Review on GEARWRENCH Drive Polish Teardrop Ratchet by Chuck Hernandez

I have been a professional mechanic for many years and have tried many ratchet wrenches in the shop during that time. Some of them have accompanied me for decades due to their design and workmanship, others have not survived. I learned years ago never to buy "cheap" keys that you really have to "lean on" in tight spaces. If they are suddenly triggered by slipping or breaking the pawl, your joints will suffer pain. Therefore, I've always insisted on brand name tools for potentially dangerous applications. They have very comfortable grips, thin steerable handles, and compact ratcheting heads that fit into tighter spaces than some of their competitors. The handles have a "standard" length, a smooth and comfortable shape at the gripping end that provides good leverage without hand discomfort. Since they're round, I think they're the "right" shape for most situations. I've had oval, square, and flat ratchets, and they all have a hand position that turns out to be "wrong" in one situation or another. In addition, the 84-tooth ratchet head is very welcome in the limited working area of modern engine compartments. They seem to engage very securely, giving you peace of mind that you can apply significant torque without fear of the tooth slipping out. I took one apart and found that the pawl is multi-tooth engagement, meaning the torque is distributed across multiple ratchet teeth, spreading the load and reducing the chance of slipping. In my experience, "fine-toothed" ratchets slip a lot more when dirt builds up in the mechanism. So it's good to see that these ratchets have an O-ring around the square gear to reduce dirt ingress and the design makes it very easy to disassemble, clean and service. In my opinion and based on my limited usage so far. Of these ratchets, I consider their design and workmanship to be incredible value in a very versatile ratchet wrench set. I look forward to many years of productive use with these excellent ratchets.