Ok well buy five sets so when one breaks you have several backups and trade in when they break. You'll still be ahead by at least half. I know mechanics too, I understand quality is important. I have broken tools before. I just can't see spending 10 times the amount for a snap on? Heck, I like some snap on stuff. But I hate to see a consumer get the shaft. There is no way buying snap on tools can be justified unless you get a super deal on them. I know mechanics that started on the snap on thing, but now they buy craftsman, husky, and campel hausfield because they realise just how asinine it is to buy a Snap On. I mean if it were only twice the price, I could see it. I went to Snap On and they wanted $1300 for a 48 piece socket set. Hell for $1300 I could buy a 500 piece craftsman set and then buy a roll around to put them in and still have $300 for air tools.

 

My G.M. Goodwrench 3/4" ratcheting wrench was made in TAIWAN. IMO older craftsman tools are better quality than the new
K-raftsman tools.
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...20&%20Ratchets
now they have ratchets made with a torks head bolt. i can only think that its so the sears employees can replace the bearings while flirting with the hottie from shoes. i am not a craftsman hater. all my hand tools are craftsman. i buy them for the guarentee. i do not endorse sears or K-Mart or Martha Stewart. Nor do i condone their products just i, myself buy the tools for the guarentee. this is not a advertisment.

 

id like to see the tool chest in which you keep 5 sets of everything while youre at work. and then remember to stop at sears every day after work on the way home...

look im a DIEHARD craftsman fan, but you dont use em when youre a mechanic for a living. ive broken my share of sockets and im not a mechanic. sure i was using non impact sockets with my impact.

 

im on my 3rd stanley 3/8 ratchet in a year and i dont even use a breaker bar on it, just normal use. im glad the exchange is free, but i havent broken a craftman or snapon tool i have yet

 

After hearing about Snap-On tools, One day I visited a hanger and asked one of the A&P's there about the Snap-On tools they use, he handed me a Snap-On socket and I could tell already the material is different and feels tough plus it's thinwalled for better acess to tight places (such as a bolt closely in a corner with not much room to spare of a normal socket was used)
I am investing in a kit from Snap-On Aircraft set and the Add-on set with the tool storage foam kit. All that is going to costs me roughly $2,500 with the college discount.

I'll be getting this kit in the late springtime after I graduate.

The only rachet I ever felt comfortable with is the Craftsman 3/8th Professional Thin Profile.

 

Well if you spend $20K on snapon (hell, I know guys that have that just in their tool chest), you can get a few sets of the same tools (slightly less quallity, but with the guarantee), for $5K and still have money to buy a couple of chests and a Camaro Z28!

I am not advertising for Craftsman, you can do it with Husky if you like or whoever. Heck I think Autozone has a line of tools with a LT guarantee.

I think that Snap On runs a racket to get their customers into debt with the myth that you have to have Snap On Tools (or Mac) if you are a mechanic. And come on $20-$30K worth of debt for anyone not making at least $90K is silly especially when there is a much more affordable alternative with a LT replacement policy. I just don't like for mechanics to be getting the short end of it. Debt SUCKS! It sucks the quality of life away!

 

I have broken a couple of sockets, I was using a breaker bar to loosen the bolts on a flexplate. Now I just use my impact sockets made somewhere else. No more problems.

 

In my experience the Snap on truck only comes by once a week. What happens if he just pulled out of the lot and you snap a socket? Can you call them or do you run to Sears and buy a backup?

 

You just pull out one of the extra Craftsmans that you bought while saving a shitload of money by not buying the Snap On!

 

so does losing your job because you have no tools or they break every day while youre at work.

seriously man do you not think someone at some time tried this? do you not think that mechanics know of autozone? do you not think that THERE IS A REASON SNAPON CHARGES WHAT THEY DO AND GET AWAY WITH IT?! ive met some stubborn people in my life but WOW open your eyes man. its obvious that this has been tried. every mechanic starting off gets craftsman if they cannot afford the good stuff (snap on etc) and then upgrades. i mean this isnt rocket science. if i could buy 10 P2 500mhz computers for work and when one was full of ad ware, throw it away use another. yeah that makes sense to me. let me line my cube up with 10 pc's and swap them out when they break. sounds logical to me. or invest in one nice one that will last. hm.

again, snap on/mac tools/matco would all be out of business if their tools werent worth the money or "mechanics got shafted" you act like they are the ONLY people in the world to get shafted on anything...right...poor them and not poor anyone else.

lastly, no one makes these poor mechanics "get into debt" except for themselves. you dont need to sit on the internet and worry about their debt level. you can buy expensive tools as long as its in moderation and as long as you stay employed. simple as that.

this thread has SO lost whatever point it had. time to end it.

 

Open your eyes man. I know plenty of mechanics that don't use the snapon, Matco, Mac, etc. Even ones who have been in the business for awhile. I work at a Nissan Plant, and there are no Snap On, or any of the big names around here. Plenty of auto Mechanics and Maintenance people using Proto and Craftsman. I think Snap On makes a great tool, but it costs too much. There are plenty of people who buy something because they think they have too. If someone wants to buy the 10 times as much tool, fine, I'll still think it's silly. If they want to buy a $20K roll around and go into debt doing it? I'm not going to stop them. I wouldn't do it. Payments SUCK.

 

I guess my main issue is seeing a mechanic (and good guy) having problems making ends meet, but they have a nice Snap On tool chest and tools. And they have that payment deducted from each paycheck. Craftsman and Husky is plenty good to do the work. You may have to replace a part every now and then, but it is 1/10 the price. It's not that I have any loyalty to one brand of tools, but I don't like getting shafted.

 

20 years ago Snap-On used to cost two or three times as much as Craftsman. Now, the are much more - maybe 10 times as much.

Both Craftsman and Snap-on are made in the US; right? So their labor cost is similar; right?

OK so Snap-ons are much better designed and much better fit and finish. I suspect the steel is about the same quality. But I don't understand the price value relationship if Snap-Ons cost 10 times as much, however...

I recently inspected a large Snap-On box - $6,000. My neighbor is the Snap-On franchisor in my town. It was double walled and weighted a bunch. You can sit on the drawers and they wont bust. So what - I don't need an expensive armor-plated tank to keep my tools in order...

On the other hand, you can't argue with success.

Apparently, they keep selling lots of tools so they have convinced many in this world that the value is good for the price they charge.

 

What kind of box was it? That's low for what I'm thinking of. Some of the craftsman stuff is made here. I think some is "assembled" here. Steel quality "I don't know"

 

to be honest, ive had a few mechanics in my family and i do industrial service work, the snap on tools do have a better fit on average than a craftman or stanley tool. so i do have a few snap on tools for the things that i use alot and put alot of stress on. mostly few certain size wrenches and such. i do have a a backup and if either brakes i dont fire myself, i just go to the customers maintanance shop and borrow theres for a few minutes and get a new on the next day.

 

I don't argue with having a couple of things from snap on. They make a great tool. I like their ratchets and would have bought one, but I found a pretty comfortable Husky I like. The craftsman ratchets tend to wear on your hand when wrenching all day. Just the way the handle was shaped. I just can't see spending an incredible amount of cash for a set of tools, when you can get good tools with a LT warranty for 1/10 the cost.

 

I've got to get off of my soapbox now.

 

Hey did you get this resolved?

I've had good luck with Sears and recently did exactly what you did.

They had a killer deal on their 700 dollar BB Tool Chest for $495. I bought that, with the 10 percent off, plus a coupon for 25 off purchase of 200 or more and I also bought the Lisle organizers, mats, multimeter and a few other misc things.

They gave me all of the discounts, and my wife is religious about having them ring up multiple items on seperate receipts so we get all of the discounts.

On top of that, Sears boo boo'd and offered zero percent on ALL tools within 30 days of that last sale.

I went last week and had my purchase converted to zero percent at the sale price.

I've been less happy with their sales people....I needed a table saw for some moderate work, guy told me "Buy this the only one you'll ever need", well the thing was a complete pile of **** and I didn't know squat about table saws.

Needless to say the cheap 200 dollar model I bought is up for sale and I'm getting a nice Rigid unit that I've been looking at.

I would have spent the 600 up front if I knew back then what I knew today....I've thought of calling them on it....I've used it twice and the fence is a absolute pain in the *** to get straight and IMO the sales person was not informed enough to be selling the item.

Retail sucks but IMO there are more than enough retired people, who had YEARS of woodworking and tool experience that would love a part time job at Sears, there is no excuse with that kind of employee potential that you don't have someone who knows what they are doing.

I more so now shop for tools and things like that based on the sales person, more honest and know what really matters in doing a project.

Hell I went to Rockler looking at routers and a miter saw, even the guy there told me go buy a 200 dollar Craftsman/Dewalt/Rigid instead of their high dollar units because it was way more than most ever need.

 

What about a rusted metric bolt that someone has used a SAE wrench on several times and rounded the corners off? That's part of what makes Snap-on a better tool. A professional mechanic doesn't have an hour or two to fight with a bolt, he needs to get it off and get the job done so he can move onto the next one.

Things like where the wrench grips the bolt, how well head of the wrench is in specs, etc does make a difference. Just looking at the wrench you can't tell these things, but when you use them day in and day out, it is noticeable.

However, if you buy a new car, use the correct tools for the job, and take care of it, you probably won't run into these problems. Usually for a mechanic though, he gets things that aren't like this, someone has done things like I mentioned at the first of this post.

 

this argument is dumb. you wouldnt understand snapon, mac, matco, etc if you dont do it professionally. yeah, so you can quote some mechanics who buy cheaper tools, so what. craftsmen belong in the home garage. the stuff off of the truck belongs at the shop. i just bought a $130 radiator hose clamp tool a few months ago. i dont know how i lived without it. someone who doesnt do this for a living could not possibly understand why i need this. quit arguing with pros