After watching videos where YouTubers who received money recommended Chinese torque wrenches,
there are often cases where people buy them and end up getting hurt using them. (I've also gotten hurt using OLC before...)
YouTubers don't originally have anything like "bought with my own money" videos...
They all do it for money
In fact, Chinese torque wrenches don't produce large errors just because they're Chinese.
You can use them as-is, but the problem is that when the set torque value is reached, the click feel needs to be clear to give the user a definite signal.
But there are quite a few products with very poor click feel.
You can't tell if it's reached the torque setting or not.
You should feel a 'click!', but Chinese products sometimes have dumb products like that.
So I recommend spending a little more money and buying Taiwan-made torque wrenches.
(ex: BlueTech, Sun-key, Danny Tools, etc. there are many anyway)
It doesn't matter much even if it's an unknown brand.
Taiwan is surprisingly a powerhouse for hand tools.
Of course, it's not up to the quality of Germany, the USA, or Japan, but they produce many cost-effective hand tools,
and the quality doesn't fall behind Chinese products.
It doesn't have to be a bicycle-specific torque wrench. You can find and use a Taiwan-made torque wrench with a torque range between 2-25 and a 1/4 inch anvil.
In this case, most of the time they sell just the torque wrench body,
So what about the bits?
You might ask.
Then you can just buy a Taiwan-made 1/4 inch hex-star socket set.
(King Tony sets cost only about 10,000 won per set, whether hex or star)
With Chinese torque wrenches, the quality of the bits that come with them is often really garbage compared to the quality of the torque wrench itself,
when tightening bolts with a torque value less than 5nm, the bits often break.
In cases like this, it's really frustrating
If you buy like this 'Taiwan-made torque wrench body + Taiwan-made socket set' it won't exceed 70,000-80,000 won no matter how expensive.
Wera Mariposa, Wiha, Snap-on, Gedore, Tone, Hazet, Stahlwille
In fact, if you're getting into it professionally, you should use torque wrenches like these (bits from PB Swiss or Hazet too),
but even if you don't get into it deeply, eventually you'll need to do simple self-maintenance at home.
Anyway, you'll end up needing it, and I wrote this hoping you wouldn't get hurt using cheap Chinese products to save a few bucks.
But if you don't want to spend too much money, finding products one by one is a headache and annoying, but you still want to buy products you can somewhat trust, then just buy a Topic or Giant torque wrench set for about 150,000 won.
(Never buy the Chinese torque wrenches that YouTubers promote)
(For L wrenches, buy Japanese ones no matter what, whether hex or star. If you want the best, get PB Swiss, and I recommend Japanese Eight for something decent)
