Snap On tools are absolutly great and way over priced, Craftsman tools are absolutly great and more reasonably priced, In Canada Mastercraft are very popular, absolutly great and reasonably priced. Matco tools are also absolutly great and intermediatly priced. Buy what you need and can afford. I have multiple brands in my set, the snap on and matco are great for specialty tools, for the daily wrenches get a more reasonably priced name brand. All are lifetime replacement if you break it. Don't get no name tools for your basics, most probably inferior, you can get some real cheap brand accessories that fill out you box with real handy stuff but used on rarer occasions. No doubt even the quality of the name brands has deteriorated, there are often good/better/best value levels even within the same brand. Get yourself some basics, tools have a habbit of breeding like rabbits and quickly out grow your box. There is no stopping that phenomina.

 

If it's a ratchet they give you a rebuilt one. At least the three times I've had to take them back. The ratcheting mechanism sucks even if they didn't break all the time. It takes too big of a turn to get it to click. I manage, but I'm too cheap. So I'll probably ***** about them all my life or until someone gives me a higher end set of ratchets. I do have a Crescent set(free) that is nice, but they're too slippery when my hands are dirty.

 

I'd be sorry for his troubles, too, if he was literate enough to spell properly.

 

bwhahaha I was going to say something but I figured someone else would.

 

yep. people who can't spell have no business being on a forum that requires anything other than pictures.

 

I have a bunch of matco at work but when i was at school i got matco at cost so it was logical to buy alot when i could. Now that i am working i buy snap-on due to that's the only tool guy that comes to my work. All my air tools are IR.

Matco owns craftsman, kobalt, gear wrench and a couple other tool brands. When i went to school in Cleveland OH we went to Stow OH to matco head quarters and there they were making craftsman and kobalt tools on site.

 

I have never had a problem with a warranty either. They have rebuilt ratchets for me instead of giving me new ones but a rebuilt Snap-On Ratchet is still 10 times better than a new Craftsman one.

 

I tend to like Craftsman better. For one, my brother has worked for Sears for about 12 years now, so i keep updated on good buys and let him pick anything i need up at his price. I do have alot of Snap On, Mac, Matco tools. But... seems those guys around here always wanna give you a hard time on making any tools up. My father was a auto technician for 35 years, ive seen him walk in Sears with a 5 gallon bucket full of Craftsman tools that had broken over the years and they never gave him any lip about making any of the tools up. So usually if i need something, i go Craftsman, all the rest, you're just buying a shinny slick product with fansy lettering on it.

 

I have some old US Thorson's that are super. Over the years, I have pickd up Craftsman, GM Performance, Stanley. The Craftsman ratchet stripped out it's teeth, but I bought it when I was about 19, and I am 45 now. I bought the Thorson ratchets about the same time and have used them harder and they are still going strong. Since I can't get the real Thorson brand anymore, I picked up GM Performance. So far, I really like this ratchet. much finer toothed, than any of my older ones. We will see how it last.

 

Old thread but ill toss in my opinion.

For wratchets I like matco. Snap on wratchets are nice too don't get me wrong but I like the matco wratchets.(88 teeth ftw!) I've broken EVERY single wratchet I've ever bought from my mac dealer. Shame bc I like their stuff too. I do really like craftsman sockets though. Especially the spline drives. They are my go to socket.

For screwdrivers/nut drivers/pliers I like mac. Sure it's Stanley stuff at heart but I'm a fan. I really like my channel lock screwdrivers too. Wouldn't trade them for any other screwdriver set. They have a perfect grip and have a shank that goes all the way to the end so you can beat em with a hammer. And the whole set was 20 something bucks.

For wratcheting wrenches I like gear wrench. But I do have a few harbor freight ones in the mix that do just fine.

Snap on hammers be it dead blow, ball peen.. Are the best Imo. But I have shattered one or two of them. Same goes for snap on pry bars. Really nice

For specialty stuff I like mac again. They have a wide assortment of specialty tools you wouldn't even know existed.

For odds and ends I buy harbor freight. Extensions, punches, mallet, these things you can't really go wrong with.

For battery operated tools I'm a fan of both Dewalt and Milwaukee.

As far as air tools... Ingersoll rand is one of if not the best you can get.

The scan tool of choice for me is my mac. Best scanner I've used so far. Always dead on.

I am a mechanic so I use these tools everyday. Including the weekends on the jeep

 

My parents just bought me a craftsman tool set for my birthday and i love it. its the 255 piece set that comes with the box. we use the same sets daily in auto shop at school, and we've never broken anything. i know for a fact the 1/2 inch rachets have been used as hammers before.

my dad had a craftsman torque wrench a while back, he was using it to torque a rocker arm stud in an old pontiac engine and the stud broke off (crap in the threads jammed it). he got mad and threw the torque wrench across the garage and it broke, wouldnt click anymore and the handle was screwed up. he took it to sears and told them what happened and they gave him a new one.

a guy in auto shop broke a snap on breaker bar trying to loosen a lug nut.

 

Those sets are a good value!

 

I've collected a little bit of all sorts of brands over the years.........Snap-On, Matco, MAC, Craftsman, S&K, GearWrench and even a few Cobalt tools. As far as ratchets go, I like my Matco ones the best. They have slimmer heads than other brands and finer teeth. My sockets are mostly Craftsman and all my wrenches are Snap-On except for the ratcheting GearWrenches.

There's always a trade off though. Snap-On and Matco are more sturdy than Craftsman but, if I break a Craftsman tool, all I have to do is go to Sears and exchange it. If I break one of the others, I have to wait until the truck shows up at work to get it fixed or replaced.

 

craftsman has turned to china garbage now i buy matco and snap on

 

Snap On!