How much is the same

[bobcatdan]

Is there much difference between mac and proto since both are stanley. I'm a mechanic and own plenty of mac, but never have seen much proto other then here and there in print. The boxes look the same, some racthets look the same, but is that where it ends? Same goes for matco and armstrong. Is it sad I had to look at a SO catalog to spell difference?

 

[MattT]

Theres definitely some crossover between MAC and Proto and stanree too for that matter. Proto Indexable and Spinflex ratchets are definitely MAC ratchets. A while back I measured recent MAC and Proto 3/8" drive 3/4" sockets and they were close enough dimensionally they could be from the same production line. The recently released MAC and stanree steel shafted hammers are definitely twins.

Regards Matco I'm not sure if they've ever manufactured anything themselves besides maybe toolboxes. They used to be the outsourcing arm of MAC Tools and were spun off in 1979. These days I'm fairly confident in saying if a Matco tool looks identical to something from another Danaher brand they are the same tool.