Halfords 150pc Socket Set - Now £99.99...

[ms51ves3]

...again.

Clicky

[Darth]

Think the only reason they put the price of this set back up occasionally now is so they can continue to claim it is still a sale price at £99.99. Good set all the same though!
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Harold_Shand wrote: I suppose it's like anything, you get your fingers burned when you start out, you learn from it and eventually become a complete arsehole about the whole thing.

[bootsbiker]

I used the same set when I was at college.. It has everything you need for basic to mid range repairs.. highly recommend and if it is going to be the first part of your tool kit it is a really good start...

I always consider tools from Halfords.
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https://justfuckinggoogleit.com/

[Codemonkey]

+1

Compared to the last set I had (unknown brand), these are much better quality and a real joy to use, and the lifetime warranty (if you keep the receipt) means you can't really go wrong.

[Teflon-Mike]

OK, I have to admit my opinion on this was forming, and not possitively, before I even read the details.

The Title: "Halfords", was the first warning. Very little from that particular store is the 'best' value. Most is OK quality at an OK price, some it cheap tat, thats well over-priced, while the 'Pro' stuff, often isn't anywhere near, its just reasonable quality ameteur grade kit, with a big mark-up so they can offer a life-time garantee.... but hey..similar principle has worked well enough for Snap-On for decades, though their stuff is pro-quality, not ameteur, and designed for harder repetative use!

Personally, as often as not I go for Clarke tools from Machine Mart. The pricing is more reasonable, and they are a bit ore clued up about thier tools, even though the quality might not be much better than the Halfords offerings, and I have a couple of stores convenient to me.

Halfords main advantage is they are a High-Street store, in every town, and they are open late, so you can get the stuff you want easily. But, they charge a heck of a lot for that convenience.

Second thing that warned me was "150 piece".. large 'sets' with big numbers sound impressive, but, often a means of making you think you are getting a lot more for your money, when in fact, an awful lot of that 'bit-count' comes from totalling the individual blades in a pair of feeler guage and putting in loads of wiered screw-driver bits you'll never find a use for, and a multi-bit ratchet screwdriver, rather than six decent plain handles screwdrivers that are FAR more useful!
So, will I be surprised by this set, when I read the actual advert?

OK, first thing is its a 'Pro' range kit with Life-Time garantee. Inspires Confidence, but doesn't mean its the 'Best' quality. Halfords sells mainly to 'Nova-Boy', and its not expected to be used hard and daily, like a real 'pro' would his tools. Consequently they aren't of the quality that will give ten years hard use and keep size or take high loads without cracking. They are 'good' ameteur kit, durable enough for the average hobby mechanic, and hard and or heavy use can and will see stuff wear out or break.

One of the toughest nuts known to man, is the Land-Rover Diesel Cylinder Head bolt. its a 5/8ths Imperial head from memory, torqued up to some infeasible torque near the top of the scale on my torque wrench. Comment comes up on the Landy-Forums quite frequently about how these take great delight in splitting sockets, and its not unknown for them to crack a Halfords or Clarke 'Pro' item!

Either brand will often happily honour the garantee and replace said socket, but point is, shows the limit. Not many Am-Mechs will tackle stuff that tough, that often, so its cheaper to make the tools down to a price that covers 'most' stuff they'll do and simply fix it where it breaks.

Doesn't mean the sets a rip, off, only that its a little mis-leading, and may not be as strong as you expect under hard use.

Next thing is they describe it as "150 piece set with metric & AF sockets"....
Enter Pedant mode, but Metric spanners, 8mm, 10mm, 12mm, 13mm etc, are 'AF' spanners. The Measurement, 12mm means 12mm between jaws or 'Accross Flats' (AF) of a Hex head.
What they MEAN is that its an 'AF' set, all sizes being 'Accross-Flats', and contains both metric (mm) sizes, and Imperial (inch) sizes.

For note; The imperial sizes are the fractions, like 3/16, 5/8, 7/16 & 1/2, and in an AF set thats the actual Jaw size. Where in a Witworth set, its the jaws are actually slightly different, the quoted size, being the size of fastner its sized to fit, which is based on an average circle, about three people in the whole country understand! (One of them WASN'T my Standards Tutor at Uni, who explained it from a book to us, tried describing the maths on the board, Faltered, scrubbed of half his working with the comment "That ont make sense!" and then went on quickly to a completely different subject, dismissing it with the comment, "Doesn't matter, no-one uses them any-more anyway!")

However; point is, explains why when you walk into a Halfords and ask for a 5/8th 'Imperial' socket to replace the one you have just cracked doing a Land-Rover Diesel cyclinder head, the staff look at you funny, and ask "How many milimeters, mate?"

Why would the staff be expected to know thier tools and tool sizes when management and marketing dont, and can make such a stupid error in an advert?

This SHOULD suggest that Halfords as a company, doesn't have the deep understanding of its products, you might expect. It's like Argos. It has the stuff on the shelves and if YOU know what you are buying, then prices and value can be pretty good, but when you are looking for something a LITTLE out of the main-stream, and possibly something a bit specialised, your in the tail of thier capability, and probably taking a bit of a chance.

I know nothing about guitars or music, but I do know that Argos sell them, but I also know that if I bought a replacement guitar string set from them for my Step-son, he'd probably look at it with disgust, and not fit it to his.... actually I dont know what his guitar is!

OK, back to the socket-set!

Metric and Imperial sizes. So possibly half the tools in the box are imperial Inch sizes.
If you have an old Triumph or BSA or drive an old Biritsh Classic car, you might find a use for some of these. But most vehicles made in the last twenty to thirty years are pretty much all metric.
So, if you are looking for a starter set, one in which half the tools might never get used, might not be too useful, and you'd be better off looking for a purely metric set and getting more or better tools in the sizes you're most likely to need.

Actually looking to see whats metric and whats imperial, there is a single rail of imperial sized sockets, and no imperial sized spanners. So, you dont ACTUALLY have a great range of imperial sockets, and if you did have an old Brit-bike or classic car.... when you came to undo a nut and bolt, you could turn the nut, but without anything to hold the bolt head.... wouldn't really help!

Next Item 3 Double ended Ratchet spanners. Cool tool. Probably why they are at the top of the list of features!

However their 'worth' is questionable. I had the loan of a set of ratchet combination spanners with neat hinged heads a while back, and have to say they were nice to use, with the hinged head. BUT, for what they cost, they aren't THAT useful! And a plain combination ring and jaw spanner is a lot more use a lot more of the time, and where that lets you down, you have the conventional ratchet and socket set.

These dont have the benefit of a hinged head for access, I dont think, and have different sized rings on either end, and are included in the set, purely as a 'head-line item' to get your attension. And again, for a 'starter' set, there are more important things to worry about.

Regular Combination Spanners, 8-19mm range, is pretty useful. A good 'core' to a tool kit. But, no 'Imperial' sizes.

Onto the sockets, pretty well apointed, three drive sized, 1/4, 3/8 & 1/2 for the tough stuff, with three ratchets and three sets of extension bars and wobble-drives.

Then LOTS and LOTS of sockets, in each drive range, and doubled up in certain sizes with deep sockets and 'impact' sockets.

One 'interesting' feature of the set is that the 1/2 drives go up to larger sizes, and includes 30 & 32mm. On a motorbike, its unlikely you'd find anything that big. On a regular car, possible, but not that likely. On Land-rovers (& thier ilk) you do come accross stuff that sort of size... but ten years working on Landies.... not THOSE sizes, and the ones in my tool-kit are 29mm & 33mm.... so while the set does go up to the big nuts, its not got best coverage, and possible that you'll still have to buy fill in sockets. Then there's some unusual 'star-drive' sockets.

It seems to me, that this far more than a starter set, its more the sort of thing you step-up to after a cheapo chinese kit, when they have all rounded out or split. And its falling between being a good basic 'core' or even comprehensive socket set, including spanners and stuff, without actually being a full tool-kit.

For the same money:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/pro23-33-pce-38in-drive-socket-set/path/socket-sets-sockets-tool-sets

Is a 'Pro' grade, Life-Time garantee 33 peice 3/8 drive socket set covering 6-24mm. It covers most of the range you usually need, in one drive size, and had deep sockets for a good part of the same range.

As the 'start' of a starter tool-set, or a more useful kit of a budget mechanic, its £35 well spent.

You can add 'Rail' sets to that if you want imperial sizes or star-drives, for about £10 a set, in 14 in drive for small stuff, or 1/2 for big stuff. And individual 'specials' as and when.

But, before that, I'd add a decent, long breaker bar, for about £15, and some regular combination spanners, for another £15, again, all 'Pro' grade.

Total, £65. Not as many tools to boast of, but £35 still in my pocket, towards getting the job on hand done, or the 'other' tools around that, like an impact drice, hammer, pliers, screw-drivers, etc.

Again, shopping around, and using a bit of savvy, you can apply your spend more prudently. Things like hammers, or hack-saw, you can get cheapo's from the pound-shop, and save pennies for more important things like 'Decent' vice-grips, which in the kits are nearly always cheap and nasty and garanteed to chew and slip whatever they are clamped to, if they dont bend or break.

So with a little effort your £100 could get you a pretty comprehensive 'core' tool kit, which would be of equal or better qwuality and give you more useable tools.

Alternatively, just a few quid more, £130, gets you a 300 piece Clarke 'Top-Box' set, with pretty much the same socket coverage, plus more useful 'core' tools, and is what's often described as an 'aprentice set'. Wait for Machine-Mart to have a VAT-Free day, and its exactly the same price as the Special-Offer' Halfords set.

Conclusion:-

Well, It wouldn't get £100 of my money. Yes its well apointed, BUT. If you are an aspiring Hobby mechanic, looking for a starter set, then you could spend your money a lot more wisely on more stuff you would use more often. If you are a budget-mechanic, wanting the tools to do your own maintenence and repairs, to save money, again, its a lot of money for a lot of stuff you probably dont need.

This is an occassional tinkerers set. The kind of thing yoru Father-In-Law keeps under the stairs next to the spare light-bulbs, and pulls out all exitedly when a bulb goues on his Mondeo, or he invites you to have a look at the knocking CV joint on his missus' Peugot, and offers it to you with a flourish, expecting you to be able to fix the clapped out part, on the spot, becouse he has such a well apointed tool-kit.....

Its not 'bad', but it's better marketed than it is specified. It has a lot of stuff in it, for sure, and its not 'bad' quality, but there's an awful lot of stuff in that set thats unnecessary, not wonderfully useful or simply wont get used.

Yes, compared to the rest of the stuff in the Halfords catalogue, it does look like good value, and at £99, a 'bargain'... but, with a little more thought and effort, and a bit of hunting about most people could do better.

If you are starting a comprehensive ameteur hobby tool-kit, an aprentice set, or more targetted individual core items would serve you better. If you are a Budget DIYer, then being thrifty, much better off scouring the market for cheap core tools, and getting a cheaper, more basic 'core' socket set.

So, the advert didn't really correct my initial impression from the head-line & did confirm a lot of my presumptions.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[johnsmith222]

[Teflon-Mike]

[Ben.]

Like you said it wouldn't be my first choice but its an alright upgrade from a cheap set if you've lost sockets or snapped stuff.
I have clarke pro stuff and prefer the halfords pro stuff personally.
If i was spending my money now though ild rather save up and buy snap-on sockets with halfords ratchets.
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follow my racing season
Race bike - R6
Road bike - sv650

[calyx]

How about Elora socket sets? Do they really worth £200 pounds? (19 piece- 10 to 32) Or are we paying for the Elora badge?
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Boris - London

[Teflon-Mike]

[Dibble]

Mike could I just point out I think old British classics are probably Whitworth my Cub was BSCY which has Whitworth heads, only the later bikes were AF Imperial so the Imperial sockets are most use for Harleys and as fitting a non aproved fuel cap invalidates your Harley guarantee you probably can't use non Harley spanners either.

If you want good Whitworth tools look at boot fairs or find an old tool shop I've got a full range of King Dick that way

[Teflon-Mike]

[G]

Teflon-mike:

Some things from Halfords can be decent value - for instance their flexible ratchet wrenches when on half price offer. If you accept you're also paying for convenience as I believe you mention, then a lot of their prices aren't bad.

I wandered around a Machine Mart and was generally unimpressed with their tools - having spent many idle minutes perusing their catalogue I was rather surprised and distressed to learn I could walk in their with a wad of cash I was happy to spend on anything that caught my eye and walk out with exactly the same amount of money.

The '150 piece' is used through out the industry. Not great, but no reason to beat Halfords with a stick. The same for 'AF' - both can be found on Machinemart/Clarke stuff.

I'm guessing you don't ride modern big bikes that much? I'd say most of my bikes take a 32mm nut for the rear spindle. GSXR is 36mm. Some are 30mm and 27mm.

One useful aspect with this set is that it comes in a fairly compact case that's easy to transport and keep tidy.
It's not a set for daily mechanics; but it's irrelevant mentioning that really, because someone that does a lot of mechanical work would realise that anyway.
I know maybe 10 people with this set and have used it plenty of times myself. For £100 in the current climate it's a decent price for what you get.
I don't thinking breaking the sockets will be a big issue for most people. I don't what your torque wrench goes up to, but I'd have thought these sockets could handle anything a 1/2" torque wrench could do - unless you try and do maximum torque with the 6mm socket or something, anyway.

Though I think a lot of your criticism is unjustified, personally, I wouldn't recommend it still.
I'm a big fan of 'wall drive' sockets, so I'd go for a draper set like this, then a set of spanners:
https://www.justoffbase.co.uk/149-Piece-1-4-3-8-1-2-Sq-Dr-Metric-6-Point-Socket-43648-Draper-STK150

I've got the 3/8th version (6-24mm for around £40) and may get the bigger one too as I like it - the finish and presentation isn't quite as nice as the equivalent Sealey Professional; but the wall drive wins it definitely.

[Gazdaman]

I don't know how someone's put such a long Halford's based monologue!

Anyway, that 150pc kit is decent. The quality is good, the range is good. For the money it's cracking. Decent case too.

Gaz

[Itchy]

A counter point is that all the screw bits furred up even when kept dry in a warm place.

Also TWO of the ratchets broke, not the mechanism but the ball bearing holding sockets in place. Meaning you have to hold carefully.

Halfords refused to honour their life time guarentee and fobbed me off completely.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[The Artist]

Never had an issue with Halfords stuff for home use.

If I was running a garage, I would probably go out and buy some proper pro stuff but for the average BCF user who wants to do oil changes, change brake pads etc, it is more than adequate.

I have a smaller socket set from them, I have used the ratchet as a hammer many times and I haven't had anything break I don't think.

So, if you are looking for your first proper socket set then go for it. It isn't the best stuff out there, no one said it was but it is good value IMO.

[Gazdaman]

I agree, for a professional you'd want better kit. But there's not a lot the home-garage amateur can't do with this kit.

I'd done all sorts with mine, engine rebuilds, clutch changes in cars. You really don't need a lot else. And for £100, who's to argue! (Mine even came with one of those roller drawer tool chests)

Gaz

[kawakid]

Have had this set for 3 or 4 years now and it's good.

But, I'm 38 which is old I know, but not even I have the need for imperial sockets. Nor can I think when i've ever ever needed an imperial socket, on all my bikes or cars and i've been driving 21 years.

My other gripe, is the ratchets for the smaller sockets is only the smaller ratchet type.

Hmm, What I mean is, on the car I needed to get a 12mm nut off. But the only socket on this set capable of 12mm was a tiny weeny ratchet, so I couldn't put much force on it. Whereas what I needed was a 1/2 inch ratchet with a 12mm socket, which would do the job.

(Luckily I found my dad's old socket set in the loft, which did the job).

Saying that it's fine for working on the bike and is of a good enough quality for a hobbyist such as myself.
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I've a twin and a 4.

[Darth]

While i can see Mikes points and agree with them to a degree, i actually think this is a decent set, pretty good value and more than adequate for even a heavy use DIYer. My mate has had this set for years and it is still going strong, we have done most jobs on plenty of vehicles over that time. OK, its not perfect for every job but what set is? It has a good range of stuff and not a bad quality. As has already been said if you were a professional then it maybe better shelling out for pro stuff but otherwise probably overkill.

And if you go into halfords and try to engage the staff about replacing a more obscure tool then more fool you!

I am personally a fan of the draper expert sets, only because i have had one for about ten years now, given it a bucket load of abuse and it is still going strong. Only had to replace the 8mm socket recently as it was starting to slip a bit.
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Harold_Shand wrote: I suppose it's like anything, you get your fingers burned when you start out, you learn from it and eventually become a complete arsehole about the whole thing.

[Ichy]

I brought this set about 7 years ago and despite severe abuse I've not had a problem. I've even used the socket in my impact driver.
https://www.buckandhickman.com/find/keyword-is-248466

Some unbranded stuff is fine, just don't expect quality to come cheap.

Slightly on topic, anyone tried the Halfords tool cabinets and drawers?

[Bikeless]

[Dr. DaveJPS]

[G]

[Gazdaman]

[Hetzer]