Craftsman 176 piece socket set thoughts

[hancock1701]

Hi guys,

I just joined the forum not too long ago, and have enjoyed the useful information from this forum. I just want to share some of my experience which might become useful to some.

Anyway, I recently purchased a Craftsman 176 piece set from Sears online. It was on sale for $140, combined with $10 off 100 coupon and $5 points, my final price was $132 (free shipping). I work on my own and famiy's cars as a hobby, and figure this set would cover what I will need in the future. I have had HF sockets for the past few years, and they worked great, allowing me to save a ton of money by doing my own work. However, I kinda want to expand my collection (who doesn't) and for the value, this 176 pc set is nice.

Just like other posts have mentioned, the sockets came in 3 bags, unsorted. It took me half an hour to sort them out according to the included list. All USA Made stamped on the sockets. There were three missing sockets, and three irrelevant sockets (therefore, total is still 176). The missing sockets were 7/32 standard 6 pt, 9/32 deep 6 pt, and 15mm deep 6pt. I went to Sears and asked them about the three missing sockets. The people were nice and helpful; they said that the 9/32 deep is no longer in the system (weird, what do they have in place of that then?), and gave me a $5 gift card for that. The other two sockets will be mailed to me. Overall I'm satisfied.

What I don't like about some of these sockets is that the inside of the bigger sized sockets are not fully plated/shiny. HF sockets are shiny inside out. Not anything major, just a cosmetic thing.

Hope the info is useful for those who are considering this set. Picture time!

 

[jd_1138]

Beautiful set. I love the laser etching to show the sizes. I wish my Craftsman and SK's had that. It would make finding them a lot easier.

Are you going to keep that paper with all the sizes listed? I am kinda OCD. I keep all the literature that comes with my tools. They go into a folder in the filing cabinet. Wife thinks I'm like Sheldon on Big Bang Theory.

 

[hancock1701]

Yeah, I will keep the paper for future reference. One thing that annoys me a little is that there's one subset (I think 3/8 standard metric 12 pt) that goes from 8mm to 22mm, and they don't all fit on one rail, so now I just have two sockets laying around.

 

[thesilverone]

SK does that with their bigger sockets too

 

[steed andersen]

Hi guys,

I just joined the forum not too long ago, and have enjoyed the useful information from this forum. I just want to share some of my experience which might become useful to some.

Anyway, I recently purchased a Craftsman 176 piece set from Sears online. It was on sale for $140, combined with $10 off 100 coupon and $5 points, my final price was $132 (free shipping). I work on my own and famiy's cars as a hobby, and figure this set would cover what I will need in the future. I have had HF sockets for the past few years, and they worked great, allowing me to save a ton of money by doing my own work. However, I kinda want to expand my collection (who doesn't) and for the value, this 176 pc set is nice.

Just like other posts have mentioned, the sockets came in 3 bags, unsorted. It took me half an hour to sort them out according to the included list. All USA Made stamped on the sockets. There were three missing sockets, and three irrelevant sockets (therefore, total is still 176). The missing sockets were 7/32 standard 6 pt, 9/32 deep 6 pt, and 15mm deep 6pt. I went to Sears and asked them about the three missing sockets. The people were nice and helpful; they said that the 9/32 deep is no longer in the system (weird, what do they have in place of that then?), and gave me a $5 gift card for that. The other two sockets will be mailed to me. Overall I'm satisfied.

What I don't like about some of these sockets is that the inside of the bigger sized sockets are not fully plated/shiny. HF sockets are shiny inside out. Not anything major, just a cosmetic thing.

Hope the info is useful for those who are considering this set. Picture time!

I have the same set that I use daily. For $149.00 I couldn't touch anything like it and they do the job. The laser etching is handy but I would like to kick whoever put those stupid detents on them. Those darn things waste my time and can irritate a fella.

 

[idahochevy]

The laser etching is nice when the sockets are brand new, but they wear off after time. I wished mine were the old style that had the numbers still stamped on the bottom.

 

[nicksnothereman]

The laser etching is nice when the sockets are brand new, but they wear off after time. I wished mine were the old style that had the numbers still stamped on the bottom.

You can put those dumb ebay size stickers on them when it wears off; looks like **** but still does what it's supposed to do.

 

[Duct Tape Man]

That works out to a little over 75 cents per socket. For USA-made sockets, that's a STEAL. I think you made a great purchase.

 

[SASORacing]

looks like jewlery! I like Cman sockets too.

 

[sberry]

I am a huge fan of affordable. Sears is stupid for selling them that cheap.

 

[SASORacing]

I dont see the point in the double detents, I would prefer single. not a deal breaker. Cman sockets are great for the money, cant beat a life warranty, even if Sears shuts it's doors you can still waranty through Craftsman.

 

[drivesitfar]

Hancock: i agree that is a great deal for a big set of US made tools. i bet if you stick around GJ long enough (welcome by the way) you'll buy another rail and have bigger sockets than 22 mm to put on it, but that always irritated me too. i think i bought a Craftsman VV set new maybe 30 years ago with the same issue.

if you get some extra time you might want to take a gander at some of the threads and see how the guys with more tools than most organize their sockets and wrenches. you might end up throwing away those rails in the near future.

 

[hancock1701]

Hancock:
if you get some extra time you might want to take a gander at some of the threads and see how the guys with more tools than most organize their sockets and wrenches. you might end up throwing away those rails in the near future.

I'm told that the "favorite toolbox/drawer" threads have many great ideas for organizing stuff; however, I always get lost in the photos. I thought I kinda like a drawer that has these similar rails screwed onto a piece of wood, which is similar to the one from Lowe's. If you have any suggestions on how to organize these, I'm all ears.