TEKTON They actually look/feel and work better in person than in the photos. The inner ratchet wheels even feel like they are machine cut, very precise.
I don't recommend the really cheap Tekton tools for under 10 bucks though. Q is rather bad on some of those.

The SAE combination wrench set costed $60.

Made in Taiwan; at least they aren't made in China.
Don't tell LJP; they think Taiwan is part of Communist China.

Well I'm sold on them & then the Taiwanese have some fine manufacturing techniques going these days. I bought 4 different Tekton sets for my basement shop. You can have your Snap-Ons and Macs.
The box ends ride on the flat of the nut not the point and the outside of the box is rounded not flat like most. Much easier to slip onto a nut than the conventional "on the point" ones.

Taiwanese tools are the best; I have a mill made there.

Taiwan used to make the low end tools. China undercut that segment of the market. Taiwan upped their quality and now build world class tools. Both hand and power.

Dave

I've tried for some time to avoid anything made on China (ain't easy!) My grandson gave me a Mercedes Benz cap...Guess what "made in China"

Glad to here that about Tai quality.

About China - No surprise there DW. Lots of junk out there made PRC. But, my (so-called) Professional meat slicer from Cabela's and our 1 quart ice cream maker are China built ad are decent quality. The way it appears that there are two groups. China designed and built for the "el cheapo" market & 'built to spec' from an order from another country.
Any China stuff I've gambled on that requires any kind of heat treatment has failed. Some miserably

I have one of their 1/2" drive, 250ft.lb. torque wrenches. I think it was $38, good quality in a hard case.

Well, I have been buying + using Snap-On since the early 70s. They are pricey, I'll admit but they are the Rolls Royce of tools. Also with a lifetime warranty, my only real concern is my kids borrowing them. They also patterned the "flank drive" which I noticed in the pics of your sockets, they seem to have that also. Perhaps the patent expired. It is a good feature.

Nice catch Randy. Great feature.

Go to Napa and look at their premium Carlysle tool line. Its made by Snap-on at 1/3 the price. Look at the socket design and wrench design and you will see its Snap-on all the way. Made in USA. I have 4 of their socket sets, several ratchet handles and a few complete set of ratcheting wrenches... THe quality is as good as what you get off a tool truck.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Well, I have been buying + using Snap-On since the early 70s. They are pricey, I'll admit but they are the Rolls Royce of tools. Also with a lifetime warranty, my only real concern is my kids borrowing them. They also patterned the "flank drive" which I noticed in the pics of your sockets, they seem to have that also. Perhaps the patent expired. It is a good feature.

I believe I heard Lowe's Kobalt tools are made by Snap-On. If they are they are a bargain as Lowe's sells them cheaper.

I recently also bought ratchets from Tekton. Very impressed with them as well. Initially I wanted to replace a broken 1990 3/8 Craftsman ratchet. Took it to make use of the lifetime warranty and was underwhelmed by the new unpolished, made in China craftsman swap out. So got the 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 in Tektons.

Kobalt was originally made in USA and very good. But then they started making them in China. Now it appears they've brought it back to USA. Not sure if Kobalt tools are the same Williams made tool sets that were the original Snap On tools mfr, but they're both now apparently owned by Danaher, which is famous for buying companies, imposing their one size fits all financial model, and squeezing out profits by figuring out exactly how much worse the product can be and still be sold to maximize profit. You can probably tell I'm not unbiased on Danaher. Still, if they've kept them made in USA plants and only laid off 80% of the senior workers who understood the QA system, I'd still probably buy them.

I just looked at some Kobalt tools and the finish (at least) although similar, is inferior to Tekton and just slightly less in price.

quote:

Originally posted by vzerone:

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
Well, I have been buying + using Snap-On since the early 70s. They are pricey, I'll admit but they are the Rolls Royce of tools. Also with a lifetime warranty, my only real concern is my kids borrowing them. They also patterned the "flank drive" which I noticed in the pics of your sockets, they seem to have that also. Perhaps the patent expired. It is a good feature.

I believe I heard Lowe's Kobalt tools are made by Snap-On. If they are they are a bargain as Lowe's sells them cheaper.

I have several Tekton sets and a wrench set up to 2 3/8 I believe. Been impressed so far.

My brother had a Lowes Kobalt ratchet that broke and he took it back; lifetime warranty; they said they didn't have that model any longer. Sorry! Wouldn't substitute another model or anything. I will not buy any more Kobalt tools.

God Bless, Louis

What about Craftsman? I have a toll box full of them. Great hand tools.

ski:

You're telling your age when you
mentioned Williams. Old guy in CO Spgs
used to drive his truck down here. in the
'50's and 60's.
I still have some of his sockets left yet.

I used to get snap on and craftsman most of
the time. Kept lots of tools in my old
utility box truck boxes. They got robbed a
few times.

Got where I just replaced them with shit from
HF. hate the idea, but, if they'll be stolen
I won't be out as much loss.

I had a set of snap on letter stamps and tried
to stamp my name on some HF end wrenches.
Hell of a deal, hard enough it flattened the
letters in two strokes. Mighty good tempering.

Buy shit, expect shit, but sometimes they'll
surprise a person.

George

Craftsman's are OK. I kept all of those. I also had a 1/4 inch S-K ratchet set that stripped something inside. So, I gave the 1/4" Tektons set a try to replace them and got 'hooked' on them. Pretty pictures can fool ya sometimes when buying over the internet. Not on these. Tolerances are much closer than Craftsman's yet they slip onto a nut easily. The rest of the S-K's (and all the old cheapo's) went into the "auction" box and now the Craftsman's are in the garage and Tekton's in the basement.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
What about Craftsman? I have a toll box full of them. Great hand tools.