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Objective comparison of Snap-on?

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muddyjoe15

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13,500 "active" members. Another 70,000 considered inactive. Some banned, some deceased, some "quit".

A small fraction of them would be willing to pay for print when they can get the web version for free.

There are a few professional trade magazines, but they are so obscure and often don't even have a real grasp on the ground level of the industry. Or prefer to talk about the verus and mode$06 and evap leaks all day.

They still print magizines on paper??!! What an outdated concept!!! :lol_hitti
 

tbobbo

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Wow......this is a hot topic! As a new member, but not a newbie when it comes to tools I would like to toss in my opinion. I wish I could afford all snap on tools. I have quite a few, but I cant afford to be all snap on. I have found that I love their ratchets. I dont own another brand. I have gearwrench chrome sockets and grey pnuematic impact sockets. I have gearwrench standard wrenches. For a few years I was a home mechanic. Now I am back in the shop again working with my tools. I have now started buying flank drive plus wrenches. The gearwrenches are not cutting it. I have rounded alot of nuts with the gearwrench wrenches. I even bent my 18 mm without a cheater!
I guess I could not say that snap on is the best in the world and have any data to back it up. That said snap on is the best that I have found in my area. The only other brand I can find that is close is the Proto professional line, and around here they are often times more than snap on, and they are never in stock.
I will say that I have never seen another wrench perform like a flank drive plus, and if there is such a thing I would love to know about it!
I would also like to say I likely never replace my grey pneumatic sockets with anything, unless I come into a retarded amount of money. They have taken numerous beatings from me and dont even show wear. I would bet other brands are better but other brands are 4 times as much. I know they are made overseas, but they are a great tool at any price, and factor in the price and to me they are a steal. They have great size coverage as well. I do like my tools to all be the same brand, so size coverage is important to me as I pick a brand.
How did I decide what to use? I started as a mechanic, I worked up to manager so I bought all the shop tools and I used that to weed out brands on a cost to performance basis. That also steered my personal purchases. I also took the tools I used the most and then bought diferent brands to decide what I wanted. I started with craftsman everything. I now have very little left. I gave it all to my dad. They were okay. I just wanted better. I just started doing mech work again (for the same company) and I am starting to weed out the tools that dont cut it for all day use.
 

bart1

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A friend of mine who was a Porsche mechanic for years told me that the only place where Snap-on tools are undoubtedly superior is in their sockets and box end wrenches.

Snap-on's design is patented and uses curved sides on the inside of the socket that grip the nut on the flats of the nut rather than the corners, ...
Snap On is definitely not the only company that does that. Wright, Williams, Craftsman, Hazet...

Yes, and they almost always rate the German tools as best. Funny how that works.

Okay, show me something better with data (also an engineer).
 

chewy7

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IBTL-Dog-1.jpg
 

scylla

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Thanks I will :), why do they call toilets "rest rooms"? hardly relaxing at the best of times is it :headscrat

Restroom. Originally meaning a public toilet, this seems to be of American origin, with the earliest usages found around 1900. It’s an extremely common usage, and also one of the vaguest. Rest of course has a number of meanings, but this is probably in the sense of "repose" or "refreshing oneself." A slight variation is retiring room, a lovely upper-class Briticism from the 1930s.
 
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timesrgood?

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Guys: I think the question imposed is not intended for trolling purposes. I am a young guy and will be investing soon on quality tools. Sure, there is nothing wrong in being biased towards a brand but purely from a technical perspective, what makes Snap-on tools so damn desirable?

I think this is completely logical to inquire and there is absolutely no intention ignite flame wars here. Calm down.

Without scientific evidence, I would have a hard time believing in anything...heck, I doubt myself often times and take a step back. Its a proper way to learn. I am an engineer and engineers have a data driven mindset. Sorry guys.

I have no problems in accepting the fact that Snap-on tools are better if there is sufficient data....but just the act of ASKING somehow is TROLLING? Why can't I question? :confused:

I think your question is good, and difficult to answer. For me it boils down to buying from a reputable company who sells honest product at honest prices. That is, there are jobs and benefits, with decent pay, given to the workers, honest materials, as well as decades of reputation and inventions along the way. A real warranty that can be used if needed.

If you look on alloy artifacts you can find histories of companies, and references to their patents. The patents may have some of the technical details you want. All this work they did has cost money.

I am saying this without ever having bought a new SO tool, although I have a number of pre owned ones. That is another point, value. You will find ready buyers for used SO tools. Asian brands, not so much.

For me, I don't need the details of metallurgy etc, just the reputation and value is enough, with the real warranty. What else do I need to loosen a screw. It applies to all the honest brands USA and elsewhere made.
 

franzdom

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Engineers don't care about those things :lol_hitti (just kidding, I am an engineer).

That is a very important point you raise about resale value. Perceived quality is very important to resale and a good reason I am an SO customer. I enjoy it both as function as well as hobby and it's really nice to be able to try something, use it or sell it as you like, and you are rarely out very much money in the end.
 

CaptainRay

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If I could afford it I'd buy Snap-on tools... But I'm Always on a budget with my retirement being a fixed income. Best I can do is buy Harbor Freight hand tools most of the time and then only when I find the stuff on sale. I have never had any problems with their sockets or ratchets, but I do use a breaker bar to get things loosened up when I can. The only exception is I often buy electric drills and other power tools at Home Depot or Lowe's when they have those big sales. Maybe some day I'll be able to afford the name brand tools... but in this economy, that's not likely. Retired and loving it though.
 

WHT

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You mean they bought you.:)

Is anyone really naive enough to think that corporations do them favours?



Yes, isn't it weird that a country that places higher emphasis on empirical testing and data than chrome and marketing would have higher quality products....:wtf:

I had a German physics professor at university who constantly complained about the quality of German products because they were often overly complex designs with poor reliability and service.

Consumer Reports: "The larger (European) manufacturers, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are among the worst automakers in overall quality. It turns out that expense and luxury don't always equate to reliability. Big luxury cars come with a lot of power equipment, electronic gizmos and complexity, and that means more chances for something to go wrong."

There is a lot of hype surrounding German products and quality (and a lot of it is seen on this forum).
 

shampoop

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I had a German physics professor at university who constantly complained about the quality of German products because they were often overly complex designs with poor reliability and service.

Consumer Reports: "The larger (European) manufacturers, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, are among the worst automakers in overall quality. It turns out that expense and luxury don't always equate to reliability. Big luxury cars come with a lot of power equipment, electronic gizmos and complexity, and that means more chances for something to go wrong."

There is a lot of hype surrounding German products and quality (and a lot of it is seen on this forum).

Germans engineer great chassis, suspensions, and braking systems. Everything else on a car? Varies from OK to terrible. Japanese are great at making cars reliable and easy/fast to work on. Good at engineering simplicity. Also great at designing reliable electronics systems. Americans are good at building full size trucks.

SnapOn is the Harley Davidson of tools: Overhyped, overpriced etc

I don't think that's a very valid comparison.
 

ZRX61

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Germans engineer great chassis, suspensions, and braking systems. Everything else on a car? Varies from OK to terrible. Japanese are great at making cars reliable and easy/fast to work on. Good at engineering simplicity. Also great at designing reliable electronics systems. Americans are good at building full size trucks.

Yup, If you have an Audi just wait until it hits 100K miles & all the electrics **** out..
 

GoBlue

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I think Snap on tools are the finest money can buy in almost all cases. What it comes down to however is VALUE. I love all of my American made Craftsman RP wrenches and ratchets and my knipex pliers and cutters. Also my Channel pliers. All are very strong, reliable and high quality. As nice as Snap on? No way, but good enough that i use them everyday for a living and they NEVER let me down. They are also exponentially cheaper. This makes them a better VALUE in my opinion. A lot of the imported tools are way cheaper but they dont work as well and dont hold up making them less of a value...that my opinion anyways.

P.S Some snap on tools really are worth the money!
 

Creditor

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The title of this thread needs to be changed to the Subjective comparison of Snap-on
 

Jononon

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There is a lot of hype surrounding German products and quality (and a lot of it is seen on this forum).

Compared to Snap-on? Don't make me laugh.

The title of this thread needs to be changed to the Subjective comparison of Snap-on

:+1:

What did you expect? This is a group which includes people who will argue that an outbreak of abysmal QC from Snap-on is a 'feature'.

In terms of hand tools, I can think of one item which is arguably over-complex, the Wera Xyclops, but the wrenches, in particular, are a model of simplicity and functionality.
 
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0.511MeV

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This is an interesting debate. It does seem that objectivity is difficult with respect to Snap-On in this audience. As a result, it may well be easier to discuss a different brand that is a bit further away. For example, why are Tektronix oscilloscopes considered the best, and in what objective ways have they achieved that? Or Fluke for DMMs?

Is it through objective measures like precision, accuracy, etc that these companies develop a reputation for being the best? Or is another mechanism driving that reputation? To what degree?
 
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