Have you ever heard of MOB Peddinghaus? Me neither. From their website, they’re a European-based tool company.
What caught my attention was the brand’s Fusion Box tool boxes, which allow you to nest several tool sets together for easier carrying.
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Some of MOB Peddinghaus’s tools look interesting too, but I can’t seem to find much user feedback on them. They don’t seem to have much of a foothold in the USA yet.
Here you can see what I mean about the toolboxes, which allow you to attach several sets together.
The Fusion Box system isn’t exactly modular. You can connect 1 small box and 1 medium box to 1 large box.
So what if you want to carry a tap extractor set and a screwdriver bit set, both of which come in small sized Fusion Boxes.
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Correction: You can attach 1 medium and 1 small box to a large box, or up to 4 small boxes. More about this in the comments section – thanks, guys!
The focus on tool storage makes me think back to Bovidix Tools and Sonic Tools, 2 mechanics tool brands that have been trying to break into the USA market by offering unique tool storage solutions. But unlike those brands, some of the MOB Peddinghaus tools I’ve been seeing, such as the ratchets and extensions, look to have their own appeal.
Buy Now(via Sears)
Compare(via Amazon)
Have you heard about or used tools by this brand?
Eric Hutton
Actually it looks like you would be able to switch the medium box out for one or two small boxes
Gordon
On the Sears website I found this “The large sized Fusion Box tool case can mount 1 medium AND 1 small case, OR 4 small accessory cases.” So a medium = 3 small boxes.
Would have been nice if a medium = 2 small and the large could carry 2 mediums. It would give a lot more options.
Iron-Iceberg
Wow looks like a good set to throw in the back of your work vehicle. I would like to know the quality of this set.
I like the smirk he gives the guy with the tool box in the video. Pretty funny.
Jordan
Hey Stuart, what is the country of origin for the MB Peddinghaus line? Thanks
Hilton
These are readily available on Amazon DE for a fraction of the price seen on Amazon US. Mostly 4/5 star reviews.
Seb
Mob is a French company, very well known over here for their hammers, rasps and files. Historically they are considered the French hammer specialist and they used to oem for brands like facom and Sam. They bought peddinghaus a few years back if my memory is correct, to expand in Germany.
They are a high quality brand, mostly found in pro grade retailers, although you can sometimes find some items, Mainly hammers and their historical core tools in home improvement stores.
Those fusion boxes are a recent development and having seen it close look to be up to their usual high quality standards.
Brian
Seb:
Since you say you have seen these up close, can you describe how the latches work on these? I have never seen something so nice looking to use, and it may just be a standard over center pull latch oriented differently and filmed to look a certain way. But they look like they operate so smoothly and crisply in the video, that I would almost like to have a case just for these (I am a study of ergonomics and industrial design, hence my fascination).
seb
I didnt pay too much attention to the latches , was actually shopping for an angle grinder that day 🙂 (bought a Flex , probably anther European brand that you guys have never heard of they are considered to be equal or superior in some case to metabo, but they almost only make grinders)
If you are interested i can keep my eyes open and when i come across one again i ll take some closup pictures.
seb
one thing however that i recall is that there was a spring under those latches, which thinking of it now i havent got on any box that use that style of latch……
Hilton
We get Flex here in South Africa, along with Scheppach, Woodstar and Toni.
J.J.
Flex is typically only seen here by high end automotive detail/auto body shops. They make some very high quality polishers.
fred
The only MOB tool that I ever recall seeing (here in the US) was an autobody hammer – that I have on an old tool inventory – so its probably around somewhere.
I am more familiar with some other French toolmakers like rasp-maker Auriou (now Forge de Saint Juery), Arno Industrie, Edma (the OEM for some Malco Tools), Luco (Leo Uhlfelder) – makers of varnish brushes, Uponor (PEX tools made by Virax) and VAR bicycle tools. I know that many Facom tools were also once made in France.
Handmade rasps from Auriou are of particular note.
seb
yes Auriou, forge de Saint-Juery, very very high quality, very hard to source and very expensive :), still i d like to get my hands on a few eventually.
Edma is very well known over here too mainly among dry wall contractors. The others i havent come across, but they might not be in my area of use so …
fred
Auriou used to be very hard to find in the US – now some are available on Amazon, at Lee Valley, at Lie-Nielsen, Craftsman Studio, Highland Woodworking – and where I was introduced to them :Tools for Working Wood:
https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/dept/TAU
Toolfreak
Nope, I had not heard of MOB before, but even after many, many years of being on the internet, I still come across new tools and tool brands I hadn’t heard of before I went looking for something or saw a tool or logo in an image.
Pretty interesting these are available on the Sears website. Makes me think Sears missed a big, big opportunity to be a tool juggernaut, they could have had lots more of this stuff on their website, and maybe even some of the more popular sets in their larger stores.
Really, it sucks that lots of great tool brands are effectively shut out of the US Market, croweded out by house brands and Apex stuff everywhere. The US tool market would be a lot more competitive if brands like MOB, Beta, Stahlwille, etc. were all constantly jockeying for position and shelf space in both big box and smaller hardware stores. Instead we get cheap house brands, and a few decent name brands, but almost all made in China.
Stuart
Sears used to bring lots of European brands to the US. But something happened a few years ago, and it’s like they just stopped caring. That was around when their annual and holiday tool catalogs disappeared.
Toolfreak
Yeah, I still have lots of the old tool catalogs that had lots of other tool brands in them besides Craftsman, but if they were smart, they could have leveraged the power of the internet and been THE go-to place to buy tools – not just Craftsman, but lots of other brands of tools you couldn’t get anywhere else. For awhile there I thought they were going to start selling the new USA-made SK tools. They still sell Knipex pliers in my local Sears store, and of course they still have the Craftsman-branded Knipex-made adjustable pliers, and they also had a Craftsman-branded ball handle screwdriver made by Vessel in Japan as recently as last year, so they are still doing some international business, just not much.
I figure it’s all in preparation for going out of business and selling the company, but some of the staff in the tool department are still chugging along.
Stuart
That’s exactly how things were. I bought a lot of tools at Sears, beyond the Craftsman brand. Their tool buyer seemed adventurous.
And then all of a sudden 1) thanks to Sears wanting to be a “marketplace,” everything was harder to discover and find, 2) the catalog went away making new tools far less discoverable.
With no catalog and a clunky search filled with irrelevant results, I visited Sears less and less.
ca
I generally hate sets of anything. My OCD won’t tolerate it.
dll932
I like the modular concept. Why has no one thought of this before?
Hilton
I think maybe it’s a weight issue. Easier to lug around a number of smaller toolboxes than one giant heavy b@stard.
Evan
I’m very interested in there socket set. It seems like there are a specific type of tool that everybody like to pick to have a lot of and all varieties. For me its socket and flashlights. I would love to have one of there 1/4 in sets to through in my truck or car. If you check out YouTube, there are some videos of there tools being made. I particularly liked seeing the drop forged wrenches and the tire irons.
Klaus
http://www.peddinghaus.de/en/
Peddinghaus tools belong to the (costly) brands famed for very long lifespan. Like Hazet, Gedore, Facom a.s.o.
Nathan
they don’t happen to be part of another company do they? Otherwise I’ve never heard of or seem them before. Even when I used to go to france and germany
matt s
I have been looking for a small 1/4″ socket set for my car for a while now and had not seen anything in either the correct size or price. I really like the wera sets, but the price has me waiting and saving- and hard to justify for a backup/car set.
Anyway- after reading this review I bought this set from Sears:
http://www.sears.com/mob-peddinghause-46-pc-6-pt-1-4inch-rotating/p-00948830000P
I have to say I am REALLY impressed for the price. The sockets are on par with my Wera sockets- the finish is very similar. The ratchet is much better than I anticipated, with a smooth, 72-tooth (ish) feel. Not quite on par with my F80 snap on wrenches, but very close (just noticed the box says 100 teeth, so maybe some break in will help). Very close to the Wera Zyklop in feel. Well made all around- the case seems to be able to take a beating and locks tight. I can even open the case up and turn it upside down and nothing drops out. I cannot speak to the quality of the screwdriver bits, but they seem average- nothing special- time will tell on that one. No country of origin anywhere I can find- packaging or tools.
So, thanks for the review and introducing me to a new brand that seems to be delivering WAY beyond their price point. I am very pleased with this little kit!
Matt
Dodo
MOB Peddinghaus, or
MOB Outillage/ Peddinghaus HandWerkzeuge
if you want to more easily find two of their websites from the USA, is one of, or at least seems to be one of, the main French tool manufacturers.
Peddinghaus Handwerkzeuge is one of the three? Peddinghaus tool brands. The other two Peddinghaus brands are the Paul Ferdinand Peddinghaus GmbH which manufactures the line of heavy industrial Ironworker machines, and the Ridgid Peddinghaus brand, which is known in the USA for the forged anvils and vises they manufacture, and which seem to be sold more under the Ridgid brand now.
I’m not sure when MOB purchased the one Peddinghaus brand, I think it might have been within the past Two or three decades, but when the did so the seem to have shifted the production of some of the utems to France including the hammer manufacturing line which seems to be very high tech. My experience with the hammers is they are very high quality. Other items from the Peddinghaus line may not be manufactured in France, or Germany. There are also MOB Peddinghaus anvils and vises that look very similar to the one made in Turkey by Kanca.
MOB has also purchased other tool manufacturers/brands as well. According to their wedsite the MOB tool group has manufacturingfacilities in:
4 manufacturing sites in Europe : Le Chambon Feugerolles (France), Ambierle (France), Brasov (Romania), Schwelm (Germany)
The Romanian manufacting is related to IUS a tool manufacturer that manufactures wrenches/spanners and I presume this is were the MOB wrenches are currently made or mostly made.
The Schwelm Germany manufacturing is related to the Schroeder screwdriver brand, which I believe was more recently purchased. Schroeder manufactures screwdrivers, screw bits, ratcheting screwdrivers, and they’re one of the main manufacturers now of spiral ratcheting screwdrivers, and ratcheting tap wrenches based on the old Stanley/Yankee designs that were made by Stanley for decades. I believe they may have aldo purchased thr Yankee brand name from Stanley/B&D.
As far as the french manufacturing, I’m not sure of everything manufactured there, but MOB owns the Talabot trademark, which was one of the major French manufacturers of files, similar to Nicholson in the USA. I believe the files may still be manufactured in France, and MOB may also manufacture files for other French tool brands. Some other items that are manufactued in France are forged bolt cutters and pry bars. There is actually a long video on Youtube shoing the manufacture of a varety of items.
As far as some of the other items go, MOB may have these manufactured by one of the manufacturers in Asia that does a lot of OEM work. The pass thru sockets look almost identicle to ones from other manufactuers.
Dave
I purchased close to 8 weeks ago the MOB Peddinghaus 17-Piece FusionBox Mechanics Tool Set from Sears.com. Here is the link to the set:
http://www.sears.com/mob-peddinghaus-17-pc-3-8inch-socket-set-with/p-00912106000P?sellerId=SEARS&prdNo=5&blockNo=5&blockType=G5
From what others have posted above, I thought the set would be manufactured in France. However, the set was manufactured in Taiwan. It is a nice set for the price. The chrome on the pieces is nicely finished. The 72 tooth ratchet is a low profile design with a unusually textured grip. I like the addition of the 6″ locking extension and breaker bar in the set. The attention paid to the design of the case is amazing with the foam cut outs of the individuals pieces, the individual design elements; and the spring attached, steel case clasps.
If you would like to see some pictures I took of the set, please click on the link to the GarageJournal:
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103272&page=1748
I am a senior member there.
Thanks,
Dave