As someone that has calibrated a lot of torque wrenches,
stick with what you have and have them checked periodically.
Ask 10 guys, and you'll get 10 answers and 9 of those answers
will be BS.
Three types of torque wrenches for the average guy in their
garage.
Beam type. This is your old style torque wrench that has been
around forever. Dependable and accurate. A little hard to read and some
parallax error can happen if you don't get your eyeball over the pointer.
Generally approx 3% accuracy.
Clicker type. Everyone's favorite. Dial it up and feel for
the click. They are OK, but need to be checked and used periodically. ALWAYS
crank it down to a lower setting to store. If you forget, go "exercise" the
wrench by tightening some lug nuts or something like that and you'll probably
be OK. Accuracy is usually 4% CW and 6% CCW
Dial Type. These are the most expensive and most fragile of the
bunch. Also the most accurate. They are basically a beam type wrench with a
dial indicator that measures deflection (kinda over simplified) . They can be
very easily overstressed and then they aren't accurate at all. They
really belong in the lab rather than the garage, but your Snap-On rep won't
tell you that. Accuracy is 2% for the better ones, 3 % for the cheaper
versions but some with are available with 1% accuracy.
Treat the torque wrench for what it is... a precision tool. It's
not a breaker bar. That seems to be the biggest abuse I see.
The cheap (Harbor Fright) torque wrenches aren't bad. The Snap On
reps go berserk when I say this, but I've found just as many bad Snap-On
wrenches as I've found Craftsman and whatever brands. It really comes down to
the guy with the $40 Harbor Freight wrench might keep it in the drawer with
his mics, and the guy with the Snap-On wrench might use it to break
rusty bolts loose. Just take care of it. All the tools are crap
now.
I have the clicker and the beam type in my box. The SK beams are
close to celebrating their 50 birthdays and the Utica clickers were some that
I pieced together and repaired (and checked) .