In the picture is a 8 piece metric 10,11,12,13,14,15,17,19mm 3/8" deep socket set. It was purchased at Mernards about 15 years ago. The sockets have no brand name stamped on them, Made in Taiwan. Mernard's was selling them under their low end "Tool Shop" brand (their "higher" end brand is "MasterForce"). I paid ~$8 for the set (regular price). They hold up fine after all these years.
Now this picture is Tekton 1240, can you see a similarity? Is there a possibility that Tekton source the sockets from the same factory?
As has been discussed before, a lot of your comparisons are old Tekton products. There's a reason your picture above is linked from Amazon - because it's old stock. That set is nowhere to be found on Tekton's website. When I search their page for Item #1240, the set below comes up. Which is redesigned, like all of their sockets. Now with smaller sizes fully necked down, and off-corner engagement like all of the higher end brands are doing now.
Were the old sockets and tools just a straight re-brand / import? Yes. Can you find similar sockets in the world to the new ones? I'm not sure, maybe. But the features you get on the new ones are greatly improved from the old ones, and they're $32 with free shipping. I'm sure you could find a cheaper set of 8mm-19mm sockets at the grocery store that are also made of a similarly shiny material, but the value there is certainly debatable.
https://www.tekton.com/3-8-in-dr-dp-6-pt-skt-sets-5-16-3-4-in-8-19-mm?set-range=8-19-mm
I'm surprised that on a tool forum like GJ, there are still people consider 90 tooth ratchet a big deal. Wow! like you guys never go to stores to see what's available out there. I have 2 Carlyle 90 tooth, no noticeable difference from a 72. There are 120xp, 100 tooth from Homedepot and Lowes... everyone seems to offer a 90+ tooth ratchet.
This Titan set has the single paw 90 tooth ratcheting, and they were on the market earlier than Tekton.
This is another strawman that is getting tired. I don't think anyone is saying Tekton is doing anything "special" by offering 90 tooth ratchets. The statement is "their 90T ratchets are good quality and value", not "their ratchets are good
because they have 90 teeth". I don't think that's ever been said. I can get a 168 tooth Pro Point ratchet from Princess Auto locally, doesn't mean it's 'better'.
The Tekton ratchet supporters have never said it's because of how many teeth they have, or that it's some kind of advantage for them, so I don't know why you keep harping on that.
Like everything they sell, it's not about saying they are absolutely the best, just that they are a good value. Which of course is subjective. But you can buy a 1/4" flex head Tekton 90T design for $20 shipped, which is cheaper than I can find either GearWrench 84T or 120XP online, and cheaper than I can get those Titan ratchets you linked (which are sold local to me at Princess Auto). There are no doubt cheaper ratchets out there, and no doubt better quality ones, but a lot of people like the Tekton's because of the value they provide. They seem very similar in quality to the GW, but they are both cheaper and have a much more hassle-free warranty, should you have issues.
The use of cheaper CR-V steel in impact sockets is a telling sign of Tekton's quality level, because there is no professional grade tool brands offering CR-V impact sockets.
In this thread, someone spent $50 for Tekton's CR-V impact 3/8" sockets. CR-V impact sockets should be very cheap. I paid $10 for this NorthernTool CR-V set:
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200624135_200624135
The sockets are of decent quality with sizes stamped and large laser itched markings. Tekton's only has laser markings, no stamping (one less step in manufacturing).
To me, Tekton is a good deal at 50% off. Full price? not so much.
Tekton is special because they offer no skipping socket sets. What else? Please school me.
For starters, the whole CR-V vs CR-Mo argument has more to it than simply CR-Mo is better and that's why it's used in higher end tools. There are pros and cons to both. CR-Mo is softer and more shatter resistant, but also will wear out faster. There are also different grades of both. Saying any CR-V socket set should cost the same because it's the same material is misleading. That's like saying Snap On makes their ratchets of the same base material as Tekton so they should sell their ratchets for the same price. It doesn't mean the materials are equal.
That set you linked from Northern Tool as comparison of a $10 set versus a $50 Tekton set is also nearly impossible to do a proper comparison on. Your set only has 8 sizes in shallow and 8 in deep and skips a whole lot of sizes. Tekton doesn't skip sizes, and their comparable 3/8 impact set has 38 pcs. Or if you buy separate the shallow and deep, they are 13 pcs each, for 26 pcs total. And you're comparing to a 16 pc set missing half the sizes. Kind of apples to oranges.
It's perfectly fine if you think there are better quality tools or better value tools out there. But I don't see the reason to continue to talk negatively about a company when none of the arguments seem to be valid or genuine.
. ). From Miata to Vette, to Jag to Triumph to Mercedes, we’re all in the small set of people that put with the negatives of a small car for the positives of a great ride. Similarly the folks here are (at least mostly) people that enjoy tools, and we should celebrate that.
. But we’ll see once I get them and can use them...
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