Which socket set would you purchase

So this weekend, I had a quick 10 min project that turned into an hour of looking for missing socket/wrenches

So Im going to purchase a new full set. I was leaning toward Dewalt but Home Depot told me warranty will have to go through the manufacturer.

Lowes said any of their Craftsman or Kobalt tools will have lifetime warranty, replace at the store no questions asked. Home Depot said the same replace, lifetime warranty in store no receipt needed for their Husky brand

With that, which one of the 3 below would you purchase?

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-...Polished-Chrome-Mechanics-Tool-Set/1001345004

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Mechanics-Tool-Set-270-Piece-H270MTS/309161789#overlay

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-243...V7j2tBh3wwQkQEAQYAyABEgK2CvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

They are all made in China... You will effectively just choose which Logo looks cooler to you...

 

Whichever store you like better, get those sockets.

 

I'm a big fan of the tekton sets for the price. Make sure to order off of their website directly for 10% credit back. 2 day shipping, warranty is you just contact them and maybe have to send them a pic of the broken tool, they will ship one ASAP. These are very high quality. Since I'm all japanese/euro I have the metric only sets to save some money (1/4, 3/8, 1/2)

http://tekton.com

 

A while ago I went with Craftsman out of S e a r s and found out that the socket wrench kept breaking internally and I had to keep going back for a replacement multiple times, when they said it's no longer a lifetime warranty and I'm probably using it wrong...or something...so if you go Craftsman, map out all of the store outlets of where you buy it so you can rotate through them when replacing the broken ones...Stanley/Black & Decker bought out Craftsman a while ago. https://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-md-sears-craftsman-lawsuit-20190307-story.html

If you really wanted quality probably just pony up and buy Snap-On.

 

I'd go with Craftsman at Lowes since you can just go there to warranty a piece. I always check out estate sales,pawn shops, and yard sales to add sockets to my set since older stuff is usually made in USA. If I have to I just go to lowes and warranty a thing but I usually have spares of my commonly used pieces its a non issue.

I will say I like the ratchets at harbor freight though, for the price and abuse I have given them, worth it.

 

Sounded like Lowes acquired Craftsman or have some sort of connection.
The Lowes tool guy told me they'll swap it out at any Lowes store

 

I like the blue/red color coding of Kobalt

 

For $99 at Harbor Freight I purchased the Pittsburg 225 piece set to replace/compliment my Craftsman set. It comes with more useful tools than my Craftsman set ever came with and has a lifetime warranty also.

 

i was actually reading about Harbor Frieght's lifetime warranty. Good to know

 

Can't speak for the others, but I'm very pleased with that same exact Husky set. It goes on sale fairly often, and one thing I've enjoyed about it is the removable trays. Some of us haven't wrenched our entire lives and can't look at a bolt and know its a 14mm, so we take the whole tray instead

 

If you currently have nothing or not enough parts to reliably work on your truck, buy whichever one you like best and has the most METRIC sockets and/or wrenches. Tacomas are all metric and most of these sets won't have every size (normal but frustrating when you are starting out).

Beyond that choose the one with the closest store for warranty exchanges. Beyond that I'd say don't sweat it because you will be buying more tools anyways.

I'm still using a Craftsman set in a crap blow-molded plastic case that I bought back in Nineteen-O-Jesus (or maybe the 90's). It's seen better days and was made in USA but they should last you a good long time.

 

I had a Stanley set, but for me, the dang direction switch keeps popping back into the middle resulting in it not "ratcheting" knowing this would just happen again and again ( plus the "cool" black sockets just get lost far too easily ) I went with the Milwaukee set from Home Depot 3/8 & 1/4"

real nice set. Lifetime warranty... she's a few $$ but I think this is my "forever" set

**Edit**
forgot to mention that the case is nice and slim. Not a huge waste of space blow molded case like many other sets out there

 

i was leaning towards all metric set. My wife and sister both drive RAV4s so it's an all Toyota household

 

I still get Crapsman tools. Can warranty anything that they have in stock at Lowes, anything not in stock gets done over the phone/online. Takes a little more time that it use to at Sears, but it is fairly easy to do.

 

The sales can dramatically alter the price so monitor those. Lowe's is great about swapping out broken tools. Ace is terrible.

 

I was going to recommend SK Tools if you don't want to have to take out a loan to buy Snap-On, but ran across this depressing tidbit...

"After nearly 90 years in business and a number of different owners over the years, the iconic SK Hand Tools declared bankruptcy in June 2010."

Once, while I was in a Harbor Freight store, I noticed a 3/8" drive socket set on sale for $8.00. I couldn't help myself. I just had to find out what an $8 socket set was like, so I bought one.
The wrench itself wasn't that bad. I had something very similar when I was in high school that I had acquired from god-knows-where. Worked fine for everyday repairs. The sockets though... Ewwwww.
I couldn't stand to even hold one. I put the set on a table we have at work where people put usable items they no longer want and anyone can help themselves. It was gone in minutes.

If you're going to buy a quality ratchets, be sure to have a selection of breaker bars on hand.

 

For home handy man any of those set you listed will do fine. Buy what’s on sale.

 

I’d check out some pawn shops. Nothing beats the old stuff made in the USA

 

^ this is what I would buy. I’ve gotten rid of all my stuff and replaced with it with tekton and zero complains. Great quality. Super fast shipping. Awesome customer service.