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Doug Mahoney is a writer covering home-improvement topics, outdoor power equipment, bug repellents, and (yes) bidets. folding wrench tool
Our new top pick is the Amazon Basics Hex Key Allen Wrench Set with Ball End; we’re also adding recommendations for wrenches from Bondhus and Milwaukee.
If the only hex wrenches you have are the five or six random ones kicking around the bottom of your kitchen drawer—leftovers from IKEA builds, light fixtures, and towel bars—it might be time for an upgrade.
When you own a full set, with both metric and SAE sizes, you’ll always have the right wrench on hand. And other features, like a long arm and a ball end, make them far nicer to use.
The good news is that you don’t need to invest a lot to get a decent set. After testing 18 models, we think the inexpensive Amazon Basics Hex Key Allen Wrench Set with Ball End is the best for around-the-house jobs, like installing towel bars, tightening door handles, or assembling knock-down furniture.
These hex keys have a great case, a long reach, and a ball end for getting into tight spots. This was also the most inexpensive set we tested.
These wrenches are more durable (and expensive) than our main pick, and the case isn’t as good, but the wrenches are color-coded, so it’s impossible to get the two sizes confused.
A folding set can be useful—it’s easy to carry and hard to lose the pieces. And this one beat out the rest with its comfortable handle and lifetime guarantee.
These are larger, heavier, and more expensive than the GorillaGrip set. But with this set, it’s easier to unfold the wrenches, especially if you have larger fingers or dexterity issues.
These hex keys have a great case, a long reach, and a ball end for getting into tight spots. This was also the most inexpensive set we tested.
The Amazon Basics Hex Key Allen Wrench Set with Ball End really sets itself apart from the rest, due to the excellent cases. These cases provide the right amount of “hold” on each wrench, making them easy to take out and put back. The cases also fold open, allowing simple access to the smaller wrenches—the most difficult to get out. All of the wrenches in this set (and in other long-arm, ball-end wrench sets) have a longer reach than wrenches in basic sets. The ball end lets the wrench rotate a fastener at an angle—a great feature to have when you’re dealing with tricky little set screws on toile-paper holders and towel bars. This set includes a full selection of metric and SAE sizes (13 each). And it was also the most inexpensive one we looked at.
These wrenches are more durable (and expensive) than our main pick, and the case isn’t as good, but the wrenches are color-coded, so it’s impossible to get the two sizes confused.
If the Amazon Basics set isn’t available, or if you’ll be using the wrenches a lot and you need more durability, we also like the Bondhus 20399 Ball End L-Wrench Double Pack. These wrenches have a lifetime warranty, and they’re made of a proprietary substance called Protanium Steel, which, according to Bondhus, is 20% stronger than Chrome Vanadium (which the Amazon Basics wrenches are made of). After testing, we don’t think this additional durability will make a difference during standard around-the-house tasks, but it might under more-sustained use. We like that the SAE and metric wrenches are different colors, so it’s nearly impossible to get them mixed up. The cases hold the wrenches in place securely, but they don’t fold open, so the smaller wrenches are more difficult to get out.
A folding set can be useful—it’s easy to carry and hard to lose the pieces. And this one beat out the rest with its comfortable handle and lifetime guarantee.
For portability, it’s nice to have a folding set of hex wrenches. You can’t lose an individual wrench, and it’s great for tossing into a tool bag. Our favorites are the Bondhus 12522 GorillaGrip. We’ve been using these wrenches for years, and they have a level of fit and finish that far exceeds the reasonable price tag. These wrenches are comfortable to hold and use, and they unfold with a nice, even resistance. It’s also notable that when each wrench unfolds, only that wrench moves. On other kits, no matter how much we fiddled with the tightening screw, the wrenches to either side of the intended wrench would also unfold. We also like how the GorillaGrip wrenches can be stopped at 90 degrees from the handle, which helps with quickly loosening or tightening a screw. These wrenches are also covered by a lifetime guarantee.
These are larger, heavier, and more expensive than the GorillaGrip set. But with this set, it’s easier to unfold the wrenches, especially if you have larger fingers or dexterity issues.
We think that most people will be happy with the GorillaGrip folding wrenches. But if you have larger fingers, work with gloves a lot, or have dexterity issues, the Milwaukee 48-22-2183 17-Key Folding Hex Key Sets’ design makes it easier to deploy the wrenches. Each wrench set has cutouts on both sides, so the wrenches can be approached from the sides and not just from the front. In all other ways, these are great wrench sets. They have a solid feel, clearly marked wrench sizes, and the same 90-degree stop as the GorillaGrip wrenches. They’re typically almost twice as expensive as the GorillaGrip wrenches, so unless you really need the easier access, we recommend sticking with the GorillaGrip wrenches.
I’ve been using hex wrenches for years, including during a 10-year stint in the trades, when I was building high-end homes in the Boston area as a carpenter, foreman, and job supervisor. I’ve also been reviewing tools since 2007.
For this guide I also consulted with Marc Lyman, editor of HomeFixated.com, a website devoted to tools and home improvement. Lyman has been writing about and reviewing tools for over 10 years.
L-shaped, long-arm, ball-end wrenches are the most useful type of hex wrenches to have around. The long-arm models have a better reach than what’s typically found on a hex wrench—in some cases, 30% to 40% more. As for the ball end, the tip of the long arm ends in a sphere shape that maintains the angles of the hexagonal head at askew angles—the wrench can be inserted into (and turn) a fastener at an angle of up to 25 degrees. “These are great when clearance for the tool is minimal,” Lyman told us. These features make the wrenches ideal for hard-to-reach spots, like tightening the set screw under a toilet-paper holder.
But what really makes or breaks a set of wrenches is the storage system. We’ve found that if you’re looking to spend under $25 for a set of wrenches, the wrenches themselves are all pretty generic and strong enough for light-duty around-the-house tasks. What’s not the same from set to set are the cases. And this is where things can go dreadfully wrong. With a nice case, each size is clearly marked. And it holds the wrenches firmly enough so that they don’t fall out—but not so tightly that it’s impossible to get them out. Not-so-nice cases—those that lock the wrenches in a vise-like grip or, conversely, hold them with the strength of a weak handshake—are frustrating, and they can lead to lost, mixed-up, or damaged wrenches.
Folding sets are really useful too, however. Folding hex kits offer easy portability, and because the body becomes a handle, you can put more oomph behind a turn. Lyman told us that “individual L wrenches work in more places, but the folding kits give more leverage and are more ergonomic to use than having a tiny wrench dig into your fingers as you attempt to loosen a stubborn bolt.” If you own only one kit, the L wrenches are better, but folding kits are great for tossing in the toolbox too. We narrowed the field by looking only at folding kits with composite handles from reputable manufacturers. The metal ones, like these from Eklind, are inexpensive but terrible on hands.
Decent sets don’t cost a fortune. Over the years, we’ve found plenty of nice sets—containing both metric and SAE with long arms and ball ends—in the $15 to $25 range. More-regular users might find their way up to the $50 range, paying that extra for added convenience features and durability. Some sets, like those from PB Swiss and Wiha, cost considerably more, but they offer durability and precision that is likely to be lost during light-duty home use. We aim to recommend quality tools, but it just doesn’t make sense to shell out over $80 for two sets of hex keys just so you can hang a few towel bars.
For specific testing, we enlisted the aid of two veteran carpenters: Aaron Goff, with 12 years of experience in high-end remodeling, and Mark Piersma, with 14 years of experience. Together, we analyzed the selected kits and used them in a shop setting. When we decided on the ones we liked the best, we used them around the house for about eight months while wrapping up a full gut-and-remodel of a 100-year-old farmhouse. We hung towel bars and toilet-paper holders, adjusted door hardware, and put together ready-to-assemble furniture. We also used the wrenches to adjust the kids’ bikes, fix their toys, and a hundred other little things that hex wrenches are used for. Since our original testing, we’ve kept our picks in the tool bag, and we have continued to use them for tasks when needed and, most recently, for RC car rebuilds.
These hex keys have a great case, a long reach, and a ball end for getting into tight spots. This was also the most inexpensive set we tested.
We’ve been testing hex wrenches since 2013, and the best we’ve found are also the least expensive. The AmazonBasics Hex Key Allen Wrench Set with Ball End hit all of the high points in simple, yet effective cases that overwhelmingly beat the competition.
The wrenches are decent. If you’re in the under-$25 range, we’ve found that most hex wrenches are basically the same, and they’re going to work for around-the-house use, tasks like installing towel bars and assembling knock-down furniture. On the occasion when we’ve had to really crank on the Amazon Basics’ wrenches, they’ve held up fine. Someone using hex wrenches on a daily basis might eventually find these to be inferior. But we’ve found them to be excellent under regular intermittent use. The ball end works as advertised, and the edges of the wrenches have a slight chamfer on them, to easily slip into the fastener.
The wrenches are generic, but the cases stand out. Like many other cases, these cases are made of a rubbery material, with the wrench sizes clearly printed on it. Yet the Amazon Basics cases fold open like a book, with the small wrenches on one side and the larger ones on the other. This makes it very easy to remove a specific wrench. The cases also hold each wrench with just the right amount of pressure, so they stay in place while stowed, but they can be removed without excruciating effort. There is also a small loop for hooking the set on a pegboard. These cases are identical to the one found on our previous pick, the now-discontinued Tekton Ball End Hex Key Wrench Set.
They’re consistent (so far). In our latest round of research, we found a number of other generic Amazon brands—Lexivon, Rexbeti, Horusdy—offering wrenches in an identical-looking case. These may be the same product, but we can’t vouch for them, and we wouldn’t be surprised if these brands disappeared and others popped up offering the same items. We have slightly more faith in the consistency of the Amazon Basics brand, but we will keep an eye on the customer feedback on the wrenches, looking for anything indicating a change in manufacturing.
The price is right. As of this writing, the Amazon Basics hex wrenches cost about $10. Even if the price went up to $15, they would still be a value compared with most of what is out there. We couldn’t find any other kits for less that offered long-arm ball-end wrenches in such excellent cases.
There are more durable wrenches out there, but these should do fine. The Amazon Basics wrenches are made of Chrome Vanadium steel. But there are others, like our Bondhus runner-up set, that are made of a more-durable material (at least according to the manufacturer). We used moderate force to try to break the Amazon Basics wrenches and couldn’t. The added durability of the pricier sets may possibly make a difference in a setting where the tools are being used daily, often in high-torque situations. For someone working on their house, though—even an aggressive DIYer—the difference won’t be felt.
Don’t get the wrenches mixed up. This isn’t something specific to the Amazon Basics set but to most L-shaped hex wrenches. It’s often not clear which size is needed for a specific task, so multiple wrenches might have to be tested out from both the SAE and metric case. Our recommendation is to always immediately put each wrench back when you’re done testing it. The smallest nine wrenches are not marked with the size, so the five SAE and four metric items in this set are very easy to confuse for one another.
These wrenches are more durable (and expensive) than our main pick, and the case isn’t as good, but the wrenches are color-coded, so it’s impossible to get the two sizes confused.
If you’re a regular hex wrench user looking for a more-durable product or one that also looks a lot nicer, we like the Bondhus 20399 Ball End L-Wrench Double Pack. These are made of a stronger material, and they’re backed by a lifetime guarantee. But the cases don’t fold open, and it’s not as easy to remove the smallest wrenches. That said, the Bondhus wrenches never bound up in the case or fell out. Instead of the typical black, these wrenches are two different colors—the SAE wrenches are silver and the metric ones are gold—so it’s easier to keep them sorted if you have a couple out at once.
The Bondhus wrenches have an added level of durability. These are made of a proprietary substance called Protanium Steel, and, according to Bondhus, they are 20% stronger than Chrome Vanadium wrenches (like those in the Amazon Basics set). It’s certainly comforting to know how strong these wrenches are, but we didn’t think the added strength made a difference for standard around-the-house use. Still, if you use hex wrenches often, or if you’re working with hardware tough enough to deform the facets of typical hex wrenches, this upgrade might be worth it.
The metric and SAE sets are color-coded. The stand-out feature of this Bondhus set is that the metric and SAE wrenches are different colors—SAE sizes are silver and metric are gold. This eliminates the issue of getting them confused in the middle of a project. We’ve used this set for years, and it’s also nice to use such polished-looking wrenches, as opposed to the traditional black ones.
A folding set can be useful—it’s easy to carry and hard to lose the pieces. And this one beat out the rest with its comfortable handle and lifetime guarantee.
It’s totally possible to get by with a single kit of long-arm, ball-end wrenches, like the Amazon Basics set. But some people, including Lyman and myself, also like to have a folding kit on hand. We’ve tested six sets, and the best ones come in the 12522 Bondhus GorillaGrip Hex Fold-up Double Pack. These wrenches were the easiest to use and the most comfortable in the hand. They’re also backed by a full lifetime guarantee. As with other kits of this type, the tools are fixed to the handle, which limits maneuverability but eliminates the chance of losing a single loose wrench.
A high point of the GorillaGrip wrenches is the simplicity of the handle. There’s nothing fancy about the smooth rounded-over plastic, but there’s also nothing edgy or unpleasant. The streamlined and simple design of the GorillaGrip wrenches made them the most comfortable folding wrenches to hold and use. None of the other sets came close. Because they’re so smooth that they easily slide in and out of a back pocket, unlike many other kits with rubber padding, rough edges, or odd angles.
The GorillaGrip sets have a high level of finish, and the wrenches unfold with nice, even resistance. Poor-quality folding sets open with uneven resistance, or the wrenches sit crooked in the handle. On other folding sets we tested, multiple wrenches would unfold alongside the desired one, as if they’re all linked together. In these areas, the GorillaGrip wrenches excel. They’re much nicer than more expensive models.
The wrenches can be positioned 90 degrees from the handle. They don’t actually lock in place—the handle prohibits them from moving any farther. This does a couple of things. First, if wrenches from the opposite side of the case are opened and set, the second one acts as a handle. Secondly, it increases the efficiency of the “turn and flip” method of using a folding hex wrench. This last point is useful if the wrench is prohibited from turning in one direction.
One flaw found on any folding set is that it can loosen over time. In the years we’ve been using the GorillaGrip wrenches as our primary hex wrenches, we’ve had to retighten them maybe four times. This is a quick and easy process. What’s nice, though, is that the SAE set can tighten the bolt on the metric set and vice versa, so it’s a quick fix when it happens.
The GorillaGrip wrenches don’t have any hard stops, so you can’t lock the wrenches in at a specific angle. This is most useful to position a wrench in line with the handle (like a screwdriver). We found that as long as the pivot is kept snug, the wrenches can be positioned how you like them; it just takes a little more care not to shift them while they’re turning. Also, having that kind of locking mechanism takes up space and results in a larger, more expensive tool.
These are larger, heavier, and more expensive than the GorillaGrip set. But with this set, it’s easier to unfold the wrenches, especially if you have larger fingers or dexterity issues.
The GorillaGrip folding sets are fantastic, but there are reasons to consider the similar, more expensive Milwaukee 48-22-2183 17-Key Folding Hex Key Sets. These sets have cutouts along the side of the tools, making it possible to unfold a wrench from the side and not directly from the front. This would be a benefit to anyone with larger fingers or dexterity issues, or even if you’d be wearing gloves a lot while using the wrenches.
Aside from this stand-out feature, there are clear sizing markings for each wrench, and the tool bodies have a nice, solid heft to them. The wrenches don’t deploy as smoothly as the GorillaGrip wrenches, they’re a little larger, and they don’t slide as easily in and out of a pocket or tool pouch.
The Milwaukee Ball End SAE/Metric L-Key Set is a nice option in which the wrenches are clipped into an innovative case. To get one out, it needs to be rotated out of the clip and then pulled out. But in order to get at the smaller sizes, the lower half of the case is rotated first to expose the ends. Milwaukee manufactures tools for tradespeople, and the design makes sense for someone who is going to constantly have their wrench sets in and out of a toolbox and just generally banging around a jobsite. But for our purposes, the case became tedious to use when the pressure fit systems on our picks work so well.
The ball-end kits we tested from Husky and Gearwrench were nearly identical to each other and equally difficult to use. Both metric and SAE sizes come in a single case that is bulky and opens like a book. The wrenches are clipped in rather than pressure-fit, resulting in a clunkier process to get an individual wrench. For long-term storage, the two sides are folded inward and held together by a small clip. But in the case of the Husky, the clip didn’t work, and on the Gearwrench, the clip immediately fell off and we couldn’t get it back on.
The folding kits from Husky and Gearwrench did not fare any better. Out of the packaging, the wrenches were either too loose or too tight. Even after we adjusted the holding screw, the wrenches opened with uneven resistance, something we’ve never encountered on the GorillaGrip folding sets, even after years of use. The two kits displayed other marks of poor quality, such as rough edges and wrenches that sit crooked in the case. The GorillaGrip wrenches offer a far, far better experience for only a few dollars more.
The wrenches in the Bondhus 20199 Ball-End L-Wrench Set are the same as our recommended Bondhus wrenches, except that they are not color-coded. Otherwise they have the same case and the same durability.
The Eklind combo pack has a standard holder, like the Bondhus set, But this set is more expensive than the Amazon Basics set.
We also tested long-arm sets from Craftsman and Husky that have since been discontinued.
As for folding kits, we tested the Stanley STHT71839, which was priced about the same as the GorillaGrip set, but with a bulkier, slightly awkward case. The heavy duty DeWalt sets (SAE, metric) are expensive and are loaded with unnecessary and awkward features, such as multiple stops and a locking button. The DeWalts are also huge compared with the rest, and they struggled to fit in a back pocket.
We didn’t look at any of the T-handle hex wrenches, like the TEKTON 2546. These are bulky, difficult to store, and impossible to use in tight spots.
This article was edited by Harry Sawyers.
Doug Mahoney is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter covering home improvement. He spent 10 years in high-end construction as a carpenter, foreman, and supervisor. He lives in a very demanding 250-year-old farmhouse and spent four years gutting and rebuilding his previous home. He also raises sheep and has a dairy cow that he milks every morning.
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