Icon Wrenches (HF)

[SCT]

Anyone bought Icon wrenches from Harbor Freight? I want to buy a young family member a set of decent wrenches (he has a hodge-podge of hand me downs now) but I’m obviously not going to pony up for the high end lines. Also, thought about Craftsman (I hear they China made now). I hate to give HF credit but I do think they’ve upped their quality the last few years for us DIY-ers.

Thanks-

[David - WI]

Icon vs Snap-On (or Craftsman) comes up constantly on my YouTube feed... I haven't watched any, but they are all over: https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAE...hes+vs+snap+on

[DangerNewb]

Anyone bought Icon wrenches from Harbor Freight? I want to buy a young family member a set of decent wrenches (he has a hodge-podge of hand me downs now) but I’m obviously not going to pony up for the high end lines. Also, thought about Craftsman (I hear they China made now). I hate to give HF credit but I do think they’ve upped their quality the last few years for us DIY-ers.

Thanks-

At 55 years old i still have Craftsman and SK ratchets from my high school days. The new Craftsman ratchets seem to give up pretty quick. My sons have both had ratchets fail. Got a set of Craftsman ratcheting wrenches as a Christmas present. No offset in the wrench and no switch to reverse the action. Just flip the flat wrench over to go the other way. Never really realized how important the offset or angle on a wrench is. Becomes apparent when you use a flat one.

Anyhow, no experience with the icon HF wrenches.

[David - WI]

I did buy a Craftsman wrench & socket set (in a zippered case)for my car the other day... they seem every bit as good as the ones I have from high school in the 80's. I had a loose ground wire in the Ace Hardware parking lot... and they sell Craftsman now.

[DangerNewb]

I did buy a Craftsman wrench & socket set (in a zippered case)for my car the other day... they seem every bit as good as the ones I have from high school in the 80's. I had a loose ground wire in the Ace Hardware parking lot... and they sell Craftsman now.

I've bought a few craftsman combo wrench/socket sets over the past few yrs and gave two of them to my sons. Both had ratchets break. Can't say for sure they didn't use them as a breaker bar though.

[RiverRat71]

The guys I know that are using Icon from HF are having good luck with them so far. Gearwrench seems pretty consistent with its quality. Apex Tool Group owns Gearwrench & Crescent so quality among those two should be similar. I have a lot of Armstrong tools that were made in the USA under ATG & have been great but are no longer made. Older Craftsman tools were pretty legit but not real sure about now. If it were me & I had to pick tools outside of the top tier group I would go Gearwrench then Icon. Just my 2 cents worth. RR

[89LASER]

I have bought both. the Icon wrenches (or the prior brand from HF) and they are holding up fine. I bought the new Craftsman rachet set for my daughters boyfriend and yes, they are made in China now

[JPEROG]

I have pretty much everything offered by ICON and have had zero issues. I am not an everyday mechanic but do use stuff daily.

Joe