Craftsman used to be valuable, because they had a strong reputation and a rock-solid replacement policy. That's no longer the case, and you're better off spending less money for Harbor Freight tools that are now good quality and fully warrantied.
Now if I'm looking at craftsman, I'm either going to an estate sale to buy older items, or I'm going to harbor freight for a disposable.
There doesn't seem to be a company to fill that home hobbyist niche anymore.
The business model appears to be to sell reasonable quality tools and nail consumers with low quality consumables.
I avoid HF if I can but their new line of welders is getting rave reviews at a 1/4 the price of the American brands.
At this point, I would buy HF over Crapsman.
I now have a woodshop full of HF clamps that carry a better warranty than bessey and work just as well. I also have the HF wood lathe that is super cheap for the quality.
The chrome and stamping on the sockets is every bit as good as my ~2000 era Craftsman sockets, and far better than the last Craftsman tool I bought around '07.
Plus, Gearwrench is not american made, it is Taiwanese. Good tools, but your statement is factually incorrect.
I think that's just ambiguous wording. Try parsing it like this:
> I'd suggest ((Gearwrench) or (Tekton, Wright or Williams (same manufacturer as Snap On) if you want American made.))
Gearwrench, Tekton and some Williams wrenches: Asia-made, reasonably priced, more than adequate for hobbyist use.
Wright and some Williams wrenches: US-made, more expensive but cheaper and more available than Snap-on, marketed towards industrial applications instead of professional mechanics.
I'm sure they don't measure up to Craftsman of fifty years ago, but neither does Craftsman.