*sigh*
HF fills the role of bringing products down the price-grid to the broader market once patents expire. It's literally why patents expire. Otherwise, there's no downward pressure at all while they own the patent, and little chance for it to drop into broad-market price points. Yeah, they used to be a store of cheap, funny-smelling ****, but that's at least 15 years past reality today. Well, there are probably a few laggards...
On the Knipex Pliers Wrench example. Several other makers knocked it off (incl. Gedore) before Icon's version came out. The Knipex is $60-$70 (for the standard 10"), so Icon's represents an opportunity to get a well-made (in Taiwan), extremely-useful tool for a 40% savings vs. the Knipex tool-truck-level price.
For a DIYer, that is what closes the equation that makes the savings of DIY possible. That "just spend the extra $25" on a per-tool basis isn't possible across the board for most people. Achieving critical-mass to do enough money-saving DIY things to make it worth it is
expensive, even when it's discount-level tools. For me, there are currently six cars for my household (I need to get rid of one), plus I do as much as I can for my mother who's in a tough spot these days as well as my mother-in-law - I just diagnosed her dead gas cap tonight with my scan tool, the internet and a credit card, rendering moot all the other tools I'd brought along this weekend just in case. Even with all those cars and work in the mix,
I can't monetize my tools enough to fill my box up with Snap On, etc. (I'm a bad example because I
do have a set of Knipex pliers - 3 pliers wrenches, a couple Cobras and a pair of clamp pliers, several Snap On ratchets and other various tools that are much more GarageJournal-approved - and I blame all of you

. But those have been treats to myself vs. necessity to get the job done.) Mainly I've got a bunch of tools that are not going to limit the work that come from a lot of places, with the primary decision-factor being price-performance.
My journey to the kit I have started with me trying to use some genuinely-crappy tools and being super-frustrated with my own significant-at-the-time limitations being amplified by my limited tools. To be clear, I still have many limitations, just less these days and with very few driven by the tools.
Most of my "core" tools are Tekton and Icon (and Milwaukee for power tools). I'm pretty confident that a starting tech could take what I have and be entirely as successful with my tools as if they all came from a tool truck. The monetization of that setup would more-than-close for them. And frankly, a kit like mine would be no less successful at the work while giving them the option of putting money in a retirement account while they're young enough for it to matter greatly when it's time to put the wrenches down.
Anyway, I do have a lot of Icon tools. I recommend and defend them, but I don't have an emotional attachment to them that would fit the definition I have of being a "fan". I'll probably keep buying them if they keep doing well in my price/performance equation.