I have to admit, I'm a bit surprised to hear people saying that these tools are made in Taiwan or China. Is Stanley starting to manufacture the Mac Tools brand overseas? I was thinking of upgrading my Craftsman tools with Mac tools but now I'm starting to have second thoughts. I just assumed that like Snap On, Mac Tools were Made in the USA and that Stanley has some other line of tools that were cheaper and made overseas? Am I wrong in my assessment. This is kind of bumming me out...
MAC tools are a combination of USA, Chinese and Taiwanese tools with a smidge of European. For the most part though MACs independent tool production ended with the closure of the Sabina plant a few years ago. Their wrenches and sockets are made in the Stanley tool works facilities in Texas under the same roof that Proto is made so they're essentially identical.
30 Tooth Ratchets-USA
Extension (Regular & Locking)-USA
Regular 6Pt/12Pt Sockets Impact & Chrome-USA
Combination, Flare and Offset Wrenches-USA
Screwdrivers & Gasket Scrapers with Red Hard Handles-USA
Universal Sockets-USA
Swivel Impacts-USA
Mechanical Torque Wrenches-USA
Electronic Torque Wrenches-France
Edge Sockets and Wrenches-Taiwan
Comfort Grip Screwdrivers, Picks & Scrapers-Taiwan
Quick Release Ratchets-Taiwan
Round Head Ratchets-Italy
Pliers-China
Locking Pliers-China & Taiwan
High Performance Wrenches-Taiwan
Hammers are Stanley Anti-Vibes and Compo-Cast.
Most Pneumatic Tools are Taiwan with a few USA (with global components) still lingering in there.
It goes on. Basically a hodgepodge. Snap-On is similar with an emphasis on expanding what they import but generally speaking they brand their import stuff Blue-Point. The benefit that Snap-On has is Snap-On Tools is their primary company so they do more inhouse R&D and have more specialty tools where as MAC is essentially a toolbox manufacturer that gets its tools made for them by their parent company Stanley. It could be argued its always been that way with MAC but in my opinion Stanley had given MAC much more free reign on what they manufactured and could offer their customers 10-15 years ago. Now its basically the bare essentials with the rest filled in by other OEMs.
As far as the pliers deals I actually think they're pretty damn good when you consider you'll only get 4-5 Snap-On pliers for the same money and the quality of the MAC ones is certainly passable. Most mechanics aren't rich.
