Home Depot’s winter holiday tool sale displays went up a little early this year, giving us a chance to see what new tools they will enticing Christmas shoppers with. One of the more interesting tools we came across was this Husky 44-piece open socket set with SAE/inch sizes.
At first glance, the Husky open socket set looks to be heavily inspired by the Craftsman Max Axess and GearWrench pass-thru socket system. But instead of a proprietary ratchet and socket design, Husky went for a hexagonal thread-cutting die-type form factor.
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Husky’s ratcheting handle features a flex-head and cushion grip. When looking at the demo model, which has only been on display for a couple of days, we noticed that it was slipping off the ratchet. The ratchet was also a bit short for our liking, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing as stubby ratchets have their place can be very useful.
The set comes with 11 inch sockets, 1 bit adapter, 1 double-sided 1/4″ and 3/8″ square drive adapter, and about 30 screwdriver bits if our math is correct and we’re not missing anything.
Testing it out in-store, we found the flex-head to be a little wobbly (nothing a little hex-bolt tightening cannot fix), and the 6pt hex form factor required a little concentration to mate the ratchet with sockets and adapters. This could partially be due to the design of the demo try-me display, but could also be because of the hexagonal form factor.
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The ratchet is not reversible, so to change from forward and reverse modes you must flip the ratchet over, as you would do with a zero-offset ratcheting wrench.
A 1/4″ hex screwdriver bit adapter and 1/4″ and 3/8″ square drive adapter is included, allowing the ratchet to be used with standard bits and sockets. There were no price tags on the display and we didn’t have time to check with customer service, but believe the set to be priced in the $20-25 range.
Overall, the 44pc Husky open end socket set looks interesting. From our few minutes testing it out in-store, we concluded that it does not match up well to Craftsman’s Max Axess open socket set. The Husky tools do not seem to be built as robustly, and the omission of metric sockets hurts its versatility.
But at less than half the price of Craftsman and Gearwrench sets, the Husky socket set will still likely sell well as a stocking stuffer or gift item.
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Harry
The socket area around the fastener looks pretty thick. I’d have to see it in person to judge it. However, it may look better under a Christmas tree than a Dogbone, just slightly better….
jesse
I found the tools to be very hard to free from the case after purchase, so much so that I left the bit case just as it was on the back side. A distinctive and unique packaging, but too complicated. FAIL. Like most Husky hand tools, made in China. FAIL again.
Facom has a set along the same lines as far as the insert design goes, and there are others as well.
Barry
I just purchased this set yesterday. I can’t seem to remove it from the package without breaking the holders! I assumed the holders are a permanent display because each size of the hex heads are permanently marked!? Really stupid packaging! It shows to pull in apart hear…but I can’t pull it apart even with a pair of pliers! It is going back to homedepot!
Charlie
Dude, if you can figure out how to get the packaging apart to get at the socket or the hex inserts let me know. I can’t figure out if the product is worth a flip because I can’t get it apart. May have to use my Dremel cutting blade out to break it apart. Poorly designed.
amy
I need to know where I can buy this at? My father wants one for christmas but I checked the home depot near me and I cant find it there and the people that work there dont know what Im talking about.
Stuart
Here’s a purchase link. $10 online with free shipping.
Dan Gagnon
Ok, I just got a set in my stocking. How in the $%^**&^^ do I get the sockets out of the holder? Can anyone help?
Dan Gagnon
I figured it out. There 3 small red pins that don’t look like pins at all. reguardless, pull those out and it works fine. Look at the second picture above and it shows one of the pins I’m talking about.
karl
Thanks I spent about 30 min tryin to figure this out before searching the net for the answer…..thanks Dan. I think the Chinese did this to $#@ with us……good lookin out
Charlie
Thanks. I finally figured it out after realizing those little red bumps were locking pins that needed to be pulled out. I had to use pliers.
john quincy
people are using tools that do not know how to remove them from the packaging??? Very Scary!
Stuart
Some tools are very well secured for retail packaging and can be hard to open.
Dave
I finally figured out how to get the tool out of the packaging. Looks like Dan provided the hint for the sockets. To get the wrench out, flip the set over and what looks like a T to turn…well that is really a pin. Slide the pin out and then flip it over again and pull the T shaped holder straight up. It does show that it should turn, but you don’t to remove it. Hope this helps.