As we all know by now Lowe’s has become the major marketer of Craftsman tools. I’ve never been a huge fan of Lowe’s, some of their marketing and store set ups are asinine to me, they still are at times an oasis in a desert of large areas of no supplies, but I digress. Yesterday I went to Lowe’s to look at their air line fittings, found nothing I could or would use, but noticed the full extent of their Craftsman display and offerings.
I have to admit I was somewhat impressed by their integration of the Craftsman products, into the other offerings, very similar to the Harbor Freight’s current good/better/best marketing scheme. They had the complete hand tool offerings, individual socket, ratchets, socket and accessories and a complete line of sets.
The majority of the new offerings are made in Taiwan with a large percentage still made (or leftover stock) made in China. I’ve never personally had a quality issue with any of the Chinese sourced tools that I bought from Sears, I knew they were not top line, but performed as required or needed. I can say I’m not overly impressed with the newer ratchet designs, very similar to the HF, Tekton and other offered, but at about double the price. The standard Craftsman RP ratchets, while hardly a precision unit, performed very well, I use the older 3/8” flex-head everyday, it just a good solid ratchet., the last one I bought was about $25, the newer design has a bigger head, a shorter handle and a $65 price. As I own a few ratchets, I doubt, I’ll buy any new ones.
I seriously hope Lowe’s is successful in their Craftsman adventure, its good to have a source of tools, when working on the road. I hope the recent trend of Lowe’s closing a few of their stores (in our area), is not a national trend, but just a surgical cut to remove a few poor performing stores.
