GEARWRENCH Mechanics Tool Set in 3 Drawer Storage Box, 232 Piece

Why it's worth it

The GearWrench 232-piece set pairs a 90-tooth ratchet with a 4-degree swing arc and a full run of SAE and metric ratcheting combination wrenches. If your hands spend a lot of time wedged between a firewall and an engine, that combination pays off.

GearWrench built its reputation on ratcheting wrenches, and this set is where that shows. Popular Mechanics found that ratcheting combination wrenches cut bolt-tightening time by as much as half compared with traditional open- and box-end wrenches in tight spaces. You stop repositioning the wrench on every turn. On a long bolt in a bad spot, that's the whole job.

The 90-tooth ratchet is the reason to pick this over our top pick. A 4-degree swing arc means the ratchet advances the fastener with less room than the 5 degrees a standard 72-tooth mechanism needs. GearWrench's own engineering specs put a 120-tooth mechanism at 3 degrees; 90 teeth splits the difference. In a modern engine bay where the bolt is behind a bracket, those two degrees decide whether you can turn it at all.

From our review of 8 mechanic tool sets for your home garage, by Ben Carter, Tech Editor

What we like

• +GearWrench built its reputation on ratcheting wrenches, and this set is where that shows
• +The 90-tooth ratchet is the reason to pick this over our top pick
• +Three drawers give you more separation than the two-drawer boxes, and the set is deep enough on sizes that owners buying it as a…
• +It's a mid-tier brand and honest about it — GearWrench is made by Apex, with sockets and ratchets produced in Taiwan and some…

What to know

• –GearWrench sells several sets with confusingly similar piece counts, and buyers regularly report agonizing over which one…
• –The ratcheting wrenches are 72-tooth with a 5-degree arc, not the 90-tooth of the ratchets