic, not for constant use. My work tool kit has two powerbuilt tools in it, and one of them (a pair of sidecutters) are on the way out already.

Just to throw another name into the mix, how about BAHCO? I got a 3/8" socket set a little while ago from Bunnings, and it's been fantastic. I've also seen them advertised at Bay Engineeers and Hand tool house.