Halfords Professional spanners

[Chris H]

I bought these maybe 6 years ago. I only got 3 which were the sizes I needed (snapped inferior ones frequently).

Anyway 13, 16 and 18mm sizes.



These have taken daily hard use with no complaints, they owe me nothing. Quality wise they are as good as the big names.

I have used them almost daily and they have been heavily used, often another spanner or tube over them to crack off tight nuts and bolts and even me standing on them to crack bolts. The 18mm has been subjected to hammer blows and also being jammed against chassis rails to crack off crank bolts etc.

This next picture shows the 18mm spanner, this is at the open end of the spanner. The dings are from me belting it with a hammer to free off stuck bolts. The finish has not chipped off or lifted on any of them.



The jaws are undamaged apart from the edges where they have slipped on badly rounded nuts/bolts, even then the damage is miniscule, this picture shows the worst affected which is the 13mm



Ergonomically they are actually quite good, you can use them for a while without getting pissed off with them. The size of them also means decent leverage is available, the steel rule is in this pic for scale



Overall an excellent buy, they have stood up to long term hard use fine. They are also a lot cheaper than say snap on spanners and quality wise they are not very far behind. 8.5/10

[kaos]

a lot of my tools are halfords pro stuff. getting them on trade is even better, epeshially with the life time guarentee!

then again my spanners a re expensive drapers! i for some reason prefer spanners over ratchets aswell!

[Chris H]

nothing beats a good spanner. Spanners are essential. I often just use a spanner rather than a ratchet as a good spanner is a pleasure to use, a cheap nasty no name chinese one on the other hand can offend you so much you'll neve rpick it up again.

I have a hell of a lot of spanners of all makes.

To name a few, blue point, mac, snap on, gedore, snail, king dick, britool, halfords pro, draper, sykes pikavant, stahlwille, bedford, gordon, elora, teng and a few others and countless no name spanners.

Some of my spanners new and on their own are about 60 quid! Some in the work are in the £000's due to the size of them.

I have thousands of second hand gear, spanners are always a good find, any broke ones you just bin as theres always plenty more no name ones going cheap.

I get them all VAT free so its a nice saving when buying new.

[Wicked Neo]

all my spanners, sockets and ratchets are halfords pro, they are the best thing they sell!
had mine for about 6 years as well and all have stood the test of time with plenty of abuse given to them.

Well recomended!

[kaos]

Originally Posted by Chris H

I get them all VAT free so its a nice saving when buying new.

I keep hearing different storeys about that? do you have to order via your employer? or just have proof you work/trained as a mechanic to claim it back?

as i can never find the right info on it.

[Chris H]

2 ways, I'm asked if I need a receipt or I put it through the work.

To actually claim it back yourself you technically need to be PAYE.

[Soneji]

I have the 8-19 pro set from halfords. brilliant finish on them.

[u33db]

Is halfords stuff not just rebranded draper gear?

[Soneji]

^ couldn't say with any certainty but I'd doubt it. Unless there is some business agreement that isn't really obvious.

Draper gear in my experience is bollocks, the halford pro stuff is nout like the inferior quality.