Craftsman, come on. WTH

[11b30b4]

Sorry for the rant but I am so disappointed with the current offerings by Craftsman.

Last week I decided now (with all the Christmas sales) would be a good time to grab some additional tools for my garage. I have a fairly large set of Craftsman hand tools in my workshop but I don’t like going back and forth between the work shop and garage when I am working on my Tacoma. I figured a descent sized set of SAE and Metric sockets, wrenches, and drivers would outfit the garage toolbox.

After looking at Lowes online and considering “whats in the box” the CRAFTSMAN VERSASTACK 216-Piece Standard (SAE) and Metric Combination Polished Chrome Mechanics Tool Set seemed to have the least amount of fluff of all the Craftsman 200+ piece sets running around $99.00.

I purchased the VERSASTACK 216-Piece set and was very disappointed by the horrible quality of the tools in this set. Most of the roll marked stampings were uneven and some were unreadable. I expect many of the wrenches and sockets to be out of spec and the ratches were very loose. I understand that this Craftsman set was made in China, but I have had harbor freight socket sets that were higher quality. I returned this set and exchanged it for the Taiwan made Craftsman 81-piece gun metal socket set that is higher quality.

Back in 2012 I purchased the bulk of my Craftsman hand tools from Sears and the quality was good. I believe even then many of the hand tools were made in Asia but there was defiantly a higher quality control than there is today. Like so many other brands, Craftsman has moved to the standard/ professional tool model and unfortunately, if you want anything with quality embedded in the tool DNA, you are forced to purchase the “professional” premium tools.

This has first became a trend with the power tools and its consumed this company. Anyone can see the HD husky brand screwdrivers are made in the same factory as the Craftsman screwdrivers. With the spit from Sears came a corporate decision to not honor the lifetime warranty on hand tools with many of the retailers. Why buy a craftsman hand tool when you get the same thing branded differently with a lifetime warranty from the big box stores?

I know many people will say to buy SK or another brand, but I grew up with Craftsman and it really pisses me off that a bunch of suit wearing, pencil pushing, bean counting, fools have nearly destroyed this American company.

I fear that Craftsman will continue to produce lower quality tools until retailers and consumers demand higher quality like what was made here in America year ago.

Anyway, everyone have a wonderful holiday and new year.

 

[drtyler]

I purchased the 216 piece Versa-stack set a year or so ago, and the quality of the tools has been fine. The country of origin was Taiwan. It sounds like that has changed.

 

[11b30b4]

drtyler, I should have taken some pics before I returned the set. If the quality had been better it would have been a great deal on well stocked set but I was so disappointed.

 

[yatg]

I purchased the 216 piece Versa-stack set a year or so ago, and the quality of the tools has been fine. The country of origin was Taiwan. It sounds like that has changed.

Ditto. Got one for the 5th wheel in Dec 2019. Taiwan origin.

 

[Dakotadadv8]

Craftsman may tried to offer different lines of products, low price (homeowner), V series, and future Pro lines. Not expecting Pro level tools at low price (homeowner). Same for power tools, SBD Dewalt vs SBD Black & Decker.

 

[jd_1138]

Maybe try the Quinn 428 piece master tech set from HF. It's $399 but on sale for $329 (hopefully still on sale). HF with their Quinn and Icon lines are going more high quality than their regular line of Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh Pro.

It gets good reviews. I used to only buy CM when I started out buying tools in the late '90s, but I haven't bought any in like 5 years. I still have the CM stuff and it's complete for the most part, but I have a second main set made of GearWrench, SK, Felo, Napa, etc..

 

[Handyandy23]

Any kind of homeowner grade "kit" that has a full set of 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" drive sockets and ratchets, plus wrenches, all in a modular box for $99 shouldn't have high expectations for quality IMO. Hard to expect similar quality to older Made in USA tools at that low of a price. That's even cheaper than any similarly-stocked kit that Harbor Freight sells. If the price seems too good to be true then it probably is.

 

[qqzj]

For $100, I would recommend this one

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-121-Piece-Standard-SAE-and-Metric-Gunmetal-Chrome-Mechanics-Tool-Set/1000596549

It has less pieces, but users' feedback is mostly positive. I probably will get a set to sit in my SUV. The biggest drawback is the case. The space utilization is horrible. They should push the tools closer together and create a small space for folks to keep the extra pieces important to individual customers.

 

[drtyler]

drtyler, I should have taken some pics before I returned the set. If the quality had been better it would have been a great deal on well stocked set but I was so disappointed.

Hey, I believe you.

I just feel bad because I've recommended that set to folks because of good price, completeness, and the case is much nicer than the blow molded junk that most sets have. I'm hoping that any that purchased it found one of the older stock made in Taiwan.

The gunmetal chrome sets appear to be nice and the reviews are generally positive. I suspect that set will be fine for you.

 

[m6z]

That ***** to hear. I was interested in that same set.

 

[PCustoms]

Sorry for the rant but I am so disappointed with the current offerings by Lowe's.

Fixed that for you.

Craftsman is just a name now, if the quality is poor blame the specific store.

 

[Jtels85]

One of my many complaints is that Craftsman doesn’t make a mechanics tool set that’s considered “complete”. I’m sorry, but less than a dozen wrenches in both metric and SAE, along with socket sets that skip sizes… that’s a deal breaker.

Some of my old Craftsman USA sets are pretty full and came with a couple dozen wrenches, if not more. The 3 drawer sets were a good deal back in the day… not so much now.

As I’ve said before, the people driving Craftsman are asleep at the wheel. The current Craftsman offerings at Lowe’s are so terrible, it makes me long for the good old days when I could walk into Sears and buy Chinese Craftsman. Those tools weren’t nearly as bad and this nonsense.

 

[dr_clyde]

Inexpensive, entry level tools sold at a box store were poor quality? Shocked. Absolutely shocked.

 

[PugetDude]

Craftsman quality is slipping? Huh, this is the first I've heard of it. Next thing you know they'll be sourcing stuff from China.

 

[joseywales]

Blains has this. It was $99, now $129. No wrenches, but you get quick release ratchets.

Pardon Our Interruption

I paid $129 for a 205 Dewalt, which had wrenches, but standard ratchets. For a truck set, thats fine with me

 

[jrevans]

Been buying tools since i was 13 years old. (i'm 58) mostly USA made Craftsman.

Saw some examples of the China made Craftsman tools when they bought some large sets here at work.

Not impressed, fit and finish horrible.

The local Sears was a ghost town, and the folks working there developed a general bad attitude toward anyone trying to support them .

Finally had enough on the poor selection, high prices, and bad attitude.

Decided that I wasn't going to spend anymore money for craftsman tools at sears, or anywhere else they are being sold this week.

Fortunately, my shop is fairly well equipped for most DIY tasks.

Now have some HF, Snap-on, and various others in the mix, but probably still 90% USA Craftsman.

For items that I do not need immediately, been watching the flea markets, and second hand stores.

I'm able to find used tools in reasonable shape for pennies on the dollar vs. original cost.

Lowes, HF, Ace, or the parts chains can fill the void if I need it today. Amazon has quite a selection as well, but you need to research.

Not likely I will wear any of it out.

 

[woody 73]

The following is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt; For some reason/reasons beyond me Sears craftsman tools were the king of the hill (golden years so to speak) up till 1969. Something happened in 1970 and the quality was not what it used to be; oh, sure many folks will disagree with this, and I can understand their love of anything with craftsman's name on it.

Screwdrivers that I bought in the early 1970's would twist like tin foil, smaller wrenches that sometimes were like soft butter, and other tools that were just not up to par so to speak.

in the 1980's with the Stanley contract, they (Stanley), thought why not save a ton of money and they started producing overseas, well the outcry was loud, and the Gov't clamped down and it stopped. I would guess a person had to be blind to notice as the many years went by that the quality went downhill pretty fast.

Now I do not know how old the op is, perhaps he is too young to have seen all the changes, so this must all seem rather new to him; this is what you would call a learning curve as they say.

At least for people like me I still enjoy the craftsman name but I will hunt for anything made before 1969; the only thing I could tell the op is to hunt Ebay till you can find those older made tools.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

The following is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt; For some reason/reasons beyond me Sears craftsman tools were the king of the hill (golden years so to speak) up till 1969. Something happened in 1970 and the quality was not what it used to be; oh, sure many folks will disagree with this, and I can understand their love of anything with craftsman's name on it.

Screwdrivers that I bought in the early 1970's would twist like tin foil, smaller wrenches that sometimes were like soft butter, and other tools that were just not up to par so to speak.

in the 1980's with the Stanley contract, they (Stanley), thought why not save a ton of money and they started producing overseas, well the outcry was loud, and the Gov't clamped down and it stopped. I would guess a person had to be blind to notice as the many years went by that the quality went downhill pretty fast.

Now I do not know how old the op is, perhaps he is too young to have seen all the changes, so this must all seem rather new to him; this is what you would call a learning curve as they say.

At least for people like me I still enjoy the craftsman name but I will hunt for anything made before 1969; the only thing I could tell the op is to hunt Ebay till you can find those older made tools.

Convieniently available to most people and lifetime warranty (that worked until customers decided that every minor scratch required replacement). I started buying tools in the mid-80s. Even then I could tell the quality wasn't as good as what the older tools were. Unfortunately it was nearly impossible to buy complete sets of older tools. I.m not sure when Craftsman first offered metric.
I gave up on Craftsman almost 20 years before the OP bought what he considered to be good quality.

 

[Wakefield]

Sorry for the rant but I am so disappointed with the current offerings by Craftsman.

Last week I decided now (with all the Christmas sales) would be a good time to grab some additional tools for my garage. I have a fairly large set of Craftsman hand tools in my workshop but I don’t like going back and forth between the work shop and garage when I am working on my Tacoma. I figured a descent sized set of SAE and Metric sockets, wrenches, and drivers would outfit the garage toolbox.

After looking at Lowes online and considering “whats in the box” the CRAFTSMAN VERSASTACK 216-Piece Standard (SAE) and Metric Combination Polished Chrome Mechanics Tool Set seemed to have the least amount of fluff of all the Craftsman 200+ piece sets running around $99.00.

I purchased the VERSASTACK 216-Piece set and was very disappointed by the horrible quality of the tools in this set. Most of the roll marked stampings were uneven and some were unreadable. I expect many of the wrenches and sockets to be out of spec and the ratches were very loose. I understand that this Craftsman set was made in China, but I have had harbor freight socket sets that were higher quality. I returned this set and exchanged it for the Taiwan made Craftsman 81-piece gun metal socket set that is higher quality.

Back in 2012 I purchased the bulk of my Craftsman hand tools from Sears and the quality was good. I believe even then many of the hand tools were made in Asia but there was defiantly a higher quality control than there is today. Like so many other brands, Craftsman has moved to the standard/ professional tool model and unfortunately, if you want anything with quality embedded in the tool DNA, you are forced to purchase the “professional” premium tools.

This has first became a trend with the power tools and its consumed this company. Anyone can see the HD husky brand screwdrivers are made in the same factory as the Craftsman screwdrivers. With the spit from Sears came a corporate decision to not honor the lifetime warranty on hand tools with many of the retailers. Why buy a craftsman hand tool when you get the same thing branded differently with a lifetime warranty from the big box stores?

I know many people will say to buy SK or another brand, but I grew up with Craftsman and it really pisses me off that a bunch of suit wearing, pencil pushing, bean counting, fools have nearly destroyed this American company.

I fear that Craftsman will continue to produce lower quality tools until retailers and consumers demand higher quality like what was made here in America year ago.

Anyway, everyone have a wonderful holiday and new year.

My understanding is that there is no such thing as a Craftsman tool company and there never was.
Also that the "craftsman" being sold today has nothing in common with the Craftsman that used to be sold as a Sears brand except the name.

Correction: maybe Armstrong,S K,Moore Drop Forge,Western Forge were all "Craftsman Tool Companies" at some time,some at the same time and Sears might have made them bid against each other on price until a financial conglomerate bought all of them up? (except for S K which is sort of on ice for now?)

 

[ste6168]

Maybe try the Quinn 428 piece master tech set from HF. It's $399 but on sale for $329 (hopefully still on sale). HF with their Quinn and Icon lines are going more high quality than their regular line of Pittsburgh/Pittsburgh Pro.

It gets good reviews. I used to only buy CM when I started out buying tools in the late '90s, but I haven't bought any in like 5 years. I still have the CM stuff and it's complete for the most part, but I have a second main set made of GearWrench, SK, Felo, Napa, etc..

Seems for the about the same price, you could get the Tekton sets. Quality is truthfully about the same, but I would rather spend the few more bucks and get the "real" brand of sockets.

That said, the Tekton stuff also doesn't come with wrenches or screwdrivers, only sockets and ratchets.

1/4, 3/8, 1/2 Inch Drive 6-Point Socket and Ratchet Set (213-Piece) | TEKTON

Includes 5/32 - 1-5/16 inch (SAE), 4 - 32 mm (Metric) standard and deep length sockets, a 90-tooth ratchets, extensions, u-joints, and storage case. SKT95302.

www.tekton.com

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I’ll say this. I don’t mind the new Craftsman stuff for the most part. I have some of their newer sockets and they aren’t bad made in Taiwan. Use them in a professional setting. I have a gun metal set too I got at the pawn shop almost new for hardly nothing. It’s amazing and I’ve got a few of the Gunmetal ratchets too which are good but they aren’t a Snap-on or nothing. I will say the new ratchets besides the raised panel are much better than they used to be in the old days in my opinion and experience anyway. I let my brother in law use them and they survived and you know if they survived him using them then they must be good . It’s a shame you got a set that wasn’t very good. But I have seen like individual sockets and wrenches and stuff in Lowe’s that I’m like man who would put this on the shelf then others that have been excellent so I’m sure they need to work on their quality control.

 

[Badgerstate]

Sorry for the rant but I am so disappointed with the current offerings by Craftsman.

Last week I decided now (with all the Christmas sales) would be a good time to grab some additional tools for my garage. I have a fairly large set of Craftsman hand tools in my workshop but I don’t like going back and forth between the work shop and garage when I am working on my Tacoma. I figured a descent sized set of SAE and Metric sockets, wrenches, and drivers would outfit the garage toolbox.

After looking at Lowes online and considering “whats in the box” the CRAFTSMAN VERSASTACK 216-Piece Standard (SAE) and Metric Combination Polished Chrome Mechanics Tool Set seemed to have the least amount of fluff of all the Craftsman 200+ piece sets running around $99.00.

I purchased the VERSASTACK 216-Piece set and was very disappointed by the horrible quality of the tools in this set. Most of the roll marked stampings were uneven and some were unreadable. I expect many of the wrenches and sockets to be out of spec and the ratches were very loose. I understand that this Craftsman set was made in China, but I have had harbor freight socket sets that were higher quality. I returned this set and exchanged it for the Taiwan made Craftsman 81-piece gun metal socket set that is higher quality.

Back in 2012 I purchased the bulk of my Craftsman hand tools from Sears and the quality was good. I believe even then many of the hand tools were made in Asia but there was defiantly a higher quality control than there is today. Like so many other brands, Craftsman has moved to the standard/ professional tool model and unfortunately, if you want anything with quality embedded in the tool DNA, you are forced to purchase the “professional” premium tools.

This has first became a trend with the power tools and its consumed this company. Anyone can see the HD husky brand screwdrivers are made in the same factory as the Craftsman screwdrivers. With the spit from Sears came a corporate decision to not honor the lifetime warranty on hand tools with many of the retailers. Why buy a craftsman hand tool when you get the same thing branded differently with a lifetime warranty from the big box stores?

I know many people will say to buy SK or another brand, but I grew up with Craftsman and it really pisses me off that a bunch of suit wearing, pencil pushing, bean counting, fools have nearly destroyed this American company.

I fear that Craftsman will continue to produce lower quality tools until retailers and consumers demand higher quality like what was made here in America year ago.

Anyway, everyone have a wonderful holiday and new year.

I honestly never felt like the quality of even the old Sears Craftsman hand tools was that great to begin with. They were solid, affordable, DIYer tools that had a lifetime warranty. Nothing more, nothing less and certainly nothing special. What made them special was the warranty and knowing that if they ever broke you could get a new tool for free.
I think that a lot of people look back on the Sears Craftsman years with nostalgia and through rose-color glasses but not so much through the lens of reality.
I say that as someone who used to be a huge Craftman fanboy and who still has a Craftsman tool box (although that tool box is full of Pittsburgh, Hart, Masterforce, Sata, Neiko, Tool Shop and Ryobi tools. I do have a couple newer Craftsman torque wrenches that are quite nice though and a little 3-gallon Craftsman shop vac that I really like).

 

[lardy1]

I often wonder about the expectations people have when they buy tools at fifty cents apiece. What kind of quality are they expecting?

 

[speedracerfx]

I grew up on Craftsman tools, but haven't bought anything of theirs in 15 years. I'm done with them. I was recently looking for an inexpensive kit to keep in the cars, and ended up going with the 270 piece Husky set sold at Home Depot. It was on sale for $99 (the run this sale often), with free home delivery. It has a lifetime warranty, and the tools seem to be of decent quality. Not great, but decent, and more than adequate for a car kit that will see limited use.

 

[bsaint]

My dad was a Craftsman guy. That's the best he could afford. I always thought of them as a serious diy tools, frugal mechanic (also my dad), or a tradesman. Kinda like the old Homelite or Poulan. Built very well for their expected use. But I remember by the time I got to the age to choose Craftsman in the 90s, they were kinda eh. I have one Craftsman wrench I bought (9/16 clunky raise panel ratcheting) and a few other odd goodies. I grew up on those raised panel wrenches and ratchets and those stinky round screwdrivers.

 

[corn chip]

what the hek is keeping craftsman afloat? i dont think ive bought $150 worth of their stuff in the last 15yrs as almost none of it intrests me. perhaps im the black sheep

 

[Alchase]

I have a complete set of the “old” Craftsman tools sets that fill the five drawer Tool Chest on top of the three drawer wheeled stand. I purchased them in 1999.
The last Craftsman tools I bought were in 2003. I bought three sets of the socket kits shown, one for each vehicle and one for the boat I had at the time. All were still made in the US (as you can see).
I still think they are decent tools, especially if you did not want to pay into the outrageous costs of Snap-on and the other of “professional” gra tools the time, and at 1/4 the price.
I tried to be subjective of the Craftsman tools sold at Lowes.
In all honestly, they are asking way too much for totally substandard tools. They are no better then generic Chinese tools, except they have the Craftsman name on them.
Sad to see them taking over the space Cobalt took up, when Cobalt seems to be a much better quality tool.

 

[11b30b4]

I appreciate everyone’s comments. many of you make some solid points. For clarification, I have a few tools and what I would consider to be of outstanding quality. An example of this is my Indestro Super Duty Tools.

I do not expect Craftsman to be anywhere near this level of tools but the stuff that I purchased in 2012 was good quality and at a reasonable price. I suppose that I should not expect anything like that quality today without a hefty price tag. I just expected more from a known brand like Craftsman; however, Wakefield, made a great point. Craftsman was never a tool company just a brand and all the tools were made by someone else.

Ste6168, I was considering the Tekton sets and I like what they are selling. This purchase was just an additional set and would not be my primary tool set. I am planning on outfitting the Tacoma with a field set and will probably get the Tekton stuff to do that with.

In the end, I grew up on the Craftsman of the 70s and I know its nothing like the Craftsman of the 50s (just look at all my drill press rebuilds) but I did expect a level of quality that was above Harbor Freight and Northern Tool. You guys are correct, that Craftsman is gone now if it ever really existed.

 

[m6z]

I often wonder about the expectations people have when they buy tools at fifty cents apiece. What kind of quality are they expecting?

That's also a huge part of it. You've got to continually cheapen the product to keep the price the same. It seems to happen to everything sold in big box stores today.

If you want to pay more for a better product you've got to do your own research and shop elsewhere.

 

[IndyGarage]

I'm with the others here. How can you expect to get anything but what you got for $99?

At that price they are going to be high volume, low quality, bottom of the barrel tools.

I paid more than that in 1976 for a set of cheap tools.

Despite that, I bet your tools actually work. The complaints in the original post were all cosmetic and have nothing to do with functionality.

You ask "what happened to Craftsman" - well, you happened to Craftsman - you, the guy who expects to get a set of tools for 99 bucks, and returned them because you got what you paid for.

 

[m6z]

what the hek is keeping craftsman afloat? i dont think ive bought $150 worth of their stuff in the last 15yrs as almost none of it intrests me. perhaps im the black sheep

Wives buying their husbands Christmas presents.

 

[qqzj]

I actually don't agree with '$99 cannot buy you anything decent' line of thinking. Both these tool sets below are $99 right now. And I think for most people who don't make money out of them, equipping them with Snap-On won't make any improvements.

GEARWRENCH 1/4 in. and 3/8 in. Drive 6-Point Standard & Deep SAE/Metric 90-Tooth Ratchet and Socket Mechanics Tool Set (106-Piece) 83001 - The Home Depot

GEARWRENCH Mechanics Tools have all been designed with the professional user in mind to increase productivity, access, and strength. The ratchets and sockets are made from premium alloy steel and feature

www.homedepot.com

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-121-Piece-Standard-SAE-and-Metric-Gunmetal-Chrome-Mechanics-Tool-Set/1000596549

 

[Handyandy23]

I actually don't agree with '$99 cannot buy you anything decent' line of thinking. Both these tool sets below are $99 right now. And I think for most people who don't make money out of them, equipping them with Snap-On won't make any improvements.

GEARWRENCH 1/4 in. and 3/8 in. Drive 6-Point Standard & Deep SAE/Metric 90-Tooth Ratchet and Socket Mechanics Tool Set (106-Piece) 83001 - The Home Depot

GEARWRENCH Mechanics Tools have all been designed with the professional user in mind to increase productivity, access, and strength. The ratchets and sockets are made from premium alloy steel and feature

www.homedepot.com

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-121-Piece-Standard-SAE-and-Metric-Gunmetal-Chrome-Mechanics-Tool-Set/1000596549

Those sets are also half the size of the Craftsman one in the original post. If that GearWrench set is $99 for 100 pieces and it's pretty much just 1/4" and 3/8" ratchet and socket sets, then you have to expect a 216 piece kit with 1/2" drive, wrenches, etc. for the same price is going to be much lower quality.

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

I honestly never felt like the quality of even the old Sears Craftsman hand tools was that great to begin with. They were solid, affordable, DIYer tools that had a lifetime warranty. Nothing more, nothing less and certainly nothing special. What made them special was the warranty and knowing that if they ever broke you could get a new tool for free.
I think that a lot of people look back on the Sears Craftsman years with nostalgia and through rose-color glasses but not so much through the lens of reality.
I say that as someone who used to be a huge Craftman fanboy and who still has a Craftsman tool box (although that tool box is full of Pittsburgh, Hart, Masterforce, Sata, Neiko, Tool Shop and Ryobi tools. I do have a couple newer Craftsman torque wrenches that are quite nice though and a little 3-gallon Craftsman shop vac that I really like).

I think I have echoed this sentiment on these pages every time Craftsman is brought up. The old stuff wasn't that great. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great. People got hooked on being able to replace it no questions asked at the Sears which was probably a few minutes drive from their house. Sure the US sourcing was an added bonus, but lots of guys on this board have no problems recommending Tekon or anything HF and that is mostly imported goods because they like the warranty. If the Craftsman of today was still as prominent and localized as it was twenty years ago (meaning I could walk into the Lowes or Ace and grab an open stock item or replace a busted tool no questions asked), I bet people would be having much more positive opinions.

I often wonder about the expectations people have when they buy tools at fifty cents apiece. What kind of quality are they expecting?

It's not just tools. People have come to expect high quality and longevity for minimal price. I see it at work with our customers, I see it with us (meaning my shop) and the tooling we use, I hear about it from my buddies in contracting, auto, and the works. Inflation is here and people are starting to get strapped for their dollars, so I get the expectations, to a point. But we are talking Craftsman here. It has always been a "good enough" brand unless you sprung for their professional series stuff.

OP, yeah man, I get it. I totally do. A lot of my tools lately have been absolute garbage in fit and finish. And I'm not talking just Craftsman and Pittsburgh and Husky stuff. My big dollar stuff as of late has been lackluster. My last set of Wright wrenches was completely boned. My Icon ratchets skip and the rotary heads are floppy as hell even after I tighten the set screw. My NWS locking pliers do not want to open. The Wera extensions that came in my speed ratchet set are already rounding out. I just chalk it up to pandemic production. It's why I've been avoiding purchasing tools lately.

 

[zendriver]

216 tools for 99 bucks is about 45 cents per tool.

The quality was not that good?

 

[PoorUB]

Craftsman? Just say no!

 

[tool_scrounge]

I just buy used. For example - a set of 13 SAE Craftsman Professional full polish US made combination wrenches for $60 is an example of what I see for sale.

 

[Handyandy23]

Someone else I think already mentioned this, but the only complaints I saw in the OP were more fit and finish / cosmetic issues than anything that affects usability. While I don't doubt the quality at 50 cents a piece is going to be quite low, I also think it's pretty hard to totally screw up chrome sockets.

Back when I was a poor college student I had a set of 1/2" drive deep sockets I got at Princess Auto (similar to HF but in Canada) for something like $15 on sale, along with a 36" flex head ratchet that was also on sale for dirt cheap. They weren't nice tools by any means, but I would take them to the local U-Pick scrap yard, drag them through the mud, hang off them trying to remove rusty suspension bolts, hit them with hammers, basically anything do get the job done. And I never broke a single one of them, and actually just gave them a few weeks ago to a friend that has no tools because I found them in the bottom of an "extras" bin in the garage.

Cheaper sockets usually have poorer QC in terms of markings, or maybe chrome finish, and they are usually a lot thicker than nice sockets (so won't fit into as many places). But they generally fit OK and will hold up to a beating.

 

[joe_padavano]

I've never understood why people need to buy shiny new tools, then whine about the Chinesium quality. If you actually use them, they will become dirty and scratched up in no time. I only buy old, used, US-made C-man at swap meets. Sockets run $1-$2 each, frequently less in sets. Ratchets are a few bucks each, etc, etc. I've had C-man since the early 70s, so these days I don't need to buy much anymore (except for the occasional esoteric item). I don't understand why more people don't do that. It's a fraction of the cost of new, and the quality is much, much better. Your money, your call, I guess.

 

[sk farmer]

i ignored this topic the other day when it first appeared as i am not a "new"/"import" craftsman guy and didn't want to wad into the swamp but here goes.

a year ago we moved our camper onto a permanent spot at a lake about an hour from home. normally when camping i had a few tools in the camper and more in my truck. since it stays there the truck doesn't always go so none of those tools get there. i picked up that same set for 99 bucks to keep there. nearly every weekend last summer i used something from that set of tools. what follow is why i think it is a great set of tools.

1. is the box. reasonably good in a smallish form factor with drawers that can be removed with enough room to add a few extra bits and pieces. each drawer can be take to a job and there are no clamshell hinges to fail, no need to open a huge folding box that takes up a pile of real estate and nothing to fall out of place when folding open or worse yet opening upside down. the ability for it attach or stack on my to my tstak boxes is also a huge plus.

2. the extra bobbles that everyone ******* about are actually pretty good in this set. the allen wrenches are in their own holder and the 1/4 hex drivers are held securely in several little holders as well. no plastic pouches to dump out an become disorganized.

3. each set, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 is in its own area so it can be pulled for the type of job at hand. each drive size has a good range of sizes. especially the 1/2 drive. it goes to 1 1/8 in sae and a similar size in metric. each drive also has a decent assortment of accessories such as swivels and extensions.

reasons it's not a great set of tools. surpisingly few .

1. the wrench sizes are lacking like most sets. they should go to at least 3/4 and 19 but instead stop at 5/8 and 15 if i recall

2.the case could be heavier, but it is in the same build quality as most other sets.

3. the ratchets seem bulky but work sufficiently.


after a season of use i am quite happy with it. it has a good assortment of things you need without being filled with complete fluff. the tools are pretty good. make no mistake, they are not top shelf but pretty good and dare i say very good considering the price.

i would not hesitate to make the purchase again as i have seen nothing better suited or priced since then.