There has been talk on this board that Craftsman may discontinued these ratchets then if yours has a problem you will get a lower quality replacement. If this happens the ratchets are not worth $125.
Meh.... "talk on this board" doesn't mean anything as far as what the future holds or the future intentions of a company. As far as I've ever seen, no one from Sears Holding that works in the Craftsman brand department has ever come out and publicly stated what the company's future plans are with the brand or this particular product line. The only people that are even remotely related are those who work at a Sears retail store and they are not likely to be fully aware of the stuff that goes on at corporate. I wouldn't use "talk on this board" as a factor in my purchasing decisions.
As far as the warranty situation and the "possible scenarios", I don't think a products warranty constitutes the majority of the product's "value" to a consumer. I've bought refurbished products with lesser or no warranty simply because it was something I'm likely not to need a warranty or the price was so good I couldn't pass it up.
At the end of the day, how much a product is worth to a particular individual is somewhat of a personal choice. There is inherit value in the utility of a product, but my friends who have never held a wrench in their hands or thought of changing the oil in their car on their own probably see no value in my tool chests full of tools. I own these ratchets, along side many others like Gearwrench 84t, 120XP, Snap-On dual-80, craftsman, HFT stuff ,etc... I've never regretted getting these for $125.
