I used to buy the tools I use most from Park Tool mainly because of their Limited Lifetime Warranty. I stopped buying Park Tools after the company refused warranty on a plastic part on my PCS-10 work stand.
Park Tool Limited Lifetime Warranty

Bikes are machines.
Tools are machines.
I find I have a similar range of each from just-above throw-away cheap to nice.
The nicer they are, the more I like them.
It does take some adjusting to the loose and non-linear relationship between price and quality.

Overpriced. When I had to supply my own tools to feed my family, I invested in Snap-On, Matco, Craftsman, Fluke, Klein and others. I still have them in my Kennedy stack I got in 1983 out in my garage. I took care of them, and they took care of me and my family.

But fiddle-farting with a bike does not require overpaying. Unless it is for the bike.

Maybe today for the diminished quality you get. Back in the day the quality merited the price.

Sutherland's had a quote in the front of their "Handbook for Bicycle Mechanics:"

Cheap tools are a luxury that no shop can afford.

Both cheap tools and expensive tools have their place if you work on things. More so for the home mechanic rather than the everyday, make a living doing it guy.
Do I need a Snap On for a one off project/repair? No. Do I want an Amazon tool for frequent use, high stress/torque tool? Also no.

I worked in auto shops and machine shops and have boxes of Mac, Matco, Snap On, old school Craftsman, Mitutoyo, Starrett, Brown & Sharpe. Am I afraid of Harbor Freight tools? No, and own some of those and other big box tools. My bike stuff is a mixture, mostly Park, but others too and mostly bought used.

I prefer high quality tools. They seem to save money in the long run. I make a few exceptions. For instance, I like mid-priced screwdrivers. All screwdrivers eventually wear out.

This, exactly. My dad had a tendency to buy cheap tools; I can remember some of his screwdrivers that appeared to be made of cheese. On the other hand, he also sometimes bought really good tools which I still use today, 50 years on. I have bought a few inexpensive tools, though, which are perfectly serviceable - much better than their ancestors of 50 years ago.

My experience is; when starting out with my own repairs, I bought one of those bike tool kits that had about 30 tools and was relatively inexpensive. With use, I saw which tools were not up to the job and replaced them with better quality. There are tools from that kit I still use, like chain whip, spanner wrenches, pedal wrench.
If you are working on multiple bikes on a daily basis, go big. If not, a mid-level kit will do nicely

The problem that I have with nonspecific tools like screwdrivers is that I am always misplacing them. My new years resolution (again) is to put my tools away when I am done using them. The next folks that buy my house are going to find screwdrivers all over the place.

OTOH, I have a set of metric wrenches that I bought about 50 years ago.

My spouse has a clever solution to that problem, though she did it with scissors, not screwdrivers. Every room in the house has a pair of scissors. That way, we don't have to carry them from room to room, and that makes it easier to put them away. It's been an improvement for us. I think every room also has a jar of pens.

If you do this with screwdrivers, it further justifies low cost screwdrivers, as long as they work well. Since you are sharing the screwdriving duties among several screwdrivers, you lower the wear rate.

I am one of those cheap bastard guys that has no problems purchasing a ChiCom tool knock off from AliExpress. I have been disappointed very few times. I think one of the reasons some people get disappointed with cheaper tools is expectation. I don't expect my cheap tools to perform as well as the more expensive tools. Ha, more often I have been disappointed with the more expensive tools and their failure of performance after monies paid.

This is my latest cheap tool find. Its performance has been flawless. The fact that it is somewhat large and heavy makes it easy for my arthritic hands to manipulate...


AliExpress... 3 USD before the tariffs it was even cheaper, but 3 bucks is just fine...

Is there a "Cheap Tools Found" Sub Thread/Section?

Or Cheap Books?
Nope, I've got the Bikeforums and Youtube...

When my TV remote died, I bought 2 for about $20-25.
I watch the TV from one of two places, and I was always leaving the remote at the "other" one.
If you have a spouse, give them the one with dead batteries.

Precision, strength, longevity. Foundational tools can be a one-time purchase and last a lifetime, then be passed on. (I have quite a few from my father. Thanks, dad!) Foundational tools like wrenches, screwdrivers, sockets, bits, etc. I believe are best sourced from known brands. While not all no-name tools are bad, and some surprisingly good, the problem remains junk is still sold. IDK how one knows when ordering.

Ruining a fastener because the socket is really 11.4 mm and not uniform, or the hex bit is 4.5 mm, might be merely an inconvenience or lead to a deep dive, like drilling out a bolt. Snapping a wrench can be just an unfortunate surprise or result in a trip to the walk-in clinic, depending.

General-use tools have many tasks, like working on the car, while bicycles also need specialty tools, a list that has shifted over the decades. Not all need to be name brand—I have a few that have been used three or four times and are "good enough." Others warrant best quality, e.g., cone and spoke wrenches, freewheel/hub keys, crank pullers. Stripping the threading on an aluminum crank would ruin my day.

I'm not above "saving a buck" and would first shop no-name stuff at a Harbor Freight or similar, where I can inspect in person and return if something proved shoddy, before ordering from an overseas vendor.

My $0.02.

I had the same experience with a different Park tool. I still buy them but at a much reduced rate and only if the Park version is notably better than other options at a reasonable price.

I keep tools at one of the nonprofits I volunteer at in a locked cabinet. They are a mix of good US-made tools and imported tools. My bring-out-to-the-back-porch tools are a similar mix. My primary tool chest and my traveling bike tool box is mostly US-made tools obtained through the decades, mostly at swap meets and yard sales, but some bought new. 20th century Craftsman, Proto, Diamond, Channelock, Klein, and other brands, in a Snap-On chest. I was using some US-made diagonal cutting pliers last week, and remembered I'd bought them on sale the fall I moved out to college 40 years ago, and they still work (almost) just as well as when I originally purchased them.

My son understands he will someday inherit all my tools except for the ones I donate, but he's taken it upon himself to accelerate the process by pilfering some of my good US-made tools to augment the toolbox of "affordable offshore" tools he was gifted several years ago. So for his birthday and Christmas he's getting some quality US-made tools like a set of Klein wire cutters/strippers and Channelock pliers - and an admonishment to keep his grubby fingers out of Dad's tools (and to return what was borrowed promptly). I wanted to get him a US-made heirloom-quality dial caliper set, but the Starrett model is a bit out of my budget, plus I don't know if he'll be using US Customary or metric for most of his future work, plus he's still at the age where a fragile precision tool might be inappropriately used for other tasks. So he's getting a $12 Amazon caliper and liking it, so I don't have to hunt mine down after he uses it.

I like this idea.
Everytime I am at Lowes and I see those sets of matching screwdrivers I want to buy it. Maybe a different color for each room.

I’ve never regretted buying good tools and have occasionally regretted buying cheap ones. If the tool is for only a few uses, a cheap one will often suffice. I’ve used cheap repair stands, cheap wheel truing stands, home made bearing presses, long screwdrivers for removing headsets, screwdrivers and other tools to remove crown races, etc. In pinch, I could still use them.

But I have a very good repair stand from the 90s. I have a very good truing stand from a similar era. I have a good headset press, headset removal tool, and a good crown race remover. All of them Park and all of them in regular use with the repair stand in weekly, if not daily use. I don’t regret spending the money for those tools. They make my tasks so much easier than the old way.

One of my favorite tools is Pedros Vise Whip which works so much better than a chain whip. Unfortunately, someone at the co-op didn’t think the same and threw out the one we had. I will curse them until the end of time for that.

cyccommute yup. You listed the ones I don't mind cheap. Once I got a great deal on a Park TS-2 truing stand, and I adore it. But I truly don't need it. I only build a wheel or two a year. We have two homes, and my spouse encouraged me to equip both with complete sets of tools. But I'm not buying two fancy truing stands. Once I needed to build when I was "here" and the truing stand was "there." I just used my bike. It took slightly longer, but it was fine.

BTW I don't like Park's consumer grade workstands. I have an old Wrench Force one that's heavy and stable. I love it. And it folds almost flat. Feedback Sports bought that company, and their stands are nice, too.

Most tools go obsolete. Using your dad's tools happens, but rarely.

Framing went from hammers to nail guns. Layout went from string and levels to lasers. Yankee screwdrivers went battery powered. SAE fasteners are going metric. Cars are going battery. Bikes are going hydraulic. Hand drills went keyless. Multimeters went digital. Flashlights went LED. Ladders come in fiberglass instead of wood.

If you buy tools to hand down, I suggest pocket knives, or perhaps kitchen knives.

Perhaps some of us have had the experience of renting a U-Haul and carefully loading it until every single thing just fit!

Cheap tools offer the same thrill - knowing you made do without overspending.

You mean everyone doesn't have an assortment of screwdrivers in each room? How can someone live in such squalor?

Oh, and scissors too. But we don't mess around when it comes to shear efficiency - this is what we order:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0914GVRDV

For each one of my 1st grade boys I have started them out with a nice little metal tool box with a few real tools, not toys. Surprisingly they all still have those little tool boxes squirreled away in their big ones. And yes, they still appreciate a good tool when given. This Christmas I will be giving one of my boys a 1929 rusted, worm eaten, Brace and Bit. He is going to love it...

Work stands and truing stands are different animals. And as I mentioned earlier, crank arm pullers and chain whips are not a good item to go cheap on. But the Park name IMHO doesn't always get you what you pay for, I'd wager these Hollowtech tools are possibly made in the same factory, but one has BBT-10.2 embossed on it and one doesn't.

And as far as keeping screwdrivers all over the house... My screwdrivers are bought in sets and it would drive me nuts to have one with a different handle in the mix.