Should I be worried about Craftsman set?

daves87rs

daves87rs

Joined
Feb 23, 2009
Messages
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Location
Michigan
What’s up guys!

So I found out through the grapevine today that I am getting a large Craftsman mechanic set from my family for Christmas. I’m pretty happy about that. (I have a mixed bag of stuff now) But a mention to a few friends who warn me that these tools are quite bad now, and refund for another brand ASAP.

While I know they are no longer as good as they used to be, should I really be that worried? I have some home and car projects coming up, but nothing that is going to abuse these tools. Personally, I was shopping for Gearwrench (thanks Project Farm) but I would think (and hope) that the Craftsman set should just fine. Also noting that this set is coming from Lowes, in case that helps.

Hoping I should enjoy this Xmas present (Hoping!)
 
They aren’t as bad as people say they are. Especially here recently. The Taiwan stuff is nice which is likely what yours would be. I use some of the stuff everyday as a mechanic it does really well. Their gunmetal ratchets are pretty nice and the quality is good too. Sure it’s not the Craftsman of the old days but it’s not going to be something that breaks the first time either. And the warranty is pretty easy too don’t fool with Lowes just email them and they will ship a replacement. They have gotten better since Stanley first took over in 2017 then they were not that great now they are pretty good. They are mostly Taiwan now not China so much anymore. I hope you keep it. I could not live with myself if I returned a gift. Lol.
 
If you want to spend more time trying to decide which brands in this price range might be the better option, go over to TheGarageJournal (GJ) forum and study their tool threads.

I agree with everyone above that today's Taiwan made Craftsman are of decent quality, have easy local access, and the warranty/return policy is good. IF I were shopping for tools in this price range, I would be very tempted to go with Tekton, which is well regarded at GJ. Again, mostly Taiwan made with a growing number of U.S. made tools. As a bonus, they are located out of Grand Rapids, Michigan and their customer service/warranty policy is second to no one. Their sets don't skip sizes and the company has really been innovative the past few years.

Because it's a gift, you will have to be careful not to offend anyone. Most people still identify the Craftsman brand and are clueless about Tekton.
 
AutoMechanic said:
They aren’t as bad as people say they are. Especially here recently. The Taiwan stuff is nice which is likely what yours would be. I use some of the stuff everyday as a mechanic it does really well. Their gunmetal ratchets are pretty nice and the quality is good too. Sure it’s not the Craftsman of the old days but it’s not going to be something that breaks the first time either. And the warranty is pretty easy too don’t fool with Lowes just email them and they will ship a replacement. They have gotten better since Stanley first took over in 2017 then they were not that great now they are pretty good. They are mostly Taiwan now not China so much anymore. I hope you keep it. I could not live with myself if I returned a gift. Lol.
Click to expand...

Yeah, coming from family, id rather not.
 
doitmyself said:
If you want to spend more time trying to decide which brands in this price range might be the better option, go over to TheGarageJournal (GJ) forum and study their tool threads.

I agree with everyone above that today's Taiwan made Craftsman are of decent quality, have easy local access, and the warranty/return policy is good. IF I were shopping for tools in this price range, I would be very tempted to go with Tekton, which is well regarded at GJ. Again, mostly Taiwan made with a growing number of U.S. made tools. As a bonus, they are located out of Grand Rapids, Michigan and their customer service/warranty policy is second to no one. Their sets don't skip sizes and the company has really been innovative the past few years.

Because it's a gift, you will have to be careful not to offend anyone. Most people still identify the Craftsman brand and are clueless about Tekton.
Click to expand...

I’ve heard good thing about them too. See them here locally too.
 
Craftsman tools are not bad at all, does the job. Might not be the best for highly frequent usage but I cannot be the judge of that.
 
Use them and enjoy them. Are they "as good" as the old Craftsman tools from the 70's, or the insanely expensive "Snap-On" brand? Most likely not. But they still work well, and will more than serve the purpose. And they have a good warranty if you do break one once and a while.

I hear much the same about a lot of the in house tool brands sold at Harbor Freight. I'm still waiting for my first one to fail. They all have a lifetime warranty if they do, and Harbor Freight stores are everywhere.

And most all of these tools are cheap enough that if you do have to pay to replace one it's not a big hit. In fact from a cost standpoint, with the price of gas today, it's more of an issue of how close the store is located to you.

Yeah, if you watch these Youtube videos where they push the tool beyond its limits until it bends, cracks, breaks, or otherwise fails, some of the lower cost tools from Kobalt, Harbor Freight, etc. won't hold up quite as well. But honestly, who uses tools like that?

I can see buying the high priced brands if you're a tradesman or mechanic who makes your living with them. But for most everyone else, the Craftsman brand, and most others will give more than satisfactory service.

And they'll last long enough to give someone else much the same long after you have dissolved into dust.
 
They've done some good things in tool making in the last 20 years, the "flank drive" or whatever trademark grips fasteners adequately and, well, tool steel is pretty well defined. The only real junk out there are "Gedore" from India that bend like wet noodles.

Even the lowest offering raised panel wrenches from HF will take hammering-- they're just clumsy to use or built with thicker walls as an acknowledgement of their cheaper steel.
 
My brother did have a 3/8 ratchet break on him. It wasn’t abused and had a very easy life for the last year or so. I say that one was a dud.

The warranty exchange was simple. They do seem decently made.
 
Back in the day Craftsman's warranty was the best. I worked in a field where I would wear at least 2 ratchets out in a year. At first they would give you another replacement no questions asked. Then , they started giving you a cheaper model replacement. Same thing with the tape measures. If the blade would break, bring it in and they would hand you another. Then the last time I went for a replacement, they would just hand you a replacement blade. And if you didn't do it just right, it sprung apart like a Jack in the box. I hope their warranty is better then 20 years ago. Oh, I've had several Craftsman tape measures where the numbers and the paint would wear off the blade, making it totally useless. If they don't have a better product to offer today, you might as well go to Harbor Freight, and take your chances.,,,
 
My tool set has grown over the past year or two with Craftsman and other brands, depending on price and availability. I have yet to see one fail to do the job it was designed to do.

Instead of questioning the quality of the newer Craftsman tools, I would question the knowledge/intent of those people (in the original post) who claim craftsman is junk. I suspect they never owned one. They probably also insist that Pennzoil will cause sludge and early engine failure, because their cousin's uncle's stepdaddy said so...
 
Saying you wanted GW and then questioning Craftsman makes no sense. I'd say they're equivalent.

Craftsman bashing is popular because:
1) they're trying to capitalize on their reputation of old but now they're a VERY different company. That's business, though. I don't fault the company any more than I fault ignorant consumers. There's some old saying about that in some dead language....caveat something blah blah

2) their RP (raised panel) and later Chinese lobster claw wrenches were problematic, weak or crude. Also the ratchets of old with plastic gears were comical only because it was laugh or cry

You CAN email them now for warranty issues but it can be VERY slow sometimes to actually receive a replacement
 
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