Retool + Conquer

[mark beiser]

It was 6pm by the time I made it to the Hilmor booth, so they were packing it in.
I'll be heading straight to it in the morning.

I want to check out that manifold, even though it looks ridiculous, but I'm also interested in some other tools, like their right angle tubing expander.

[darctangent]

I am decidedly underwhelmed.

Looks like the most interesting item is the reversible 1/4- 5/16 nut driver.

I agree the high end tubing expander has potential, maybe some other things too- I wouldn't say no to the manifold cover if they had the brains to make it water proof, but I don't think they were that smart.

[itsiceman]

Saw on a web site the price for just the regular analog set was four bills ... yikes
So the micron gauge must be built in since the cleaning instructions say to dump 3 oz. of cleaner down there

[Tech Rob]

Anyone else looking at this stuff and saying to themselves "what's the big deal?"

[darctangent]

I have to give kudos to anyone trying to be innovative, but this stuff seems like amature hour to me. I don't like to take that additude, but this seems like alot more effort was put into the marketing as apposed to the tools themselves.

[itsiceman]

I have to give kudos to anyone trying to be innovative, but this stuff seems like amature hour to me. I don't like to take that additude, but this seems like alot more effort was put into the marketing as apposed to the tools themselves.

From what they decided to put on the screen in the pictures looks like some effort was lacking there too. The large 180˚ benders look nice with the rollers.

[Brent Ridley]

Hilmor. Not impressed.

The compound digital/analog gauge goes for about $450? That's crazy. You can get a set of Testo 550's for about $100 less.

The tools look rather cheap. Lots of plastic. The pipe thermocouple clamps look just like big blue ones from FP which are junk.

A lot of hype that lead to a big disappointment.

[itsiceman]

[mark beiser]

I didn't make it back by the booth until late, but I got a chance to check out the digital gauge, and actually got to speak with one of the engineers.
They seem pretty rugged, and do not use garbage pressure transducers.
As for the "analogue" gauge portion, the needles are driven with stepper motors. I'm still baffled as to why anyone would want them on there, but supposedly the designers talked to a lot of people, and one of the most common things people who don't currently use digital gauges wanted was some dials.
I don't get it, but I've been fully digital for a number of years now.
The manifold itself seems to be a decent quality cast aluminum piece, with full diameter bores, and double o-ring sealed piston type valves.
The temperature probes are very similar to the ones fieldpiece uses, with the same kind of thermocouple for a sensor. I'd definitely junk drawer them, and use Fluke pipe clamps instead.

Lots of lights on the thing!


I was late getting to them, because I spent a LONG time at the Veto Pro Pack booth, and at a couple of other booths where I had "mind = blown" reactions that made me burn a lot of time.
I'll be posting about those in other threads.

[itsiceman]

As for the "analogue" gauge portion, the needles are driven with stepper motors. I'm still baffled as to why anyone would want them on there, but supposedly the designers talked to a lot of people, and one of the most common things people who don't currently use digital gauges wanted was some dials.

And they all asked for a 500 scale on the low side too The high side seem mostly useless at 800 as well!!! Just iCandy

[darctangent]

Wow. So this is what steve jobs warned us about....

HVAC tools designed by focus grouping the lowest common denominator of our industry.


Thanks for taking the time on this one, Mark!

[mark beiser]

The thing is, from handling it, and talking to the engineer guy that was there, it appears to be a pretty decent entry level DRSA at its core.
I can even come to terms with the profusion of green.
The dials are just stupid though, and kill the deal...
I'm curious how much the useless stepper motor driven dials, and associated color changing lighting, add to the cost.

[jtrammel]

I have to give kudos to anyone trying to be innovative, but this stuff seems like amature hour to me. I don't like to take that additude, but this seems like alot more effort was put into the marketing as apposed to the tools themselves.

x2