Draper Expert 30mm Ratcheting Spanner - Review

Pros:

Open end really tough
Chrome Vanadium tool steel
Heavy duty feel
Tactile to use
Middle range brand for a low-ish price

Cons:

Delicate ratchet head
Draper warranty perhaps not as good as other brands

As a brief introduction, the Draper Expert brand fall into the middle/lower end of the tooling market and provide a good selection of tools, the quality of their products has been steadily increasing over the years, especially after the brand was redeveloped around 2007. This was with the aim to offering customers a more affordable product with good wear and tear resistance. Before this in my and my colleagues opinions where worth staying away from, however since the redevelopment there has been a noticeable improvement in quality. Whilst Draper may still not be the brand to compete with the like of {Teng/Facom/Corolus/Snap-on etc the products offer reasonable quality at an affordable price. All of the Draper Expert range also come with a lifetime warranty. (Even if it does fall slightly on the limited side in my own personal opinion).

This 30mm Draper Expert ratcheting spanner (may also be known as a ratcheting combination spanner) was purchased to deal with some of the larger bolts as long threads and tight spaces can leave very little room for using a standard ring spanner, the ratcheting head is perfect for where access is a problem or where the length of bolts mean that continuously reposition the spanner simple becomes tedious.

The open end has proved to be very robust with good wear resistance and still maintains a fairly tight fit, I have never suffered problems with the open end rotating on nuts and rounding them off, however I do always tend to opt for using a ring spanner for tough fasteners. For especially stubborn nuts and bolts I would always suggest the use of a Slugging/Striking Spanner as the shocks tend to loosen rust without excess hassle which would otherwise take a great long breaker bar which always risks the rounding or snapping of fasteners.

The spanner like most other quality tools has been manufactured fro, chrome vanadium tool steel which has stood up to hard use well with no pitting or rust spots. The chrome finish has also held up well not suffering any flaking yet over use has worn through around the open end revealing a golden tarnish from the base plating layer, this is entirely excusable though as it is a hard used tool and the wear is only superficial.

However the ratcheting end of the spanner has not faired so well and i feel this is really wear the lower price affects the product, the ratchet head just does not seem to exude the same level of quality that the rest of the spanner does. The ratchet does feel to have a really positive engagement giving a good level of confidence to ward of

fears of slipping yet the way the ratcheting head is set in the spanner gives a slightly woolly feeling to any action that causes a lateral load. This has not been an issue for me in other brands.

Another issue I have had with the ratchet head is that after suffering a fall from a table its components literally exploded out and shot across the floor, which I was defiantly not impressed with as the retaining ring is now MIA.

After contacting Draper and asking about their "lifetime guarantee" I was forwarded a copy of said guarantee (Detailed below) and told that as I had subjected the tool to careless handling leading to the failure of the tool they would not be replacing it.

Draper Guarantee Quote:

"These guarantees do not apply to normal wear and tear, nor any damage caused by misuse, careless or unsafe handling, alterations, accident, or repairs attempted, other than by authorised Draper warranty repair agents. These guarantees are in place of any other guarantee expressed or implied and variations of such guarantees are not permitted, but your statutory rights are not affected."

As such I contacted Teng and Facom as a check and was notified that they would have replaced the item, this is due to them classing accidents of this type as expected shop incidents which their tools are designed to cope with and as such, shouldn’t have broken.

Conclusion:

As a tool manufacturer I feel Draper Expert are definitely middle of the range, they are definitely fine for the odd job but if your a keen hands person but want to stick around this price point then I would perhaps suggest an alternative brand such as the selection offered by Halfords Pro, as a bonus they do always seem to have a sale on as well. If you are really into your tools then I would always suggest going for something slightly higher up the range. I have just purchased a 30mm Facom ratcheting spanner as a replacement to this one as if I had simply purchased the Facom one in the first place I would only have splashed out the same as my original plus its replacement from Draper, with no guarantee that I would not suffer from the same issue again.

Basically average brand with a lifetime warranty that only covers the basics of manufacturing errors and honestly I don’t see how this justifies the premium, especially when other tools come with a no quibble lifetime warranty.