Tool-Check Plus bit and socket kit
Wera Tool-Check Plus bit and socket kit
The case is approximately 18 cm, or just over 7 inches long.
Wera The case is approximately 18 cm, or just over 7 inches long.

Wera, a German maker of high-end hand tools, offers many of their small accessories—driver bits, sockets, tool holders, adapters, and the like—in Tool-Check kits. The kits are housed in cleverly designed plastic cases that make it easy to access what is inside and to “check” to see if anything’s missing.

One of their newest offerings, the Tool-Check Plus kit, contains 28 hex shank bits, 7 sockets, 1 socket adaptor, a Zyklop Mini ratchet, a Rapidadapter bit holder, and a Kraftform drive handle. According to their maker, the tools can be used in 162 different combinations. I’m not sure if this number includes simply chucking them into a power tool, but that’s something that can be done with many of them.

Accessing bits is a matter of pushing a button on the case and tilting the holders out (video below). The sockets in this set are metric and have a knurled ring for spinning them by hand. Bits include hex, slotted, Phillips, Torx, and security Torx patterns. The bits and sockets can be driven with the included ratchet and screwdriver handle or with the power tool of your choice.

This kit has been available for a while in Europe and was introduced to the U.S. market in 2014. As is noted above, the sockets it contains are metric. But perhaps an SAE set is on the way, because the next model down (same tools except for the Kraftform screwdriver handle) is available in both metric and SAE.

I don’t picture this as being anyone’s primary tool set but it would be handy as a secondary, or travel set. Some folks would not have much use for the Torx and security Torx bits, but those are items I regularly use to take apart tools and tool batteries—and recently, to work on a German dishwasher.

The Tool-Check Plus kit (model 05056490001) is made in the Czech Republic and lists for $135. I don’t often mention where products can be purchased, but I will for these because Wera's tools are hard to find in the U.S. I’ve seen this kit online at Chad’s Toolbox and KC Tools (which both specialize in German brands) for maybe $20-45 below list. Just so you know, I have no relationship to these companies; I’ve bought tools from Chad’s Toolbox and KC Tools liked our Facebook page. Amazon sells some Wera tools but doesn’t carry this particular kit.