Tool Brands you cannot stand . . .

[IRQVET]

I’ve historically found good and bad tools from several brands that I either like or I avoid. With that said, I’m not a brand loyalist. I find what works, and if I like them, then that’s what I use. Keep in mind I’m a DIY’er not making a living off their tools, so I have always avioded tool truck brands cause they just don’t fit what I do for that price point I’m willing to spend.

I’ve only come across one tool brand where anything I bought tended to let me down. Now going down the Harbor Freight rabit hole, I’ve owned several Chicago Electric Tools that I have abused the living dog piss out of, yet they they still come back for more. One in particular, is a Chicago Electric angle grinder I picked up 15 years ago on coupon for like $7.99 I have beaten the hell out of it, and it still works anytime I pick it up.

Never expected much out of it, but I’ll admit- Its one of my better tool purchases of all time. So I remember tackling a sanding project so I picked up a Bauer orbital sander. I went through three in a single afternoon (they all burnt up) before I got pissed and popped for a Dewalt orbital sander later that night- and it has been a flawless tool.

So for me, the brand I avoid at all costs is anything made at Harbor Freight under the name Bauer. Courious what others experiences have been with tools they bought and regretted, versus what they bought and they’ve been impressed with . . .

 

[Shoreline_]

This seems like a thread where feelings get hurt and people get sour.

 

[kaymccampbell]

All the brands have great tools and **** tools. Depends on the tool and the user.

 

[Snapped-off]

SK and Proto.

I said it.

 

[purplezr2]

SK and Proto.

I said it.

Sk, I don't know why, but I think ever since I was a kid, I can remember these SK tools in my grandpas garage, they seemed like the kits the sockets were in sucked and the plastic trays were thin. I remember thinking that my dad's Craftsman sets were much nicer.

 

[Lt CHEG]

Currently, I’d say Craftsman. I’m leaning towards SK as well, but that’s still up for debate. Frankly, if a company was once an American tool manufacturer, or at least primarily so, but has now off shored their manufacturing to China, India, or generally Taiwan, then I have no interest in that company. In fact, on a personal level, I hope that the company fails. I have some respect for companies that were always overseas, but zero for those that moved off shore.

 

[richfinn]

Gearwrench, they do make some useful stuff (Serpentine belt kit). Just not convinced on quality and feel some of the prices have crept up a bit too close to pro level/tool truck pricing.

 

[Tooltime22]

SK and Proto.

I said it.

Just curious but what don't you like about Proto?

 

[ronkz650]

I like most brands for the most part. Harbor Freight stuff mostly has worked fine for me. The brand I hate is Motion Pro. Motorcycle tools, every one rockgut Chinese. Chinese is one thing, but these are beyond bad every time. They work hard to make things that don't work worth ****, but sell at full price.

 

[Madjik Man]

This seems like a thread where feelings get hurt and people get sour.

 

[MOS3522]

Snap-On, for the rates they charge on financing for new guys just entering the repair trade.

 

[Snapped-off]

Just curious but what don't you like about Proto?

They're just typically clunky and outdated tools.

 

[BlakeTheCarGuy]

I wouldn’t say there is a brand I just cannot stand. Every brand from my experience has good and bad tools. I do try to avoid really cheap brands that are low quality. Pittsburgh is ok for things like sockets. That’s why I didn’t list them as being a really cheap option .

 

[JWC86]

I don’t think there is a brand I hate.

Powerfist is one I stay clear of almost always thou. Most of the hand tools I see from them are REALLY bad. Exception being some of the simple electric stuff like bench grinder, polisher, etc seem to be decent and great value when on sale.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I love them all, I must.
I have a mixture pretty well everything. Until I joined GJ I was blissfully unaware of the scope or I should selection I have put together in the last 50+ years.

 

[WAID]

I Have disliked every Wera tool I've tried and many seem to feel cheap and/or gimmicky for what they are. Not sure I'm at the hate level, but not spending any more money on them.

 

[HannibalLecter]

I dislike wiha because it seems to me like a cheap copy of wera, I dislike the ancient crude sk or equivalent american ratchets that many are obsessed here in GJ, I hate most of the gedore hand tools (like socketry and especially ratchets) and I hate park tools.

 

[zendriver]

I can’t stand Great Neck, simply because of the name.

Otherwise, could care less

If I purchased a Bauer sander that quit after the first few minutes, I would’ve just got a refund and get a different brand.

The only Bauer tool I have is their demolition hammer which I think is kick ***.

 

[Loga_3]

Teng Tools. Its just something about that brand and ridiculous logo that makes me go yuck.

 

[Jtels85]

SBD’s Craftsman. That nauseating, childish shade of bright red they slap on their tools and packaging. Everything at the store looks the same. They rebrand their bottom of the barrel Stanley tools by changing the color from yellow to red and slapping the Craftsman name on them. The way they’ve mismanaged the brand, sucked at public relations and fumbled the Texas plant. They are run by out-of-touch corporate schmoe’s.

Follow that up by anything German and SnapOn. They’re not the be all, end all of tool brands.

 

[MushCreek]

When building our house, I bought two Freeman nail guns because of the price point, and I only needed them for the one project. I finished the house, but both guns died, and I can't get them to work. On is a strap (positive placement) nailer, the the other is a siding nailer. I could use them once in a while- if they worked.

 

[BlackVersa2]

Seems like every other time I log onto GJ there is some new import brand being talked about. Hard to keep track of them all.

 

[LWB]

Seems like every other time I log onto GJ there is some new import brand being talked about. Hard to keep track of them all.

Almost everything is an import if you're Canadian.

 

[rooster59]

Olympia

 

[Ricky Joe]

.

 

[lardy1]

I hate them all. They represent work.

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

I don’t hate tools but I will say that I hate saying I use certain brands because of how hard they ply social media. It makes it cringey to say the least even if the tools are fantastic.

 

[Pig_Pen]

Apex tool company and anything made by them, especially Gearwrench. They killed so many great American tool companies and hollowed out many others such that they exist now in name only.

Also Icon. There’s no innovation, just blatant ripoffs of Snap On designs. It’s unseemly.

 

[FSUwelder1212]

Craftsman, they have never been great other than in the nostalgia fogged minds of baby boomers. The only thing craftsman brought to the table were wide distribution and depth of product line, the actual tools were mediocre at best. When they had something truly great they either discontinued it or found some way to screw it up. Then you have every self proclaimed tool nut DIYer thats never done more than change their own oil singing its praises. Now with SBD abandoning their commitment to reshoring without even giving it a shot and trying to sweep it under the rug there's even more to hate about the brand.

Matco, nothing but a middleman with an exorbitant mark up for truck service and lifetime warranty on foreign re-branded tools.

 

[MushCreek]

I like my Craftsman USA combination wrenches, but their ratchets, even the old ones, ****. They feel like they have rocks in them. I took them apart and greased them; now they feel like greased rocks. I now use GearWrench ratchets. Very smooth.

 

[Davefr]

Going to a garage sale with tools and seeing one of those tin cases with no name Asian sockets/ratchets. Open the case and most everything is rusty. They're everywhere.

 

[M635_Guy]

The reason I have so many different brands in my garage is that just about all have strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Chrome Vanadium Cody]

For no practical reason I hate Icon. The whole “looks like Snap On if you’re standing far enough away” thing just pisses me off. I have a couple Icon tools and they’ve worked well but I’ll always choose a different brand if there’s a reasonable alternative

 

[Pig_Pen]

For no practical reason I hate Icon. The whole “looks like Snap On if you’re standing far enough away” thing just pisses me off. I have a couple Icon tools and they’ve worked well but I’ll always choose a different brand if there’s a reasonable alternative

Exactly, they could have been a nice tool brand in their own right by coming up with their own designs but instead they're just the fake Rolexes of the tool world.

 

[NoahG]

Irwin, it’s pretty much all overpriced rebadges from the SBD portfolio.

 

[bwringer]

After many struggles and terrible experiences in my penniless days with crappy cheap "Great Neck" brand tool-shaped objects from AutoClownz and similar... no, I won't bother with "Great Neck" stuff. Maybe it's great now. I wouldn't know.

The "Tool Shop" brand at Menard's is very similar. Just dreadful trash, all of it.

Speaking of Menard's, their cringey "MasterForce" brand name used to have some excellent US-made sockets and wrenches. The wrenches in particular were superb -- pretty much identical to the old beloved US-made Craftsman raised panel wrenches, and great quality.

However, a few years ago they switched all that to soft, shiny, cheap Chinese tools (but kept the same prices, or raised them). Dammit. Same old story. I managed to grab a few things on clearance during the switchover.

Crescent and Irwin are dead to me for the same reason.

 

[jobo1004]

SK and Proto.

I said it.

Don't have much experience with SK, but I can say I've been disappointed with the bulk of the proto tools I've purchased. One that sticks out in my mind is a 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar that broke the first time I used it. Didn't even require a cheater pipe to shear the drive end.

 

[MOS3522]

Haters might be surprised about what Great Neck tools actually are:

Great Neck Saw is an American company that manufactures and distributes hand tools, including wrenches, screwdrivers, hammers, chisels, and automotive specialty tools. The company is the largest privately owned tool manufacturer in the United States.

The company sells tools under the Great Neck, Sheffield, OEM, GreatLite, Mayes, and Buck Bros. brand names, as well as private label brands such as Husky and Kobalt.

 

[Steve_P]

For no practical reason I hate Icon. The whole “looks like Snap On if you’re standing far enough away” thing just pisses me off. I have a couple Icon tools and they’ve worked well but I’ll always choose a different brand if there’s a reasonable alternative

Most Icon tools probably cost 10% more to make than the comparable Pittsburg, etc, that HF also sells. And they probably sell most Icon tools for 200%+ more than the comparable Pittsburg- by targeting Snap On pricing. So, "wow, the Icon stuff is a bargain!" Except it really isnt; it's just a bargain compared to Snap On; and that's not difficult to achieve when you copy something, make it in Taiwan, and sell it direct. But that's fine, they saw a business opportunity and took it. I agree that I wish they didn't try to make everything 99.9% the same as the Snap On, but it is what it is.

I have one Icon tool, a flex head 3/8 90T micrometer torque wrench. There are a few things that I'd change about it if I could, but it's a nice tool. There's no way I was going to pay $450 for the Snap On, and there just wasn't much else available at that time. IMO, Tekton missed the boat on this.

As far as the Icon pliers that copy Snap On, if anyone was awake over at Channellock, they would've started down this road 10+ years ago by making a premium line of pliers, out of alloy steel, that mimic some of the SO pliers; especially the specialty type pliers.

 

[freudianfloyd]

I don't know of any brands I hate, but there is one brand that everybody seems to love that I have never had a good experience with.

Knipex

I have a pair of needle nose pliers and one of the ends snapped off with little force. I looked into getting them replaced, but don't have the original receipt so it's not going to happen. I also have a pair of Raptor pliers, and they just don't seem to work like I hoped. No matter how tight I squeeze, the bolts still turn in the jaws, even ones that are not rounded. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

I'm also not a big fan of Black and Decker, Stanley, or Crescent, even though I have several of each.