What are the best tools? Allen keys and torque wrench.

Having to think of Christmas gifts that I want, decided instead of the usual I’d quote like to get myself a ‘forever’ set of Allen keys an torque wrench.

So what are renowned as the best?

Allen keys would ideally have metric and imperial.

Thanks for any help.

TomO

Snap on have an offer on there 5-40Nm torque wrench on 1/4″ drive, £105 plus the VAT, lovely bit of kit. Hunt a van down and grab a bargain.

No allen keys are ‘forever’ our sets get replaced every year or so, snap on ones aren’t worth the extra (have had a set of them, Park are not good either) something like Bondus ones are a good buy.
Torque wrench snap on, teng, facom are all ok, they are supposed to be calibrated every so often too.

I find my Wera ones really good

http://www.screwfix.com/p/wera-9-piece-hex-plus-hexagon-key-set-ball-end/78506

(I’m fairly sure you can get them cheaper)

I have the hex version of this Proxxon set;

it’s held up well.

My everyday working p-handle allen keys are Draper Experts of all things- Draper randomness means that every so often, they produce some really good tools, it’s just hard to tell which ones are good and which are shite. Bondhus, Wera, Teng and Bahco tend to get my money, been really impressed by the Bahco stuff I got recently- quite heavy and bulky, but very well made and thought out, I’d not really noticed them as a brand til recommendations on here

Park are not good either) something like Bondus ones are a good buy.

The Park ones are re-branded Bonhus Protanium ones so one can’t be ‘better’ than the other, they’re identical.

I have a 7 year old Park set still going strong but have recently started to lust after a set of THESE

Bondhus Allen keys, although they won’t last forever, and Norbar torque wrench.

depends what catalogue they are bought from in china with draper – hit and miss

wera hex plus currently have my money but as a wear item ive had bondhaus , irwin and bahco.

at least all those fitted when new. i bought a cheapo set in a case from lidl or aldi to keep in the car for emergencies – opened them put them into some bolts and soooo sloppy – took em back , horrible.

and what he said about norbar.

snapon is a Precision instruments rebranded and cheaper however.

although for home use i just have a couple of teng torque wrenches so that if they crap out i dont cry about laying out for a new one.

Hatter.

I have a set of the Beta T bars at work. Good kit.

Oooo stop it, my Park ones work just fine.

*Repeats ‘I don’t need shiny new allen keys” to himself ad infinatum*

hatter – only the park multi key sets are – i have a set – the p handles are not.

Edit – it seems some of their P handles are/were. they certainly were not last time we bought a set for the shop – they were horrendous quality. – interestingly bondhaus claim they dont rebrand for anyone…..

Wera ones are the best I’ve had. Get the multi coloured set.

Snap on for me (bought at a significant discount).

OK so having read all the comments it looks like wera have a good response. As I don’t work for a shop they won’t get abused too often so hopefully should last me a fair while.

Torque wrenches, unless running carbon, do you all excommunicated them as a must have? I see all the ‘tighten this to…’, and alu /steel does it matter?

Thanks so far for all the responses 🙂

Wera Multi coloured hex keys here as well.
In the running for the sexiest alan keys if such a title existed.
They also happen to have a very good engagement and are very well made, should last a garage mechanic a lifetime.
I have used these a few times on rounded bolts and have managed to get them out and have not yet caused a rounded bolt with them.

I own a torque wrench, for motorbike and car stuff, the only thing I’ve used it on pushbikes for is XTR cranks as I’m not good at judging 50nm.

Torque wrenches are kind of a tricky one tbh. I don’t feel the need, I have torquefingers. But you aquire torquefingers over a long period of over and undertightening bolts.

The wee torque keys you can get are quite nifty. I mistrust cheap torque wrenches and I’d find it hard to justify an expensive low-value wrench + a set of allen sockets (if I didn’t already have em) for my own pushbikes.

Bondhus allen keys and dial type torque wrench –
http://www.torqueleader.com/torque-measuring-tools/ads-dial-measuring-torque-wrenches/

have one for carbon bike stuff and one for Landrover timing belt pulleys.

I’d get some of these – if you really want them to last forever at that price get two or three sets. 🙂

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Bondhus and Park allen keys for me. Park as a fold out multi set and Y wrench which is handy for fettling as the right tool is to hand then a regular set of Bondhus keys for general use. No need for a torque wrench IMO.

+1 for Bahco.

I have found their Allen Keys, Wrenches and Screwdrivers to be of excellent quality both for performance and longevity.

make sure your wera are HEX PLUS keys – it makes a difference :d

I bought some of those Bahco ones a couple of months ago when they were on sale on Amazon. Seem pretty good for a tenner. I see they are on sale again now (or perhaps it’s a Halfords-esque perma-sale!).

bahco stuff isnt really on sale no more – what they did was move their production overseas – some of their stuff is real junk now – its starting the slippy slope to the bottom imo chasing price. but for the mean time they still make many many good products for a good price.