Hand Tool Reviews & Buying Guides

Hand tools make up a large portion of the equipment we carry every day. Pro Tool reviews pays close attention to recent innovations. Our hand tool reviews include knives & cutting tools, wrenches, chisels, fastening tools, hammers, and more. These hand tools covers the gamut from one end of the industry to another. Possibly our favorite series is our best framing hammer review. In that head-to-head review we compared nine popular models. This type of comparison isn’t always possible, but we do test out these tools on the jobsite. Hand Tool Reviews for the Pro Tradesman This is also where you’ll find popular lighting products and even folding knives from Kershaw, CRKT, and Zero Tolerance. We try to review as many of these types of tools as possible. This helps us remain a leader in reporting industry trends. This is particularly important when manufacturers add new features or make tweaks to their products. Sometimes they revamp an entire line. Other times they include something that only slightly improves a hand tool over a previous model. It all adds up.

Bosch GSL 2 Surface Laser Review

Bosch GSL 2 Surface Laser Review

Bosch released a new tool this summer – one that wasn’t merely an improvement on an old idea or a tweak to some existing designs. It was revolutionary and it grabbed our attention. The GSL 2 Surface Laser is a new type of laser leveling device that uses dual angled self-leveling lasers to mark both peaks and valleys on floors, be they concrete or any other material. No, for concrete guys this is going to be a no-brainer purchase. We’ve used it and the tool is clearly going to appeal to anyone who has to deal with this common issue on a regular basis. In a sense I’m giving away our conclusion up front, but let’s explore the tool and see how it works and what exactly it does. By the end, whether you lay wood flooring, vinyl, tile or are a concrete guy, this a product you’ll want to pick up in order to save time and money.

CST/berger RL25HCK and RL25HVCK Self-leveling Rotary Lasers Preview

CST/berger RL25HCK and RL25HVCK Self-leveling Rotary Lasers

We checked out the CST/berger RL25 series of self-leveling rotary lasers back in June of this year at Bosch’s 2012 Media Event. CST/berger is well-known for making serious laser levels and the USA-based (Illinois) company is always on our radar for innovative and trending laser technology. The new RL25H Exterior and RL25HV Interior/Exterior Self-Leveling Rotary Lasers are particularly of interest to us because they take the power of rotary laser and package them into a more durable product with less moving parts. These are the products you use on a regular basis if you’re doing any sort of grading, leveling or excavating work. CST/berger’s RL25 lasers are IP56-rated and have a very durable overmold. They scream “heavy duty”. Of course, they can also reach 2000 feet and have an accuracy of 3/32″. That’s tight enough tolerance for all but the most amazingly stringent applications. There are two models we checked out, the RL25H with a horizontal-only beam and the RL25HV with both horizontal and vertical lasers.

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.