Wrench Reviews & Buying Guides

We provide in-depth reviews of all types of the best wrenches, including combination wrenches, adjustable wrenches, pipe wrenches, and the best torque wrenches. Our reviews also include specialty tools like basin wrenches and coverage of your everyday open end wrench that might be found in any mechanics tool kit.  We find a ton of wrenches in the hands of auto mechanics and plumbers. But what about other trades and applications? While you may not, at first, think about using wrenches on the typical construction jobsite, we actually find a lot of crossover in these hand tools.  From grabbing onto machined bolts to performing maintenance on OPE equipment, wrenches play an important role across a range of categories. Wrenches even take on a particularly important role when you factor in the needs of electricians. We try, whenever possible, to draw distinctions between universally-popular features and those particularly relevant to the various trades.

GearWrench 120XP 3-Degree Arc Ratchet Preview

GearWrench 120XP 3-Degree Arc Ratchet Preview

GearWrench, a brand of Apex Tool Group, which has been in the news lately, announced the launch of the brand new 120XP Ratchet – which is the first ratchet we know of to feature 120 positions. That means that for every full rotation, it can turn fasteners with a swing arc of as little as 3 degrees. Talk about getting into tight spaces… the way the GearWrench 120XP does it is through the use of double-stacked pawls which provide an ultra-narrow swing arc. With less of an arc required to “click” the ratchet, you can insert your tool into tighter areas and reach fasteners in severely limited access applications.

Channellock Code Blue Tongue & Groove Pliers 430CB Review

Channellock Code Blue Tongue & Groove Pliers 430CB

Channellock’s brand new Code Blue Tongue & Groove Pliers (430CB) are rugged, durable, and possible most important of all – familiar. These aren’t new tools so much as old tools made even better. And that’s what you want in a good hand tool. People aren’t quite so interested in a whole new way to use a tool, disrupting the comfortable feel they’ve developed over decades of use – they just want something that feels right and lasts a long time. Channellock seems to have delivered just that with its Code Blue line of Pliers.