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Your Preferential Brand?

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exophyusical

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Messages
100
I like Proto and Gray myself, but as I cant afford to pay that much for all of my tools, or rather I would prefer to put that money in other places, I have a lot of cheaper brands as well. With the cheaper brands I think brand loyalty is dumb, one needs to cherry pick the products as most of the cheaper brands have products that they do well, and products that they don't do so well. For off brand stuff I've found the following to very good value.

Mastercraft wrenches and sockets.
Fuller screw drivers
Titan ratchets
Sunex impact sockets

Other than that I've never owned a Jet tool that wasn't decent for the price.
 
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FarmerPete

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
Messages
258
Location
Lansing, MI
For me, I don't feel that I am loyal to any brand. I buy tools based on sales, needs, and geographical location. I've got mostly Craftsman sockets and hand tools, but I also have several Kobalt and Husky tools as well. I would probably buy mostly craftsman, since the nearest sears is 1 mile away, and HD/Lowes/Menards are 8 miles away. Unfortunately, I'm really concerned about the future of sears and what that'll mean for Craftsman.

I'm a big fan of Ridgid power tools, mainly because of the LSA. Nothing like being able to walk into a store, hand them a dead battery, and get an immediate replacement for free. A quick call to their 1800 number, and the new one is registered and protected forever. They do make you jump through some hoops to get the LSA registered, but it's easier today than it was in the past (100% online registration, and notification in under 2 weeks).
 
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richfinn

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2011
Messages
4,809
Location
Leeds, Yorkshire, England
I don't really mind what brand/COO/colour scheme. I just want the best quality and decent value for money.

I've got used Britool/new Snap On/and a bunch of home made stuff in my boxes.

Since I discovered GJ I've learned that you can get quality and value if you do a little research.

That said I've got a lot of respect for Koken/Wiha and NWS just lately and I would like to thank all the guys on here for pointing me in the right direction and helping my dollar/pounds sterling go a little bit further.

Cheers lads :)
 
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jethro29

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Messages
1,407
Location
central delaware
snap on.quality,service,reliability all in one.but of coarse I am blessed with an awesome s.o. guy,i can call him needing a tool,or a replacement and he will come to the shop a.s.a.p..I've even called him on a sunday ,needing a particular tool for a side job and he'll say come on over and get it.(his house is about 20 minutes away).
 
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bobcatdan

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 4, 2011
Messages
9,948
Location
Kaukauna,WI
jethro29 said:
snap on.quality,service,reliability all in one.but of coarse I am blessed with an awesome s.o. guy,i can call him needing a tool,or a replacement and he will come to the shop a.s.a.p..I've even called him on a sunday ,needing a particular tool for a side job and he'll say come on over and get it.(his house is about 20 minutes away).
Click to expand...

I said earlier im not a ********* on one brand. What I am ********* is service. To my door have what I need. It is guys like me why the tool truck model still works. I don't own any proto because I do not have easy face to face access to it. I wouldn't even need a proto truck. If there was a bill's hardware that had half the proto catalog in stock and bill was a good guy to deal with, you'd probably have to pry me out.
 
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sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
Don't care about warranty, don't really care all that much about brand other than the OEM of some products like Channelock and Vise Grip,,, and even then the best is the old models.

I even play with my mind on finish,,, will I grab the rusty or shiny one. Will I pick a 1 dollar wrench over a 30 $. I got a few pieces busted, been that way in a drawer a long while and it hasn't stopped me, I don't even think about it, they since long been replaced and multiplied. 2% maybe 3 (should send them with the wife and speed Sears to the toilet) but,, anyway,,, I own maybe a thousand pieces. 3 or 4 paychecks in my 20's, most of these snapped on first use and its my fault for not returning but the other 97% worked fine so the question is,,, would it have been worth 25 or 30K juice between the 2 sets?
 
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sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
As for service,,, like a man above said,,, the Napa at his shop 8 times a day. What, bust some little tool and my world comes crashing down? I might miss something I use frequently but it would be a minor inconvenience till I could solve it. If it was that important waiting a week for a truck to show up isn't going to help especially if I got to toss 75$ at it when I could have scored it immediately from a parts store for 25.

Also,, about 90% of that stuff a guy has to have he uses about once. I used to coach a few guys to get stuff but am more practical today. Anymore there are so many stores with so much ****, some of it so cheap it barely pays to store it but I would consider not buying till I needed it.
 
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sberry

Banned
Joined
Jun 18, 2005
Messages
35,747
Location
Brethren, Michigan
I needed to replace 2 sockets, both lost so warranty was not a factor but I bought 2 singles at Lowes. 6$ and 4$ which I knew was a bit much but I needed it. At Menards they had the 6 one for 8 so I scored 2 there and they had the 4 one for 3 so I lost one. I did buy another at 3 though.

Cost me 13 plus tax for 3 replacements I lost made in USA.

I stand corrected, Tiawan not sure and USA from Menards.
 
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zruvalcaba

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 25, 2011
Messages
315
Location
San Diego, California
I have a fairly large collection of Craftsman tools. With that said, I have been moving in the Snap On direction recently. I have two Snap On boxes in extreme green and a healthy, increasing in-size collection of Snap On tools. My plan eventually is to hand down quality tools and one box to each one of my two older boys. 95% of my tools are Made in the USA...except for my DeWalt drills and my Makita belt sander which is made in Japan. I also have a new found love for NWS pliers.
 
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TAMPAGT07

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 20, 2008
Messages
11,147
Location
Palm Harbor, Fl
Do you have a preferential brand of tools? Are you a Snap-On guy, or a Matco follower? How about cheap and easy?

For tools: Snap-On

For Women: Cheap and Easy.......
 
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tribbles

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
290
Location
Las Cruces, NM
As a DIY weekend warrior, Craftsman has until recently been my go-to brand since the late '70s, when my father got me a small Craftsman socket set and some wrenches, pliers, and screwdrivers for Christmas (I was eight). Since then, if I needed a tool, I usually went down to the nearest Sears to get it. My tools are still mostly Craftsman, with a Williams box end wrench set, some Snap-On, and a smattering of other truck brands mixed in, along with some judiciously purchased items from HF.

My dad gave me his tools in writing last year before he died, and last month I was finally able to go get them and integrate them into my collection. His hand tools were mostly Craftsman with a fair amount of Proto and Challenger sockets and ratchets, some Channellocks and Vise-Grips, and a New Britain brake pliers and torque wrench. Screwdrivers were either Craftsman or Credo (apparently made by Vermont American in the USA for Wal-Mart). Two Starrett dial indicators and a Brown & Sharpe dial caliper. His impact swivel sockets were HF though, lol. Most of the offshore wrenches he had were bought for the sole purpose of cutting, twisting, bending, or otherwise hacking up to modify.

The cost of his tools was often a point of contention between my parents, but they outlived him, and they'll most likely outlive me, too.
 
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toolguynj

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 10, 2013
Messages
49
Location
Sparta, NJ
I have sets from almost every manufacturer under the sun from Japanese (not Taiwan or China) all the way through Mac and Snap-On in my personal collection. I also sell all of these brands used in my store so I get a lot of feedback and Craftsman are by far the most popular sellers.

If you are not a mechanic by trade using your tools all day every day, I would buy used Craftsman tools that are a bit older. They are fairly cheap, do the job just fine, rarely break unless abused and are the simplest to do warranty trade-ins for the layman.
 
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claythrower

Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2013
Messages
9
Started off on craftsman, now that I wrench for 6 months out of the year I buy off the trucks. I prefer matco as that's the only truck that stops by our shop
 
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