The New Kobalt is here

[Soggy_Bottom]

I like the new Kobalt line, I just got a 63pc socket set for fathers day. These tools are very sturdy, they look like they could take a beating. I can't wait to find out how they handle regular use. I don't own many tools, so I'm a bit conflicted on whether to buy Kobalt or Craftsman. They have several Lowes around my area, so I might go with them. We also have some Sears Hometown Stores about an hour away in several directions. Just not sure which way to go on all of it.

 

[Soggy_Bottom]

As far as fathers day presents, they dropped the ball big time on that. All of the new kobalt tool shelfs of the 5 lowes near me are 90% empty. Real F-N stupid if you ask me.

Hey, its the same at my Lowes. I was pretty angry about it until I started walking around. They have ALL of the new tools out in the aisles set up as features. You have to walk around the store, like hunting easter eggs! lol

For the sale prices, I think the new Kobalt line is worth it. It seems they love having these tools on sale, as well. I'm hoping I can pick up the 50% off Combination wrenches before June 30th.

 

[timesrgood?]

I don't think it's the quality of the new Kobalt thats being trashed...
It's the fact that yet another mostly American tool brand has been flushed down the Chinese crapper.

You're right they make a lot of the crappers now too, as well as faucets, valves. You name it, there is a scout here looking at it and reporting back we can make those and knock those US cos. out of business.
I want to know what they, those in charge in CN, are thinking after they have all the manufacturing and technology transferred over, for sure they are very smart people and are thinking something further than just this.
I just can't marvel anymore how much I get for my money with CN made. I see most people still do this.
I saw Home Depote is selling two, two, ratchet wrenches, they call them musa. The 1/4 is 20 and the 3/8 35, dollars. It's almost they are afraid to say USA because maybe no one will buy it.

 

[Notwerk]

Sadly, I think these Taiwan Kobalt tools are better than the USA ones. I picked up a 63-piece set for my dad, who is notorious for losing sockets (they're going to regret that lost-socket policy). I played around with the ratchet, and it's actually quite nice. Excellent chrome, 72 teeth, really smooth. Took it apart last night to have a look and it's really well finished (but dry as a bone). The pawls engage four teeth at a time, and everything -- including the selector -- is made of metal.

The USA, Danaher-made Kobalt on the other hand felt...Chinese...by comparison. Low tooth count, rough finish, harsh engagement. Really just a crappy ratchet.

My Williams B-52A still destroys the Kobalt, but for a big-box store, you'd be hard pressed to find a better ratchet for the money. For my dad's work truck, this $25 kit is a good fit.

The only curious thing is...why no 1/4 ratchet? It comes with the sockets, but no ratchet. And the open stock 1/4 is $20! That's quite pricey considering I got the whole 3/8 set for $25...

I don't want to throw gas on the fire, but let's look at it another way. If I were blindfolded and had to pick between the USA and Taiwan ratchets, there's no doubt which I'd pick. The Taiwan ratchet is just outright better. Now, I have no doubt that the USA is capable of making a better inexpensive ratchet. My Williams is proof of that. But Danaher floods the market with low quality "USA" garbage that can't compete with these Taiwan tools. You'd have to be crazy to buy a raised panel ratchet over this Kobalt.

If you're the consumer, should you spend your hard-earned money on the USA ratchet...or the better ratchet?

I'll buy the Williams online. But the average consumer who buys their tools at the store has a pretty crappy decision to make. If they wanted the most tool for their dollar, they'd have to buy the import. That's just sad. Meanwhile, American tools are becoming almost synonymous with low quality, low tech designs -- exactly what we used to say about Chinese goods. And lord knows we can't compete on pricing...

 

[Mad40er]

I bought one of their metric kits, and I have to say that the chrome finish looks good, they are six point, and the ratchet feels solid and turns nicely. (Better than the long handle craftsman i bought a few months ago) for $20 it will work nicely in my trail kit.

I like USA tools, but there are some Taiwan tools that can compete.

 

[Ritter4.0]

Anybody notice the loonng handle 1/4" and 3/8" ratchets? The 1/4" looks really easy to strip the drive end off of. Even at the ridiculously high price, I'm tempted to get the long handle 3/8", just to try and break it. If it does break, I would probably try and put a ratchet head from another flex on it. But.....for about $40 more, I could get a shorter, higher tooth count Snap-On.... decisions, decisions.....

 

[Fedwrench]

Anybody notice the loonng handle 1/4" and 3/8" ratchets? The 1/4" looks really easy to strip the drive end off of. Even at the ridiculously high price, I'm tempted to get the long handle 3/8", just to try and break it. If it does break, I would probably try and put a ratchet head from another flex on it. But.....for about $40 more, I could get a shorter, higher tooth count Snap-On.... decisions, decisions.....

Or you could buy the EZ red set which I suspect is the same as the new Kobalt for a lot less money.
http://www.tooltopia.com/e-z-red-mr1412f.aspx

http://www.tooltopia.com/e-z-red-mr3818f.aspx

 

[mixxmstrmike]

Or you could buy the EZ red set which I suspect is the same as the new Kobalt for a lot less money.
http://www.tooltopia.com/e-z-red-mr1412f.aspx

http://www.tooltopia.com/e-z-red-mr3818f.aspx

That E-Z Red 1/4" long flex is 72-tooth, while the Kobalt is 36! More teeth for more than half off? Hard to beat, ain't it?

-Mike

 

[fourtythree]

Hey all. Dont mean to bump a week old thread with my first post, but my local Lowes just got their new line of Kobalt hand tools fully stocked and I found this thread looking for other peoples opinions on it.

Looking at the new tools...they don't seem bad at all. The ratchets looked well made, fully polished and had a smooth action to them. Same with the Kobalt "gear wrenches". Sockets and box end wrenches looked as good as craftsman. Nothing screamed garbage. The prices however are a joke. Single flex head gear wrenches were $25-30. Standard 3/8" ratchets were pushing $30. Single sockets were several bucks a piece. Unless they have some good sale prices, I won't be buying.

I do have to say, comparing to the US made stuff I picked up on clearance in the last few weeks...the new stuff is higher quality. I picked up close to $100 in US made Kobalt tools on clearance and probably 1/3 of that had to go back. Several of the Kobalt gear wrenches had rough spots in the teeth that kept them from working correctly. A couple of the sockets had small cracks in them that I didn't see in the store. The first time used and they would have broke. The US stuff was ok, but seemed to me like it had some serious quality control issues.

 

[Trucky]

Hey all. Dont mean to bump a week old thread with my first post, but my local Lowes just got their new line of Kobalt hand tools fully stocked and I found this thread looking for other peoples opinions on it.

Looking at the new tools...they don't seem bad at all. The ratchets looked well made, fully polished and had a smooth action to them. Same with the Kobalt "gear wrenches". Sockets and box end wrenches looked as good as craftsman. Nothing screamed garbage. The prices however are a joke. Single flex head gear wrenches were $25-30. Standard 3/8" ratchets were pushing $30. Single sockets were several bucks a piece. Unless they have some good sale prices, I won't be buying.

I do have to say, comparing to the US made stuff I picked up on clearance in the last few weeks...the new stuff is higher quality. I picked up close to $100 in US made Kobalt tools on clearance and probably 1/3 of that had to go back. Several of the Kobalt gear wrenches had rough spots in the teeth that kept them from working correctly. A couple of the sockets had small cracks in them that I didn't see in the store. The first time used and they would have broke. The US stuff was ok, but seemed to me like it had some serious quality control issues.

I'd have to agree on your first point there. It looks alright. Only use will tell us if the internals in those ratchets are made of Play-Doh or not. Nothing screams garbage, but I'm not buying a single piece of their stuff until it says USA again. The new stuff is shiny, i'll give them that. So are 2$ Homak China/Taiwan made wrenches at Ollies, but a few rounds with a nice bolt will show them what's what. I have no doubts that they made sure the new line would be good, but I don't know what the hell they were thinking with those handles...

As for the US made stuff, of the things I have, I've had zero issues. All sockets, ratchets, etc. have performed and continue to. I've never even seen a crack in a socket out of the store, any brand, so I can't comment on that. As for the wrenches, I only have one GearWrench, a 3/4 for a Bridgeport mill, and that's it. I don't trust the very rough US made ratcheting wrenches, and I suppose you don't now either

As for the new things being "higher quality"... maybe apparent quality, but only use and some busted knuckles are going to tell you that for real. No one's doing metallurgical tests or anything, so we'll just have to wait until someone "really" uses these tools to make that decision.

 

[Old Donn]

Been stocking up on old, USA made Kobalt on clearance for the last few months, had no issues so far. What I did find out was the current "Sockets for Life" promotion only applies to the new stuff.

 

[Notwerk]

Been stocking up on old, USA made Kobalt on clearance for the last few months, had no issues so far. What I did find out was the current "Sockets for Life" promotion only applies to the new stuff.

No big loss. The "Sockets for Life" thing is kind of a scam. $5+ shipping and handling per socket replaced. That's more than the retail cost of most of the sockets. Basically, they're promising you that if you lose a socket, they'll be happy to sell you a replacement for more than the retail cost of the socket.

Gee, no thanks.

 

[fourtythree]

As for the new things being "higher quality"... maybe apparent quality, but only use and some busted knuckles are going to tell you that for real. No one's doing metallurgical tests or anything, so we'll just have to wait until someone "really" uses these tools to make that decision.

This is true. Unfortunately, I won't be testing them anytime soon. I have no problem buying import tools, but only when the price reflects it. Lowes has the new stuff priced like higher end US tools. No thanks.

Maybe I just had bad luck with what I bought on clearance. I will say, the Kobalt USA gear wrenches are more robust than their "Gearwrench" counterparts. Laying them side by side, the Kobalt is an inch or so longer and noticeably thicker. I just don't like the geared mechanism. It's a low tooth count and very rough feeling. They do the job though, so I guess that's all that matters. I still think they had some QC issues. Several locked gear wrenches and several cracked sockets in one haul...it's tough to believe it was just a coincidence.

 

[Old Donn]

Lowes has the new stuff priced like higher end US tools.

Yeah, it is. Stopped in the other day to see if there were any USA made leftovers to be had, found the shelves/racks loaded up with the new stuff and there wasn't a yellow tag in sight.

 

[steelespeed]

i stopped in my local lowes today to take a peek at the new offerings. they look pretty nice to me compared to the old usa stuff. but, beauty is only skin deep...

 

[fourtythree]

I took another look today too. The ratcheting box wrenches look like Gearwrench brand to me. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same thing with a higher price.

 

[btbsandman]

i stopped in my local lowes today to take a peek at the new offerings. they look pretty nice to me compared to the old usa stuff. but, beauty is only skin deep...

Yeah but some of the old stuff is overrated too.

 

[Plombob]

The "Power Cross" wrenches look like cheap imports.

And they look like a waste of money.

I have a few Kobalt tools and they were a great value for the money, IMO and they were USA. We'll see if the new tools are worthwhile.

 

[wolflrv]

Shelves at my Lowes are still 90% bare as well....the whole tool dept is rather pathetic atm. I shop there more than I'd like to, due to it being a small town and they are the only game in town. I'll be checking out the new stuff if they ever get it stocked...LOL!