I'm just starting out picking again after a 5-6 year hiatus. My room mate used to have a set of picks and we'd get stoned and pick padlocks all the time. After being away from it for a while I decided to pick up the hobby again and invest a little into a decent "starter set" if you will.
My first inclination was to drop a bunch of money on custom handmake picks by people I've read about and heard good reviews about. This would've amounted to a lot more money than I initially want to spend and it seemed kind of silly to instantly jump into buying what could be called a really nice set of kick ass entry tools when I'm just getting started again.
The set I settled on is the
Sparrows "Gotham" set here-
http://www.sparrowslockpicks.com/product_p/s-5.htmThis set seemed like a decent quality, no poppy _ starter set with a decent array of standard picks and a large variety of tension tools. It also comes with a case and the picks of handles which was sort of a must for me after doing some good research here on LP101. I've seen some controversy on this site regarding this company but I've also read good reviews and they seem fairly solid for a smaller "boutique" company, if you will.
I also went ahead and bought a
Peterson Pry Bar and a a set of
Peterson two pronged tension tools.
Lastly I purchased the Ultimate Challenge Lock. I decided on this practice lock over the standard Ultimate Practice Lock because it's essentially the same thing only the challenge version can accomodate 6 pins therefore allowing for eventually more of a test while still allowing me to start from the very beginning. It seemed to make sense to me.
My question is- Are my purchases reasonable and levelheaded for a novice? Considering all the ridiculous purchases I've read about here (people buying massive 100 piece kits with all sorts of tools they'll never use, etc.), I feel like I made good choices and got what will hopefully start me on a path to becoming a good lockpicker.
What do some of you think?
