REVIEW (after no more than some in-store browsing)
I hit up Sears today for the first time in a few years to pick up a screwdriver I got with points, one of my favorite Craftsman pieces (oddly enough, made in Taiwan for a long time - link below). I've been done with Sears since the steel hand tools were off-shored but I had already bought almost the entire line maybe ten years ago right before/as it happened. The few sets I have that are Chinese are segregated to the wall next to the toolbox... mostly the start of the gimmick wrenches but useful for rare occasions nonetheless.
http://www.shopyourway.com/craftsman-ratcheting-magnetic-screwdriver-with-bit-storage/291711
Sorry for the shopyourway site but I haven't had much luck getting the sears site to catch my points. This isn't really an endorsement of this tool, I really came to talk about the extreme grip stuff, but it is a nice ratcheting screwdriver. I think it may be a knockoff of the Snap-On screwdriver everyone loves.
Anyway, I made it a point to check out the extreme grip stuff and some surprises for me, good and bad.
The screwdrivers have nice shanks and tips, the line is well thought-out with standard-ish length stuff having good coverage and then even coverage for long and short length as far as bit sizes. I need more beater screwdrivers like I need a hole in the head, but the handles, which are very light and felt cheap because of it, but did not crush at all in my grip - like they were non-giving ABS plastic, have a large circumference. This is good for leverage, as screwdrivers are a notoriously ****-leverage tool that require you to grip them hard. I've thought of buying square- (snap-on style) or triangular-handled drivers, or even using grip tape to reduce fatigue, but I never get around to it, but this is why I generally dislike the design of screwdrivers. I didn't like the lack of heft of the extreme grip, but they may offer good leverage.
The bit driver is weird. It has a pull-down sleeve with a magnetic ring for holding screws but I could neither get an idea of how well it works even though you can manipulate it, nor could I try the ratchet mechanism in it's packaging. The handle does have the same larger-than-what-I'm accustomed-to circumference. Lacking knowledge on the ratchet mechanism being fine or tight, or not, I'm skipping it for now.
The 3/8 ratchet has the same handle, and I like that, but it's a short one, kind of similar to the older gray-handled harbor freight ratchets for length. I like those ratchets, by the way. I'm looking for long-handled ratchets now so I'm on the fence about it. The handle will likely help with hand fatigue so it's on the long wishlist. Not the short wishlist.
The wrenches are what you'd expect, the switch and action feels cheap but they lock up tight on the nut on the display and work fine. My biggest complaint is the lack of sizes in these gimmick sets now, and these are no exception. The finish is of quality but looks like slightly-darkish-silver-painted styrofoam, not the nice matte chrome of German hand tools. I have a bunch of gimmick rounded nut-gripping Craftsman wrenches from over the years and this is on par with them except for lack of sizes. Get it if you like collecting. Not judging, I like collecting the Craftsman sets myself.
The locking adjustable is a Stanley piece. I figure there's a 50% chance if you were to cut the rubber grip cover off, it would have the raised Stanley cast-in lettering underneath. I have the Stanley wrench and I like it. As locking pliers-style wrenches go, I haven't gotten to buy the traditional 3-sided versions that Vise-Grip and probably Grip-On make, and they're probably the best because of both quality and one additional contact side, but I like this wrench. I couldn't find it later today when doing tie rods and it annoyed me as it's a good tool for the job, where the outer end only has two flats and you need two hands on two wrenches so locking is nice.
The sockets are a different style of those sockets that have all the spring-loaded hex rods in them to grip any shape of damaged nut or bolt head, having three little spring-loaded tabs around the inside. They're just not my thing, I definitely do not need to buy them even for collecting's sake.
Which brings me to the tool set that comes in a maybe-rubber-bottomed cooler lunch bag. Separately, "sale"-priced, it's $80 of tools plus the bag (you can't buy on it's own) for $100. My verdict is to skip the set and get the tools you decide you want. The bag definitely isn't something you'll use unless you go through lunch bags by tearing up the bottom.
THE SHORT VERSION:
The screwdrivers might be the nicest of the tools, but I just can't bring myself to find space for another set of screwdrivers right now. They and the ratchet would be nice if your hand aches at the end of the day from gripping drivers too tight and pulling wrenches too hard that the handle presses into your palm. The wrenches are for someone who has to have every kind of wrench for every possible problem fastener, and I loathe the lack of sizes. The sockets just don't seem worth it to me. Although I dismissed it a gimmicky, after buying it from Stanley, the locking adjustable wrench is now a go-to part of my basic tool set for non-damaged fasteners, simply because I can lock it on and pull in situations like replacing tie rods where I need two hands on two open-ended wrenches.
Some might suggest flare-nut wrenches that stay on a bit better for this, and that is another option, but it's one specialized tool versus another.
If anyone has the vise-grip locking wrenches and is considering the locking adjustable from this series, please let us know which you end up using more after some real-world experience.
- Paul
