Kobalt 300 piece set, price and quality advice?

I need some advice from those of you that have been following Lowe's pricing for a while.

I want, not need, this:

https://m.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-300-P...ic-Mechanic-s-Tool-Set-N-A-No-Case/1000251051

For years I've been toting my Craftsman blow mold kit around, I like having it for a grab and go junkyard kit. It's pretty complete, so I like to toss it in the truck when I'm heading on a road trip as well. It's just so convenient to have a decent set ready to go in a second. I also had a decent amount of other tools in my old chests, to the point that I've done engine swaps, transmission replacements, lift kits and all sorts of general maintenance without trouble.

I just got a 52" tool chest stack and 46" cart on the black Friday sale at HD. I emptied my 2 26" Craftsman home owners stacks into them and then some. But I have some tools that need to be filled out to have this box where I want it.

When it came time to empty the go-box into my new box I hesitated. I wanted my new chest to be complete and finally have all my stuff in one place, but I don't want to give up my go-box. I also don't want to transfer the tools back and forth all the time.

I'm missing a huge amount of sockets that this Kobalt kit will provide without disturbing my "go-box" at a price I think it's reasonable... or is it??
I found a discussion on SD about this Kobalt kit and one user says this exact kit is routinely on sale for $99.

I've been a Craftsman brand loyalists and dismissed Kobalt completely until I recently realized Craftsman is now lower grade than their competition. I started giving Kobalt a closer look and so far have been ok with most their tools. Dismissing Kobalt for so long makes me pretty new to watching their prices, but that set for $99 sounds unlikely to me. Plus, I don't know how much I trust the opinions of the users over there to be certain it's the exact or very similar set.

So what do you guys think? Have you ever seen that set drop to $99? Do you think I'll miss out of I hesitate longer on the current $150 price and it will go back up?

I'm fine waiting if it is a set that will be discounted for the other big tool holidays coming up. As I said earlier, there isn't much in there I can't live without, it's more for me convenience than anything.

I think it’s worth it but in my experience the ratchets don’t last long. Would guess every three years I’ve replaced under warranty. No issues with sockets


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I say go for it. Those are the newer design 90 tooth ratchets which are supposedly pretty nice.

For $100 you kinda can't go wrong

cool set. it lacks a little in wrenches by the looks and i don't see an actual description of sizes. many of those sets don't give you larger 1/2 inch sizes, doubling up on the same 3/8 sizes, not increasing the range of sizes.

the custom cut trays while taking up a lot of space give nice sight inventory control.

PhysicsDude said:

I say go for it. Those are the newer design 90 tooth ratchets which are supposedly pretty nice.

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I would like some 90 tooth ratchets. And just the three ratchets on their own are probably close to $100

Kaizen said:

I think it’s worth it but in my experience the ratchets don’t last long. Would guess every three years I’ve replaced under warranty. No issues with sockets


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That stinks. That's what Craftsman started doing to me. Then I didn't realize they switched to Chinese low grade **** and I traded a few of my USA made in for the new junk. I wish I knew what was happening there, I would have refurbed my own ratchets.

I now have (3) 1/4" drive Craftsman ratchets that are unusable. I got so sick of it I bought a Kobalt, and so far it's been better than the Craftsman.

sk farmer said:

cool set. it lacks a little in wrenches by the looks and i don't see an actual description of sizes. many of those sets don't give you larger 1/2 inch sizes, doubling up on the same 3/8 sizes, not increasing the range of sizes.

the custom cut trays while taking up a lot of space give nice sight inventory control.

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I have a printout of what the set includes, then I highlighted everything I already had. For the most part I'm after the sockets. What I have now outside of my go box is a mix of everything from the finest China to snap on. When I moved out of state my father scrounged extras from his mechanic Co-workers to be sure I had some tools, I'm grateful for that. But I think it's now time to pass those along and step up a bit.

Wrenches I'm pretty well set with. About all I want is a more complete set of line wrenches. So anything that comes with this will be doubles, triples, and sometimes beyond. I really need to pay it forward with these as well.

Here's a .PDF download of what's included if your really curious.

http://pdf.lowes.com/dimensionsguides/099198807362_meas.pdf

And some pics of what I'm working with...

I just handled some of those 90 tooth Kobalt ratchets earlier today in 1/4'' and 3/8'' drive out of a 40pc kit. I noticed that they're shorter and the heads are smaller than my other 90 tooth ratchets. Being that they're smaller I could see them being handy in certain situations. The 1/4'' had a very positive engagement on the selector switch while the one on the 3/8'' ratchet moved far too easily.

I have not seen that foam-shadowed kit go for $99. I believe the SD member you referenced likely confused it with the other 300pc set that's offered that's currently $109...but I could be wrong. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-300-Piece-Standard-SAE-and-Metric-Mechanic-s-Tool-Set/4640237 That kit has 6 less(165 vs 171) sockets than the foam shadowed kit for what it's worth.

The Husky 268pc kit is another option that's good value when it goes down to $99. 168 sockets total in it. It's currently $149 though...

I have owned the Kobalt set that comes in a blow mold case (on sale for $99) for over 5 years. It only has 10 wrenches and the ratchets are 72 teeth. I've done quite a bit of automotive work with them. No problems ever with the ratchets or 6 point sockets, but I've had the 12 points slip and round some fasteners, and the set has many sizes only in 12 point. To be fair most of the work is on 30+ year old cars so the fasteners weren't in perfect shape. Overall I believe the sockets and ratchets have been well worth the money.

mfewtrail said:

I just handled some of those 90 tooth Kobalt ratchets earlier today in 1/4'' and 3/8'' drive out of a 40pc kit. I noticed that they're shorter and the heads are smaller than my other 90 tooth ratchets. Being that they're smaller I could see them being handy in certain situations. The 1/4'' had a very positive engagement on the selector switch while the one on the 3/8'' ratchet moved far too easily.

I have not seen that foam-shadowed kit go for $99. I believe the SD member you referenced likely confused it with the other 300pc set that's offered that's currently $109...but I could be wrong. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-300-Piece-Standard-SAE-and-Metric-Mechanic-s-Tool-Set/4640237 That kit has 6 less(165 vs 171) sockets than the foam shadowed kit for what it's worth.

The Husky 268pc kit is another option that's good value when it goes down to $99. 168 sockets total in it. It's currently $149 though...

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Looking at brickseek it appears that non-foam kit was as low as $79 here and no one has any in stock. It also shows at $159 for me. That makes me think it's been replaced with this new one. You may want to keep an eye on it if it's in stock locally, that price may go down more.

I'll have to keep an eye on the husky set too, I don't know what it is about HD's tool section, but I can never seem to find what I want in there.

Briancapecoral said:

I have owned the Kobalt set that comes in a blow mold case (on sale for $99) for over 5 years. It only has 10 wrenches and the ratchets are 72 teeth. I've done quite a bit of automotive work with them. No problems ever with the ratchets or 6 point sockets, but I've had the 12 points slip and round some fasteners, and the set has many sizes only in 12 point. To be fair most of the work is on 30+ year old cars so the fasteners weren't in perfect shape. Overall I believe the sockets and ratchets have been well worth the money.

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Do you think the slipping was due to a loose tolerance in the 12 point sockets? I've noticed that my cheap-o sockets do not fit as tight on hardware as my older Craftsman ones do.

My neighbor is a Kobalt fan... He bought a socket set a while back, two out of the 3 ratchets in the set would not work properly right out of the box. I even tried to take them apart and clean / oil and they still operated like ****. He exchanged them and the replacements seem to work okay.

Just my personal preference but out of the two I would go with Husky over Kobalt.

Maybe people are thinking about this Kobalt set? https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-227...c-Mechanic-s-Tool-Set-with-Hard-Case/50200795

I have tons of Kobalt and they all worked fine. Due to this forum I have since replace most of it with gearwrench. I kept the kobalt set I had in th blow mold case to throw in the truck when I go on atv trips and plan on keeping the rest as my sons first set when he is big enough!


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I’ve been upgrading to SK sockets and they do fit tighter than the Kobalts.

For a hundred I would risk it. If the tool fails replace it with an upgrade. When I started wrenching I bought the Harbor Freight 300 piece mechanic set for $150, could have gotten it lower if I'd timed the sale better. Ended up replacing the ratchets with Carlyles, replaced the pliers with craftsman, replaced the screwdrivers with carlyle but none of it broke. I still use the sockets everyday.

61scout80 said:

Looking at brickseek it appears that non-foam kit was as low as $79 here and no one has any in stock. It also shows at $159 for me. That makes me think it's been replaced with this new one. You may want to keep an eye on it if it's in stock locally, that price may go down more.

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You're correct that it has been discontinued. I didn't bother checking if it was available when I posted it here, I was just mainly trying to compare how many sockets were offered in each 300pc version. Lowest price I saw in my area was $59, but they're long gone. Looking at slickdeals, they were being cleared out as far back as August.

I bought a large set several years as as it was more than half off on sale.

The quality is decent and about a tiny fraction under GearWrench but it's a few design details that I don't like and will be making me want to replace it with a different set.

Unless they have changed things:

The ratchets are designed in a way that they either go into neutral or reverse themselves while I'm using them. Granted that's partially a function of my habit of choking up on the head while in a tight space but it's still annoying.

The socket markings are a soft frosted printing and very difficult to see. Most times I can tell by looking what size a socket is but it happens often enough I can't that it's annoying too.

One of the screws came out of the faceplate on my 3/8ths Kobalt ratchet. My coworker uses the same ratchet and both screws came out of the faceplate. When I get around to it I’ll see if Lowe’s can give me a replacement screw or a new ratchet then I’ll loctite them in.

I believe the 227 piece is $99 is what I saw yesterday just in case anyone is looking for that set.

I think you'll be happy with that set. The price is great for 300 pieces and like someone else already said, you won't have any problems with warranty. But I doubt you'll have to use the warranty much if you don't abuse the tools. The color coded SAE vs. Metric is cool too. I have the predecessor to this set from 3 yrs ago and I've never had any issues with it.

I bought that set recently....

Based solely on the foam which I absolutely love.

I'm a big fan of the Sonic tools ever since I saw them on Chris Fix YouTube channel... and they got me hooked on foam, but I don't have the $ to spend on sonic

So, when I saw the foam I almost bought it at the $199... then it just went down to $150 and I bit... I haven't opened it yet tho and I'll explain why....

Imho having watched Kobalt hand tools in past years get discounted at lowes, I really do not think it will go down lower unless there is one or whatever left in April or may... that seems to be when it happens... and then yeah, it may go down a lot, I've gotten Black Friday leftovers there in may for 70% off before....

However! Here is the BIGGEST caveat to this particular 300 piece set.... it's made in CHINA where as all the other Kobalt stuff they sell that's NOT from Black Friday is made in Taiwan... (trust me I walked around the store last night checking tags) so, while they say it comes with the pro 90 ratchet, they are different pro 90 ratchets.... cheaper, thin, chinsey selector switch, shorter handles, worse fit and finish, etc

If you read the reviews for this set on lowes.com you'll see people complaining about rusty sockets, the wrenches printing is coming off, etc... tons of issues not common with the Taiwan made Kobalt tools...

In fact at the store last night I noticed the ratchets head design is different too, the head of the Chinese one has two screws on the back to hold in the guts where as the Taiwan made one sold in other sets or stand alone uses a circlip I believe, either way, no screws in the back of the head!

So, these don't live up to typical Kobalt quality as far as fit and finish.... I can't speak to actual use and longevity or performance though... they may be just as good... however, I would be weary

I for one am upset... I really really wanted to love it because of the foam.... it would've been so nice to use in my HF 26" stack as those foam inserts would've fit so perfect.... I am disappointed they would kinda bait and switch us (in a way) and offer a lesser quality tool under the exact same name... "pro 90" for the ratchets.... when it's clearly not the same at all... I think this is bad practice for Kobalt and Lowes and it sets a bad standard

If you can swing it, the $399 set that includes a tool box linked below is made in Taiwan and looking at the tools they appear to be the same quality as the better or normal non Black Friday special Kobalt tools.... which explains the price difference as the sets have similar tools, almost identical besides the addition of a set of some impact sockets.... I did wonder why they'd charge so much more just for a tool box, but, now it makes sense... they are better tools...

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-347...Mechanic-s-Tool-Set-with-Hard-Case/1000295877