Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me, they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

--
Lits Slut #9
Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.

FrozenNorth wrote in
:

Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from
me, they have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good
to be true. I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?


With most hand tools, you should be able to recognize quality or the lack
thereof by handling them. Power tools, you never know for sure until the
first month of use...

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

Puckdropper took a can of maroon spray paint on December 13, 2007 04:16 pm
and wrote the following:

FrozenNorth wrote in
:

Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from
me, they have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good
to be true. I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?


With most hand tools, you should be able to recognize quality or the lack
thereof by handling them. Power tools, you never know for sure until the
first month of use...

I know that, and I usually do not buy based on price, but perceived quality.
They could even be selling them at a loss, to get people into the store for
a grand opening, but junk is still junk, sooo...

Often quality is hard to tell, with a brand name I have never seen or heard
of before, I just assumed the same brand was available in the US, and
wondered if anyone had an opinion, or first hand experience with them.

After all I also have a Lee Valley about a 15 minute drive away too, and
don't hesitate to go there and buy something if I need it.

--
Lits Slut #9
Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.

On Dec 13, 4:03 pm, FrozenNorth wrote:
Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me, they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?


Great! Now you'll get to complain about them, too.

Jeff took a can of maroon spray paint on December 13, 2007 04:27 pm and
wrote the following:

On Dec 13, 4:03 pm, FrozenNorth wrote:
Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me,
they have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be
true. I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?


Great! Now you'll get to complain about them, too.

The local HD has been going down the toilet lately, thought this may be
another option, but I can always still go to Rona (Sorry Canadian only,
with typically good Canadian service).

--
Lits Slut #9
Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.

In article , FrozenNorth wrote:
Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me, they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

Kobalt tools are fairly decent. Not the best but not rubbish
either. On a par with Craftsman, IMO.

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Dec 13, 4:03 pm, FrozenNorth wrote:
Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me, they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

--
Lits Slut #9
Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.

They're like Husky brand stuff.
http://www.kobalttools.com/
Seeks limited in choices though..
Got a Lowes about 10 minutes from here in Port Huron MI. WAY nicer
than HD

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:03:15 GMT, FrozenNorth
wrote:

Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me, they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

I have some Kobalt sockets and wrenches.

They're not a boutique tool, but I'd buy them again.

"FrozenNorth" wrote in message
...

Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me,
they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

Lowes is just Hell Depot with nicer displays and more attention paid to
keeping the store clean and tidy. Apparently giving them an e-mail address
is a big mistake, they'll spam that address until hell freezes over.

DGDevin took a can of maroon spray paint on December 13, 2007 05:24 pm and
wrote the following:

"FrozenNorth" wrote in message
...

Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me,
they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

Lowes is just Hell Depot with nicer displays and more attention paid to
keeping the store clean and tidy. Apparently giving them an e-mail
address is a big mistake, they'll spam that address until hell freezes
over.

I'm usually very careful with email addys, gmail it is then, if I ever have
to give them one, but I'll try and avoid it. Thanks for the warning.
--
Lits Slut #9
Life would be so much easier if we could just look at the source code.

Thu, Dec 13, 2007, 9:03pm (EST+5)
(FrozenNorth) doth proclaimeth:
Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me,
they have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be
true. I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

Damn, thought CPT Picard ahad slowed the Borg down. Guess not.

I shop Lowes on a semi-regular basis. I consider it much superior
to Home Depot - I don't shop HD at all.



JOAT
I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do
them.
- Picasso

FrozenNorth wrote:

Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me,
they have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be
true. I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?


They are serviceable. I've got a few, including a ratchet I keep in the
shaper toolbox. Certainly at least an order of magnitude better than the
tools you would get in a cheap "110 tools set!" type of package.

--
If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough

"FrozenNorth" wrote
Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me,
they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

Hand tools, wrenches, pliers, etc. - middle of the road and serviceable.

Power tools - chinese Crap, but a cut or two above Harbor Fright.

IME ...

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 12/10/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

On Thu, 13 Dec 2007 21:03:15 GMT, FrozenNorth wrote:

Their first three stores open tomorrow, one isn't too far away from me, they
have some opening specials on Kobalt tools that look too good to be true.
I gather that is a house brand, are they any good?

I've tried some of their screw drivers and stuff.. Like anything else, you get
what you pay for..
I haven't been able to hurt the nail punch set I got there yet..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

Thu, Dec 13, 2007, 2:24pm (EST-3) lid (DGDevin) doth
claimeth:
Lowes is just Hell Depot with nicer displays and more attention paid to
keeping the store clean and tidy. Apparently giving them an e-mail
address is a big mistake, they'll spam that address until hell freezes
over.

A lot more than that in my experience. The help at Lowes is
actually willing to help, and can. They know where whatever is, and
will point it out, or even walk you to it. Much larger variedy of
stock. They've had my e-mail for years, never received anything from
them.



JOAT
I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do
them.
- Picasso

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:31:26 -0500, (J T)
wrote:

A lot more than that in my experience. The help at Lowes is
actually willing to help, and can. They know where whatever is, and
will point it out, or even walk you to it. Much larger variedy of
stock. They've had my e-mail for years, never received anything from
them.



JOAT
I do things I don't know how to do, so that I might learn how to do
them.
- Picasso


thats cause they know your a CHEEP SOB!!!!
just kiddin JOAT.:-] Hope your havin a merry christmas season and may
next year be even better! BTW I need some lawn ornaments. can ya help?
hehehehehe

skeez

J T wrote:
Thu, Dec 13, 2007, 2:24pm (EST-3) lid (DGDevin)
doth claimeth:
Lowes is just Hell Depot with nicer displays and more attention paid
to keeping the store clean and tidy. Apparently giving them an
e-mail
address is a big mistake, they'll spam that address until hell
freezes
over.

A lot more than that in my experience. The help at Lowes is
actually willing to help, and can. They know where whatever is, and
will point it out, or even walk you to it. Much larger variedy of
stock. They've had my e-mail for years, never received anything
from
them.

Whatever oddment I need Lowes generally has and Home Despot generally
doesn't. I pass a Home Despot on the way to Lowes. Generally I stop
in and see if they've got whatever it is that I need. Generally I end
up at Lowes.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:31:26 -0500, (J T) wrote:

Thu, Dec 13, 2007, 2:24pm (EST-3) lid (DGDevin) doth
claimeth:
Lowes is just Hell Depot with nicer displays and more attention paid to
keeping the store clean and tidy. Apparently giving them an e-mail
address is a big mistake, they'll spam that address until hell freezes
over.

A lot more than that in my experience. The help at Lowes is
actually willing to help, and can. They know where whatever is, and
will point it out, or even walk you to it. Much larger variedy of
stock. They've had my e-mail for years, never received anything from
them.

In my experience, in Northern CA, the biggest difference for me was that Home
Depot never seemed to be able to move folks through checkout lines,,
Lowes would have more people going through checkout but the lines always moved
well..
I used to hate going to HD because I knew that I'd be in line hell..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

"J T" wrote in message
...

Lowes is just Hell Depot with nicer displays and more attention paid to
keeping the store clean and tidy. Apparently giving them an e-mail
address is a big mistake, they'll spam that address until hell freezes
over.

A lot more than that in my experience. The help at Lowes is
actually willing to help, and can. They know where whatever is, and
will point it out, or even walk you to it. Much larger variedy of
stock. They've had my e-mail for years, never received anything from
them.

Huh, can't say I've noticed much of a difference beyond a less cluttered and
dusty atmosphere at Lowes. I try to avoid the big-box stores if I can and
since we have an old family-run hardware store close by I can usually get
what I need there. The spam thing was based on a recent discussion in an
anti-spam forum where people posted about their futile efforts to get off
Lowes' spam list, glad to hear you haven't had the same experience.

mac davis wrote in
:

On Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:31:26 -0500, (J T)
wrote:

Thu, Dec 13, 2007, 2:24pm (EST-3) lid (DGDevin)
doth claimeth:
Lowes is just Hell Depot with nicer displays and more attention paid
to keeping the store clean and tidy. Apparently giving them an e-mail
address is a big mistake, they'll spam that address until hell freezes
over.

A lot more than that in my experience. The help at Lowes is
actually willing to help, and can. They know where whatever is, and
will point it out, or even walk you to it. Much larger variedy of
stock. They've had my e-mail for years, never received anything from
them.

In my experience, in Northern CA, the biggest difference for me was
that Home Depot never seemed to be able to move folks through checkout
lines,, Lowes would have more people going through checkout but the
lines always moved well..
I used to hate going to HD because I knew that I'd be in line hell..


mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

The local Walmarts were doing that too. They shut down their self-
checkouts, and understaffed their checkouts. When you're buying maybe 5
items max, standing in line for 20 minutes just isn't appealing.

What some stores just don't understand is bored customers don't want to
come back.

Ever been to a Fry's Electronics? The one in Indy has a solution to
finding an open checkout. The line forms seperate from the registers,
and when the cashier is ready they turn on a green light and the first
person in line goes to that register.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

"mac davis" wrote in message
...

the biggest difference for me was that Home
Depot never seemed to be able to move folks through checkout lines,,
Lowes would have more people going through checkout but the lines always
moved
well..
I used to hate going to HD because I knew that I'd be in line hell..

OSH not only has enough checkout lines open but in one visit to an OSH store
you'll get more employees asking if you need help than in three dozen visits
to Hell Depot. They don't carry nearly as much off-beat hardware stuff
since Sears bought them unfortunately, but as far as customer service goes
they're light-years ahead of HD. They have some interesting sales too, like
where they hand you a coupon good for so many dollars off anything if you
spend a certain amount, we went back three times one weekend because they
kept giving us more coupons and we kept finding stuff we would have
eventually bought anyway, a replacement for our ancient falling-apart
wheelbarrow, a really cool Craftsman barstool for in front of my workbench,
tools I needed (or at least wanted). Why HD keeps making noises about
improving their service but can't seem to deliver on the ground is beyond
me, I like wandering around looking at products, but when it comes to
getting help or actually buying the stuff it's such a pain in the ass I'll
go anywhere else first.

"Puckdropper" wrote in message
...

Ever been to a Fry's Electronics? The one in Indy has a solution to
finding an open checkout. The line forms seperate from the registers,
and when the cashier is ready they turn on a green light and the first
person in line goes to that register.

And they pay someone whose job is to watch for the next open register (they
typically have several dozen) and send whoever is at the front of the line
there. Can you see HD paying someone whose only job is to help speed
checkout? We've noticed some supermarkets trying the Fry's method, it means
you can never choose the wrong checkout line and that's a good way to end
the day's shopping experience.

Whatever oddment I need Lowes generally has and Home Despot generally
doesn't. I pass a Home Despot on the way to Lowes. Generally I stop
in and see if they've got whatever it is that I need. Generally I end
up at Lowes.

I thought HD being out of stock and dirty was unique to my area (Wash DC).
At least they're consistently bad on a national basis. That's a sign of
good management.

It ****es me off to go there and have them be out of stock on the simplest
things - like common sized furnace filters, etc.

I am also amazed at how picked over, dirty, and mixed in with other items
their merchandise is. If I owned stock in them, I'd be pretty ****ed off.

The only thing I like about HD over Lowes is that I've had good luck with
their Ridgid power tools. I am leery of the Lowes house brand of power
tools.

"Buck Turgidson" wrote

It ****es me off to go there and have them be out of stock on the simplest
things - like common sized furnace filters, etc.

I am also amazed at how picked over, dirty, and mixed in with other items
their merchandise is.

In this, the age of the dufus, that's not uncommon in many retail outlets.
Your above applies equally to our local chain grocery store.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 12/14/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

In article , "Buck Turgidson" wrote:
I thought HD being out of stock and dirty was unique to my area (Wash DC).
At least they're consistently bad on a national basis. That's a sign of
good management.

It ****es me off to go there and have them be out of stock on the simplest
things - like common sized furnace filters, etc.

I am also amazed at how picked over, dirty, and mixed in with other items
their merchandise is. If I owned stock in them, I'd be pretty ****ed off.

Same here in CA. The stock is frequently a mess. Lowes is much
better organized and it doesn't look like half of the inventory
comprises of customer returns.

The only thing I like about HD over Lowes is that I've had good luck with
their Ridgid power tools. I am leery of the Lowes house brand of power
tools.

I've picked up some really nice Bosch power tools from Lowes
at pretty decent prices. Although I think Ridgid tools are
reasonable quality, it's hard to find one in an unopened
box at my local HD.



--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
In this, the age of the dufus, that's not uncommon in many retail outlets.
Your above applies equally to our local chain grocery store.

Ah, that'd be Kroger.
I want an HEB!
--
NuWave Dave in Houston

"DGDevin" wrote in
:


"Puckdropper" wrote in message
...

Ever been to a Fry's Electronics? The one in Indy has a solution to
finding an open checkout. The line forms seperate from the
registers, and when the cashier is ready they turn on a green light
and the first person in line goes to that register.

And they pay someone whose job is to watch for the next open register
(they typically have several dozen) and send whoever is at the front
of the line there. Can you see HD paying someone whose only job is to
help speed checkout? We've noticed some supermarkets trying the Fry's
method, it means you can never choose the wrong checkout line and
that's a good way to end the day's shopping experience.




They'd put up a sign saying "Watch for the green flashing light" and try
to make the crowd do that.

Actually HD's not too bad for me. I tend to buy bulky stuff like
plywood, and leave by the contractor's entrance. Normally there's never
more than 2 people in line...

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

"Dave In Houston" wrote

Ah, that'd be Kroger.
I want an HEB!

Kroger is to this particular Randall's as Lowe's is to Home Depot.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 12/10/07
KarlC@ (the obvious)

"Swingman" wrote in message
...
"Dave In Houston" wrote

Ah, that'd be Kroger.
I want an HEB!

Kroger is to this particular Randall's as Lowe's is to Home Depot.

Yessir, Randall's ain't what it used to be since Randall Owens sold out
to some NY investment firm who turned around a couple of years later and
sold it to Safeway. Voila! Safeway is back in the Texas market having
failed for many years under their own moniker.

--
Dave in Houston