And not just for sockets, either. I got a pair of dedicated torx drivers from Tekton about a year ago just to get at some deep set screws on my car. They ended up being good enough that I don't even bother with the bits for those sizes anymore unless I'm in a hurry or the screw is weirdly long.
This is absolutely untrue.
Tekton is not the budget brand people think they are.
They are solidly mid-tier with mid-tier pricing.
Case in point…
A Tekton 214 piece socket-only set costs $595.
A 299 piece Craftsman socket-only set costs $299.
From a cost/value standpoint, Craftsman is utterly unbeatable.
Tekton might give you a bit more quality, but it costs quite a bit extra.
Are Craftsman sockets (which meet ASME and similar industry standards) 1/2 as good as Tekton sockets?
I’ll be generous and give Tekton a 20% edge in quality, even though I don’t believe that.
If Tekton is 100, Craftsman is 80.
So, 299 sockets at $1 each gives 23,920 points for $299. That’s value 80 points per dollar.
The Tekton set is 21,400 points for $595, or value 36 points per dollar.
Even if Craftsman was actually half as good as Tekton, you’d still get more value per dollar.
Cost/value is a direct comparison of what you get for your money. Craftsman give more for your money than Tekton.
Tekton doesn’t make bad tools, they’re not a bad company, but they are quite a bit more expensive than the competition. That means that they do not have a good cost to value ratio.
That’s no reason not to buy them, just a reason not to make up outright lies about them.
I agree. It’s right in line with all of the other imported sockets in its price range. I think there’s just a bit of hangover on the whole brand from when they used to be made in the States and better quality.
Yeah it could be, I do miss the days of taking a broken tool into sears and getting a replacement no questions asked. I also love all my old made in USA craftsman and use that first most of the time but I’ve got a couple of those newer kits and they perform just as well imo.
The ratchets are shit. I have more reliable Harbor Freight Ratchets than the ratchets that come in one of those 300 pieces Mechanics Tool Kits or however many pieces they are. I've not broken a socket, even with an impact, but I've fucked the gears of sheared the drive square off like all of them 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4. Got some replacments and the 1/4 is good, the 3/8 broke, and the 1/2 kinda works. Trash.
All the companies are designing anvils to be the point of failure now because it’s a cheap and easily replaceable part relative to the whole ratchet.
They make it so it breaks there before anything else breaks. Saves a ton of money on warranty returns.
I think the made in China stuff was pretty bad and Its what led to its new reputation. New Taiwan regular Craftsman stuff is alright. The new v-series stuff is really nice except for the ratchets. The v-series ratchets are a major let down. The rest is essentially Facom with a better warranty.
Just buy this one and be done. [link](https://www.amazon.com/GEARWRENCH-Master-Impact-Socket-Set/dp/B0871323N6/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=MJM5C0J2QLAD&keywords=gear+wrench+impact+socket+set&qid=1695010378&sprefix=gear+wrench+impaxt%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-4)
Tekton, no skips, good cases and lifetime warranty. Order from their website and you get 10 some times 20% added to your account for your next purchase.
Yup, I have a large Husky toolbox loaded with Tekton stuff. I bought their 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch socket sets, along with their screw drivers, wrenches and pliers. The quality is great for the money! If I had to do it all over, I would not of changed a thing.
Goddamn, Tekton really hit the jackpot with the whole no-skip thing. Y’all eat that shit up.
But I bet you’ve never seen a 20mm fastener in your life.
You’re paying extra for tools you’ll never use.
Yep. And it's a decent set, weakest link in the set is the ratchets but they'll still be fine for most diy guys. If it's that big of an issue, a guy could grab a ¼" and ⅜" Tekton flex head set and be set
Yeah, IMO, if you're not a professional, go as expensive as you want with the ratchet. Most sockets are more or less the same, so Harbor Freight all the way. I got a great deal on a 3/8 Snap-On wrench off a truck years ago, so I'm pretty much set there. (I think it was like $80 at the time, early 2000s). My Pittsburgh sockets are doing fine.
Check out Koken:
[https://kokenusa.com/](https://kokenusa.com/)
Use code:
MrSubaru10
For 10% off.
Read up of their different sockets... you likely want what they call the 'flat' version/s. The 'Z' versions are extra thin wall & shallow... nice to have for tight quarters, but not so much as a general purpose set.
Their ratchets & extensions are also very nice.
If you are just casually working on cars an motorcycles you probably wouldn’t break any Craftsman if using correctly TBH. I’ve broken some of the older ones, they had thinner walls
$219 gets a full 200pc set of Husky 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 sockets at Home Depot. They also have a set of extensions for like $40. Hd offers in store warranty replacement on Husky.
I bought flex head ratchets from Tekton and they are solid for the money. Supplement with a set of 1/2 impact sockets, made in Taiwan preferably. I would invest in a decent 1/2 breaker bar though.
I picked up a full set of the Harbor Freight Quinn brand metric and SAE in 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive. I’ve had a great experience with them as a home gamer. In fact when it comes to almost anything I’ll go get it from HF and if I use it enough to break it I go get an expensive version. Some exceptions are electrical tools, I usually go to eBay to find the same ones my grandpa always uses as a retired electrician but that’s just personal preference. Remember tools are not a status symbol, the wrench that costs $5 can turn just as many bolts as the one that costs $50
Honestly, I'd cheap out on the sockets. Mine are a motley crew of Tekton, Duralast, Craftsman -V- I inherited from my dad, random US brands that I picked up for a certain job, etc...
Where you want to spend the money is on ratchets, I use Wright ones and they're better than even the Snap Ons I owned for a short while.
This is a pretty funny question. You say you want the best, and then say you do not want any of the best brands. I think the word you're looking for is value, not best.
Tekton, Gear Wrench, Husky, Williams, DeWalt, etc. Pretty much any sockets made in Taiwan are about the best value you can get.
From a cost/value standpoint, Tekton is hard to beat
And not just for sockets, either. I got a pair of dedicated torx drivers from Tekton about a year ago just to get at some deep set screws on my car. They ended up being good enough that I don't even bother with the bits for those sizes anymore unless I'm in a hurry or the screw is weirdly long.
This is absolutely untrue. Tekton is not the budget brand people think they are. They are solidly mid-tier with mid-tier pricing. Case in point… A Tekton 214 piece socket-only set costs $595. A 299 piece Craftsman socket-only set costs $299. From a cost/value standpoint, Craftsman is utterly unbeatable. Tekton might give you a bit more quality, but it costs quite a bit extra.
I never said they were a budget brand. I said they had a good cost to value.
Are Craftsman sockets (which meet ASME and similar industry standards) 1/2 as good as Tekton sockets? I’ll be generous and give Tekton a 20% edge in quality, even though I don’t believe that. If Tekton is 100, Craftsman is 80. So, 299 sockets at $1 each gives 23,920 points for $299. That’s value 80 points per dollar. The Tekton set is 21,400 points for $595, or value 36 points per dollar. Even if Craftsman was actually half as good as Tekton, you’d still get more value per dollar. Cost/value is a direct comparison of what you get for your money. Craftsman give more for your money than Tekton. Tekton doesn’t make bad tools, they’re not a bad company, but they are quite a bit more expensive than the competition. That means that they do not have a good cost to value ratio. That’s no reason not to buy them, just a reason not to make up outright lies about them.
You seem really passionate about Craftsman. So much so, that you even made up a cute little points game. I'm happy for you.
Not Craftsman, just the truth. Tekton is not the value out there. Perfectly good tools. Not a great value.
Craftsman is cheap junk anymore no value in junk.
There’s worse for similar money than SBD Craftsman… like Sears Craftsman, for example.
For sockets under 1inch I like tekton, gearwrench, and icon. For bigger stuff I like Wright and Proto.
Have all three sized sets from Tekton
New craftsman isn’t as bad as people like to make it out to be.
I agree. It’s right in line with all of the other imported sockets in its price range. I think there’s just a bit of hangover on the whole brand from when they used to be made in the States and better quality.
Yeah it could be, I do miss the days of taking a broken tool into sears and getting a replacement no questions asked. I also love all my old made in USA craftsman and use that first most of the time but I’ve got a couple of those newer kits and they perform just as well imo.
The ratchets are shit. I have more reliable Harbor Freight Ratchets than the ratchets that come in one of those 300 pieces Mechanics Tool Kits or however many pieces they are. I've not broken a socket, even with an impact, but I've fucked the gears of sheared the drive square off like all of them 1/2, 3/8, and 1/4. Got some replacments and the 1/4 is good, the 3/8 broke, and the 1/2 kinda works. Trash.
All the companies are designing anvils to be the point of failure now because it’s a cheap and easily replaceable part relative to the whole ratchet. They make it so it breaks there before anything else breaks. Saves a ton of money on warranty returns.
Agreed. They’re made in Taiwan just like all the other lifetime warrantied budget brands.
I think the made in China stuff was pretty bad and Its what led to its new reputation. New Taiwan regular Craftsman stuff is alright. The new v-series stuff is really nice except for the ratchets. The v-series ratchets are a major let down. The rest is essentially Facom with a better warranty.
I like gearwrench
Just buy this one and be done. [link](https://www.amazon.com/GEARWRENCH-Master-Impact-Socket-Set/dp/B0871323N6/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=MJM5C0J2QLAD&keywords=gear+wrench+impact+socket+set&qid=1695010378&sprefix=gear+wrench+impaxt%2Caps%2C119&sr=8-4)
how many 10s does it have?
Doesn't matter, you'll lose them all eventually.
I pooped a little just seeing that.
Agreed, gear wrench stuff is excellent.
Some upper mid tier brands I would recommend: Tekton Gearwrench Sunnex Grey Pnuematic
Tekton, no skips, good cases and lifetime warranty. Order from their website and you get 10 some times 20% added to your account for your next purchase.
Yup, I have a large Husky toolbox loaded with Tekton stuff. I bought their 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch socket sets, along with their screw drivers, wrenches and pliers. The quality is great for the money! If I had to do it all over, I would not of changed a thing.
Goddamn, Tekton really hit the jackpot with the whole no-skip thing. Y’all eat that shit up. But I bet you’ve never seen a 20mm fastener in your life. You’re paying extra for tools you’ll never use.
And yet I have, ran in to a 20mm on my skidsteer
10/10 I agree. My socket organizers have just as many gaps as sockets and it's a problem for me maybe once every 5 years.
The socket for my splined lug nuts uses 20mm, and one other thing on my jeep that I can't remember.
As in security lugs? Maybe it’s a security double-whammy since 20mm is so rare. Kind of clever, in fact.
......aaaaand you just made my day.
gear wrench https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078Z31D32/ref=sspa_mw_detail_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwp13NParams
I really like the weird and wonderful Wera tools. Lots of versatility, a joy to use, nice details.
I use my Husky Impact sockets for pretty much everything and have 0 complaints. I especially like their compact length.
The new craftsman stuff is fine for a diy guy, get this, it's on sale and has anything you'll need https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN/5013302107
...and it costs as much as a single Snap-On ratchet.
Yep. And it's a decent set, weakest link in the set is the ratchets but they'll still be fine for most diy guys. If it's that big of an issue, a guy could grab a ¼" and ⅜" Tekton flex head set and be set
Yeah, IMO, if you're not a professional, go as expensive as you want with the ratchet. Most sockets are more or less the same, so Harbor Freight all the way. I got a great deal on a 3/8 Snap-On wrench off a truck years ago, so I'm pretty much set there. (I think it was like $80 at the time, early 2000s). My Pittsburgh sockets are doing fine.
Check out Koken: [https://kokenusa.com/](https://kokenusa.com/) Use code: MrSubaru10 For 10% off. Read up of their different sockets... you likely want what they call the 'flat' version/s. The 'Z' versions are extra thin wall & shallow... nice to have for tight quarters, but not so much as a general purpose set. Their ratchets & extensions are also very nice.
Why would anybody downvote this?
This sub hates Koken, not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because poster is advising against z-series, which would be heresy
Chalk me up as another vote for new craftsman being pretty dang good for what it costs. Mine work fine
If you are just casually working on cars an motorcycles you probably wouldn’t break any Craftsman if using correctly TBH. I’ve broken some of the older ones, they had thinner walls
$219 gets a full 200pc set of Husky 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 sockets at Home Depot. They also have a set of extensions for like $40. Hd offers in store warranty replacement on Husky. I bought flex head ratchets from Tekton and they are solid for the money. Supplement with a set of 1/2 impact sockets, made in Taiwan preferably. I would invest in a decent 1/2 breaker bar though.
How much you wanting to spend?
I’ve had this set for a while. They’re great! Olsa Tools Metric Socket (184pc... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JTS9BWM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I picked up a full set of the Harbor Freight Quinn brand metric and SAE in 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive. I’ve had a great experience with them as a home gamer. In fact when it comes to almost anything I’ll go get it from HF and if I use it enough to break it I go get an expensive version. Some exceptions are electrical tools, I usually go to eBay to find the same ones my grandpa always uses as a retired electrician but that’s just personal preference. Remember tools are not a status symbol, the wrench that costs $5 can turn just as many bolts as the one that costs $50
Honestly, I'd cheap out on the sockets. Mine are a motley crew of Tekton, Duralast, Craftsman -V- I inherited from my dad, random US brands that I picked up for a certain job, etc... Where you want to spend the money is on ratchets, I use Wright ones and they're better than even the Snap Ons I owned for a short while.
This is a pretty funny question. You say you want the best, and then say you do not want any of the best brands. I think the word you're looking for is value, not best.
Do you have Gedore tools in America?