Can Craftsman tools get anymore gimmicky?

[american lockpicker]

I want my old America back too! Pre 911 with high wages and overtime!

Amen.

 

[Aberdale]

Hey Skin – I recently purchased the full polished deep offset boxes in SAE. They are clearly stamped USA, have a beautiful chrome and polish job, and are a pleasure to use.

Ditto. Bought a set two weeks ago. Still made in USA.

My take on Cman's product line is that they try to have a fairly comprehensive line of tools to try to meet everyone's needs. That includes everything from raised panels, to polished professional, to evolv (pretty but cheap), to gimmicky. I don't believe that they ever expect any one customer to buy all of these different product lines.

Make your choice, or go somewhere else.

I have fallen for a few Cman gimmicks over the years. A couple were pretty nice (ratcheting 1/4" driver, electronic stud finder) and some were **** (Robogrip pliers and locking pliers).

I have gotten stellar performance from their raised panels wrenches and their sockets sets. Even the much maligned raised panel ratchets work (although there are other ratchets I prefer). I am equally pleased with the value of their USA made professional wrenches which I can't tell from my set of SOs. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, just sharing my experience. I just don't think it's fair to new/or younger members who read threads like this and reach the conclusion that Cman is junk without even giving them a look just because of a handful of posters.

I was someone that was perfectly happy working with Cman raised panel products for 20 years, then I got sucked into the SO hype. Several years ago I spent about $8000 on SO tools over the course of 3 months. Yes they're nice. But not great value.

Take a look at Cman tools for yourself. You'll find some are pretty nice and a great value, and some is pretty junky. Just choose not to buy the junky stuff, that's meant for wannabee DIYers and as "gifts" from aunt Myrna. As with most anything, if you buy the good stuff you won't be disappointed.

 

[HandyManny]

I'll choose any newer Kobalt satin finished combo wrench over a Craftsman raised pannel combo wrench any day of the week. But that's just me. I know, they're both made by Danaher, but they seem like two very different wrenches to me.

I will say that the Craftsman high polished Professional combo wrenches were very nice until around 2007 or so. I prefered them very much and own a SAE and Metric set that's about 15 years old. When I need a long pattern wrench I reach for those. Unfortunately within the last few years the chrome plating on the newer pro wrenches is complete ****, very low quality and poorly done. I've seen terrible examples of brand new pro wrenches on the store shelfs with chrome flaking and peeling off right in front of the customers eyes. The poor plating I'm refereing to were on the last of the USA made wrenches too, not the newer Chinese made ones. I have not seen the new Chicom wrenches as I stopped shopping Sears before my store got any of the Chinese pro combos. I've noted the same very poor quality chrome plating on their newer USA made Craftsman sockets as well. I've literally flaked or peeled chrome off by simply running my hand over them, the lose chrome will catch my skin and peel or flake off. Terrible, absolutely terrible!!!

 

[Bull]

I'm only one beer deep for the evening, but this had me lol pretty damn hard

WTF is that rachet thingy...? **** ..you might as well go ahead and run

your knuckles across a ****** cheese grater and whack 'em with a hammer

as use that thing........geeze......

" Bob Vila here for the amazing knuckle buster....Only at Sears".....

 

[Thumper]

I'm glad I could help Bull........