Best tool brand

Since Mitsubishi has made mechanics out of most of us, I have been curious as to what everyone prefers as far as tool brand. For years, Craftsman was to go-to for the mechanics I had in the family, but I know others who swear by their Snap-ons. So, easily enough....what's the best tool brand out there? Why? And are they the best overall or just for the 3S world?

pittsburgh brand tools from harbor freight can get the job done very cheaply, but you pay for the lack of sustainability and no warranty.
when it comes to precision instruments, I'll go snap-on or matco. (micrometers, compression testers, torque wrenches)
tools with no moving parts I'll go ebay (rear caliper service tool for those with incorporated ebrakes, or even things like screw drivers)
and tool box from www.strictlytoolboxes.com I got my 72" for $1500 free shipping a few years ago.

And this is the opinion of a Toyota Master Tech who has been in the business for about 7 years now. The only things I've broken so far are ratchets; but they were ebay ones.

I prefer craftsman (the lifetime guarantee not the crappy evolv stuff) just for the ease of returns and generally they are good tools. For cheap stuff or rarely used items it's usually harbor freight.

If you make your living with them you need access to new and specialized tools, as well as having access to replacements quickly regardless of warranty status. Another consideration is having the quality to not break in the first place... For me the choice is Snap-on. It's not necessarily about the tools only, I've had the same dealer for over 20 years... He's here every week,(often more than once a week if needed) he has an amazing stock on the truck, and he always takes care of warranty issues without question. If I break a screwdriver in half, and go to him, "Uh.. Don, I broke my prybar..." It's taken care of.

There are other options such as Mac tools, but in my area, the only one that's consistently here providing a service year in and year out is my Snap-on dealer... I hear just the opposite from techs in other parts of the country, where they may have a long time dependable Mac dealer, but Snap-on is MIA...

i don't put faith in craftsman anymore. you'll get equal performance from kobalt. maybe slightly better from husky. snap-on is probably overall the best--but you pay through the nose.

Craftsman has gone way downhill.. I still really like sockets and wrench's from them but will not buy anything else.. I specifically went elsewhere for ratchets. My brother bought a 1/2 craftsmen set and I broke the ratchet (totally locked up the mechanism) with barely any torque on the tool. Sure the warranty is great but he brought in a literally brand new (less than 1 week old) tool and got a dented scratched up refurb..

I really like Facom tools. Facom is to Europe like Snap-on is here (I mean c'mon Ferrari tech's use Facom tools! :p). Even paying extra money to ship them over I got all 3 of my ratchets for only a little more than the cost of 1 snap on double 80. The stuff is made in France and very nice quality, got my screwdrivers from them to for about the price of the craftsman professional ones which are probably made in china like everything else they sell at sears now... Course if I break a ratchet I'm stuck rebuilding it myself and if I break a screwdriver It's not easily replaced.. haven't had a problem with them yet.
I get pretty much everything else from Harbor freight
Still looking for a really good brand of pliers that doesn't cost a fortune

snap on is like apple, your paying double for just the name/marketing. Its great stuff if you have a ton of money lying around.

I like the lowes stuff Kobalt. its very good quality and not a billion dollars like snap on.

Snap on = top quality, insane price (american company, alot made in china also).
Greenlee = good quality (american company bought a chinese one, chinese made) This is a new "us company", guys who own Cessna/Bell own it.
Kobalt = good quality, mixed built(made by Danaher) chinese
Husky... Less quality than Kobalt, the super cheap Home Depot line, chinese
Craftsman = good/avg quality, chinese/usa
Stanley/Blackhawk = Good quality, this stanley tools, mixed built, mostly chinese
gearwrench good/avg, this is Danaher(aka Kobalt) and cooper, mixed built mostly chinese
Armstrong(Another Danaher company...) Chinese
Michigan industrial/Chicago... India/Chinese... its so cheap but alot of it works until it breaks(electrical tools will break)
Black Rhino, good/avg chinese made, us owned(more marketing hype)
KD Tools... more Danaher/cooper/apex tools
Cornwell... another snap on quality and price. another overpriced marketing company


Apex Tool Group(danaher/cooper) (Allen, Armstrong Tools, Crescent, GearWrench, K-D Tools, Lufkin, Nicholson, SATA Tools, Wiss, Xcelite, Kobalt, Matco)
Bondhus
· Buck Bros.
· Channellock
· Cornwell Tools ·
Digitool Solutions ·
Disston Saw Works ·
Eklind · Emerson (Ridgid) ·
Empire Level ·
Estwing ·
Felo ·
FEW ·
Fiskars (Gerber) ·
Gardner Bender ·
Gedore ·
Gray Tools ·
Hazet ·
Heyco ·
Ideal Industries (Pratt-Read, SK Hand Tools, Western Forge) ·
Klein Tools ·
Knipex ·
KUKKO ·
Leatherman ·
Lie-Nielsen Toolworks · Lisle Corporation ·
·
Newell Rubbermaid (Irwin, Lenox, Vice Grip) ·
Park Tool · PB Swiss · Saltus · Sandvik ·
Snap-on (Bahco, CDI Torque Products, J.H. Williams Tool Group) · S
tahlwille ·
Stanley Black & Decker (Blackhawk, Bostitch, Facom, Mac Tools, Proto, Sidchrome, Stanley Hand Tools, Husky) ·
Textron (Greenlee, Klauke, Paladin Tools) ·
Techtronic Industries (Milwaukee) ·
Thorsen Manufacturing · Tomé Fèteira · Toptul · Vaughan · Victorinox (Wenger) · Wera Tools · Wescott · Wiha Tools · Witte Tools · Wright Tool

basically i stick to Kobalt for hand tools, dewalt for power tools I know I will need for a long time. Hit up harbor freight for disposable tools.

People dont realize these tools are so similar.

Mac/Matco/Snap on/Cornwell are tops here and they are made by (Stanley/Danaher/Snap On/Cornwell).

I live next to Matco and I almost took a job at Cornwell in IT. Cornwell actually makes tools locally and are probably the most US made higher quality tool maker.

i've never had bad luck with husky--and i have NOT found their parts to be inferior to kobalt. husky was originally the "generic" that was made from the same dies and machines as craftsman.

you are correct though. it's all chinese stuff now. maybe if we get this country to get rid of the imperial system, we can finally just have the same tools & brands worldwide. *crosses fingers*

Most of my tools are from Harbor Freight, but I'm no professional and some of my tools may go years between uses. For power tools though, I believe you get what you pay for. Cheap power tools give you less than satisfactory performance. I've used Mikita, Milwaukee, Black and Decker, Royobi and Craftsman power tools, but DeWalt out-performs them almost every time. The batteries last longer and the tool does what you expect it to do.

Sounds about right, except I will have to disagree about Dewalts power tools, complete garbage imo.

And just to keep this on topic I use mostly craftsman tools since I bought them when they were still great. And for stuff that gets used less I buy Harbor freight.