Proto was my all-time favorite back when I made my living with tools.
Still have lots of proto tools. Even the challenger stuff was good and it was proto's cheap version.

I wonder if they still make the good stuff?

The best lawn mower I ever had was a 3.8 hp Murray purchased at walmart for $99. That thing started every time for 10 years with 1 spark plug replacement and 1 oil change.

The worst lawn mower I ever had was a $400 Honda. That awful thing could not go a month of homeowner-type use without breaking its drive sprockets or some other garbage. After about 3-4 years it would die once warm and you wouldn't be able to restart it. I spent about $170 having the Honda power equipment dealer try to fix it and they got nowhere. Biggest pos ever.

Man I wish I still had that Chinese Murray :(

I've had my Craftsman mower for several years now--no problem ever. The biggest appeal to me on Craftsman tools is the lifetime guarantee. Wife bought me a Craftsman tool chest a couple months ago, and it seems kinda flimsy. Nothing like the one my dad used to have.

Just bought myself a big metal closet from Husky a couple weeks ago. Sturdy, well designed, not too expensive and it also has a lifetime guarantee. I'm kinda starting to like Husky (at least for storage cabinetry).

The bulbs in there are whatever came in the box. I thought about LED for a while but the lights are on so infrequently, the pay back would be eons. Actually it would be infinity since the damn things never work!

That's weird, most pro lawn services swear by Hondas. :cool:

I have Craftsman tools only, starting to get them in 1968. They are the best for me and I'll keep using them forever. Today if I were starting out, I might not go with them, but they have helped me in every restoration I did for over 50 years.

I bought a Sears 6 horse power washer a while back. It was a pretty good washer until I ran it on the side of a hill and oil starved it. When I went online for parts the serial number on the engine showed a five horse engine. That pissed me off. No more Sears tools for me.

Here's a fun one:

Buy any of the upper-end cman ratchets like the premium and slim line-

See if you can get them to last more than say, two uses each. I have both, and the premium locks up constantly and the slim line exploded undoing interior fasteners.

Garbage- warranted them, and replaced them with T72 snap on and a 120xp gearwrench.

Problem solved.

rjp

I inherited a lot (three rollaways full) of old school Craftsman stuff from my dad and Grandpa. I still have yet to break a socket or wrench.

My main 3/8" ratchet is a Proto that has to be at least 40 years old. Same with my Challenger 1/2" ratchet. All I do is oil them occasionally. I often wish I could have experienced a time when American craftsmanship was second to none.

I have a set of old craftsman socket and wrenches from my college years when I had to fix my cars. They are still around somewhere in my tool boxes. This was in the late 80s. Now, when and if I need to buy something, I go to Lowes and pick up a one or two tools. No more craftsman wrenches for me. I have never been a big fan of their none mechanic tools or lawn mowers or garage openers. By the time I was old enough to buy any of those things out of necessity, they were starting to be garbage. If I need a chain saw, I buy an Echo at my lawn care place. They seem to hold up pretty well. My hardwood floor installer swears by Harbor Freight's flooring nailers. He buys 5 at a time. They are under 100 bucks and last about 70% of a professional tool at $350+. When they start to have issues, it goes in the trash or he buys their warranty and goes back for a new one. Clever little bastard.

You can still experience it. Just buy cool old stuff. :cool:

I refuse to buy cheap rubbish regardless of were it's made or what store it's in.

My pet hate is cheap hydraulic bottle jacks. If you can find a good one they'll last a life time but the cheap Chinese versions are so unpredictable.
Considering what they are they should be built to work reliably every time IMO.

My other tools are Mostly Snapon or older second hand Euro made stuff like Stahlwille.

I was thinking more along the lines of watching a Saturn V launch, live in person.

I went Craftsman (junk) to Toro (average) to Honda (awesome). Just upgrading my mower made my yard look better due to the higher quality cut. Money well spent.

My craftsman "click" type torque wrench broke and when I tried to get it replaced, was told that they would only replace the "beam" type torque wrench! The locking ring on the 1/2" torque wrench I have cracked and won't lock. I explained to the Sears store owner that I also was thru buying craftsman tools and would be shopping elsewhere from then on!

I had my battles with Sears 5-7 years ago. The end result was cancelling my Sears credit card and I pretty much only shop there to buy parts for stuff I already have. Prior to this, I was spending $2000-$3000 a year building my tool collection.

Things I learned:

-Only their hand tools are warrantied for life. Anything else is warrantied for one year.
-A LOT of their stuff is Harbor Freight quality at premium prices. My experiences were with the floor jacks and air compressors. There are a few gems if you look hard and do your research, but most of their stuff is cheap crap.
-Their computer systems and their procedures haven't been modernized since the 1980's. This is a big reason why the store, warehouse, and delivery service are never on the same page.
-Their repair service is slow and expensive.
-While Craftsman and Kenmore contract out manufacturing, they always have one common wear part that is different from their mass-market counterpart. For example, the filters on a vacuum cleaner or the motor brushes on a circular saw. You can only get this part from Sears, and it is NLA after a couple of years. (Found this out when my Ryobi-made Craftsman circular saw died a few years ago. The motor brushes were Sears-only, and had been discontinued.)
-Their call center is like Comcast: they will tell you anything to get you off the phone. After complaining about my broken floor jack and air compressor, I was told that I would be sent 2 $50 gift certificates. I only got one. Subsequent calls showed "no record of me be promised a second gift certificate." I called back every week for almost a year, and never got the second gift certificate. I cancelled my Sears credit card as a result.

Gave up on Craftsman several years ago (though I have a bunch of older tools...excellent for my purposes). I've had a couple of Sears push mowers years ago (good, but not great). You'll not likely find a pro (in this area) using Hondas btw...lots of "good" choices....Honda doesn't get selected :D.

I proudly ride my SCAG....keep yer jokes to yourself SmileWavy

I have Sears/Kenmore Elite (high end) appliances in my house. They are utter garbage. Never again. Tools have been the same. Actually I have found the Husky stuff from Home Depot to be what Craftsman used to be.

Just out of curiosity, everyone seems to think so-so about HF, Sears & Craftsman hand tools, what the hell are we gonna buy then?? what seems to be the front runner now only Husky??
Options seem to be dwindling!!