Best Wrench (ALLEN KEY)? Wera Hex Plus, Bondhus, Wiha, PB Swiss, Craftsman, Kobalt, Husky, Eklind

a poor quality set of tools can cause big headaches so the question is is that eight dollar set of allen key wrenches just as good as a set that cost 140 well let's find out in the first test we'll see which small allen key performs the best then we'll see which large allen keys strip out and which ones flip out finally we'll test the corrosion resistance of each brand at a bargain price of only eight dollars for 36 pieces or 22 cents per inch is this pittsburgh brand the set includes both sae as well as metric standard length and long reach chrome vanadium steel black oxide finish to resist rust lifetime warranty the pittsburgh brand is made in china let's first test the 5 30 seconds allen key for each brand to hold the allen keys i drilled a hole and then cut a groove in the bolt i'll use a hose clamp to keep the allen key in place the fasteners that we'll be using are made of 304 stainless i'll use a torque adapter to keep track of the maximum torque before the allen key either breaks or loses grip inside the holder the wrenches aren't positioned at a perfect 90 degree angle so i'll tilt the wrench in the socket to maintain a proper angle and the harbor freight pittsburgh just doesn't offer a very good fit with lots of side to side play and the pittsburgh gave up at 121 inch pounds the allen key actually held up fairly well with very little damage at a price of 13 for 30 pieces or 43 cents which is about twice as much as the pittsburgh brand is this ep auto it claims to be durable made with heat-treated chrome vanadium steel includes metric and sae corrosion resistant black oxide finish unfortunately it appears that the epido has already begun forming corrosion under the black oxide finish dp auto is made in taiwan and the ep auto offers a much better fit than the pittsburgh and the ep auto did quite a bit better than a pittsburgh at 146 inch pounds however the allen key is pretty soft and it did experience quite a bit of damage coming in at 15 for 26 pieces or 58 cents each is this tecton brand ball end allows up to 25 degree offset chamfered in inserts smoothly into faster head reducing wear it claims to be precisely sized we're going to test that the tecton set is made in china the tekken seems to offer a better fit than the pittsburgh but not quite as tight as ep auto and the tekken performed nearly as well as the ep auto at 139 inch pounds however it did experience quite a bit of damage but not quite as much as the ep auto at a price of 15 for 23 pieces or 65 cents each is this cobalt brand includes a larger dual action handle which allows for stronger grip easy to see size markings for those with bionic vision ball end allows for 20 degree pivot matrix sees asme specifications hassle-free lifetime guarantee the cobalt brand is made in taiwan the cobalt seems to have the best fit yet with very little side to side movement and the cobalt moves into the lead at 153 inch pounds before finally letting go one of the six sides of the wrench did experience some damage at a price of 15 for 20 allen keys or 75 cents each is this craftsman brand strong steel hex keys and black oxide coating for durability durable handle makes l-keys into comfortable t-handles full lifetime warranty the craftsman is made in china the craftsman offers a very good fit with very little back and forth movement and a craftsman moves into the lead over the cobalt brand at 155 inch pounds before finally letting go and the craftsman seems to have held up better than the cobalt at a price of 18 dollars for 22 pieces or 82 cents each is this equine brand the ball end allows for up to a 35 degree angle burr free short arm allows for users to apply maximum torque manufactured using the finest quality eckland alloy steel the eclin brand is made in usa the eclin just doesn't seem to offer as good of a fit as the craftsman and the eclipse gave up at 130 inch pounds or 25 inch pounds less than the craftsman and the eklund experienced quite a bit of rounding and damage to all sides of the tool at a price of 24 for 26 pieces or 92 cents each is this husky brand precision formed to exact tolerances for precise fit onto fasteners unlike most of the other brands the husky does not have a ball in resist rotational distortion we're going to test that chamfered edges help guide tool into fastener product of taiwan and finished in mainland china and the husky just doesn't seem to have quite as good of a fit as a craftsman and the husky performs slightly better than the eckland at inch pounds it did experience quite a bit of damage to all sides of the tool at a price of 21 for 22 pieces or 95 cents each is this bondis brand made with proprietary protanium steel and up to 20 stronger than the competition proguard finishes up to five times more effective at stopping rust we're going to test that the bonus wrenches are made in usa and the fit of the bondus seems to be about the same as the husky and the bond is performed slightly better than the husky at 136 inch pounds and the bonus did hold up better than average with a very small amount of damage at a price of thirty eight dollars for thirteen wrenches or two dollars and ninety two cents each is this we a brand twenty percent longer keys for hard to reach areas precision machine for exact fit made of hardened chrome vanadium tool steel the hex ball end allows for up to a 25 degree working angle the wheel brand is manufactured in poland designed to german standards the wheel definitely offers the best fit with very little side to side slop and the wheel did by far the best yet at 174 inch pounds before finally letting go very impressive and the wheel held up exceptionally well with minor damage to two sides of the tool at a price of thirty dollars for eight pieces or three dollars and seventy five cents each is this gador brand zinc plated to help prevent corrosion chamfered nose ends for easy use made of chrome vanadium steel the door wrenches are made in germany and the godor brand offers a very good fit with very little side to side movement and the godor moves into second place behind the wheel brand at 156 inch pounds while the wrench did hold up well the zinc plating has been partially stripped away on six sides of the wrench at a price of thirty six dollars for just eight wrenches or four dollars and fifty cents each is this fake com brand black oxide finish helps resist corrosion the facom wrenches are made in france the fake home seems to offer a pretty good fit but not quite as good as the wia or the godor and the fake on performed better than average at 145 inch pounds it also held up really well with very little damage to the tool at a price of 42 dollars for just nine wrenches or four dollars and 67 cents each is this weira brand unlike the other brands the wearer uses a patented hex plus design that's supposed to be far better hex plus tools provide surface contact transferring up to twenty percent more torque we're going to test that the wearer brand is made in the czech republic i had to remove the plastic from the weir before the test and the weir plus seems to offer a pretty loose fit compared to some of the top performing brands and the loose fit really seemed to hurt the weir hex plus at 136 inch pounds however the wearer did hold up extremely well with very little visible damage and the most expensive brand will be testing at 140 for 12 wrenches or 11.67 each is this pb swiss brand held the tolerances listed a human hair for perfect dimensional accuracy longer handle and shorter key allows for comfortable reach pb spring steel allows for toughness and elasticity unlimited lifetime guarantee the pb swiss brand is made in switzerland the pb swiss offers a decent fit but more side to side slot compared to the wheel or the gador and the pb swiss lost grip at 143 inch pounds which is very close to average however the pb swiss held up very well with very little visible damage to the wrench assessing wear is highly subjective another factor to consider is that a rinse that loses grip at lower torque levels experiences less stress than one that loses grip at a high value so taking that into consideration the pittsburgh wear facom where hex plus and pb swiss came in on top with the rating of one indicating very little damage and the wheel came out on top at 174 inch pounds or 18 inch pounds more than the second place finisher the godor brand the craft's been finished and third at 155 cobalt 153 and ep auto 146 inch pounds some of the wrenches include a ball end to allow use in hard to reach areas so let's test the maximum torque of the ball ends next we'll skip the pittsburgh and the ep autos since they don't have ball ends and the tekken broke at 91 inch pounds and the cobalt performed nearly the same as the tecton losing grip at 87 inch pounds and the tool held up just fine and the craftsman performed very well in the first test and once again performed well in this test at 95 inch pounds before the tool finally broke and the eclin struggled in the first round in a struggle in this round two breaking at 87 inch pounds skipping the husky since it doesn't have a ball end and the bondis performed better than the eklund in the first round and it performed better in this round too losing grip at 95 inch pounds but it did not break like the craftsman once again the wheat takes the lead over the other brands making it 104 inch pounds before finally breaking skipping the gador brand since it doesn't have ball ends and the fake on performed about average at 91 inch pounds before the ball end broke and the weir hex plus refused to finish in second place and did the best yet finally breaking at 106 inch pounds very impressive the pb swifts finished about average in the first round and it finished about average in this round two and 90 inch pounds nine of the 13 wrenches have ball ends and the weir hex plus came out on top at 106 inch pounds the wheel performed nearly as well at 104 the craftsman and bondis tied for third at 95 inch pounds before we test the large size wrenches let's go even smaller and test the three thirty seconds next using a different brand of fasteners once again the pittsburgh just doesn't offer a very good fit and the pittsburgh let go at 32 inch pounds and the pittsburgh experienced a very small amount of damage and the ep auto has a little bit better fit than the harbor freight pittsburgh and the ep auto moves into the lead at 40 inch pounds unfortunately the wrench is badly twisted and experienced quite a bit of damage and the fit of the tecton seems about the same as the ep auto and the tectum moves in the second position behind the ep auto at 37 inch pounds and the tecton did experience a little bit more damage than the pittsburgh and the cobalt seems to have the best fit yet with very little side to side slot and the cobalt moves into the lead over ep auto at 41 inch pounds the cobalt is badly twisted and experienced some rounding the craftsman seems to offer a pretty good fit and a craftsman lost grip at 35 inch pounds or 7 inch pounds less than the cobalt however the craftsman held up the best yet with a very small amount of rounding the eckland just doesn't seem to offer as good of a fit as some of the other brands and the eclin lost grip at 31 inch pounds unfortunately the eckland experienced quite a bit more damage than the craftsman dusky seems to have less slop than some of the other brands and the husky performed better than average at 36 inch pounds before finally letting go and the husky experienced about the same amount of damage as the eckland just like the husky the bondus offers a pretty good fit and the bond is performed about the same as a husky losing grip at 36 inch pounds and the bond is held up really well with very little visible damage and the wease seems to have the best fit yet with very little side to side play and the wii was doing terrific and suddenly broke at 39 inch pounds there's quite a bit of damage with the wrench not only breaking but also splintering and the door brand just doesn't seem to offer a very good fit and the godor wrench lost grip at 31 inch pounds the zinc coating did experience some damage the fake home offers a very good fit with very little side to side play and the fake on moves into a tie for first place with a cobalt at 41 inch pounds and the facom held up well but not quite as well as the craftsman or the bondus and the weirhex plus seems to have the best fit yet with very little slot and the rear hex plus moves into the lead with a very impressive 48 inch pounds before finally losing grip and the weir hex plus looks nearly as good as new and the pb swiss just doesn't offer as good of a fit as some of the other brands and the pb swiss gave up a little bit early at 34 inch pounds just like the weira hex plus the pb swiss looks as good as new so the weir hex plus came out on top at 48 inch pounds the cobalt and the facom finished in a two way tie at 41 inch pounds ep auto 40 and wia 39 inch pounds durability is another factor to consider and the craftsman bonus weir hex plus and pb swiss held up really well with a rating of one now that we've tested the smaller keys let's go quite a bit larger and test the 5 16 keys i'll use a different torque adapter that can handle a lot more torque and the pittsburgh lost grip at 108.5 foot-pounds unfortunately the pittsburgh wrench experienced quite a bit of rounding and damage the ep auto wrenches seem quite a bit softer than most of the other brands and the ep auto made it to 108 foot pounds before it really began to struggle and the wrench began twisting and finally broke at 110.9 foot-pounds the tekken performed by far the best yet making it to 123.6 foot pounds before finally giving up the wrench also held it better than ep auto with a little bit less rounding and twisting the cobalt made it to 115.9 foot-pounds and moves in the second position behind the tecton before finally giving up the cobalt experienced about the same amount of damage as the tekken brand and the craftsman made it to 115 foot pounds and then the wrench began bending and the craftsman nearly ties the ep auto at 123 foot pounds while the craftsman did experience some twisting it didn't experience quite as much rounding as some of the other brands and the eclipse seems to be made of a pretty soft metal and it gave up quickly at 107.5 foot pounds unfortunately the eklund experienced quite a bit of rounding and damage and the husky performed better than the eklund at 117.2 foot pounds and moves into third position behind the craftsman the husky experienced quite a bit of rounding the bond is performed nearly as well as the tecton and the craftsman at 119.4 foot-pounds just like most of the other brands it experienced quite a bit of rounding an up-close look and you can see that the wheel didn't begin to twist till around 130 foot-pounds and the wheel finally lost grip at 138.3 foot-pounds and moves into the lead very impressive the wheel did experience quite a bit of damage but then again it didn't begin twisting until around 130 foot-pounds and the godor wrench lost grip at 110.3 foot pounds which is slightly below the average once again it appears that the zinc coating began peeling away during the test and the facom gave up a little bit early at 111.7 foot pounds and the fake home experienced quite a bit of damage and grounding to all sides of the wrench the rear hex plus performed better than average but lost grip at 121 foot pounds moving into fourth position and the weirhex plus held up by far the best yet and looks nearly as good as new unfortunately the pb swiss just didn't perform as well as some of the other brands at 108.2 foot-pounds however the pb swiss experienced very little damage and looks nearly as good as new so once again the wiia brand came out on top at 138.3 foot-pounds or 15 foot-pounds more than any of the other brands the tekken finished in second at 123.6 craftsman 123.2 we're hex plus 121 and bonus 119.4 foot pounds let's test the corrosion resistance of all the wrenches next i'll apply a very aggressive corrosion agent made of hydrogen peroxide vinegar and salt mix twice over the next 12 hours after 12 hours there's a lot of corrosion on most of the wrenches unfortunately all the wrenches with a black oxide coating experienced about the same amount of rust the godor's brand zinc coating did a great job of preventing corrosion but the coating is soft and seems to hurt the performance of the tool the pb swiss also performed very well so which brand is the best if you're looking for a tool with great value not necessarily the top performer but very good performer i really like the craftsman it performed very well and it's only about fifteen dollars for the set now if you're looking for the top performing brands i really like the weira and the wheel now the wheel seems to provide the best fit but the wira seems nearly indestructible all the videos in this channel including this one are viewers suggested so if you have a video idea i hope you'll take time to leave a comment thanks so much for watching please take care and look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 1,035,614

Keywords: project farm, Best wrench, wrench, wrench comparison, wrench test, allen wrench, best allen wrench, allen wrench comparison, allen wrench showdown, allen key, allen key comparison, allen key showdown, hex key, hex wrench, hex key comparison, hex key showdown, wera hex plus, wera allen wrench review, wiha allen key, craftsman allen key, bondhus allen key, Kobalt allen key, husky allen key, eklind allen key, epauto allen key, facon allen key, pw swiss allen key

Id: oTBiPjCeVwI

Length: 14min 7sec (847 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 28 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Clear_Performance_99]

As someone that abuses hex wrench’s daily, this guide was okay. I normally buy the elkin and bondhus. My biggest grief is storing the wrenches. There has yet been a good way to store them.

[u/Sitdownpro]

Say what you will, but hex-plus can take out very rounded hex drives.

[u/kewlo]

This was a better one than most of the recent hand tool tests, there was no flagrant abuse and everything was pretty much relatable to normal tool use. Once again he proves that for the money the new craftsman tools are pretty good, and in this case even better than most of the meme brands

[u/commentor_of_things]

Another awesome tool test by Project Farm! The contrast between Wera and Wiha was the most interesting to me. But still, Wiha for the win!