Craftsman tool batteries

[dennishoddy]

My grandfather's screw drivers from the 70s and dad's from the 80s are fine.

The newer ones, say 90s and newer, the Philips just all strip/round off and lose their point pretty easily. I've exchanged several in the 20+ years I've owned sets. The flathead are only marginally better (still chipped or bent more easily than you'd expect, even just trying to loosen fasteners. Not prying).

Proto professional Phillips head are junk as well. I suckered into buying some of those. I've got several full sets of proto professional combination wrenches from the 70's that I'll put up against anything. Amazing the size of cheaters I've put on them and they don't break or bend.
Actually have a plethora of tools. I had to buy and supply my own hand tools throughout my career, and I needed some for home as well, so when needing a tool or tool set, mechanical or electrical, I'd order two. So, now retired, brought all my stuff home and I've got tools and tool boxes everywhere.

 

[Glock 40]

So I will admit I am a tool snob. I get HF junk mail all the time and when I see there "compares to Snap-on adds." I just want to B@#$% slap them for that nonsense. I am really wondering though if they have lost their mind or their customers have with their new so called higher quality(Professional) wares they are selling now. Their newer Blue and Red drills and such are junk as seen in comparison videos on youtube. AvE is a hoot to watch on anything especially his HF videos. Just make sure no kids are in distance as he has some colorful language.

I still can't see a pro buying a $350 Hercules saw vs just spending the money on Dewalt or something they know will stand up and have a history with. Same with the Welders, torque wrenches and everything else they have tried to have a Professional grade tool in the last year or two.

I will buy zipties and nitril gloves from them along with the occasional one use tool but my time is money and is too valuable to trust their stuff. Especially when they are charging higher prices for their pro stuff but it still only has a 90 warranty on most items.

 

[Shadowrider]

Some people will buy stuff that has a "lifetime warranty" thinking that means quality. They think that it IS quality since the manufacturer won't want to replace it so it's built to last. Those days are sadly over in almost all cases. It's all about risk factor now, they take a risk that they will have to replace some units, but they know that the number of units they have to replace will not be that great. Most folks don't use their tools very much and are much more likely to lose them than break them.

 

[SoonerP226]

There are some tools I'll buy at HF, but not, generally speaking, something I'm expecting to be using regularly. One exception is the Pittsburgh 24" 1/2"-drive breaker bar, but that's not likely to hurt me if it fails, and if it does fail, it was less than $20, so I can buy a bunch of them for the cost of a higher-quality tool.

 

[Aries]

I noticed some time back (don't remember how long ago) that the quality of the pieces in the combination sets is not the same as the individual pieces. So for instance if you buy a 100 piece Craftsman socket set, the walls of the 1/2 inch socket are thinner than if you just buy an individual socket. Of course buying all individual pieces would cost you several hundred dollars more though.