Craftsman Cordless Tools

Michaeljp86

So what do you guys think of craftsman cordless tools? Its the only thing Ive ever used so I cant really compare. My dad has a 19.2V set and they have been great so far but the batteries dont hold a charge like they used to. My mom wanted to know what to get him for christmas and Im thinking the 19.2V impact driver. He would get 2 new batteries and for a little more money you get the driver to.

One thing I like about craftsman is parts are easy to get.

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slickshift

Homeowner quality tools
(occasional use)
No more-no less

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Originally Posted by ModernStyle I have never used this crap before and I pray to the paint gods that I never have to use it again, I would rather use Behr

MinConst

I have a 19.2V set of small circular saw, and sawsall that have served me well. They have seen much use and work well. I also picked up the hand vac and it also works well. Seems to be as good a my Dewalt stuff.

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Robie

Well, I gotta put my 2 cents in here. I was given a gift of a 19.2 volt drill/driver 5 years ago. It was used everyday and saw some fairly hard use. 2 years later I was given another one, as a gift. I ended up with 2 drills and 4 batteries. They both served me extremely well. I recently purchased a Makita Lithium 6 tool kit and got rid of the 2 drills, but they never failed me.
I used to have a web page to tell you what Craftsman tools were made by whom...these drills were made by Makita.

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Michaeljp86

One time for christmas years ago we got my dad the craftsman 18V set, drill & circ saw. It was built tought but batteries cost more then the 19.2V set. The new set looks a feels cheap compared to the 18V but its held up. I did put a new motor in the recip saw for $30 but it got alot of water in it more times then I can count cutting out old water lines. The 18v also seemed more powerful then the 19.2V.

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wink

craftsman, makita, dewalt, whatever it is he will love an impact driver,

valleyman

Years ago I bought a set of the 19.2 volt tools used them at work every day and they served me very well. I've since upgraded to the Milwaukee V28 and Bosch PS40, but I have to say for the money, the Craftsman's aren't bad. I really liked the impact driver, but the stapler/nailer was useless. The batteries do fade after a few years. Fortunately they can be replaced for around $25.

kevjob

had the crapsman, 19.2 didn't really like it too much.

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Ed the Roofer

I have a couple of sources that I will add onto with some edits:

1st:
http://www.owwm.com/Craftsman/Manufacturers.asp

Ed

Copied From A Pelican Parts Forum Thread:

"I've been pretty impressed with the Kobalt tools at lowes - and it looks like craftsman is back on the quality bandwagon.
Like wayne said - there are really only a few tool companies that rebadge

Lowes now (as of earlier this year) is selling a line of Mechanics Tools called Kobalt which is made by Snap-On. They are good tools.

Home Depot's Husky brand is made by Stanley Mechanics Tools, a division of the Stanley Works. Husky are also good tools and have a good lifetime warranty (they'll even replace your broken Craftsman with an equivalent Husky).

Until 1994 or so, Stanley also made Sears Craftsman tools. Sears Craftsman is now made by Danaher Tools. They beat out Stanley on the contract over price. Danaher also manufactures MatCo Tools, the third largest player in the Mobile Automotive industry (behind MAC and Snap-On). Odds are, if you own any Craftsman tools that are older than about five years ago, they were made by Stanley in plants in Dallas, Texas, Witchita Falls, Texas, and Sabina, Ohio.

Stanley also owns MAC Tools and manufactures MAC tools in the same plants. Now here's the kicker: MAC Tools, Proto Tools (a very expensive industrial brand), Husky Tools, and, (prior to five or so years ago) Craftsman Tools are all made from the same forgings in the same plants. Proto is unique because it goes through addtional testing and certification because it is used by NASA, the military, and industrial customers (including General Motors).

There are three MAJOR players in the USA mechanics tool business: Stanley, Danaher, and Snap-On. Stanley and Danaher (almost identical in sales revenue at about $28 billion each) are the biggest followed by Snap-On. Each of these three manufacture and sell tools under a variety of brands (there are many other brands that Stanley makes that I haven't even named). The quality between these three manufacturers is roughly the same. I know its a bit of a let-down to hear that, but its a simple fact.

FACOM ( Franco-Americaine de Construction d'Outillage Mecanique). French for "French-American Mechanical Tool Manufacturing. FACOM owns S-K outright. You'll notice (if you look through the catalogs from preceeding years) that the tools are becoming more and more alike. The S-K "pro" screwdrivers are now FACOM ergotwist screwdrivers. The "tuff1" ratchets are S-K pro ratchet handles avec FACOM innards. FACOM's ratcheting flare wrench now has S-K stamped on the side of it. I don't like it because we could get FACOM tools from S-K dealers for over 10 years, but now they're getting more and more reluctant to give us FACOM stuff, they'd rather sell S-K stuff. Which is why you get S-K catalogs instead of FACOM. If you specifically request (demand) a FACOM catalog, you get their _american_ catalog, which is abbreviated."



And here are the manufacturers of their appliances:

http://www.applianceaid.com/searscodes.html

Michaeljp86

Id like to have a milwakee set, they are pricy but so are all their tools but I never seen one built cheap or tear up.

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Global warming is a myth, like evolution and the metric system.

A.W.Davis

I had a Craftsman cordless 5 piece combo and the reciprocating saw lasted 2 kitchen remodels and the drill lasted a year or so. I will never buy Craftsman tools again.

I just bought the Makita cordless combo kit a few months back and absolutely love it! The batteries recharge in maybe 10 minutes at most. I havent had any issues at all.

I love how light the drills are.

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TempestV

since we are on the topic of tool companies buying each other up, Milwaukee was recently bought by rigid, who released their power tool line based on high quality riobi components (I believe riobi uses lower quality components in their own tools)
Black and Decker now owns Dewalt, Delta, and Porter Cable.
Bosch of course owns Skill.
Dewalt gets batteries from Panasonic because Panasonic has patents on some of the best battery technology.
any others I'm missing?

I have a Milwaukee 18 volt drill, and have been waiting to pick up an 18 volt impact driver that they were going to release soon, except that because of the sale to rigid, new tool releases have been postponed due to reorganization.

As for hand tools, I've noticed this a lot- my dad has an Ace 1/2 inch ratchet, I have a 1/2 inch Husky- hold them side by side, and they are identical.
Also, every time Stanley comes out with a new fancy tool like the rotator ratchet, Husky gets exactly the same tool, but red and black instead of yellow and black.

A.W.Davis

I disagree with that......unless their battery technology has changed over the past year....I have had nothing but issues with my 18 volt Dewalt batteries. After about 6 months of daily use the batteries just wont hold a charge anymore......I have gone through countless batteries.

Maybe I am just hard on things......has anybody else had this issue?

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TempestV

My dad has two dewalt drills that he has had at least 6 years. They both get used daily, and in the entire time that he has had them, he has only had 1 battery go bad on him. that's my experience with dewalt, your mileage may vary.

BCULP2

I've had my 18v Craftsman set for 6 years. The batteries just recently started not holding a charge for very long.

If its something thats going to be used every day I'd look elsewhere but for occasional use it will be fine.

KillerToiletSpider

That article is fairly old, S-K bought themselves back from Facom over a year ago, and Kobalt is not made by Snap On, they are made by Williams, which is owned by Snap On, but operates as it's own company. Danaher only made Craftsman tools for a short period, and they are now made by several companies, the bulk of them are made by Urreah, a Mexican based co.

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nywoodwizard

That may be some peoples point of view,but have to disagree completely, I've purchased quite a bit of tools over the years, and all i hear is: Dewalt,Dewalt,Dewalt. I've owned a few dewalt drills, even the newest one. And have had problems with all of them.
The new 18 volt XRP dewalt sucks, bad chucks,won't tighten up,bits fall out,try putting small bits in thats a joke,they put points on the chuck fingers,bad mistake. Batteries don't hold a charge that long either. I've owned a 19.2 volt craftsman and didn't have one complaint, batteries are cheap, the right angle drill has the smallest head I've seen and came in handy plenty of times.

It only cost me $15 for a two year "Full replacement warranty" it lasted just a little over two years before it finally broke. More than i can say for the dewalts i've owned.

I may not buy every craftsman tool but i have no complaints about the drills. Its a no brainer and at $89 bucks how can you go wrong. My $300 dewalt will sit in the box and collect dust . Worst drill i've ever owned.

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Tmrrptr

Wow!

Say it ain't so...

This inter-breeding thing is kinda shaking me up.

I'm gonna have to re-read those posts!

Guess I shouldn't be surprised... my hecho en mexico F-150 has been a great pickup for 112k miles so far.

Michaeljp86

My mom got my dad the impact driver today, I had to try it out. I grabbed a tapcon and burried it into a grape post about 1in deep on a dead battery. It even has a LED light on it so you put screw in at night.

I looked it up on the website ed the roofer posted and its made by Diehl Mfg Co (portable power tools, prior to Ryobi)

She also got him 2 new batteries for $20 each. Im sure he will get a kick out of it the first time he uses it. I did notice its not as loud and annoying as the makitas

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I am just a vessel from which genius flows -Homer Simpson

Global warming is a myth, like evolution and the metric system.

straight line

Ryobi has made craftsman cordless power tools for the last ten years .For the price it's hard to complain