Craftsman has started promoting this new 242pc mechanics tool set (CMMT45242) for the 2025 Black Friday and holiday shopping season.
Craftsman says the new tool set is “all in for the deal,” and that you can “tackle your home projects with the ultimate set at an unbeatable price.”
This is a brand new launch, but apparently it “was $219” and is “now $99.”
Advertisement
Can we please do without the fake pricing BS?
Craftsman had this other $99 mechanics tool set deal, with 230 pieces.
So why is there now a 242pc set at $99? Tariffs. Stanley Black & Decker – Craftsman’s parent company – has raised prices on many Dewalt products and also reconfigured promotionally-priced cordless power tool deals and bundles.
Stanley Black & Decker’s strategy seems to have been to raise prices and give you a little more for it.
In this case, they kept the $99 price. So are they giving you less here, even though this set has more pieces than the previous 230pc deal? Yes. you’re paying the same, but I think you’re getting less for the money, despite the higher 242pc part count.
They also inflated the “was” price. Whereas the previous 230pc $99 special buy had a list price of $199, Craftsman is saying that this new 242pc “was” $219. I consider this meaningless marketing, but know a lot of people give weight to these numbers. Don’t do that.
Advertisement
Okay, so here’s what you get:
- 3 ratchets (1/4″, 3/8″, 1/2″)
- 3 extension bars
- 2 universal joints
- 28 hex keys
- 88 “specialty” screwdriver bits
- Magnetic bit driver
- 84 Sockets
- (10) 1/4″ inch sockets
- (10) 1/4″ inch deep sockets
- (9) 1/4″ metric sockets
- (9) 1/4″ metric deep sockets
- (10) 3/8″ inch sockets
- (8) 3/8″ inch deep sockets
- (10) 3/8″ metric sockets
- (8) 3/8″ metric deep sockets
- (5) 1/2″ inch sockets
- (5) 1/2″ metric sockets
- 12 Nut driver bits
- 10 combination wrenches
- 11 bit sockets
I had to count the sockets from the parts list, but everything seems to add up.
The socket count is unusual. You don’t get a standard 11/32″ socket, but they swap one of the included sizes for a 11/32″ deep socket. But, the overlap when going from 1/4″ to 3/8″ and then 1/2″ is reasonable.
The older and no longer discounted 230pc set had fewer sockets (75) but more bit sockets (16), more hex keys (44), more wrenches (21), and fewer screwdriver bits (66). It didn’t have the universals that this 242pc set comes with.
I don’t believe the 230pc comes with any nut driver bits. That means that this 242pc set comes with (100) insert screwdriver and nutdriver bits, compared to (66) in the previous $99 deal.
While you gain 9 more socket sizes and 2 universals, you lose 16 short arm hex keys, 11 wrenches, and 5 bit sockets. Those 34 extra screwdriver and nut driver bits inflate the part count.
I believe Craftsman did all this so as to be able to offer a $99 holiday deal at Lowe’s.
Lowe’s Kobalt brand also has a $99 mechanics tool set deal right now (297 pieces). We don’t yet know Home Depot has planned for their Husky tool brand. Tariffs pushed the price of their promo set from $99 to $120 for Father’s Day sales. Home Depot will want to have a $99 deal to match Craftsman and Kobalt at Lowe’s.
All that said, this new Craftsman 242pc mechanics tool set deal doesn’t look bad.
The marketing claims are manipulative, with the same being true about their competitors’ tactics.
Craftsman says this is new, but says it “was $219.” I would argue that it was designed around the $99 promotional price.
You get both more and less than you would have with their previous $99 special buy mechanics tool set.
Overall, from the set contents, I would say you get less. But, they were able to maintain the $99 price.
3 ratchets, 84 sockets, 11 bit sockets, 10 wrenches, plus some other stuff. That still seems very good for $99.
Craftsman says that “this $99 deal is available for a limited time exclusively at Lowe’s.” So does that mean it’s only available at Lowe’s, or it’s only exclusive at Lowe’s for a limited time?
Lowe’s listing says the deal ends on December 31, 2025.
They had a choice – or maybe not since Lowe’s has a lot of power as Craftsman’s retail customer. $99 for a mechanics tool set with tariffs-influenced parts list, or keep the older set and charge more for it.
It’s also possible that Craftsman was limited by what they could source from their factories or manufacturing partners outside of China.
My local store has 19 of these sets in stock. Looking around, every store in my region has 19 sets in stock. There are over 2800 sets available for online delivery.
Lowe’s has over 1700 stores in the USA right now. If we assume their online inventory is separate from what was recently received by stores for the holiday season, that’s what – around 35,000 tool kits? Sometimes the website shows a reduced inventory count so that online shoppers can’t buy out everything from a store. But let’s assume that Lowe’s placed a purchase order for approximately 35,000 (1700 stores x 19 sets + 3,000, then rounded down) sets. That times 242 pieces is… 8,470,000 individual tools and accessories.
So while I feel Craftsman is giving you less for the same $99, it doesn’t seem unreasonable. We also don’t know what kinds of pressures they had from Lowe’s, and how much of all this required sourcing changes compared to where the tools for the previous holiday deal mechanics tool set were made.
All things considered, I do think it’s still a good deal.
Should you be buying a Craftsman mechanics tool set, or something else? That’s a different question. Personally, I’d shop for Dewalt tool sets at Amazon. Dewalt is also a Stanley Black & Decker brand, but typically a step up from Craftsman.
If you’re shopping for deals, there’s also Husky. Home Depot recently launched a new Husky 300pc set, and I’m waiting to see what the holiday deal price will be (probably $149). My favorite has been Milwaukee, which typically has very good deals around Black Friday. In my experience, Milwaukee’s mechanics hand tools are an upgrade to both Craftsman and Dewalt. We’ll talk more about mechanics tool set deals in coming weeks.
Harry
I don’t know. It seems like a flashback to the Craftsman sets of old without being made in the USA, where they tried to give you pennies on the piece pricing by adding hex keys, and screwdriver bits to inflate the piece count. I guess it depends on what you work on but, how useful to the buyer are the sizes included in the kit? I’ve always had the opinion that you could build your own set with meaningful sizes from Quinn sets, stay below the $100, and have more bang for your buck especially if there’s a sale. Of course, you don’t get the blow molded drawer storage unit but, I prefer a decent tool bag.
Stuart
Every DIY, consumer, homeowner tool brand does this. Sometimes the “filler” pieces can be a useful and economical starting point, especially for users who have few other tools.
This type of kit works well for users who don’t know what they need, or know exactly what they want.
I tell everyone to look at the tool and socket count, and consider the screwdriver bits as “fillers” that inflate the parts count. Sometimes the wrenches, hex keys, bit sockets, and screwdriver bits come in handy. You don’t get a broad selection of wrenches or bit sockets unless you step up to bigger and pricier sets. At that point (e.g. $300), it’s probably better to assemble a custom set with smaller ones.
Kentucky fan
These kits are great for a trunk tool kit to keep for emergency repairs. All the little filler stuff comes in really handy in that context. I have the original version and supplement it with some Pittsburgh 1/2 sockets to get bigger sizes and pliers and I can fix about anything that can be fixed in a parking lot. The tools themselves are decent quality. I also have a set of Williams supercombos I keep in the trunk so I can’t attest to the wrenches in this set lol
Skfarmer
I have bought 3 of these type of sets. 2 of the older usa with open top lid for each of my sons and one of the newer versa stack/ tstak compatible i. I keep it at remote location that had no tools.
I think they are great starter point and of course they all have limitations. By and large they are great stater points. I have added pliers screwdrivers breakers flex ratchets etc depending on intended uses. I do like the older usa open tops sets better even if the ratchets are not the best as they allow a one box solution. The newer set has better organization but very little room for extra so a tool bag is needed.
These sets are aimed at someone who has very little or nothing or someone setting up a second third or more set. I don’t bitch about the smaller peices. Sometimes you need them. If I have a complaint is that they sould have wrenches to 3/4-19mm and a few larger 1/2 drive sizes.
Joel
I bought a Chinese craftsman set because it was cheap. The first time I used it the shift on the ratchet broke. These newer craftsman tools are garbage compared to the vintage usa made stuff. Buying new craftsman in my opinion is a bait and switch. You’re getting an inferior tool riding the coat tails of previous reputation.
Stuart
This set has the newish low profile ratchets. Maybe yours was a dud, it happens.
Joel
I’m not impressed. I have some old school craftsman stuff that was actually very good for a budget tool and they’ve lasted for years. For not a lot more money Williams makes a far superior tool. Even the import Williams is vastly superior to the new craftsman.
Stuart
But at $99? Most people shopping in this price range have never heard of Williams and might not be interested in shopping around for used tools. The name-brand entry price point space is filled with Craftsman, Kobalt, Husky, Crescent, and Harbor Freight. Today, it’s very difficult to get better quality without spending considerably more.
Assuming your experience was a fluke defect, modern day Craftsman tools are typically good enough for most beginners, or as a portable/spare kit for others.
CJQ
Unfortunately for you, based on scientific tests Stanley BnD spent millions of dollars conducting tests with independent labs all over the world testing the strength and durability and compared to the old Craftsman the new ones with the newer technology metals and composites used, The newer ones test significantly better than any of the vintage stuff.
I’m not sure what Americans have a fascination with old for but it’s not just with these tools it’s with everything if you notice. It’s like everything is romanticized that’s vintage or retro or whatever. How many times have you heard the saying they don’t make them like this anymore. Now that may be technically true for certain things. But I hear people saying it all the time and construction and whatnot and houses and I’ll tell you this House is made today are far and away better than they used to be. The technology used today along with the significant upgrades in computer aided design and even fabrication itself makes modern products at a level that vintage just cannot compare with.
So what happened to you?
I’m going to say A: You are either lying or exaggerating what happened to you. Now obviously I don’t know you and that may not be your style. So don’t take offense. But there are lots of people out there who do this all the time.
And if you’re not and being completely honest and didn’t exaggerate the time frame, then I am going to go with B: You just got a lemon. And that happens with every product in every field all over the world sometimes. It’s just life.
What people don’t understand nowadays is like I brought up before with technology and computer systems is advanced as they are it really doesn’t matter what soil a product is actual assembled or fabricated in. The company that owns the manufacturing rights has the manufactured to certain specs and with the way things are now you can make things like that in Zimbabwe, Taiwan, China or some redneck Texas or oakey City.
As for the Black & Decker testing I know this for a fact as I used to work for the company for several years. And believe me I’m not biased towards them whatsoever because I don’t really care for them and think they’re kind of crappy as a company for employees at least.
I’ve been in construction and done race car building as a hobby my entire life and I’ll tell you this right now I’ve broken more snap-on tools than every craftsman/kobalt/husky tools combined easily and it’s not even close.
And what’s even worse about that is the difference in price points
But reality there’s a reason Japan has blown our auto industry away China has blown a retail manufacturing away and Germany blows our industrial manufacturing away.
It’s sad but the fact of the matter is US manufacturing is crap. And we have nobody bl to blame but ourselves. The average US worker wants more money all the time, comes in light everyday, takes more breaks then he’s allotted, leaves early for lunch and comes back late from lunch, and then sneaks out to go home early, and then still expects to get paid his 8 hours and two or three hours overtime as well….. Everybody can raise their hand and say oh that’s not me, but in reality that’s most of the US workforce, and That’s a big reason why America is not the envy of the world anymore like we are taught in school
Joe E.
Not enough wrenches. Sets like these should, at the very least, contain 1/4” – 3/4” and 8mm – 19mm.
Stuart
The other side of the argument: “sets like these have too many wrenches, I’d rather have a lower price, more bit sockets, or anything else.”
Dj
Me too. I’d rather have a more complete socket setup. I use TSTAK, and am thinking about buying this for my TSTAK dolly stack. I keep wrenches already in one of my small TSTAK drawers.
And not interested in the bits and handles, I have WERA, for those . Much more enjoyable to use than anything Craftsman has to offer. And besides, for me those items are much better stored and placed in my Veto Pro Pack tool pouch on my waist.
I love TSTAK/Versastak, every unit has top handle, and when fully loaded, I can lift and carry with one hand.
But for a DIY or weekend tool warrior, they might like the smaller a little of everything in the one box. And I bet the majority of people that buy this, don’t even have a stack. Nice to have options isn’t it though?
Kyle
I agree about having too few wrenches. Unless you are building a kit for a specific machine/vehicle/situation I don’t understand how it would be useful to have anything less than the size ranges you suggested. If the “mechanics set” doesn’t come with a normal range of wrenches that just means you would need to buy a separate set. I think it would be better to come with no wrenches at all and have a lower price (or some more extensions) than to have a half-measure of wrenches. I understand retailers trying to keep things under the psychologically significant $100 mark but for $10 (maybe $15) more they could round out this set with a full complement of import wrenches. That would functionally make the set much more useful and a better value. Having sockets of each size, even some reason overlap, but not having the wrenches to match just doesn’t make sense to me. They are adding in filler without even rounding out the basic set first.
Tom
For the love of Pete, get rid of the multitude of the tiny bits and give an accurate count! I’m so tired of this!
Stuart
Companies listen to what customers’ purchasing decisions say.
Oarman
I don’t remember if I looked at the earlier $99 set but a lot of the recently discounted Craftsman stuff was made in Taiwan, one of our more baffling tariff targets, and there was talk of moving tool production out for that reason. I believe Kobalt has been moving production to India. According to Crafstman’s website this is still made in Taiwan, though.
Jack D
My first set was a craftsman set similar to this one, probably 20 or more years ago. It fills the bill for that “one kit to start out” pretty well. I still use most of the contents of that kit, even though I’ve grown my toolbox significantly over the years. I’d been considering one for a second location that I’ve needed stocked, but I ended up just filling that location with Pittsburgh stuff when it was deeply discounted…
Glad to see they’re still making starter kits, though.
CMF
I didn’t see if this comes with a lifetime guarantee, or all Craftsman products do. Nonetheless, just the nice Versastack box must be $40-$50. I think it is a great value deal.
The number of pieces does not bother me. Like you and others said, that can go up or down with the addition of no primary tools like bits.
928'er
I simply refuse to buy any tool set that includes SAE sizes. Haven’t touched anything in inch sizes since I sold my ’33 Franklin Olympic and stopped buying worn out British sports cars.
We have Ronnie Red Cheeks to thank for the fact that we Americans are still using the imperial system of measurement. Even the UK has gone metric, but we’re still stuck in the past.