Halfords Advanced Professional – any good?

Plenty of stuff around saying how good quality and value the Halfords Professional stuff is, but the range seems to have been replaced with Halfords Advanced Professional now. Still has lifetime warranty, but i was wondering if it’s still the best bet for a garage bike and car tinkerer?

I have an eye on the 170 piece socket set for £125, which seems like a good bargain. An equivalant set from Teng etc is three times the price which I can’t really justify!

Cheers

Not seen the new stuff but I was pleased with the old “professional” range.

I took two 3/8″ drive ratchets back earlier this year under lifetime warranty.
I bought them about 20 years ago and the ratchet mechanisms had started to jump under load. I didn’t have any proof of purchase so was reliant on the fact that they have “Halfords” printed on then.

They replaced both on the spot without question. Exactly the same item, unchanged in 20 years. 😀

The best tools I own (and I own quite a few) is the Halfords Advanced Professional 1/4″ drive socket set. It cost me £15 a few years ago and gets pretty much double the use than everything else. Especially as I seem to be tinkering more with bikes than cars theses day! Can’t fault it for the money.

I have this one Click me which I have been abusing for the last 4 years, the only thing to fail was a catch on the box after about 6 months … Popped in to ask if they had a spare and they said to bring the set in and they would swap it for a new one!

I bought a socket and spanner set a few months ago, they are good quality, not up to Britool or teng standards, but with a lifetime guarantee, and not being used professionally, they will be great.
I am more than happy with mine

I have that exact kit. The tools in it are top quality. I’d buy it again.

serial tool abuser and the only thing ive broken was a 1 foot extension bar …. i was using it on an electric 450nm impact driver ( its not an impact driver approved tool)

and it didnt even really break – the socket retaining ball bearing on the end came off…. but it also removed the stubborn bugger bolt i couldnt get into with anything else and get purchase and weight on it 😀

would buy again – recently bought the 49.99 set of spanners that go up to 34mm as i needed a 28 and 32mm ring spanner and again they are holding up well – they are not advanced profesional but they havnt broken yet – and i was swinging hard on the 34 removing suspension bolts that havnt been touched in 15 years.

I have a lot of the Halfords Professional sockets and spanners (most around 15 to 20 yrs old) and some of the newer Advanced Professional range too. Having owned quite a number of Land Rovers in that time it’s been well used! I would say that there has been a slight drop in quality, mainly the finishing and feel of the Advanced stuff, though have not broke any. It’s still good quality and don’t know anything else that will touch it at the often discounted price.

Replacing the ratchets is good of them as it doesn’t cover moving parts

wysiwyg – Member
Replacing the ratchets is good of them as it doesn’t cover moving parts

I’ve found it depends who serves you as to whether they replace broken ratchets, because as you say they aren’t actually covered under the lifetime warranty.

The last time I went in to replace a 2 month old ratchet the lady tried to tell me it wasn’t covered under the warranty, even though it was so new and the lifetime warranty was irrelevant. The guy behind the bike desk replaced it without question though. 🙂