GEARWRENCH 12 Pc. 120XP Universal Spline XL Flex Head Ratcheting Combination Metric Wrench Set - 86229

I spent a lot of time looking at every brand from Kobalt to Snap On. These are a very nice spot in the middle. First, I wanted one that was 120 tooth to allow for use in really tight quarters. Second, the flex head was must. The lifetime warranty on these was the final selling point and the fact that many local stores sell Gearwrench so warranty replacement should be pretty easy.

I’m in the process of filling up a new toolbox and have decided to get a large variety of wrenches—12-point combination, ratcheting, reversible ratcheting, and flex ratcheting—to ensure I always have the tool for the job. I grabbed this set as well as the SAE set because they were very reasonably priced and because they feature a universal spline drive. In my experience when spline drives are done well they’re amazing, much better than typical 12-point designs. Good examples are on Falcon sockets and Proto ratcheting wrenches.For the most part the splines on these wrenches seem like winners, but I noticed the 14mm is really bad. I’ve included pictures of the 8mm and the 14mm respectively and hopefully you can see the difference in tolerances. The 8mm fits very tight as you would expect and the splines rest on the flats with ample clearance from the corners. The 14, however, has a lot of slop and the splines land closer to the corner. What this means is this wrench is particularly susceptible to rounding fasteners, which is not good. I tested the 8-15, 17 and 19, and of those only the 14 was like this. The rest are up to par with my set of Proto Reversible wrenches, which are in another price bracket entirely. I may just toss the 14mm to ensure I never wind up in a situation where I regret using it.Beyond that, I have some mixed feelings. The 120 position mechanism has a nice back swing and engagement on all the wrenches, but it doesn’t feel all that much better than my 72-tooth ratcheting wrenches which also happen to be Gearwrench brand. I can definitely tell it occasionally “skips” and requires a wider swing to catch a tooth. It’s probably not any worse than a typical 72-tooth ratcheting box end, but it is kind of disappointing. By comparison, I have a set of the SK X-beam wrenches that clearly have an exceptional mechanism that you can clearly tell gives finer engagement than standard ratcheting box ends. I don’t know yet how durable these wrenches are, but I have some Gearwrench wrenches at work that have been going strong after 5-6 years of daily use. I’m the type of monster who regularly breaks and torques fasteners with the ratcheting box end and so far they’ve yet to let me down. I hope these can achieve that level of reliability but I guess I’ll see.Another thing I’m on the fence about is the flex head in general. A lot of guys seem to love flex heads but this is my first experience with them. I used the 13 and 16 on a brake job and found that the flex head wasn’t all that helpful. It seems like it’s more trouble than it’s worth to distribute the force correctly to prevent the box end from slipping off the fastener. Perhaps there are occasions where these wrenches prove to be very useful, but for my money I think a set of reversing wrenches with a 15 degree offset might be the better choice.Anyhoo they have a nice finish, the casting/machining seems good with no sharp edges, the mechanisms feel solid for the most part and other than the 14 all the tolerances seem as good as my $300 set of stubby Proto wrenches.

Despite the rating, I'm keeping these simply because they fill a role that the Icon's and Tekton's don't. However, the metal finish and chrome finish is well behind other Taiwanese made wrenches like, Icon, Husky Pro, Capri, and (Taiwan made) Craftsman. I'd give the Gearwrench a 7/10 on the pre-chroming prep and a 6/10 on Chroming and polishing. There are a few nicks/voids/ripples on the metal which they polished over to make a smooth surface for the chrome however the chrome amplifies these pre-finishing errors. There's also some mild staining on some of the chrome, as if a chemical left some faint blob/patterns. In addition... even though my wrenches came completely enclosed in Gearwrenche's plastic wrapping, there's a lot of fine scratches, as if there was significant handling even after the chroming process. Keep in mind, this doesn't effect the wrench's performance but considering the premium price, I was expecting a better metal prep, better chrome and less evidence of handling marks. The Icon, Husky pro, Tekton, Capri, and Craftsman (Taiwan made) just to name a few, are all much better finished. In addition, 4 of these wrenches do not have straight beams and are either bowed and/or slightly twisted. Several of them have uneven dimensions and forging ripples along the tops or bottoms of their beams. (I just wasn't able to photograph this) Lastly, the flex head tension is wildly uneven with some being quite stiff and others having a bit of flop.Things I did like better about the Gearwrench flex head ratcheting vs. the Icon flex head ratcheting, 1)The longer length 2)The spline drive 3)Tension adjustable Allen drive for the flex head 4)off-corner loading open ends, 120xp tooth box ratchet design.Things I like better about the Icon. Virtually flawless metal preparation, absolutely precise grinds and one of the highest quality chrome finishes I've seen. Best of all, they were all perfectly straight. Precise dimensions, and exacting tolerances were definitely high on Icon's list of priorities (at least with the batch that I purchased) Closer to Snap-on quality than any other wrenches I own.Regarding the review pictures, all of the wrenches were cleaned with windex and a microfiber towel before photographing. The small patterns/nicks/scratches in the chrome is not towel lint but actual flaws in the chrome. It was extremely difficult to photograph these imperfections on the chrome finish and these issues are understated by the photos. It's actually worse to the human eye.

Gearwrench is great this set is wonderful, would take off 1/2 a star for quality control some of the ratcheting mechanisms don't feel so smooth but it's still a beautiful set. Just a note this is a perfect 2nd set for mechanics, the flex will make life difficult in certain pressure applications. when changing brakes for example the angle makes for easy slippage so just make sure you have a straight non flex set as well. Obviously need not be ratcheting

I wouldn’t say that these wrenches are value for money you can definitely get cheaper ones out there. But these are definitely the best wrenches I’ve ever owned it has definitely made my job easier when working on vehicles. If you have the money definitely buy these

Good set of wrenches. The pin in the 11mm wrench flex head side came out...

I paid top dollar for these wrenches thinking I was getting a high-quality product I've only used them for three months now and some of the wrenches on the pivot head are already getting extremely loose another issue is the inconsistency in the hundred and twenty tooth ratcheting mechanism sometimes it works like it says sometimes it doesn't I could see if I didn't pay a bunch of money for these but I thought spending the extra dollar would have got me the nicer quality product what it boils down to is I'm pretty disappointed in the quality of these wrenches and the warranty is pretty much nonexistent