Yet another brand I am looking for opinions on...

I am curious as to what others think about Stanley Tools. Their machanics tools, not their carpenters tools.

My experience is that their sockets and wrenches are OK, but their ratchets are nothing to brag about. All my Stanley says "Made in Taiwan" and thats a bit of a turn-off to me, but performance wise they have done me well with exception to their ratchets. The warranty isn't all that great... as I understand it you have to mail the tools to them and wait for them to ship back to you. Who wants to deal with that?

 

I boycot Stanley tools because of their GM race car sponsorship.
But hey, that`s just me!
Their tools don`t seem to be up to par with the others in the price range, lots of others to pick from that are better quality and warranty.
We have Canadian Tire chain of stores with excellent warranty, good quaility and when on half price sale they`re an deadly unbeatable deal.

 

i bought a set. trying to loosen a bolt i sheared the socket teath smooth, and later the ratched fell apart. Sa no to Stanley

 

If you see stanley stuff made in Taiwan, consider it lucky because the vast majority of the stuff at this point in time is chinese. Some chinese stuff can be quite good. There are so many factories and some many workers in them that quality is very variable within the factory much less from factory to factory.

Sometimes its possible to get some US made old stock Stanley wrenches off of Fleabay. Stanley as a whole is a company that has slipped in a great deal and panders to the home owner market with chinacrap through WalFart etc.

IMHO, their ratchets were never worth a flip, and served poorly as a hammer.

Having said all that, their deepwell impact sockets, even though offshore, have a very thin wall which can be good or bad and for $22 for a 12 piece 1/2 drive, I have a set as spares for fitting in tight place such as some wheel lugs.

 

Lets see, now we need a Mac, Matco, Lisle, Martin, OTC, KD, K-Tools, Crescent, ChannelLock, and Ken tools thread.

 

It actually would be nice to have a poll, or some other cohesive way to get everybody's opinions on various brands. There are several others I'd like to see mentioned as well that I've had experience with, either good or bad. It would also be a good thing to perhaps set up two such lists, maybe as stickies, one for "high-end" stuff and another for "cheapies". As someone who has bought a lot of tools both this year and over my lifetime, it would be nice to have a "reference" when considering purchases. Not bias due to someone having a great or sucky dealer/rep, but how the actual tools hold up/perform, is it a good value, so-on. EVERYONE who uses tools owns/uses/is-at-least-familiar-with Craftsman. Personally, I think of tools in terms of: Better Than/Equal To/Worse Than Craftsman. This might be a good way of rating things. (Yes I know quality there has varied).
Back to the question of Stanley: Sockets holding up good so far(not used a lot, though). Ratchets suck. Cheap WallyWorld screwdrivers suck canal water. HF is better.
I may try to start the above-mentioned threads later. Gotta go use my tools and make a living. Quick picks for MY favorite/best tools IMHO:
Best Screwdrivers, T-Handle drivers: Wiha
Best Pliers: Knipex, Klein
Best Sockets & wrenches: Snap-on
Ratchets: SK

Best overall values: Craftsman, Kobalt, Husky, Ampro (advance auto parts)

Some other worthy mentions: Allen, Thorsen, Armstrong, Olympia, Bondhus

 

Agreed.

Stickie tool threads would be nice...broken down at least into 2 catagories. High / low, High / mid / low or maybe even by brand or whatever. There are still other brands I am interested but starting more threads in getting redundant.

 

I agree. I used to be a bit of a tool snob, but there are a lot of good tools on the market now so I don't claim to know which are good or bad until I have the tool in my hand. We went through a long period years ago when the market was flooded with really crappy tools... cast sockets and so forth...... but people wised up and the overall quality has improved.