The New Kobalt is here

[I can fix anything]

Duralast don't make a twist wrench.

Duralast makes some, on sale right now $20 a set.

 

[Pro-Painter]

Duralast makes some, on sale right now $20 a set.

Where did you find them at?? I realize autozone will be the answer, but I mean where did you find them for $20 ? Whats the part number ?

Ive searched the website over and been in many stores and never seen them before.



btw: the new kobalt ones are ratcheting and $80

 

[HandyManny]

I think I'll stick with the tools that say "Made in Germany" on them

For the most part the Turkish immigrants working the factories in Germany make pretty good stuff.

 

[pipsters]

Wow those duralast wrenches sure do have nice thick box ends

 

[I can fix anything]

Well look like the metric set is no longer listed.

Sae set: 951645

 

[Pro-Painter]

Well look like the metric set is no longer listed.

Sae set: 951645

The SAE set don't show up for me either

Are they old or new? the quality and price looks like the new Duralast.

 

[I can fix anything]

not real New, they are very good wrenches.

 

[4x4gearhead]

Wow those wrenches look about as cheesy as the ones they were selling before, I dont really see much difference in this stuff, it is all cheap junk to me :/ (not that I am high and mighty, I can just appreciate a quality tool.)

 

[expatriated]

I think this thread is screaming for some of those "Cheap Tools are for Chumps" posters

Bonney, wasn't it?

 

[I can fix anything]

I think this thread is screaming for some of those "Cheap Tools are for Chumps" posters

Bonney, wasn't it?

Theres not a thing wrong with those wrenches. They have been used in a pro shop for several years without fail.

 

[GRP]

It's tough to tell anything from these photos. My local store said new stuff arrives in stores in a month or so after they sell out of the current lineup. Said they were adding a bunch of new stuff and that it's supposed to be a lot like old Kobalt (back before Danaher). If that's the case, I'll definitely pick up some of it when it hits. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

 

[sjotis]

How disappointing - looks like Kobalt has turned into cheap auto parts store ****.

 

[diesel research]

For the most part the Turkish immigrants working the factories in Germany make pretty good stuff.

^^^This is a wise man. I brought up the same "low wage immigrant labor" theme a few weeks ago when someone asked "why is german manufacturing so good?"

 

[expatriated]

^^^This is a wise man. I brought up the same "low wage immigrant labor" theme a few weeks ago when someone asked "why is german manufacturing so good?"

I'm just glad that some factories are giving some other people a chance. Mexicans and Chinese dominate the factory scene. Glad to see some Turks getting some play. As long as it's made to high-quality German specs, I don't care who makes it.

 

[Coach James]

It's tough to tell anything from these photos. My local store said new stuff arrives in stores in a month or so after they sell out of the current lineup. Said they were adding a bunch of new stuff and that it's supposed to be a lot like old Kobalt (back before Danaher). If that's the case, I'll definitely pick up some of it when it hits. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

The "old" Kobalt was made USA made by JH Williams. I seriously doubt the new Kobalt will be anywhere near that level of quality.

Coach

 

[jmauld]

Yeah it looks just like it. It also looks like the switch on the Titan ratcheting combos.

I doubt we will ever know the true OEM of the new Kobalt's, But if I had to guess I would say they are imported Danaher tools like Northern tool sells, or they are random imports like HF sells.

They look like the danaher import line to me.

 

[mojo3120]

Never got to be a big kobalt fan. Went to school with a kid who keept saying they were "Snap on quality at half the price." Needless to say I heard that line one to many times. That mouth got him in trouble and thus his toolbox got suspended at the top of the hanger overhead hoist. and the professor threw his wrench for using the wrong size on a manifold drain fitting. I laughed pretty hard while he was searching for that wrench.

Thanks
Sean Scott

I have my old Kobalt tools (wrenches & sockets) side by side with my Snap On & actually prefer the Kobalt. Nothing against Snap-On, I just really like the 90's Kobalt hand tools. I got them all ~10 years ago for <$1 each when they were on final clearance....if I could go back I would have backed the truck up to the door and bought the whole store. Every Kobalt tool I've owned since then has been from average to garbage

 

[zer0cell]

Honestly... if they had switched to a brand like SK (I know, pretty much impossible) then I'm sure there would have been quite a few happy people... As it stands, if I need import sockets on the cheap I am going to Harbor Freight. The only thing worse than buying imported Chinese hand tools is paying USA prices for them. Reminds me of the 'Bostich' hammers which are CLEARLY trying to be a Knock-off of the Estwings... it is VERY obvious and the prices they charge is almost the same. I refuse to buy any Bostich. I'll say this for the Kobalt's line of pliers though... the quality isn't half bad for the price. I'd rather have Kobalt pliers over Pittsburgh pliers.

 

[Pro-Painter]

here is the new ratchets and socket sets......

They looks like the same china made Danaher found at Northern tool, except the kobalt's are still USA priced.

 

[Case IH]

Those ratchets look nice however they may not be

 

[Fedwrench]

So are we still leaning towards the new Kobalt tools being rebadged Titan stuff?

 

[treasureseeker]

I find it suspicious Kobalt and Duralast are changing their lines of tools at the same time, maybe they will just exchange product lines. In all seriousness, to me it looks like without a lot of demand they just go to a cheaper supplier. Without this forum I would have never heard of Duralast and certainly wouldn’t have thought they were good quality just by seeing them in the store. I once owned a lot of Williams made Kobalt and wasn’t impressed. When I lost a Kobalt/Williams wrench and could only get Danaher replacement I lost all interest in the brand.

 

[powertrip]

My store had the new wrenches in stock . An 11pc, metric or standard set was $39.97. Oddly enough, they still had plenty of the old danaher kobalt tools still. They even had the danaher made 10pc wrench sets for $40. Doesn't make any sense. The new kobalt wrenches looked good though, nice full polish with a standard length. The wrenches where the only new kobalt stuff they had. Big front aisle display and they where package in a plastic rack type holder. Sorry, I didn't have a camera to take pictures.

 

[DavidB]

I went by Lowe's today and saw they now have some SAE and Metric zero degree offset double box end wrench sets. I haven't seen these before, so I'm guessing they're new. Made in Taiwan with a satin surface. They're pretty short compared to the similar offerings from Snap-On though.

 

[Bran Diezel]

I went by Lowe's today and saw they now have some SAE and Metric zero degree offset double box end wrench sets. I haven't seen these before, so I'm guessing they're new. Made in Taiwan with a satin surface. They're pretty short compared to the similar offerings from Snap-On though.

i have been wanting a dirt cheap set of those for the house. prob the only thing i will consider from the whole line.

looking at the sockets and the cases they come in they look alot like the task force sockets they were already selling. im sure the contract with danaher hasn't run out so i'd say you guys are spot on with danaher chinese imports. hell alot of the kobalt line has been china for awhile. look at their gimmick pass through socket sets etc.

 

[Slowboat]

My Lowes had a new 1/4" & 1/2" socket set as well as a couple of new wrench sets. All of them were made in Taiwan, and the wrenches looked pretty nice.

 

[baucom]

Those pass through socket sets aren't just some cheap gimmick. They're a really nice, economically priced, low profile socket/ratchet setup. If you occasionally have need for a low profile socket & ratchet, but not often enough to justify the price of a Snap-on low profile ratchet and corresponding low profile sockets, then this Kobalt (or its Gearwrench twin) pass through socket set is a great alternative.

I have the Gearwrench pass through set from Sears and it's invaluable at times, but I wouldn't want to use it as my primary, all-around, set.

look at their gimmick pass through socket sets etc.

 

[powertrip]

My guess is that the sockets are made by the same company that makes the HF pittsburgh pro sockets. They look identical all the way down to the plastic packaging.

 

[bchee]

93 piece set

 

[rebelram]

I saw some of the new Kobalt wrench sets with the red and blue bands over the weekend. If I remember correctly they were in large bins in the middle of the aisles with sale signs gearing up for Father's day. I think the price on the wrench sets were around $20. I did pick one up and flipped it over and it definitely said "Made in Taiwan" on the packaging. The chrome on the wrenches looked ok, but no better than any of the chrome I have seen on Harbor Freight wrenches.

That being said, in the past few weeks I did pick up a few more of the matte finish Danaher USA made Kobalt wrenches to fill in a few gaps. The finish on them was not as good as the matte finish Kobalt wrenches I bought about 2 years ago. The polished edges around the open ends was much sharper as well. There were also small variations in the Kobalt logo on the wrenches between the last round of USA made ones and the ones I bought a couple years ago. Keep in mind I'm only talking about the Danaher produced matte finish ones. I have the polished Williams produced wrenches as well and they are completely different.

So my best guess on the new Kobalt tools made in taiwan, I suspect Danaher is now producing them in their taiwan plants. Quality is probably good, but I can get the same quality elsewhere for cheaper. My thought is Lowes had to do this in order to stay competitive with Home Depot and their taiwan made Husky tools.

 

[mixxmstrmike]

One of my local Lowe's is slowly getting their new Kobalt stuff. Here's an example of their reversible SAE ratcheting combos ($70 retail price). Check out the close up of the reverse switch.

-Mike

 

[Bran Diezel]

yep that looks like pittsburgh pro...

i'd bet rebelram is right. home depot has had el cheapo taiwan and china tools for awhile now at much cheaper prices.

 

[KEH]

Haven't been to a Lowes lately but last time I didn't see the new stuff.

Regarding old stuff, I saw an old Lowes 3/8 drive kit in a pawn shop and the quality was very good. Thanks for posting that they were once made by Williams. I have an older Kobalt 3/8, pawn shop score so don't know the age but it is head and shoulders over the present Danaher Kobalts. Not as nice as the one in the set mentioned above.

The new ratchets pictured(thanks for posting them) looks like Duralast which looks to me like a makeover of the old Snap on design. I have both DL and SO but don't want to take them apart side by side to compare.

KEH

 

[dankicksass]

Those ratchet photos look like Stanley to me. Matches all the cheap Stanley stuff I have for guests, anyway. Kobalt has had mixed sourcing for a while now, a lot more expensive than Husky but at least it was half American. At least with Husky, you know where it comes from and their screwdrivers are still US-made.

 

[GoBlue]

Yuck...Why not the tools too...everything else they sell is ****

 

[woody 73]

I bought a few of the old stock sockets marked USA,and I did see the new stock. I also talked to the tool world manager about all the yellow tags and he replied that people did not want to pay a high price for the tools so all the new stock will be coming from China to address customer needs.

 

[PistolWhip]

I was there today looking for some of the older closeouts and they had a **** ton of the new stuff on the floors. None of it was actually on the tool shelves, it was all placed remotely around the store on skids. I didn't even look at it. When I go to Lowes, I don't even bother looking at anything that doesn't have a yellow sticker unless its lumber or a box of screws...

It's been my opinion that Kobalt was always over priced for what it was, even the original stuff, so I don't see why it's such a big surprise that the new stuff still *****. Even at Closeout prices the Kobalt stuff is just barely a good deal IMHO, until its at least 1/2 off and even then, only some of the stuff is worth the money unless you curb your expectations and plan to use them as back-ups or secondary location tools. Obviously there are some things that you can't go wrong with and others that are good quality for the money, but I'm not even a little surprised that Lowes would move out the better of the evils only to replace it with higher prices and lower quality. Par for the course in that place.

 

[rebelram]

Those ratchet photos look like Stanley to me. Matches all the cheap Stanley stuff I have for guests, anyway. Kobalt has had mixed sourcing for a while now, a lot more expensive than Husky but at least it was half American. At least with Husky, you know where it comes from and their screwdrivers are still US-made.

Husky screwdrivers have been one of the few items that really surprised me. Most are still US made and in some cases are better than Craftsman, even though several I have, I am pretty sure came from Western Forge.

 

[domain]

I have seen the new SeedFit Kit, mechanics kit, and full polish wrenches. All seem very cheap and it upsets me because I have some of their Older USA Danaher products. I actually preferred the Kobalt Sockets over their twin Craftsmans.... Such a shame there goes another decent brand...

 

[shanker]

Husky screwdrivers have been one of the few items that really surprised me. Most are still US made and in some cases are better than Craftsman, even though several I have, I am pretty sure came from Western Forge.

yes, Western Forge makes the Husky Pro screwdrivers...I really like them too