1st impressions are two thumbs up.
1st impressions. The plethora of useful tools in this kit make it a great choice for any amateur Do-it-Yourselfer. At 1st glance they appear to be very well designed and made. They are fairly heavy duty so there was no skimping on the amount materials used. The Rubberized grips feel good in the hand and especially when you're clamping down on something. They're not hard-core professional like a set of Snap-On tools, but there are a great value at this price. In contrast, Workpro missed a great opportunity to make the carrying bag more than just mediocre. The eight miniature screw drivers are a welcome addition. I recommend keeping them in Ziploc bags so they don't get lost in the shuffle (see Pic.) The six larger screw drivers are in both long and stubby handles. Of concern is the fact that the tips appeared to be of fairly soft metal. I used one of the Philips head only briefly but the picture below reveals some surprising wear and tear on the tip. You can feel with your finger that it has become rough. This may be indicative of the other pieces. Only time will tell. In contrast, the interchangeable Phillips heads show no wear at all and they worked beautifully. The razor knife is well designed and executed. I have seen none of better. The blade retracts fully and smoothly and the handle stores the spare blades included. The 25' tape measure is surprisingly stout and comparable to Stanley. The two retractable hex wrench sets cover the bases, but are a bit stiff to extend and retract initially, but are adjustable. The wire stripper worked flawlessly but will insult your intelligence by warning you not to use it on "Live Circuits". I'll try and remember that. The needle nose and heavy duty pliers are terrific. The scissors should be heavier duty for a tool collection like this. They seem out of place. I don't work on cars so the set of socket wrenches will only be used sparingly. They seem very well made but that is not my forte. I removed these from the bag and put them in a couple of cigar boxes for storage. This helps with the clutter in the center of the bag with so many tools. A comparable set of wrenches would cost about $45. So if you want wrenches this is a good deal. The problem is the tool bag that is just not design to hold this kind of a set. The bag is jumbled up enough without them. Workpro knows how to design tools but not tool bags. There are internal and external pouches to help organize the tools but they are all too shallow to hold anything of consequence. All they had to do was make them deeper. A horribly missed opportunity. (Pic.). Because of this I have made an investment into a Dewalt tool bag. As you can see it has great deep pockets and accommodates everything. No more fishing around in the central compartment because now I can see all the way to the bottom of the bag! I got the smaller of two they offer. DG5542 Vs DG5543 In summary this is a great collection for the amateur like I have become. I highly recommended it for that purpose. To buy individual pieces would cost quite a bit more. The softness of the Philips head has me concerned. Hopefully that kind of deficiency won't show up in the other tools. The sad fact is that these tools are made in China. It's hard to find a kit this many tools and at this price that isn't. We simply don't have the option of buying American unless you want to create your own toolkit and by individual American tools. You'll pay double. Take a look at the documentary called "Death by China" to understand why I bother to bring this up. But don't feel too guilty about buying this kit. Hopefully our current administration can help fix these inequities. Read more
