Tools.

Eh....I pass. Mine are all cheap stuffs! A lot cheaper. :)

So, as Snappy stuff is too dear for home use I've been looking at Halfords Pro and Clarke Pro range.

For the stuff I want, the Clarke range works out around £350. The Halfords stuff works out around £600 but as I've my City & Guilds, I can use that to get a trade card which will bring the price down to around £350-£400 but there's a few things I'd be leaving out compared to the Clarke range.

Both are lifetime guarantee.

I've handled the Halfords stuff and it seems very nice. No experience of the Clarke stuff though. Any comments about it?

I would guess there is little to choose between them for quality, but IME cheap doesn't necessarily mean poor quality. Over the years I've bought many 'cheap' tools. Such as a combination set, 10-32mm for £16. Still showing no sign of wear after about 6 years of use. I use hand tools a lot, but still consider Halfords Pro et al, to be an unnecessary expense. Mike.

So, as Snappy stuff is too dear for home use I've been looking at Halfords Pro and Clarke Pro range.

For the stuff I want, the Clarke range works out around £350. The Halfords stuff works out around £600 but as I've my City & Guilds, I can use that to get a trade card which will bring the price down to around £350-£400 but there's a few things I'd be leaving out compared to the Clarke range.

Both are lifetime guarantee.

I've handled the Halfords stuff and it seems very nice. No experience of the Clarke stuff though. Any comments about it?

-- Conor

I'm really a nice guy. If I had friends, they would tell you.

======================== Clarke's tools are generally pretty good and you don't necessarily need to buy the 'Pro' stuff. If you're thinking of buying sets of sockets, combination spanners etc. it's worth checking to see which sizes are missing from the sets and buy the missing sizes separately. e.g. Clarke's PRO20 (Order code 040212545) is a 12 piece set of combination spanners 6 - 19mm. Two sizes, probably 9mm and

Cic.

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They don't bin them, they sell them cheap...

So, as Snappy stuff is too dear for home use I've been looking at Halfords Pro and Clarke Pro range.

For the stuff I want, the Clarke range works out around £350. The Halfords stuff works out around £600 but as I've my City & Guilds, I can use that to get a trade card which will bring the price down to around £350-£400 but there's a few things I'd be leaving out compared to the Clarke range.

Both are lifetime guarantee.

I've handled the Halfords stuff and it seems very nice. No experience of the Clarke stuff though. Any comments about it?

I hope your local neurosurgeon managed to reattach the hand. It's a bugger trying to service a car with only one.

I have quite a bit of Clarke stuff and it's never let me down. I don't know how they handle stuff that breaks under guarantee though.

OTOH I have broken a Halfords Pro Torx drive, which Halfords refunded (none in stock) without batting an eyelid.

I'm happy with both.

I have various sets of Halfords stuff and can't fault it, taken various cars to bits with it and not managed to break anything. :-)

Mark S.

I've got a near total set of the Halfords Pro combination spanners - bought really as I needed them. And they are a delight to look at and use. However, I don't think you need to pay anywhere as much for decent serviceable stuff.

Thanks to all. Went out and got the Halfords 150 pc Pro set as well as=20 a set of those ratchet spanners with the swivel head. Looked at both=20 the Halfords and Clarke stuff and felt happier with the Halfords socket=20 set. Took my CGLI cert and got =A340 off the retail price.

Got a Clarke 6 drawer top box (wish I'd got an 8 drawer), Clarke Pro=20 screwdriver set, filter strap, 1.5lb hammer, rubber mallet, set of pry=20 bars, Impact driver and some socket tidy strips.

With the stuff I've got left such as pliers, brake pipe clamps, torque=20 wrench, Torx/Allen bit set, breaker bar, multimeter and timing light, I=20 reckon I've got enough for now. Certainly got a stuffed full box again=20 and all for =A3280 which is far better than Snappy would have charged.

Wanted a dial gauge, vernier gauge, brake pipe flaring tool and a load=20 of other bits and bobs that I used to have but realised that was just=20 indulgence so if I need them in the future, I'll buy them as required.

--=20 Conor

I'm really a nice guy. If I had friends, they would tell you.

I think with the Halfrauds stuff its sometimes pot luck if you get a decent one or one that's going to break, but the guarantee means you don't need to worry too much, they change anything without quibble.

I used to have a halfords breaker bar, which served me well for years until I broke it trying to remove a very stubborn bolt on a truck. Had to borrow a colleagues snap-on bar to finish the job, and managed to break that one too, on the same bolt. Seems like they were pretty much the same quality.

The difference came when I tried to get replacements, took the snap-on one to the van, where the salesman then informed me the knuckle was a 'consumable' and not covered by the so-called guarantee. Much arguing later he eventually, reluctantly, agreed to change it. It would seem that the snap on guarantee only covers the bits that are not going to break anyway, and is totally worthless.

Halfords on the other hand, walked in with a broken tool, walked out with a new one, not a single word of argument. Unfortunately this one seemed to be lower quality, and broke a couple of days later. again, changed without argument. Again, broke a couple of days later! I went through about 4 of them in the space of a week, I guess they had a bad batch, end result being that they happily gave me a full refund, no questions asked.

Most of my tools now come from an independent tool van seller, much of his stuff is from J&S, which is absolute top quality, but at sensible prices. See......

So, as Snappy stuff is too dear for home use I've been looking at Halfords Pro and Clarke Pro range.

For the stuff I want, the Clarke range works out around £350. The Halfords stuff works out around £600 but as I've my City & Guilds, I can use that to get a trade card which will bring the price down to around £350-£400 but there's a few things I'd be leaving out compared to the Clarke range.

Both are lifetime guarantee.

I've handled the Halfords stuff and it seems very nice. No experience of the Clarke stuff though. Any comments about it?

Lifetime guarantee only covers breakages, how many tool's have you ever broken against how many tools have you lost or " thanks to friends and associates helping themselves".? Buy cheap tools and then it does not hurt so much to replace the lost one's.

In article , Fred broken against how many tools have you lost or " thanks to friends and

I've lost very few over the years, and non through lending out. If they aren't returned immediately I ask for them back. I don't really have 'friends' who would help themselves.

Losing the tools isn't the only consideration. From cheap tools I've suffered physical injury and rounded off many a nut.

"Fred" broken against how many tools have you lost or " thanks to friends and

As a general rule I don't lend tools, and I make a point when I pack up at the end of the day, to replace all tools in their respective cases or drawers etc. Hence I've still got complete sets of sockets and spanners bought decades ago. On the rare occasions when I have loaned tools, I've insisted they be returned on the same day, and never allow anyone to borrow my precision measuring tools. Micrometers, dial guages, verniers, etc. Mike.

Aye. I've hung off the end of a snap on breaker bar undoing bolts on machinery. I wouldn't want to put that amount of force on a cheapy. And as you said, most cheap tools are not the state sizes...

Just to put a spanner in the works, I've owned both the Halfords pro, and the sealey pro tools and both are about about as good as each other and of a heavy DIY quality. I've not managed to break any.

However, I now own quite alot of the American ProTools kit. Very competitively priced, beautifully made and make some of the nicest rachets Ive seen on the market. Not sure of a proper source as a man-in-a-van comes around here..

Tim..

I've learnt that lesson too. Cheap, crap tools let go as soon as you

: Went out and got the Halfords 150 pc Pro set as well as : a set of those ratchet spanners with the swivel head.

Those spanners, um, what's the expression, "like so totally rock, man". If only they did them in impreial A/F as well as this new fangled metric nonsense.

Ian