First big shop I worked in had the Snap-On man coming every Wednesday. He got us started with trade-in toolboxes, then maybe a combo wrench set, then perhaps a screwdriver set, and then it was all over for us. After a while, it seemed like we were working for him and his E-Z credit terms!

Great stuff, where you don't need bike specific stuff. I will probably never wear out or break any of my Snap-On stuff.

I'm not in the biz anymore, and any new tool I need is most likely for a specific automobile task that I'll do once a year at the most, so I've been getting Craftsman only as I need it these days.

Snap-on has a line of bike specific tools, Wrench Force.

Beautiful, strong, guaranteed forever, what's not to like, besides the price? They have produced some wrenches that weren't very comfortable to use, but you can see that before you buy. You really have to use them a lot to justify the outrageous prices, though. If I hadn't bought them while I was working as a professional auto mechanic, I wouldn't have spent the money.

Is that still true? Years ago Trek had Snap-On make bike specific tools that were sold in Trek dealerships under the Wrench Force name. I understand Snap-On and Trek ended their relationship after a couple of years due to the high cost.

Snap-On is an overkill for bicycles, Craftsman is really all the quality you need since with bike stuff your not going to subject the tools to the kind of torque that you would on a car. Fit wise...IT'S ALL A PERSONAL THING; I know some people that like the feel of Snap-On better and some like MAC and some like Matco and some like Craftsman...get the idea? Besides you won't have a ratchet in your hand all day like an auto mechanic; and the Park tools are not all that comfortable anyway, but they don't have to be since the torque pressures being applied are vastly lower then car stuff.

I work on classic cars as my other hobby; The tool brands I have are Craftsman, Proto and Challenger all which have a lifetime warranty but the Craftsman I can go to any Sears and get a no hassle no receipt replacement.

If your going to be a Pro Team Mechanic thus always traveling, what's the chances that a Snap-On tool truck is going to be near you verses a Sears should you break a tool you need right then?

Even the Kobalt brand found at Lowes which supposely has the same return policy that Sears has, I've been hearing good things about and their cheaper then Sears. BUT depending on where you'll be wrenching bikes will there be a greater chance of finding a Lowes or a Sears?

That's why the WrenchForce brand is now manufactured in China-to keep the cost down.

I have SnapOn, MAC, and Craftsman. The finish is best with MAC and SnapOn. Craftsman less so, more hard edges, lower quality finish. All of them have lifetime garrantee With MAC and SnapOn you need to have the rep handy to get this garrantee, and they will only replace the broken part of the tool(Break the ratchet mech in a ratchet and all you get is the gear box. Sears will get you a whole new tool. However, you need to make sure it is actually "Craftsman", they sell a bunch of stuff that doesn ot have the lifetime warrantee and some of the Craftsman branded stuff only has a year warrantee(I have a 23 year old timing light that only came with a year warrantee, of course it still works fine)

As a heavy equipment mechanic, I'd have to say Snap On tools are very good. That being said, I would only spend the money on the specialty tools. for instance, the Snap On offset wrenches have a slightly different offset angle that gives a few extra degrees of sweep in tight spots. Any of the guaranteed lines will probably work fine for you, just find out how the warranty works. If you have to mail in the broken tool, forget it.

I guess I just see Snap On tools as mechanic's "Bling".

Just a note, I'm not just buying tools to wrench on bikes, I'm going to use them for other uses as well

No experience with Snap-On personally, but the lack of a store to take warranty items seems like it could be an issue. I have taken at least my share of ratchets back to Sears in the middle of a job to get a replacement. No hassles, no questions asked. But I have found that with ratchets (at least) they give you refurbished tools. Not a bad thing, but you aren't going to give you brand new tools.

Also, I have learned that they won't warranty torque wrenches; you can, however, recalibrate them yourself relatively easily.

We use FACom as our primary tool base - good enough for F1 and MotoGP - with Stahlwille, Snap-On, CDI, Kukko and others as our fillers. For Bicycles I use Park supplemented by Snap-On. Use what you feel like; however, your tools are a very powerful representation to your customers of your values and care. If you don't believe that, go to a Chevy Dealership v Porsche Dealership and tour the tech's boxes (let alone a real race shop where peoples' lives are in the balance every second the vehicle is used in anger). Oh yeah, just call and the Snap-On truck will come to your workplace once a week or more so NO TIME is lost transporting tools.

I'm trying to figure out exactly what Snap-On tools the OP thinks that he needs. A 17mm end wrench, maybe a big crescent wrench. I'm not getting this thread.

Craftsman get another advantage as Sears has bought K-Mart and now has Craftsman tools in K-Marts, including the warranty. Craftsman, and many other tool companies, will not put a lifetime warranty on an electronic tool like a timing light.

I didn't know Snap-on and Trek parted ways.

Actually it was the other way around; K-Mart bought Sears. You are correct that Craftsman brand tools are appearing in K-Marts.

Craftsman tools are also available in Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) stores.

Craftsman used to be American-made - "Forged in USA". In the 90's Sears canceled the contract with the American supplier and went offshore. I've heard much feedback that the quality dropped around then, but all my own Craftsman tools pre-date the change. (I've taken to acquiring vintage Craftsman, like a (free!) 8" mill vise that is around 100 years old and works just fine, thank you. :D)

I believe the previous supplier uses the old tooling for another brand but I can't remember which.

Man, that just pisses me off even more at the people that lost tools for me over the years. I still have a Craftsman toolbox that my folks bought me when I was 9 years old...yeah, back in the 70's, but the sockets and wrenches have become incomplete in time, and it really hurts.

I have some very old and very new Craftsman wrenches. It appears to me that the new ones are nickel plated while the old ones are chrome plated. Other than that I see little difference.

Anything that is not a hand tool and/or does not have the Craftsman name on is not warrantied for life; thus your timing light or a Craftsman drill etc would only be guaranteed for 1 year.

And Sears no longer provides a new ratchet if you break yours, they replace the ratchet gear box unless the handle breaks.

Like for what? Working on your car? Will you be working on your car all the time? If not, you still don't need the quality of Snap-On unless your wealthy and don't care about the money you spend and only want the best.

I work on my own cars and I can afford Snap-On, but I never had the need for that kind of quality nor wished I did.

Now there are some instances where a speciality tool is required to fix something on a particular car and Sears won't sell that stuff. Years ago I had a 82 Cadillac that had a hose leak that came out of the back of the engine and was tight against the firewall. I could only just barely touch the hose with my fingers from either the top or bottom but could not reach the clamps with any tool and thought the engine would have to loosened and jacked up to get to it. I found out after much calling around that Snap-On sold a tool that was made specifically for that application at a cost of $145, I found a radiator shop that could repair it for $70. So I had the shop repair it because I wasn't going to keep the car more then 6 months so to buy a tool for that one purpose would have been a waste; and besides even if I kept the car for 5 years the hose would have surely lasted that long and if not tool would still been a waste since I would just have the shop do it again.

Several posters have mentioned Craftsman timing lights. I had one that I purchased in 1971. I purchased it for entertainment only . . . didn't use it professionally. Put it aside around 1975 and didn't touch it until two years ago.

Hooked it up and it didn't work. Looked thru my paperwork and found the original receipt *AND* the lifetime guarantee on the bulb.

Took it to the nearest Sears store. They no longer made the same model so upgraded me to a better model with inductive pickup. No charge, no BS. Kudos to Sears!

The new one came with a limited warranty . . . don't remember how long . . . probably a year.

DON

Yep, ever see a Chrysler or Ford distributor wrench? In the '60's both Ford and Chrylsler V-8's had the distributor hold down bolts buried at the base and they could not be loosened with any normal box, open end or ratchet in any normal configuration. Proto, and probably some others like Snap-On, made C-shaped box wrenches just for this use. I don't recall what they cost (I had the Chrysler version for my Dodge 340), but it wasn't that much.

In those days before electronic ignition, you replaced the distributor points and retimed the car about every 10,000 miles so, if you did your own wrenching, one of these was a necessity.

Froze: thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had almost forgotten I still have one of those. ;)

I have both Snap-on and Craftsman. I like the Craftsman ratches better for the simple fact that I can push the button and drop off a socket, then replace one all with one hand. I guess you could say I like the Craftsman design better. Snap-ons are prettier, though.

I have found through the years that tools are like bikes, everyone has their own opinion of what is better, and you can't convince someone that he/she is wrong.

Allegedly Danaher, maker of Armstrong, Matco, K-D, Allen, also make the OEM Craftsman mechanics tools (I'm limiting that to wrenches and socketry). This discussion comes up a lot on other forums which I frequent.

I own a little of everything. Not literally, but I have a little bit of Snap-on, Armstrong, Craftsman, Elora, S-K, etc. In my opinion, they are all about the same, as far as getting jobs done. It is a tool, use it to get the job done. I have no qualms when I saw off the open end part of a Craftsman combination wrench so I can slip a cheater pipe on it to loosen a hard to reach nut. The warranty is now invalid, but the time and frustration saved on a paying job was more than worth the cost of a $4.00 wrench. I might be a little hesitant to do the same on a Snap-on or Armstrong wrench, just because they are nicer.

These days I often get frustrated with my local Sears, because they don't have what I need when I need it. I've got a good assortment of tools (and have wrenched on cars for a couple of decades, as an amateur) but sometimes I need a tool I don't have, so I buy them as I need them. I've even bought Duralast (gasp!) tools at the local Autozone. They actually look very well made, in Taiwan.

If you feel that most expensive=the best, then I won't try to convince you otherwise. Is the Snap-On truck there for you on the weekends when you need him most? Personally, I think from the actual use of the tools, you'll find little difference among tools of similar origin. Expensive tools have a lifetime warranty. Some cheaper tools have a lifetime warranty. The cheapest tools usually let you down.

All the tools made in so called "first world" nations are of comparable quality. They all screw up sometimes, hence the nicknames like Snap-off and Crapsman. Nobody gets it right all the time.

I will buy tools anywhere. Pawn shops, auto stores, flea markets, friends. I stick to well known brands that back them with a warranty. I know my stash of tools is a little less likely to grow legs when they are all different brands and don't all match. Sometimes they don't make them like they used to. Sometimes this is a good thing, sometimes it is a bad thing.

Good tools cost money. After that, it is all diminishing returns.