To add to JAFE’s comments, In my tool reviewing days I got to interact with the marketing people from many different companies. Some were great, some were terrible. Without throwing anyone under the bus I will say this. SBD people were great to work with. Some companies wanted total control over what was said. I’ve been out of the business for awhile so things could certainly have changed, but you could always tell who the shills were because you knew the conditions they had to accept if the were covering certain stuff.
Some companies, especially some of the smaller companies, had a “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” type approach. I get that. Smaller companies feel the brunt of bad press much more than the big boys. They don’t have the clout or the range of unique products to keep anyone in their pocket, but they need good marketing as much as everyone else, if not more.
With SBD, at least all the guys I dealt with, they sent you their stuff and encouraged you to be honest. No strings attached. If you like it, say so, if you don’t, tell us why. I had pretty solid contacts with Proto and Mac (even got Mac to sponsor a Christmas giveaway here one year) and they were all great people to deal with. They were very receptive to criticism and seemed genuinely interested in using feedback to improve. I got to have R&D stage input on a couple of big time projects and they really tried to make me feel like my opinion mattered in that rather than try to tell me why their tool was great, they took the time to ask how to make it great.
Hart is just a name offered up on a exclusivity deal and made to the price point Wal-Mart was willing to cough up. Even if the tools suck, the enhanced name recognition and volume is a win for SBD.
Demand controls supply and the fact is most people are willing to settle for shitty quality tools at a shitty tool price. People aren’t buying low grade shit because it’s all that’s available, they’re buying it because that’s what people are willing to pay for. I don’t make a living with my tools, but I value quality. Is it stupid for me to pay Proto prices for a tool I only use occasionally? Maybe, but It makes me happy, so f$&k it. Lord willing, my grandkids will be using my tools long after I’m gone. I don’t always buy this “It’s all I could afford” shit either. It’s one thing not to pay $200 for a Snap-On ratchet, it’s another to buy a $10-15 pair of Asian pliers when you could have gotten a solid pair of Channellock brand pliers for $20 or so. How people spend their money is their business, but I had a buddy tell me one time I was nuts for spending $110 on a set of Norseman drill bits. He carries his lunch to work in a $250 Yeti cooler bag and drives an extra 4 miles to save 2 cents a gallon on gas. Everybody’s got their priorities I guess.
Wait until Black Friday, snag a Dewalt, Milwaukee, or Makita drill for under $100, and you’ll never go back to a cheap ass drill. I have a Makita I keep in my truck box for camping or whatever comes up. I found it on clearance with 2 big batteries for $49 at HD.
