ICON vs Snap On Wrench Review (pt 1)

Comparing the new ICON wrench set to the Snap On Flank Drive Wrench Set.

Become a Patreon and get access to content early as well as monthly tool giveaways.

Tekton Wrench Set (Great Deal)

Tekton Stubby Wrench Set

Tekton Crow Foot Set

Gearwrench ratcheting wrench set

Gearwrench Flex Head Ratcheting Wrench Set

Gearwrench Stubby Ratcheting Wrench Set

All the above links are affiliate links and should you choose to make a purchase using the above links then the channel will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Any commission received will be used to help support the channel and is greatly appreciated.

[RedemptionGarage]

Whats your go to wrench? Mine is in the comments.

[fhbkx]

Comparison with snap on starts at 7:30, your welcome.

[TheFlatlander]

Not a mechanic here but right now my go-to wrenches are old school made in the USA Craftsman wrench's with a couple Tekton, Gedore and Northern Tool. Cheers!

[jthomos]

Still have my USA Craftsman wrenches. I bought a set of Pittsburgh wrenches to use doing construction around the house. But my go to wrenches are my first set of Craftsman USA.

[Romulan]

My go to wrench is usually a standard size (kinda short) Armstrong 6 pt wrench. I like them cause they are thick in the beam area and don't cut into my palms when I bare down on them. When I can't get enough torque, I just tap the open end with a hammer and it comes off. MY all time favorite combination wrenches are the Craftsman USA cross force. A nice long wrench with a very wide beam that doesnt hurt my palms.
I have some Snap on. Mainly in the Half moon metric sizes. I do remember putting a 12mm Snap on crowfoot on a brake line. Was very loose fit. I took it off and used a Craftsman USA 12mm flare instead. It was tight.

[VorsprungDurchNik]

Back in January I bought all new Icon wrenches. I used to have a mish-mash collection of MAC, Matco, Snap-On, SK, and Hazet wrenches, but everything vanished overnight in the middle of a three-day power outage. I went back to using my 15-20 year old Pittsburgh and 15-40+ year old Craftsman tools as that's all I had left. I got a wild hair and spent about $900 on Icon stuff. But I can honestly tell you I regret it. The wrenches hurt my hands. They may have tight tolerances, but they spread open way too easily, something I never encountered with the cheap Harbor Freight Pittsburgh wrenches the Icons replaced. I also managed to bow the 14mm wrench while doing an alignment - again, something that hasn't happened to me before. Functionally speaking the sockets have been great, but the chromemoly finish on the Icon sockets gets scratched and marred the second you take them out of the convenient tray. My 10mm and 13mm are so dull looking, they look like they're from a different set when you look at them in the drawer. I would have to tell anyone considering Icon wrenches to hold off and buy something else. The wrenches just aren't good enough. Buy cheaper Pittsburgh and beat the crap out of them for 10 years instead.

[themountofoliveschannelwit]

About those Crows feet.. I use a cheap Craftsman set myself. You are never going to use them often enough to warrant buying the high dollar tool truck brands and it you'll never be in situation where you're applying extreme amounts of pressure on them either. In my opinion that's a perfect example of a tool that you can totally get away with buying cheaper DIY brands over the more expensive Pro Brands.

[brian_youtube]

Well the Gearwrench 14 piece set is 47.99. For double the price, what is ICON bringing to the table? No one is addressing that. I do recognize that the ICON has the flank drive design on the open end whereas the Gearwrench does not, but in my experience the issue with the open end is the give of the metal, opening the wrench further. For double the price, I believe they should have more than a few grooves in the open end which is not often used anyway.

[hawkman]

I’d be interested to see how strong the open ends are. My Matcos spread right open with a good amount of force applied.

[joewalsh]

Which came first? Wrightgrip or snap on flank drive plus?

[blknblu]

My go to wrenches are tekton. They have held up well.
My long handle pittsburgh wrenches have done well also.
I do have a set of sk made craftsman wrenches that I do not use much anymore. (No replacements anymore).

[johnlong]

The real test will be chucking these to a pipe bar and breaking free seized tie rod nuts and adjusters with the flanked open And of course how the box ends fit recessed fasteners, engage and don't stretch when herfing on them.

[matthewsalomone]

I bought a set of extra long Pittsburgh wrenches and first time I needed to get a difficult bolt off. It started to slip and round the edges. I ended up using an old met wrench that I had. It was smaller in length but it grabs the side walls and I was able to get the bolt out. Needless to say, the budget branches, one in the trash. I'll probably end up going with icon now

[MrGamer-lzci]

What is three years later how did they turn out? Did you make a video?

[Tonygarry]

2 years later. How do the icon wrenches hold up? Do the anti slip actully keep from shipping? Im debating between icon/tekton/milawaukee wrenches.

[Xiomaro]

I got a look at the icon toolbox today.
Here's my takeaway:
It is a tank. I was actually pleasantly surprised at it's built quality. Now for the price yes it's still better than snap on. But is it worth what it is over the US general or Husky? The answer is in the question of, is it 3 to 5 times the box that those are?, and the answer is absolutely YES. And the question you have to ask yourself is do I need that much box for what I'm doing? Home Depot is selling a husky 80-in tool chest cabinet combo that has a side locker ten drawer base cabinet and lockable work bench hutch area for $1300, and for only being 1300 it's actually really nice. That being said, It makes it really hard to justify the extra $3, 000+- on just the base unit alone for that kind of money IMO

Food for thought! I know this is the wrong video too Post this on, but I had to get that out there before I forget, lol

[lukestucky]

Went to harbor freight to look at the icon tools. The combination wrenches didn't have the anti slip feature on the open ends. Is there to different styles and I just missed it? Also every 3/8 and 1/4 ratchet I picked up took different amounts of force to moved the head. Seemed odd to me. Lack of lube maybe? I bought a 1/4 flex head anyway and had to dig through a couple to find one that seemed to operate smoothy. Any info would be appreciated.

[ryanramirez]

I really like my milwakee ratchet wrenches. But I admit the Iclone ratchet wrenches length is nice for leverage.

[truckerpeterose]

I do own the channellock set from 7mm - 24mm and have about $100 in the set. I think they are worth it.

[Seveneleven]

Snap-on, USA made craftsman, hazet, gedore, carlyle. I have some vintage 60’s and 70’s snappys and they’re well used but the chrome is 100%. I have a 4pc set of inch and a quarter and up ICON wrenches my dad got me and after about a year and a half of slightly moderate use, the plating has worn off the ends of all 4 and two have some surface rust from non use.