It is a gamble buying cheap stuff and sometimes even good stuff. I would not consider craftsman a quality tool, they are barely homeowner grade. I realize that name does not matter either. I'd rather spend a little more for a air wrench that is supposed to be more powerful and I would like to think is reliable. Popular Mechanics tests a lot of power tools. The harbor freight tools don't do bad for the money but who knows how well they will hold up. I like to buy stuff once and be done with it, not necessarily what is the most expensive or cheapest but what I feel is a good bang for the buck.
Tailwheel vs impact gun
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Soundguy
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the problem with buying onece, is you lock into a wear / lifespan issue. at half way thru lifespan.. it's a worn tool. when you can buy a lil cheaper and have a 'new' un worn tool, more often. higher average of 'newness' 
crazyal
Super Member
you can of course do whatever you want to do with your $.. but consider this concept.
gun a, brand name, suposed good quality due to name recognition, 500$
gun b, knock off brand, presumed less quality, 100$
situation 1, light homeowner use:
Under light use, both a/b may last a 'lifetime' spinning a couple bolts out a year.
end result.. one gun cost you 400$
situation 2, heavier use
both guns used much more frequently, after 2 years gun b needs replacing, gun a, starting to wear, but still going very well... 2 more years, gun b needs replacing, gun a very much worn. 2 more years, gun a dead, gun b also dead... replace.
where are you at? you have spent 400$ on gun b. every 2 years it's a new gun, thus new performance. You spent 500% on guna, and it steadly wore down to needing replacing. at half time of this event, gun b was brand new. gun a was half way thru usefull life. net result.. you are ahead by 100$
I've done this comparison on MANY types of tools used in a industrial / construction environment.
brush hogs for example. we USED to buy the expensive brand name models that cost 1200$ vs a 550$ king kutter or howse.
what did we find? A car rim on the side of the road, after you hit them a couple times.. don't really care of it is destroying a 1100$ 'bush hog' or a 550$ king kutter. after nearly 2 decades of research.. we ende dup saving money using lower priced hogs. death rate was very similar on machines up to 2x$ price range.
smaller tools? chainsaws? weed whackers? hand tools?
hand tools. a theif can steel a 3$ 1/4" drive ratchet set from harbor freight.. or he can steal a 50$ craftsman one... same amount of time... both have lifetime warranty
when out on a job and I find no other way around welding a 2" socket to the and of a pipe to get down in a hole... i'd rather do so with a socket I can replace for 5$ than one that I have to replace for 35$.
when I need to torch a 1.25" wrench into a stubby to get to a bolt to hold it. or put an S bend in a 1" wrench.. I'd rather do it to one I can repalce for 5$ vs one for 35$
a 175$ poulan chainsaw looks about the same as a 350$ huskie AFTER it has fallen off a tailgate driving down the side of a road doing ROW maintenance... OR after dropping a tree across it. one just eats less of a hole in the job profits.
when they are both running with rent-a-drunks . both have the same approximate lifespans in number of hours used. weed eaters work out the same...
ps.. none of this is made up. This is just looking thru my tool file I've maintained over the past years here at work at a GC....
expensive is nce.
expensive doe not always mean quality.. but generally used to anyway.. expensive does always equal expensive however.
economy does not always equal cheap..
here's another way of looking at it.
If I as a contractor have to put a 2500$ tool set in each one of my service trucks, to set out on the MSTU road job i'm building outside your house... or I can put in 700$ worth of tools... what do you think that does tot he price of that road. which in turn.. what happens to the price of your special assessment tax on your property taxes? I save money.. you save money... there ain't no free lunch.
with todays tool manufactring tech.. many tools pour out of china anyway.. reguardless of who's name is stamped on them. if I can pay 1/4 and get a working tool and save everybody money down the line.... why not ??
btdt, got the greasy sweaty tshirt...
PS.. this isn't 1980 when a cheap pakistan or tiwanese socket set was 10$ and a craftsman was 30-50, and there was a HUGE difference in quality.
this is 2012, and a craftsman wrench for 30$ laying next to a HF wrench for 5$ both have hece en chine engraved on them and both ahve a warranty.. and may have come from the same factory.. and are quite possibly the same level of quality.
different ballgame. maechanics from the earlier part of the last century had a legitimate argument vs against owning a cheap tool.
playing field went thru a major leveling with rise of industrial technology overseas, and us farming out as many jobs as possible. you CAN get a high quality, CHEAPER tool nowadays....
I have a good friend who owns a sprinkler business with about 30 employees. He basically came to the same conclusion. He is a big fan of Milwaukee tools. But no matter what he did or said they would either get broken or come up missing. Every time they would send a job box to a worksite they would do an inventory and then when it came back they would do another one. After years of replacing tools he finally just switched to HF tools. Sure they don't last as long but he can buy 5 or 6 for the price of one name brand tool. Plus he can put two of the same tool in the box so if one breaks they can keep working. With name brand tools he couldn't afford to so when something was lost or broke the foreman would have to send someone back to the shop for a replacement. In their shop they still have name brand tools but he's in his shop enough throughout the day to so he knows when something breaks and who was working there that day. The only name brand tools he sends to jobsites now are pipe wrenches and pipe threaders. For everything else his accountant has shown that he's saving quite a bit of money.
kencunningham
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Someone gave my dad a impact years ago when i was just a small kid. It sat in my dads shop for years and never got used, not once. When i was about twelve i pulled it out of the pile and tried it. I wouldnt do anything but blow air thru. I took it apart and cleaned the vanes and the slots that they go into. Sure enough, the tool was brought back to life. I think i would try cleaning it before going out and buying another.
joshuabardwell
Elite Member
The real question here, I think, is what's the lifespan of a quality tool vs. a cheap one. Some quality tools will outlive ten or twenty cheap ones, in which case you may as well buy the quality one. Even when it's halfway worn, it'll out-work a new one. The idea that you could trade a half-worn impact wrench with a brand new cheap one is kind of silly. If the half-worn impact wrench still has enough torque to put on and take off the fasteners you work with, who cares if it's not brand new? And if the brand new one won't do the job, likewise, who cares?
Let's not forget the cost of downtime in this equation. When a tool breaks, you lose time replacing or repairing it. Some of those old tools were built like tanks. They run just as hard today as they did when they rolled off the line. And they will keep working, even under abusive conditions, where a cheaper tool would crap out.
I agree that if your tools are going to get abused, lost, or stolen, you may as well buy cheap. The first guy to run your chainsaw without oil, or to put straight gas in instead of 2-stroke mix, is going to damage or destroy it, whether it's a Poulan or a Stihl. Drop it out of a tree, and it'll be just as broke. But again, that all hinges on both tools being able to do the job. If you need a 36" bar to buck logs, you're not going to be doing it with a Poulan under any circumstances.
Let's not forget the cost of downtime in this equation. When a tool breaks, you lose time replacing or repairing it. Some of those old tools were built like tanks. They run just as hard today as they did when they rolled off the line. And they will keep working, even under abusive conditions, where a cheaper tool would crap out.
I agree that if your tools are going to get abused, lost, or stolen, you may as well buy cheap. The first guy to run your chainsaw without oil, or to put straight gas in instead of 2-stroke mix, is going to damage or destroy it, whether it's a Poulan or a Stihl. Drop it out of a tree, and it'll be just as broke. But again, that all hinges on both tools being able to do the job. If you need a 36" bar to buck logs, you're not going to be doing it with a Poulan under any circumstances.
Soundguy
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elements of that statement are unqualified.
the 1" air gun, for instance, I have from HF is the EXACT same size and within ounces of weight as the klutch model from lowes, and an IR we have at work.
you toss out 'quality' like it's a label that is affixed to anything that costs alot. and.. sadly.. it isn't
many tools roll out side by side.. some get expensive brand names.. some get cheap.
all depends on whose pockets you want to line. yours or theirs. ??
i'm lining mine.
I've no need for a 500$ IR 1" gun that i'll need 1-2 per year.. when my 100$ gun works fine... that 400$ can set in my ira or pay my mortgage or something. I'n not so into vanity that I have to have a brand name on my tool.. especially if i can get the same work out of one with a lesser name.
i know for some people brand is a manohood or 'size' issue or something... for me it's a dollars/sense/and does it work satisfactorilly / lifespan issue.
if I can substitute a cheaper product and get the same desired results, over time, for less money? I don't need a brand name.
ymmv
as I said. you are free to pay more to do the same work
I have no issue at all with you paying more..
Soundguy
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yep.. we came tot he same conclusion.... a tree will smash a 1wk old 500$ chainsaw just as flat as a 180$ chainsaw.
and cheap tools are less likely to be stolen.
in a harsh environment.. even a quality machine will have a reduced lifespan. if you are replacing an item regularly anyway.. might as well do it cheaper if you can, and still get the same level of work out of it.
If I have a trash pump set out on a jobsite pumping down a WRA... if it has a honda engine in it vs a robin.. it less likely to be there in the morning..
and if it isn't there.. i'm out 300$ LESS on the robin.sad fact.. but a fact.
as you say.. the bottom line proves it...
Soundguy
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my comparison is of tools that can do some minimum level of work.
IE.. your contention that the new tool purchased is too small is not within the scope of my comment.
to make a comparison.. you'd have to buy tools that meet the minimum requirements for the task.
soundguy
joshuabardwell
Elite Member
This whole conversation makes me think of kitchen knives and other such supplies. You can buy boutique knives for hundreds of dollars, but my experience has been that a $20-40 "commercial-grade" knife from a restaurant supply store will get the job done just as well day in and day out, and you won't have to have a conniption if somebody puts it in the dishwasher or cuts on a hard surface. Sure, after five years it won't hold an edge anymore, and you'll have to buy a new one, but who gives a darn at $20-40 a pop.
