Lowe's or home depot

300jk

Well-known Member
With Sears in bad shape and selling foreign tools I won't buy any more craftsman stuff. So which one had the better tools ? I realize snap on ,mac, and Matco are good but what about less expensive options ? I k ow I have posted before about tools for work but this is slightly different as they will be staying at home. Just wondering how the big box stores tools measure up to the craftsman stuff I have. I always am buying or looking for something I don't have and high end tools aren't in the budget but I would like quality with a warranty. Like my craftsman stuff but if they aren't going to be around buying tools at a flea market or from a private owner does me no good. I also have a bunch of sk sockets and ratchets that I can't find anyone in my area to warranty. Just asking. Thanks.
 
If you have True Value Hardware around, Mater Mechanic tools are very good quality and quite reasonably priced. I believe they may be made by Proto/Urrea. Also both good reasonably priced tools.
 
If you give a buck for something used at a flea market,why do you need a warrantee? Throw it away and go to the flea market again. I bought a ratcheting torque wrench with the calibration sticker on it for $10 last summer. Who cares if something happens to it for that price?
 
I have purchased a few Kobalt tools and a couple of odds and ends here and there. Now as others are saying I just Love flea markets. Some of the stuff I have found you almost want to tell people they are selling it too cheap. How many of these boxes would you like to dig through????
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I understand pawn shops flea markets and other places have tools. Some good some bad and some way over priced. What I was asking is there decent tools at home depot or Lowe's and which one is better. I know I can buy Mac or snap on at flea markets or pawn shops. I have had problems with this also. I bought a 3/8 long handle screwdriver Mac ratchet off the snap on truck three years ago. Has been the biggest pain in the . Ratchet skips when having any kind of force. Had mac try to fix it with new innards. Didn't fix problem. Have done this four or five times. I get I didn't buy it from him but have spent a lot of money with him in the past. I have
 
Shame you have had some crummy experience with stuff. Lowes is a very good place to start but 90%of my tools are flea market. I am serious. Take a very careful look it over serious examination before you buy. Nowheres as bad as the local auction sale but keep you antenna up. You really would not beleave some of the stuff I find!
 
I have a complete set of craftsman sockets and screwdrivers. A complete set of kobalts sockets. Bought deep well HF impacts sockets and end wrenches. Then I have all sorts of every kind of wrenches you can think of I've collected over the past 50 years.

More likely to lose a tool than break one.

I don't really think brand names mean much anymore. Good chance they are no longer made in the USA like craftsman used to be. Better chance they are made in China.

My advice, buy what you can afford or find on sale.

I stay away from pawn shops. I always feel some tools there are stolen and over priced.
 
Ace hardware also sells craftsman now. I will ot buy them as they're made in China. I try to find deals on craigslist. It is becoming harder to find USA made tools. Maybe Grump will fix that but I have my doubts.
 
I agree about pawn shops.
Maybe there are some legitimate items in those places but my guess is that most of it is stolen and pawned to support people's drug habits.
I think the stuff there has bad karma attached to it - if there is such a thing.
I never set foot in them.
 
Both Kobalt and Husky tools are made in China. I wouldn't be afraid of buying Craftsman tools. Craftsman ain't going anywhere. Sears has them for sale. And warranties are the least of my concerns.
 
In more than 40 years the only times I've broken a wrench or socked is when they were being abused such as slipping a pipe over the wrench handle to get more torque. I always have bought the cheapest tools money can buy. I'm currently using Harbor Freight wrenches with no issues.
 
Yeah, at flea markets you can look through the boxes marked $? ea. and almost always find a name brand wrench mixed in with all the imports.
 
Kobalt= China . I try to stay out of Lowes tool section. The Craftsman extension I bought at Ace Hardware was USA made. I will still see and buy Craftsman USA label tools. If I need cheap tools like the narrow breaker bar called a tensioner tool -- H-F. Only thing of interest in Lowes is consumable blades and abrasives , wire wheels . Read the labels.
 
Plus, Harbor Freight hand tools have a lifetime warranty. I wouldn't ask them to replace a tool that I had damaged through misuse (as you described) unless it was something that other brands of tools (I have some of everything---like most people on this site) had survived intact in my experience. I'm not out to cheat anyone, and I consider myself to be generally reasonable, so I feel entitled to be the one to decide what constitutes normal use---particularly since I haven't always ruled in my own favor.

Stan
 
I cannot comment on your question as I don't have any of these tools. Like you I am looking to find my next good value tool line after the Sears Craftsman USA made tools.

I am starting to buy Carlyle tools at NAPA when they are on sale or have tool show specials. So far so good. I plan to buy one of their Master Tool Sets for a road box.

Paul
 
We don't have any pawn shops or big box stores here. You can stand at an auction and buy old USA made tools. They are well used and not complete sets. Stores, I have good old Gary's hardware, one Carquest, and two NAPA stores. Gary has very limited mechanics tools. Carquest sells Gear Wrench brand which is made in Taiwan. The NAPA store sells there own EVER LAST brand also made in Taiwan.

I have been buying some Craftsman sockets and screwdrivers off ebay. Some are USA made and some are not. I can't see that the made in China Craftsman sockets are any worse than the Taiwan stuff from the two auto parts stores.

This week I bought two Craftsman 3/8 drive 1/2 deep sockets for $5.00 with free shipping.

If you want high price made in Taiwan tools go to John Deere. They sell the same tools you can buy at Tru-Value.
 
I needed a set of 3/8" drive metric sockets. I looked at Kobalt and Craftsman/ACE and did not like the looks of them, ordered from HF for $8.95, they look real good to me.
 
I've got a lot of craftsman tools, some i bought 40 years ago. I have a few sk, snap on, and others. A few hf also. As I see it, you have a choice, name brand Chinese or hf type Chinese. As the boss said years ago, those jobs are gone and they aren't coming back.
 
When my work buys them for me I get SK. Pricey but still good and our local AutoValue auto parts store warrantees them.
 
My tools make my living. That being said, I shop for most of my tools in pawn shops. The way I see it, why pay full price for a $50 tool, when you can get a perfectly usable, used one, for $5 or $10.

As a result, I've got MAC, Snap-On, SK, Matco, Bonney, Craftsman, Allen, New Britain, Evercraft (from NAPA), Northern (from Northern Tool), Husky (from Home Depot), Kobalt (from Lowes), Pittsburg (Harbor Freight?), and I'm sure at least a handful of other branded tools.

I use them nearly every day, and I haven't had any problems with any of them. In fact I've even got 'junk' tools that were made in Taiwan, probably 30 or more years ago, that are still working for me just fine.

Ultimately there are good tools everywhere, and you can usually tell just by looking at them whether they are junk or not. Pick the ones that don't look like junk, regardless of the name on them, and you should be OK.
 
Around here, flea markets and pawn shops are a joke. They have everything priced astronomically high, looking for a sucker with more money than brains to come along for that "big score."

Occasionally you'll run into someone looking to dump an estate, but most of the time now even with the estates they're looking to "cash in." If not one of the other vendors will snap it up and add it to their booth at their crazy prices. Deals are far and few between.

That said, flea market tools are fine if you have "backups" just in case you break one. You can't go back to the flea market any day of the week and exchange the broken tool for a replacement.

Heck, you might not even be able to replace the broken tool at the flea market AT ALL. Who says that anyone has what you need at a decent price?
 
Regarding pawn shops: I was looking for a tripod for a 1930's builders lever. Went to three pawn shops and they wanted within $10.00 of what I could buy a new one. Finally, my brain kicked into a lower gear and I tried the place that services levels and transits. I got a good used tripod for $20.00; likely less than I burned up in gasoline. He dated my level as a 1933 model, so I got an extra bonus, right there.
 

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