Snap on or Craftsman tools?

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

You are using a lot of words that I don't understand the meaning of.

If you want to offend me or anyone else, is it necessary to use such out-house language ??

We can dis-agree without insulting one another, can't we ??


You started this and left the door open.

no he was wearing safety glasses, but i guess noone has ever heard of something going around them, smartass, by the way, there is no way HF sockets last longer then snap-on stuff. i am in no way-shape-or-form going to get into a which tool is better debate with someone with over 60 years experience, which makes you what 80?, but there is a lot of truth and a lot of ******** on the internet, and reading that i call ********. i have a HF about 3 miles from my house, and have tried there tools several times. i had a 10 mm wrench that broke the open end on, using as directed, and it broke, not stretched, broke, quality tool eh, many of there sockets and various other stuff have broke on me, burned up several of there angle grinders, ect. but, they do have some tools that are good, i have a inner tie rod tool from them and it works great, tubing bender, press, and other small things that work good. im not going to write this in thick black letters cause im not some arrogant ass but the best thing for the OP to do is go to a few local shops and chat with a few techs, ask them about the service of the mac/snap-on/ect and see what they recommend, cause everyone on the internet has 60+ years experience and plenty of "good" advise to give.

 

[MUDKICKR]

You are using a lot of words that I don't understand the meaning of.

If you want to offend me or anyone else, is it necessary to use such out-house language ??

We can dis-agree without insulting one another, can't we ??

im just calling it the way i see it, if thats the way you take it, then so be it. if you want me to use insults, i could, but there is none in what i said, only truth. and since you wanted insults, i guess i could let my 4 year old explain the "big words" for you.
You started this and left the door open.

 

[Agnem]

mel-
it's getting harder to stay "buy american". I thought I was "buying american" a couple of weeks ago until I opened the package.
one more thing, before you get too deeply buried in the solus, check to see if it is CAN system compatible. I would up getting stuffed into a Modus system due to CAN communications issues.

I hear ya Kalvin. I'm always watching out for that. My favorite place to buy tools really is the Cars at Carlisle events. There are a lot of vendors there with new old stock. SK stuff still made in Lancaster, PA and some other oldie but goodie brands. Much cheaper too. The Solus does CAN near as I know. It worked on an 06' Superduty, so I imagine that's CAN, and it works on my wifes 08' Mustang.

 

[War Wagon]

I was in your same boat in 2004 when I started college and started seriously looking at tools and the costs. To some degree you're always limited to what you can afford at the time, and at times I've been limited. There are a lot of cheap tools that are not worth the money or worth a ****. I've found the same goes for the expensive ones. Some of the cheap stuff I bought when that's all I could afford I still have now and use today. For example, in 2004 I bought a set of Bench Top 3/8 extensions at Kmart. That's what they sold at the time, but not anymore. I paid less than $10 and figured they would get me by until I could afford good ones. Well, I used them for punches, pry bars, cheaters, and their intended purpose, and have been using them for 8 years now. They turned out to be of great quality and value. I have a set of MAC 3/8 metric universal impact sockets that I bought in college through the student tool discount program. I got a good deal but still paid a lot of money. I've warranted every socket that I actually use in the set. Some several times. Now, my MAC guy is very good and replaces them, no problem, but it's still a pain in the ass and holds up the job when they break. In the universal impact socket department Snap On is the only way to go. The same goes for ratchets. If you use it everyday it's worth every penny for Snap On ratchets. I also have a set of Snap On 3/8 standard universal impact sockets, and they are tough. I've been abusing those for 6 years now and I can't break them. I've tried. On the specific brand of Snap On there are ways to get the same tool for cheaper. CAT and Case New Holland dealers sell their own line of tools of which the higher end are made by Snap On. The sockets I just mentioned are actually branded CAT, but they're exactly the same piece other than the stamp on the metal. I paid way less from CAT than on the Snap On truck. Also your college should have a student discount program with the big distributers. Talk to your instructors and the Snap On guy about it. I bought a lot of tools at 50% off retail when I was in college. Snap On, MAC, and Matco all have student programs. There are plenty of companies in the middle that are very good such as: SK, KD, Allen, Blackhawk, Wright, PROTO, and Armstrong among others. On the Craftsmen tools I have plenty of those too. Guys older than me say that old Craftsman tool were really good. The new ones are of poor quality in the standard line. The Craftsmen Professional line stuff seams to be really good and is reasonably priced. Hope this helps. I'm young in this game yet, but I've learned a lot on the subject of tools since I graduated high school.

 

[firehawk]

Here is a bit of info that most people miss: tools change, just like everything else. Manufacturers can be bought and sold and that can make a huge difference in the quality of the tool. Same goes for the sourcing, as not all companies make their own tools, and that can change from year to year. Had a great tool from brand Z but someone else had a bad one from brand Z, I bet they were different in how they were made. So when you buy a tool has a profound impact on quality. Reviews are useless without a date.

That said, I have used many tools in a professional environment, but the best for the money has always been craftsman. Most of my craftsman tools were bought new 10-20 years ago. A few items have been replaced, and even the newest replacements from 2-3 years ago worked great. I use IR air tools because they last and my devilbiss air compressor has worked great for the past 14 years.

About 15 years ago I used some husky tools, and they had a high failure rate. My craftsman sockets work great. Regular sockets see impact use all the time, and I have had one failure in 20 years. Wrenches are great. Even with leverage, I have not had one fail, and I am a very strong guy. I have also had only one issue on warranty for a craftsman, and that was some kid that acted like he had to pay for them. His manager sorted things out fine.

I recommend to buy set when they go on sale, or used. Estate sales can be great; same with some pawn stores, but most want way too much. Buying a piece at a time is a waste unless you need that one item that day.

 

[icanfixall]

At one time Sears was a ball buster to its suppliers. What they would do is move in and have a maker building their brand of tools. They would increase their demand for more and more inventory. Eventually the supplier would be doing only Sears brand tools and let go of their built up other client base. then Sears would Discuss the way they were going to pay for what they got... They lower the cost and tell the builder take it or leave it.. Well most tool makers in that position had to give in to the demands of their only customer. That put many tool builders out of business. We often look at something with a brand on it as the name... Like Sears craftsman. In reality Sears does not make a tool. They farm it out... Who really makes the anti freeze or the battery in our car or truck. I have a knowledge of good hand tools from almost 40 years of working in the power generation and chemical plant work. What I found to work well is the JH Williams, Proto and finally craftsman hand tools. My everyday set of work tools went from 7/16 up to 1 5/8 combo wrenches in the proto and williams tools. I never broke any of them and used cheaters on all of them too. When your repacking a steam vavle that has 4200 lbs of steam on it you can't make a mistake. Some of those valves had a stem diameter of 4 inches and used a packing that was 1 inch square with inconel braided wire in them.