[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Aroy

Taparia and Everest are major exporters of hand tools and their top of the line hand tools are made of "Chrome Vanadium Steel", the the best material there is..

Sorry to disappoint but the term Chrome Vanadium doesn't mean a thing, really. For two reasons. In general Chrome Vanadium refers to a group of steel alloys. So there are different variants and depending on the application you get different kinds of Chrome Vanadium variants.

Secondly, these days just about all tools will have Chrome Vanadium printed on them. Even if the material itself isn't a Chrome Vanadium alloy at all.

So the term is an umbrella term of a different group of alloys at best, but doesn't mean anything unless you know what variant is used. At worst, it is not Chrime Vanadium at all.

The vast majority of tools, including all top brands are manufactured in China these days. Some are excellent, some are not so great, some are plain awfully. Just about all will sport the term Chrome Vanadium.

So be careful what you buy.

I bought the kit in the left in this image for on our boat. It has open end/ring spammers. All sizes sockets, deep sockets, endless screw driver and other bits. Three ratchets. As to my earlier post. It has a set of small sockets 1/4 and a larger set of 1/2” ones. And a bunch of other stuff. I paid about Euro 60 for it. It was a special Christmas deal in a Dutch toolshop.



There are plenty of these kits out there. Quality wise for some occasional spannering I find these kits work fine. And they are at a price point, where if they turn out to be utter crap you can afford to throw them in the bin.

Obviously, every single item in this kit has Chrome Vanadium written on it!

Jeroen

[navin_v8]

Originally Posted by DDV437

I'm planning to buy a socket tool set primarily to work on my motorcycles, and for some basic jobs on cars.

I've tried to keep my decision making simple by focusing on either a set from Bosch, or from Taparia, with a slight bias towards Taparia, as it offers a larger set for roughly the same cost.

The only concern I have right now is to whether I should go in for a 1/4" set or a 1/2" set. From what I've gathered on the internet, 1/4" is fine for most jobs, but not really useful for high torque applications (like those on a car).

Should I just buy the 1/4" set or save up for the 1/2"? The cost difference is roughly double, so I'd like to make an informed decision.

I do have some basic wrenches (both open and closed), from when my father had an Omni which broke down often enough to warrant keeping a full toolset in the car.

Based on your use case, I would recommend you to go for 3/8 inch socket set from reputed brands like Toptul, Taparia, Tata Agrico, Stanley, etc. in that order. Assuming you are not going to do heavy duty jobs like engine disassembly, lug nuts removal, suspension work, etc. you should be good with a 3/8 inch socket set. This size offers the best of both worlds, as it sits between the professional 1/2 inch and basic 1/4 inch socket set.

Remember, 1/2 inch socket set would be considerably heavier and bigger if you plan to carry it around and maybe an overkill for basic jobs.