J. Clarke wrote:

Eugene wrote:

Herb Robinson wrote:

I too believe Craftsman tools often get an unfair knock. My first table
saw was a Craftsman and it served me well for many years as I was
learning my woodworking skills -- particularly after I added a
Biesemeyer home shop
fence to it. I believe if you start out with these moderately priced
tools, once you are ready to upgrade, you have a much better idea of
what you want/need.

I have used crapsman tools for a few years but after replacing the first
one with a real tool I was then kind of mad at myself for wasting the
money on the craftsman when I could have spent a bit more on better tools
and saved a few pieces of wood and some frustration when the tools didn't
perform as well as they should.
In the short term the cheaper craftsman tools look like a good deal but
looking at the long term, I've had to replace each one so I'm out both
the
money of the good tool and the money spent on the craftsman. The cost of
a couple craftsman tools that had to be replaced was enough to buy
something better in the first place.
Of course its not just craftsman, I have a worthless Black and Decker
jigsaw and threw away and old skil circular saw a few years ago because I
bought
cheap. But I have learned that buying cheaper tools doesn't save any $
because you have to re-buy them again. I have bought my father three
different cordless drills over the last few years and still have and use
and abuse my 9.6V Makita from 1995. So when he needed another cordless
drill (4th one now) I picked up a Makita and now instead of buying a new
drill every couple years I buy him something else to go along with the
one he has because it actually lasts more than a couple years.
My point is if you don't start with the cheap stuff then you don't need
to upgrade as soon.

While what you say about cheap tools is in general true, it is true of all
brands of cheap tool and not only of Craftsman. And there are many high
quality tools sold under the Craftsman brand at prices similar to those
charged for the same tool under the manufacturer's brand.

Very true, however is the newbie going to be able to tell which crasftman
tools are good? Thats one of the marketing reasons of a brand, if it meets
or exceeds your expectations then it gets known as a good brand. If 9 out
of 10 of the brands products are junk then that hurts the brand name over
all even if they happen to make a good product every now and then.
There are plenty of other brands that may make a good tool or two but allow
their line to have so many bad ones that you would never know it. I have a
worthless black and decker jigsaw sitting in my garage because their name
once stood for quality but no longer does.