This time of year, I receive TONS of “please consider this for your holiday gift guide” PR emails and requests. One such email from the Craftsman crew included a couple of appealing tools, including this 42-piece bit socket set.
The set comes with an assortment of Torx, hex, Phillips, slotted, and external Torx bit sockets, a 3/8″ ratchet, an extension, and a 3/8″ to 1/4″ adapter.
Advertisement
The price is right – $30, although don’t buy into the “regular price of $100” claims. Even if you don’t need each of the included sizes right away, having them available beats having to pay $4 to $7 each – or more – when you do need them.
Buy Now(via Sears)
NOTE: The above image shows the OLD style set. The new style set has a different case and probably isn’t made in the USA. I haven’t checked. The tools all look to be the same, but the image of the older stock set had much clearer imagery of the tools. Don’t buy this set thinking it’s definitely made in the USA.
Not a fan of Craftsman? There’s also a reasonably priced Gearwrench 39pc bit set.
Want pro-grade USA-made bit sockets? Here’s a 33pc SK bit socket set. SK also offers a couple of smaller sets.
Advertisement
Tom
I’ve been looking at this set for awhile. All of the packages in my stores are made in China. From what I have heard, the last of the USA-made sets were sold off at last year’s Black Friday festivities.
I am definitely interested in getting a set, but not sure whether you get this one or pay a premium for Vim or the Williams set on amazon.
adam
If you are a Shop Your Way Rewards member (sears free rewards program), you also get $5 back in points with this purchase until 11/8. Not exactly $5 off, but another $5 in tools you can use right after this purchase.
Tom
Has anyone noticed a quality difference between the USA and China-sourced products on these?
Mike
Yes, and then some.
Seth
That’s a completely helpful answer, thanks for chiming in.
I bought the USA-made set last year for a project and have access to the newer import kit for comparison. The oxide coating on the import is of a different texture – it’s almost what I would describe as ‘coarse’.
No bits from either kit have failed me, but I’m also not a lunk that puts this type of socket on a thunder gun. Strictly ratchet or spinner use only. The torx and metric hex bits see heavy use, the rest barely get touched.
Mike
If you would bother to scroll down you’d see my complete response. But thanks for chiming in!
Julian Tracy
Looks like a good deal, can’t find for any less than $45-55 on ebay. Though I have most of the allen and torx sockets I may need at any given time, I certainly don’t have them in any sort of organized place. This would be a good set to keep so you’d always know you have what you might need…
Thanks for the tip.
JT
Steve Cox
I bought this set last year on Black Friday. I have the China set, No problems with it.
Mike
$30 is actually one of the ‘normal’ prices for this set, at least when purchasing online. It’s always on sale for $49.99, often it’s dropped to $40 or $35, and about every third week it is down to the $30 price.
I’m not one to jump on the “It’s Craftsman made in China, it’s crap!!!” bandwagon, but a few things about this set:
1. What you purchase will not be what’s shown, it will be a roughly equivalent set. The case will be considerably different but actually better.
2. It will be made in China.
3. In this particular case, it will be crap.
The bits are next to useless for anything but the lightest torque. If you have to use the included ratchet rather than a hand driver you’re guaranteed to destroy the bit. They are weak. Each bit is randomly either not hardened, in which case it will twist, or actually hardened properly, in which case it will snap in two.
I purchased one of these perhaps a year and a half ago. My old set was missing quite a few bits and it seemed cheaper just to grab an entire new set. The first to be used was the 3/8″ Allen head driver, loosening the main lugs on a breaker panel. The set screw and lug are tin plated copper. That means they are soft, but often the heating cycles make them seize a little. Normally the worry is that the set screw will strip so I gave the ratchet a fast, hard turn to break the screw loose. Imagine my surprise when the bit snapped off cleanly right where it exits the socket portion. I exchanged the bit, but the next time I used the set was in a similar situation. Same result. Steel should never lose in a fight vs. copper like this.
Simply not believing it could be this bad, I tested some other bits. Everything I tested failed immediately under anything but the slightest torque. Hex bits snapped or twisted, Torx and Phillips bits broke or the drive portion crumbled. I exchanged the set and tried again with the same results. The set went back for a refund.
Again, I’m not against this set because it is made it China. I’m against it because it just flat out doesn’t work. I am far from the only one who has had this experience with these bits.
Mini rant: This purchase was also my first experience in the pricing difference between Sears.com and Sears. I first saw the $30 price via an online ad and it later went to $40. When I saw it drop back to $30 I went to Sears to purchase it. I was shocked to see it ring up at the full $100 price. It was 70% cheaper for me to order it online right there in the store, wait for someone to get a set off the shelves and carry it to the customer pickup area, then scan in my order and wait for someone to bring it right back out to me.
adam
My set has worked well that I picked up last year. It does a great job staying stacked underneath my screw storage container!
Seriously, I only used 2 of the bits so far, and can’t complain but they weren’t high-torque situations. Hopefully they last, otherwise I’ll replace with good bits but use the case.
adam
update. I ended up using on of these today, the 6mm, and the head separated from the socket. the head subsequently fell into the car somewhere. Might try getting it with a magnet, might not. Maybe we will see if Sears swaps it without half the part.
It’s in great condition, so I may be gifting this and going to the harbor freight route
typhoon
When they were American-made, they actually sold for $99.99 and never went on sale. They weren’t especially well regarded back then either.
The conflict between Sears and Sears.com is bizarre. You would think they would use the web site to support their retail operations (which they have a lot more invested into) and try to get people into their stores to buy things.
Instead, it’s the opposite; they want to be Amazon, everyone’s one-stop shop for online shopping, but they won’t admit to themselves that that ship sailed away a long time ago. So they’re incentivizing people not to shop at their stores, thinking it’ll drive people to Sears.com when it probably drives more people to Amazon and Harbor Freight.
Hang Fire
If they want to be like Amazon, they have to fix their online site’s database errors, search engine, listing inconsistancies, spelling, bad links, and provide a useful, meaningful way for users to prompt for corrections.
OK, so looking at that, we all know Sears.com will never be like Amazon.
Pete
Pretty good price. What’s funny is I just looked to piece a similar set at harbor freight and I couldn’t do it. Craftsman is now cheaper than Harbor Freight…. Granted I would rather have the craftsman set for the sweet case. And I can’t find a 1/8″ allen in any harbor freight set.
Tom
I have mixed feelings on cases like these. It is initially great to have, but at some point I am going to need to reorganize and get rid of all these blow-molded cases. I just can’t bring myself to throw them into the recycle bin, but part of me really wants to just get all my sockets on rails and into a box. Ending up with a dozen of these little cases seems like a total waste of space that will ultimately slow me down. But I can’t seem to let myself get rid of them…
Dave
I get a socket rail and throw these cases right into the trash! Waste of space
joe
“Craftsman is now cheaper than Harbor Freight”
I was buying stuff from HF when there was only one harbor freight store here (there are more now) and the “quality” for industrial tools was decent….I bought an 18 gauge brand nailer for less than 20 dollars years ago and it came with and extra piston and 0-ring…now the new model does not come with an extra piston nor 0-ring and costs the same.
I see companies re-brand HF tools and sell them more expensive too….even at sears I have seen such items re-branded with a greater price tag (the old models).
Regarding these type of socket sets, I personally find just a lot of wasted metal. For example, if one of the bits strip/break, you throw away the whole socket with broken bit in it. I would rather have magnetic sockets and bits that fit in them then to have stand alone sockets with bits built in.
Most of the price I see it go on the wasted metal/innovation. IMO.
Nicholas
If you guys are interested in a set of USA made but sockets for cheap, here is a set of Williams bit sockets that I stumbled across on Amazon
Nicholas
I forgot the link. Here it is. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005VMVFX8/
Peter Fox
Just a heads up that Williams set is not made in the USA but Taiwan. As a general rule if a Williams part number is made of just numbers it is imported, it is numbers and letters it is USA.
That said it is probably better than the Craftsman set as most non USA Williams tools are identical to one of Snap-on’s blue point products.
Personally I have no issue with quality non USA products and have had good results with the Gear Wrench equivalent. I would recommend them over most Craftsman tools.
Robert
We occasionally miss the point with these things. While you may never need all or even the majority of the pieces, that doesn’t necessarily matter. If any set permits you to do a job that would’ve otherwise required an expensive service call, it can more than pay for itself with only one usage.
I have sets like this that I rarely reach for. When I have however, I’ve accomplished tasks that would’ve cost me A LOT more than the tools if I’d hired someone to come and do it.
That’s the way I view it. I don’t know what parts I’ll need over the life of the set. If one job however pays for it, I don’t even consider that.
Hang Fire
The problem with this reasoning, as applied to this set of tools, is that the tool has to stay in one piece long enough to finish the job.
Tom
I sort of half agree with you. For a set of hex and torx drivers, these are things that are going to collect dust most of the time. However, when I need them, I am really going to need them. I put together a swingset last year that must have had five hundred hex bolts. A good quality hex socket would have been nice…. but I would have used and used it.
So although I am not going to use these often, I want them to be up to the task of doing very repetitive work effectively.
Robert
Put together one swing set and you’ve paid for it. In addition, the ratchet and extension are generic anyway. They’re not exactly proprietary for this kit alone.
This may not be the best stuff on the market. On the other hand, it’s 30 bucks. If I had only one decent project to do with this set, I’d be good with that. I can always find a use for a 3/8 ratchet, a 1/4 inch adapter, and an extension after that.
For what I would’ve paid for those three items separately, the kit would’ve more than paid for itself with one project.