jeepmedic46
Expedition Leader
Looking to replace my tools which were lost in my divorce. Thinking of going with the Craftsman mechanic set the 200 piece set I believe it is. Is this a good choice any other suggestions?:smiley_drive:
Tools
- Thread starter jeepmedic46
- Start date
computeruser
Explorer
Not a bad starting point.
Craftsman stuff isn't the best, but it isn't the worst, and it certainly has a good guarantee and relative ease of exchange if stuff breaks!
Craftsman stuff isn't the best, but it isn't the worst, and it certainly has a good guarantee and relative ease of exchange if stuff breaks!
Root Moose
Expedition Leader
Craftsman is decent for the price. Most of my old tools from when I was young are Craftsman and they have served me well. Up here in Canuckistan the Sears store presence isn't what it once was so I've pretty much much been forced to migrate/add to my tools with Mastercraft tools from Canadian Tire. Similar quality, a touch better if you go with the Pro line.
Stay away from the Harbour Freight / Princess Auto stuff. Some of it is good but all of it is made off-shore for the most part. Lots of it is junk. Broken tools from PA have cost me too much time, the money is secondary. IIRC the Craftsman and Mastercraft stuff is still made in North America.
I don't know much about the Home Depot Husky line.
HTH
Stay away from the Harbour Freight / Princess Auto stuff. Some of it is good but all of it is made off-shore for the most part. Lots of it is junk. Broken tools from PA have cost me too much time, the money is secondary. IIRC the Craftsman and Mastercraft stuff is still made in North America.
I don't know much about the Home Depot Husky line.
HTH
jeepmedic46
Expedition Leader
The set I'm looking at is about about 250 dollars is this a good deal?:smiley_drive:
crosbike
New member
depends on what is included. link to the set?
Backwoods Rambler
Explorer
For my garage I have a Craftsman tool set that my father gave me for a H.S. graduation present. For the Jeep, I have all Harbor Freight stuff. There is a BIG difference if quality of the wrenches, but I find that the sockets are closer in quality, however the ratchets are not as good.
I started with a full Snap-On Mechanics set (not to crazy of price with student discount)...the tools look, feel and work beautifully
when 90% of them were stolen :smileeek: I've had to replace most with Craftsman (join the craftsman club for discounts) and Evercraft (found at NAPA... get the higher quality line) to be good replacements at a MUCH lower cost
and for the weekend garage monkey...the lower price stuff is just fine
now I will say the place to spend the money on (for manual hand tools anyways) is the ratchets... get the best ones you can... and the more the merrier (which is why the "kits" aren't the best...but will get you started)
to much :coffeedrink: today
when 90% of them were stolen :smileeek: I've had to replace most with Craftsman (join the craftsman club for discounts) and Evercraft (found at NAPA... get the higher quality line) to be good replacements at a MUCH lower cost
and for the weekend garage monkey...the lower price stuff is just fine
now I will say the place to spend the money on (for manual hand tools anyways) is the ratchets... get the best ones you can... and the more the merrier (which is why the "kits" aren't the best...but will get you started)
to much :coffeedrink: today
Pawn shops can be good and bad. If you're willing to spend the time, you might get what you want. As in a reasonably complete set of tools. Normally I find they'll have a big box of useless random stuff (stockets, extensions, etc) and a few better items locked up (complete sets, torque wrenches). Generally I only dig in the bin for a couple minutes, there's normally way too much junk and everything good has already been picked over by the pawn shop hunters with no life otherwise...
But, you can get a smoking deal on a torque wrench. I've seen snap-on ones for much less than half of the snappy price.
My tools are a mix. I have a bunch of snap-on at work, but only for what I use constantly (which is 1/4" drive 12-point stuff, cutters/pliers, and specialty items like off-sets and flex-head sockets). The rest of my stuff is old-school craftsman. I've broken the ratchets at times, but it was always 'my fault' because a cheater was involved or I was trying to break a bolt off... Otherwise it does well.
At home I only have craftsman. Bang for the buck. Plus a few odd-ball items for specific tasks.
CharlieV
Adventurer
Too bad we don't have many pawn shops in the Mass! I don't think I have ever seen one. Buy a copy of the Want Advertiser or whatever that catch all magazine is, the one they sell everything from pet snakes to used tires in, there are some good deals on used tools in there. That is if you have the time to drive around and look at things.
All my work trucks have a Craftsman socket/wrench sets in them. As long as you keep water out of that plastic case they will last and make a great, reasonably priced tool set. If you see a tool guy running around (matco, snap-on truck, etc.) ask them for a catalog with SK sets in them. I have bought a few SK sets that are good as well and similarly priced to Craftsman. If you don't live near a Sears, but do live near the route of a tool guy, this may be worth thinking about as tools break and it nice to have them easily warrantied. I have a Sunex (Sunnex maybe?) combination wrench set in my jeep and think their quality is pretty poor, but they were very cheap.
All my work trucks have a Craftsman socket/wrench sets in them. As long as you keep water out of that plastic case they will last and make a great, reasonably priced tool set. If you see a tool guy running around (matco, snap-on truck, etc.) ask them for a catalog with SK sets in them. I have bought a few SK sets that are good as well and similarly priced to Craftsman. If you don't live near a Sears, but do live near the route of a tool guy, this may be worth thinking about as tools break and it nice to have them easily warrantied. I have a Sunex (Sunnex maybe?) combination wrench set in my jeep and think their quality is pretty poor, but they were very cheap.