When l lived with my grandmother in a house, l had the garage to my tool boxes with mostly Craftsman tools. When l got married and moved in with my wife at the apartment, l had to leave my tool boxes at her place. So lately l've bought some cheap tools to keep here in a tool bag and possibly keep in the car. So if l need to work on something here l don't need to make that 45 minute trip to get to my tools. The stuff l bought is mostly from Harbor Freight, and a set of Hyper Tough wrenches from Wal Mart. They're not the best, but l guess cheap tools are better than none. Do you use them?

 

Depends on how much of a D.I.Y. person you are....

If you typically do a lot of work on your own vehicle, and around the house, I think the investment into better quality tools worth it.

If you rarely work on your own vehicle or do any repair work? Then cheaper tools are probably OK.

In the OP's case?
I think a few cheaper tools OK, BUT...why not make the 45 minute drive, at least once, and then grab a few of the essentials? Not all of them, but just a few of the ones that might make a difference and can be stored in those same bags you are now filling with cheaper tools?
Then you're not buying duplicates of tools you really already have...one good, one cheaper.

My tool collection would probably horrify a real mechanic. They're all cheap.
BUT...
I don't do a lot of work on my own vehicle.
I've never had one of my cheap tools fail, but also, I don't put a lot of use on them.
Some of my tools are embarrassingly cheap.
But that reality is based on realization of my own limitations.

 

I'm disparaged by the lack of middle grade options these days. The bulk of my tool collection is 20+ year old, made in US, Craftsman. When Craftsman switched to China I switched for a brief time to Ace Hardware store brand. It was made in the US.

Now that both of those are Chinese junk (I say that because I have broken sockets of both), I'm left not knowing what to buy.

Snap On, Matco, Mac, etc are great, but it's hard to justify their price for a DIY'er.

Thankfully, the bulk of my tool collection is complete. I just have to pick up odd sizes from time to time. A recent project called for a 1-3/16" open ended wrench. I bought one off Amazon that was made in China that had good reviews. I have to say, it's a keeper. Just have to really shop around these days.

 

Most of my tools are craftsman, I like all my things to match

I do own a few items from HF, as sometimes the price of craftsman is hard to justify.

With a few exceptions/specialty tools .... I think most can get by just fine with the cheap stuff

 

Depends on the tool for me. I have a lot of HF tools and Craftsman, SK and Knipex. I find HF screwdrivers to be worthless but there wrenches and air tools to be a good value. Some of the tech's I work with use HF wrenches everyday and they hold up well.

Snap On are great tools but way overpriced IMO. You can get just as good USA made tools from SK, Wright and Proto. For cordless tools I stick with Milwaukee (12v) or Makita (18v) but have used Dewalt, Bosch and Ryobi.

Good HF Tools :
wrenches
specialty tools (shop press, ball joint remover)
air nailer
hammers
magnets, storage (tool boxes, cases)
jacks, jack stands
grinders and other welding stuff

HF Tools I try to avoid:
screwdrivers
mechanical cutting tools (dikes, wire strippers)
crimpers
painters tape

 

When I was a kid there were all these cheapo ratchet sets for a few dollars and they mostly work. But occasionally I strip a socket and then go buy a good one.

I won't buy anything from Snap-On because a few years ago I bought a power washer because I thought it was a good brand. When it broke I called the company and their response was that they only licensed their name and I'd have to contact the people who actually made it. They refused to do anything to help even though it had their name on it.
So screw them to the moon and back.

 

I've broken cheap tools. Usually when taking apart and old rusted car or something really rusted locked solid. When you smack your hand so hard you've think you've broken bones and maybe have along with ripping a bunch of skin off of the knuckles you will think twice about cheap tools. Myself I don't get the appeal of HF tools? Even though made offshore one can buy Gearwrench 20 piece wrench sets for $50. How much cheaper does one need? How much cheaper are the Harbor Freight ratcheting wrenches than the Gearwrench? Places like Advance Auto run monthly sales. Just bought my son a 1/4" drive Gearwench socket set that included metric and standard 6 point sockets, extension and wrench for $17. This month they have an 8 piece reversible Gearwrench set for $32 or 50% off.

Allen or the Menards Master Force tools were USA made. Recently the Master Force went to being made off shore. The made in the USA sets had a big American Flag on the front of the box.

As others have posted Knipex made in Germany are quality tools that are reasonably priced. Not that much more than made in China crap. Whitte or other German screwdrivers are reasonably priced.

Allen or Bondhus "L" shaped hex keys are made in the USA and might technically be double what the HF version costs. But the difference is $8 to $16 for a set. Yes the percentage is high but the actual cost difference is the price of a Big Mack meal.

Gray Pneumatic or Sunnex are decent off shore made impact sets.

There's lots of quality in my mind inexpensive tools out there. Personally I don't see the need to go embossing cheap as you say?

Maybe because I'm in maintenance I see it more? My employees have to bring their own tools to work. Some of them are cheap or don't have the money and buy cheap tools. Those are the guys who I've seen have tools break and I have to fill out injury paperwork for.




I have a HF hydraulic press and its perfectly fine. So are the jack stands. It took buying two jacks to get a good one for me. First HF jack blew the seals before I could let go of the handle to get the jack stands. Jacked it up and it spooged oil all over my shoes and the car came down. Other than that for the money it seems like an OK aluminum jack? Because of my experience I'm still hesitant with it. I put the jack stands under the car as quickly as possible.

 

A lot of companies have switched to oversees manufactures (even snap on) for some tools. How many wrench manufactures are there in Taiwan? The Gearwrench stuff is probably made along side HF, Craftsman and other tools of the like. I always liked Sears because of their great warranty and ease of exchange. HF requires you to have the receipt. You can buy a broken Craftsman ratcheting wrench from a yard sale and return it to a Sears and they will rebuild it (at least it used to be this easy). Sometimes sticking with what is near you makes more sense.

Knipex wire cutters and Cobra pliers are some of the best I have used. Channel Lock is still a well made tool and cheaper then Knipex.

I have not used Whitte but if they are anything like Wera or Wiha then I am sure they are top notch like most German tools.

Worth the price difference IMO. Those are both great brands that won't get round off after heavy use.


Probably and the safety aspect is a good point!! Companies should take that into account when getting tools for employees.

I have the low profile steel jack and it has been great for me. I think a lot of the price savings of HF tools come from lower quality control checks. You are more likely to get a bad tool out of the gate from there then other places it seems.