I just bought my first Snap-On product, a 3/8" drive, long-handled, soft grip, flex-head ratchet:




http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item....group_id=21365

Retail was $117, but I paid $96 shipped for a brand new one from eBay.

Are any of you into Snap-On tools, or just tools in general? Does anyone have one of these ratchets? How do you like it? I heard the 80 teeth makes the ratcheting action very, very smooth.

 

Should we expect a new thread for every new tool you get?

 

snap on is nice, but craftman works well for an average person. you break it, you take it in and exchange it. most def a nice tool

 

For the automotive work I do, it's like owning a forklift to move a couple of boxes in my garage.

Craftsman and Husky serve my needs just fine.

 

overkill to me. $100 for one ratchet? im no professional mechanic ill buy a 120 piece set for $100 instead.

 

I don't need anything fancy for home

 

Snap-On is nice...but overpriced.

I'll stick with my craftsman, and other assorted brands.

 

In what seems like a previous life I worked as a pro and was not a fan of Snap-on, Mag, or Matco they all break just the same and finding a driver is not always easy, they tend to come and go like the wind. I'd rather have SK, they broke no more frequently then the designer tools and I could get a replacement in a day.

 

The new Craftsman quick release ratchets are awful. The handle is lousy and the teeth are coarse. It just feels like a total POS.

 

I have to admit I'm a bit of a Snap-On whore but only when it comes to things I really need. I have a few tools that have saved me tons of time, two of which I use all the time are my racheting, flex head screwdriver:



and my round head rachet, similar to yours:



Beyond that I'll agree, Craftsman is just as good because you can just bring it in and exchange it. Many tools I prefer to get Craftsman, as in things that break easily. I'll always get my breaker bars from Craftsman, that way I can stand on them to turn a bolt if I need to. Depends on your Snap-On guy, but they can be jerks and refuse to exchange tools if they show abuse. If the Snap-On tool doesn't have patents chances are its not worth it

 

I have mostly snap on, but that was because I got a 40% discount from my school.

They have some specialty tools that Ive had to buy. But now if I need to replace a socket Ill look to craftsman..

 

i havent tried the quick release, but the ratchet with the button, well i guess it would be a quick release, works decent for me. As long as it turns the sockets, it makes me happy.

 

$96 for that thing?

I pass.

 

Craftsmen no longer has a lifetime warranty on some of their tools. I think their click-type torque wrenches have a two year warranty or something like that. Just FYI.

 

This is the only thing I have that's Snap-On


It's a pick set. I use it for taking off emblems or removing interior dashboard parts...Good stuff...

 

Most all torque wrench's have a very limited warranty.

 

Snap-ons are very overpriced, but you get what you pay for. The teeth in Craftsman products blow. You have to turn those ratchets a good 30 degrees before it clicks; just a horrible design. I have ratcheting wrenches, and the craftsmans I got fking suck. I'm thinking about getting a set of Gearwrench ratcheting wrenches for 50 bucks. I bought the Craftsmans for 20 dollars on sale. It came with 5 wrenches, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15, 19-21. there are probably 30 teeth. 360/30 = 12 degrees per tooth.

Please dont go cheap with torque wrenches; they go out of calibration very easily on cheap wrenches.

Try Matco, Mac, Snap-On, S&K, or IR. Great tools.

 

checking in. i got a few myself and as other have said they are expensive, maybe if i actually worked at a shop still but i love em.

by far some of the best tools out there to get the job done. if i stayed in the field (well i stlil work on cars but like i said not pro) i'd have a shit load more snap on tools.

congrands. lol enjoy it. i actually broke mine, it was fun..

 

Called the Snap-On guy last year about a 50 year old ratchet that went bell up. Never came by the shop. Sent a email to Snap-On asking what the problem was? One week later I had a new ratchet. At least Sears does a exchange the same day!

 

I have all Mastercraft sockets/wrenchs/ratchets. lifetime guarantee works for me.

 

Some of the Sears locations no longer give you a new ratchet. They just hand you a rebuilt used one.

 

Most companies do that, in particular Mag. For some reason their handles held up extremely well, but the gears sheer off/they develop a slip quite easily.

 

I like the new 80 teeth ratchets. Its nice when your in tight spaces and they are still quite strong.

Pretty much all my tools are snap on. I think I've spent 16-17k on tools since I started fixing cars (1-2k wasn't snap on stuff). The price for the stuff is high, but the tools are nice.

 

same here ... i managed to get some of those gear wrenches they had on sale not to long ago.

but for snap on, i would only buy a few things like a ratchet, screwdrivers and maybe sockets. theirs just some things that are better, the cheaper screwdrivers tend to strip a lot more and the snap on ones usually work quite a bit better.

 

I've got a tool set made by Crescent that my dad got me at Costco for my birthday a while back. Very sturdy tools and excellent ratchets. They are not the cheap kind, they have the fine tooth gears so you can move it slightly and it will click. They work very well for me.

 

Anyone know if Snap-On has ratchets with the ratcheting ring on top? I remember my friend had this rachet that had this grooved ring on the backside of it, that way if you couldn't spin the ratchet itself, you could just spin the ring by finger and it would turn the handle. That's cool as hell.

 

For me, Craftsman is easier to replace, plus it's about 100 times cheaper (ok, maybe 5 times).

 

I just received the FHLF80 in the mail today. It does not have the ratcheting ring.

 

Being a mechanic in my former life, I quickly learned you get what you pay for....most of the time.

I first stocked my toolbox with Matcos and quickly realized I wasted a ton of money on cheaply made tools. Craftsman was just as good.

Next round I ended up with $10,000 in Snap-ons and they were worth every penny. When you're doing transmission R&R and a stripped torque convertor bolt will take as long to get off as the whole job should take, it's worth it to have good tools.

For home use, the cheap stuff usually works fine, but the good tools will save lots of headaches in stripped bolts. Besides that, every week when the Matco guy came by, I had a handfull of broken tools to warranty. Never happened with Snap-on.

 

I'm a technician, so I have alot of name brand tools. But I stay away from StrapOn. Its overpriced, and their air tools suck. Wrenches are not the best either.

I am a Matco guy, I even have a Matco roll-away tool box for sale :wink: