It's me again... needle question for IX

[AZ*]

Now when it comes to Craftsman power tools.....I try to avoid them like the plague:-( Most of them are sourced from Ryobi, not the best maker out there. They do have some items from Milwaukee or DeWalt, but you really have to know what you are looking at.

In the old days, many of the Sears/Craftsman power tools were made by King Seeley and then Emerson. I got one of those Ryobi made table saws but had to return it because it wasn't very good.

Milwaukee is a good brand, or at least it used to be. But now that the company is owned by the same Hong Kong firm that owns Ryobi, only time will tell whether the Milwaukee tools in the future will be as good.

http://www.milwaukeetool.com/About/Milw ... fault.aspx

[Boyle6]

I know this is totally off topic but: I am really sorry to hear that about Milwaukee. I have a few of their tools and they have all been excellent. I hope that their new parent does not lower the quality.

I have an older C-man Table saw that I use for Dado's, it is a really nice accurate tool. I was not very impressed by the ones they were selling a few years back, but the new Orion built C-Man tablesaws they have now seem to be really good.

With Porter Cable now putting their name on a cheap line of tools and Milwaukee having been sold, it would seem that the choice for really good electric hand tools is getting rather thin. Apparently if you do not like DeWalt (unfortunately I was never all that impressed with them) or Bosch, you may be in trouble. I guess I had better take good care and love my old tools and be happy that I bought them while they were still high quality

[Tinkerbell]

Interesting article from the Consumerist about one consumer's negative experience -- and ultimate redemption -- when attempting to utilize the Craftman Tool Lifetime Warranty.

You'll find below the initial story, related "linked" articles within that article, and the ultimate redemption follow-up (which is also linked).

http://consumerist.com/2009/03/craftsma ... -mood.html