Is ICON the new Craftsman?

[Aaron_W]

I was born in 1959 and my dad had a service station, and while certainly others can chime in I can’t recall a single American made car that ever had a factory tool kit in it :dunno

European cars? sure sometimes but a lot of them broke down a lot and many repair shops, including my dad’s never had metric tools

I don’t really recall seeing him in Japanese cars as well with a tool kit

My Land Cruiser has a Toyota marked tool roll, with a pocket for the owners manual, and pockets for a variety of basic hand tools. I'm not the original owner, so maybe it was something you paid extra for.

Here, I found one with the original Toyota marked tools on Ebay. This one is not identical to mine as it is a bag, mine is a tool roll. Mine includes some screwdrivers and a pair of channel locks, but may have been added by the prior owner.

 

[bkdc]

The post-war dominance of American manufacturing/tools died long ago unfortunately. With internet shopping, there is no dominant Sears/Craftsman needed. Home Depot/Lowes doesn’t necessarily serve the same role and there is no dominant maker of domestic tools accessible to the masses. Williams is not comprehensive. Snap-On pricing is obscene. And quality tools are made overseas at a fraction of prices of domestic production.

ICON is rebranded high quality Taiwanese-made tools. It’s a good thing that Snap-One ratchet has expired.

But don’t be so US centric to think that innovation can’t occur overseas. The ratcheting wrench was invented in Taiwan by the head of Hi-Five tools. Hi-Five is the maker of ICON’s reversible ratcheting wrenches. Any American maker is using overseas parts or has does its own share of copying.

I have no doubt that the Taiwanese could produce tools equal to or superior to Snap-On hand tools at slightly below Snap-On prices. The wrenches are already good enough. I think sockets are also good enough (but could be better). Other than “squeezing into tight space” issues with a particular shape/size of a wrench or abuse of a tool to well beyond ASME specs and an occasional bad apple easily remedied under warranty, I can’t imagine professionals would have a complaints about most ICON hand tools. What is the competition with the same kind of warranty backing at significantly lower prices? Probably a revamped Craftsman although warranty is not as easy.

 

[zendriver]

My Land Cruiser has a Toyota marked tool roll, with a pocket for the owners manual, and pockets for a variety of basic hand tools. I'm not the original owner, so maybe it was something you paid extra for.

Here, I found one with the original Toyota marked tools on Ebay. This one is not identical to mine as it is a bag, mine is a tool roll. Mine includes some screwdrivers and a pair of channel locks, but may have been added by the prior owner.

Fair enough, that's one. Off road capable, makes sense.

Maybe the Corollas had one, just never needed it..

 

[Aaron_W]

Fair enough, that's one. Off road capable, makes sense.

Maybe the Corollas had one, just never needed it..

Market too, Land Cruiser was sold to a lot of developing countries where service and tools may have been in short supply. Corollas required a bit more infrastructure to be useful. My parents had a 1970 Corona, and I don't remember ever seeing a tool kit with it, but I was a little kid.

Apparently those Toyota Land Cruiser kits are actually kind of a big deal. I never looked into it until it came up in this thread. I found a 3 part blog post about the kits at a LC site. I assumed the grease gun and work light were just something added by the original owner, but apparently they were also factory provided.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

 

[FigN⋅m]

Apparently nowadays, literally anything Toyota Land Cruiser related is actually kind of a big deal.

Fixed it for you

 

[dscheidt]

Market too, Land Cruiser was sold to a lot of developing countries where service and tools may have been in short supply. Corollas required a bit more infrastructure to be useful. My parents had a 1970 Corona, and I don't remember ever seeing a tool kit with it, but I was a little kid.

I had a '88 camry. it had a toolkit. It wasn't much of one, but it was enough to change a battery. I forget the exact contents, but a reversible screwdriver, a double open ended wrench or two, and maybe a pair of slip joint pliers. It was all in a carpeted bag with the lug wrench.

 

[allinon72]

Icon doesn’t have a large enough product line for that comparison. When considering product line size, cost, and warranty, it would have to be Tekton.

 

[Hakeem]

Icon doesn’t have a large enough product line for that comparison. When considering product line size, cost, and warranty, it would have to be Tekton.

This is a valid point but not being able to go to a storefront and buy a needed tool that very day precludes Tekton from assuming the role of Sears Craftsman. In my opinion, anyways.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

This is a valid point but not being able to go to a storefront and buy a needed tool that very day precludes Tekton from assuming the role of Sears Craftsman. In my opinion, anyways.

I agree, Craftsman wasn't just "tools". It was the location availability, depth of catalog, warranty, etc.

The idea of what Craftsman was may be impossible to ever replicate in the modern market. It was a specific thing in a specific time.

 

[d.mcfarland]

Icon doesn’t have a large enough product line for that comparison. When considering product line size, cost, and warranty, it would have to be Tekton.

The Tekton equavlant in this case would be Harbor Freight (not only ICON) as everything Tekton sells is branded as Tekton. Not everything Harbor Freight sells is branded as ICON, like you said. BUT, Tekton manufactures some of their own products so now we can't logically compare Tekon to Sears.

Without competition quality in the marketplace does not increase.

 

[OGJordan]

I'd say Icon is the new Craftsman Professional. Harbor Freight is definitely the new Sears at least the tool department