Like many I was a craftsman proponent for decades because of their price to quality benefit and the ease of warranting damaged tools. Craftsman has gone away from that, but Tekton has learned from the old dog and improved upon Craftsman's formula for success.
Craftsman raised panel 36 tooth ratchets from V series on up have always sucked, though I was ignorant to this until finally getting a decent ratchet (though I did grow up with a Wizard ratchet that took ungodly abuse without a hiccup aside from loosening plate screws...no breakage and no skipping). Tektons trump the raised panel craftsman...hands down. There is a large following of the RHFT ratchets by Craftsman, and those are solid performers, I've just always hated round heads because of the two handed direction change (I grew up working on rusty vehicles); this includes Easco, SK, Sparta, Thorsen, etc.. Despite this, I've never used a round head that skipped or broke, so my only reason to still prefer the tekton ratchets over these ratchets is the design (flip switch). I quit buying new Craftsman when it went to china (after I realized it that is), so I cannot speak to Craftsman's quality now with the exception of sockets.
The only craftsman sockets I've broken in over 30 years are the chinese sockets and the last of the USA series (later than 2005), and I was not abusing them as I have old (vintage) Craftsman USA sockets. I have little experience with tekton sockets aside from the torx bit set I bought. The fit and finish far exceeds the USA Craftsman torx bit sockets I bought in the late 2000's. I broke a tekton torx socket using an impact and it still did not damage the fastener (I pulled the broken tip out with a magnet) then proceeded to ruin the fastener with the Craftsman that rolled over on itself and rounded out the head.
I have a couple of the tekton USA made pliers that are far better quality than the USA made Craftsman I have from the 90's.
Unless you already have it (or can get it cheaper than new Tekton), the vintage Craftsman is not worth buying because you cannot replace it with comparable items, and you're paying for the made in USA factor. From what I've seen of tekton, it still is cheaper than "vintage" Craftsman and is easily replaceable if there is a defect or damage.
As I stated, I quit buying Craftsman when they went to china; If I'm going to buy foreign made tools then I will buy from a manufacturer who isn't living off of a name and trying to perpetuate sales on their "USA reputation" at the cost of screwing over the USA, all the while making an inferior or similar product. In short, buy Tekton over Craftsman.
