What kind of tools do you run?

I have a mix of Snap-On and Craftsman in my box at work. The Snap-On is slowly but surely replacing the Craftsman. I like both brands, but the Craftsman just don't hold up to daily abuse like Snap-On's do. Like someone said earlier in the post, craftsman is great, unless you use them every day to make a living.

Take out a 2000 or newer Audi S4 for a test drive sometime, and really throw it around, they really are tight cars, I work on them for a living, and they are pretty badass.

 

Alright. I wasn't gonna post on this, But screw it.

I do this for a living. I have for well over a decade, and closing in on two.

It is as simple as this. if you need ALOT of tools, and don't have a Sears card, how exactly do you propose you are gonna PAY for them? (keep in mind that you are out from under your shade tree...you are now a guy looking at your CAREER.) and if you are gonna pay for them, wouldn't it be nice if you had a set of wrenches? not some gleaned from the pawn shop, or Flea market one at a time. and since you are a full time tech, 8 to 5, monday through Friday, and sometimes (or in my case,every) saturday, you don't really have the time to go galavanting off to sears to replace whatever you just broke...especially if you know that next week, a guy in a truck is gonna pull up and not give you any shit if you broke the tip off a screwdriver using it as a prybar, he's gonna give you a new one.
and imagine, for a moment, that your tools were of high enough quality that you weren't CONSTANTLY breaking the SAME SHITTY SOCKET over and over again. or stripping the head on the same KNUCKLE BUSTING RATCHET over and over again.

I will tell you the answers.
The guy on the truck will allow you to make LOW payments on your stuff. for (typically)as long as you gotta. (My personal highest amount on any truck-over 6K. yeah...My horrible Snap-On dealer let me finance a big ass toolbox. On the truck account.)

if you are prone to breaking quality tools, chances are you are kicking the crap out of them. (and let's face it. if you break a snap on tool, you would have broken a craftsman in the same place. However, if you break a craftsman tool, chances are pretty good a snap -on tool will do the job the craftsman wouldn't)

then there is a matter of simple convinence. I don't want to spend my day or time off running to sears (or Harbor freight, or where the hell over.) I want to go home, pet my dog, see my wife, and KNOW that my stuff's LIFETIME warranty means LIFETIME. like as long as I am alive. I also like knowing (as a classic example) that if my old tool breaks, and the only thing avalible is an "upgrade", I get the "upgraded" tool without paying any type of "pro rated" b.s.
case and point. Matco swivel sockets. they break pins. they created a new design without pins. you break one WITH a pin, you get the type without. no extra charge. KICK ASS.

So yeah. beyond that, I have alot of real nice stuff. I use it every day.
EVERY DAY. There is a difference. it's on the side of the truck. I am not Wealthy, rich, or "well to do", but I know I cannot afford cheap shit.

Paying for a hyphen,eh?...well, in the last 18 years, that hyphen has proven reliable. The craftsman stuff?...well, I keep it around so if I have to bend up a wrench or trim down a socket, I don't shed any tears throwing it away when I am done.

 

Garage sale stuff, but buying new stuff i prefer mac tools or snap on.

 

Thank you..... very well put...

 

Very interesting thread, I,ve been a tech, service mgr, General MGR and for the last 13 years worked for a specialty tool company, currently their GM. We make specialty hand tools for pretty much all of the above Companies and many more, worldwide.

Most input in this thread is right on, the guy who wrenches at home as a hobby does not need the high$ Snap-On, Matco, etc tools. But when you make a living with your tools, spending the extra $ is well worth it. Especially with "specialty" stuff that does 1 specific job, break it, your screwed, your local tool truck driver probably won't have it.

One quick input to all, all of the big 4 tool companies pretty much demand that their suppliers mfr or buy overseas to save them the $$$. I unforunately have sat in many of these meetings, it's a bummer.......... but thats the world we live in.

 

a 40 year assortment of Craftsman, Snap-on, SK a motley assortment that was scavenged out of cars when I was in the salvage business..what I want now is a set of those neat little angled ratchet wrenches....

 

snap-on, s-k, and for very cool stuff I go with knipex, they make locking channel locks and crescent's and have a pair of cutters that will go through a penny with one hand, then cut paper like the sharpest scissors

am also negotiating with a friend to buy his large collection of plumb tools

power tools generally is dewalt, and about to buy a millermatic 210 on the welding side