CRAFTSMAN 262-piece, 3-drawer box review

What you are getting

A 262-piece set on 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2-inch drives in a 3-drawer VERSASTACK box, with 90-tooth ratchets at a 5-degree arc swing, a low-profile head “up to 25% thinner”, a one-handed locking dial on the drawers, and a full lifetime warranty. 12,474 g (440 oz). $249.90.

Counted out by the maker:

Group	Count
Sockets	118
Ratchets	3
Wrenches	24
Hex keys	44
Specialty bits	66
Accessories	7
Total	262

It is the only large set on this shelf that counts out its own pieces

The shelf’s buying advice is a warning about exactly this number: “count the sockets you will actually use, not the pieces on the box. A 216-piece set is often a 40-piece set plus screwdriver bits, and the bits are the part you already own.”

Here the arithmetic is published, and it is honest in both directions:

• 118 of 262 pieces are sockets — 45 per cent, which is a real socket set and not a bit set.
• 66 of 262 are specialty bits — 25 per cent, which is the part the shelf tells you to discount.
• 44 are hex keys, which is a $10 item sold as 44 pieces.

So the headline figure of 262 resolves to about 145 pieces that are sockets, ratchets, wrenches and accessories, and 110 that are keys and bits.

Of the eight American sets here, two publish this breakdown: this and the WETT 50-piece impact set, whose figure is 44 sockets of 50. The other six — including the Amazon Basics 201, the Sundpey 257 and the two other Craftsman sets — publish a total and nothing else.

That is why this set can be compared and most of this shelf cannot.

One hundred and eighteen sockets is the largest socket count on this shelf

By a wide margin, and across three drives. A hundred and eighteen sockets on 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch means metric and SAE, shallow and deep, on each drive — which is the set you buy so that a missing size never stops a job.

The need card on this shelf: “A complete set avoids stopping for want of one socket. It is the only range here where the number of pieces has a direct meaning.” On this listing it does have one, because the sockets are counted separately.

The drawer box is a large part of the $249.90

“One handed locking dial: spring loaded dial enables users to open and close drawers with one hand and lock drawers when not in use. Drawers can be nested on top of the tool box for easy access and temporary storage. VERSASTACK compatible.”

And from the description: “a drawer stop system that allows drawers to be easily removed.”

That is a tool box with a specification, not a blow-molded clamshell. The two other Craftsman sets here come in blow-molded cases with metal hinges; the Amazon Basics set comes in a case whose dimensions are published and nothing else.

The money says the same thing:

CRAFTSMAN set	Pieces	Price	Per piece	Case
CMMT12121	83	$59.98	$0.72	blow mold
CMMT12125	159	$149.00	$0.94	blow mold
This set	262	$249.90	$0.95	3-drawer box

A cent a piece more than the 159-piece set, for 103 more pieces and a drawer box. On price per piece the cheapest Craftsman set here is the best value and the coarsest ratchet; this one is the most complete and the heaviest thing to move.

Twelve and a half kilograms, which is 48 grams a piece

The heaviest item on this shelf, and the ratio is informative:

Set	Per piece
WETT impact, 50 pcs	96 g (3.4 oz)
CRAFTSMAN 159 pcs	66 g (2.3 oz)
This set	48 g (1.7 oz)
Amazon Basics 201 pcs	37 g (1.3 oz)
Hi-Spec 30 pcs	32 g (1.1 oz)

Forty-eight grams is lighter per piece than the 159-piece set from the same brand, which is exactly what 66 specialty bits and 44 hex keys do to an average. The published breakdown explains the weight, and on five sets here neither figure exists to compare.

Three drives and 90 teeth, the shelf’s two headline criteria together

The description: “the low profile 1/4-in., 3/8-in. and 1/2-in. drive 90-tooth ratchets with 5° arc swing.”

The footnote on the thin head: “1/4” dr & 3/8” dr only as compared to cmmt81747, CMMT81748, & CMMT81749” — so the 25 per cent figure excludes the 1/2-inch ratchet, as it does on the 159-piece set. Published, which is the point.

Only this and the 159-piece Craftsman set bring three drives and a tooth count. The Amazon Basics 201-piece set has the three drives and no tooth count.

No steel grade, and a full lifetime warranty

“Full Lifetime Warranty” — and no alloy named, on this set or on either of the other two Craftsman sets here. The WETT, Amazon Basics and Hi-Spec DT06003 sets name chrome vanadium and offer no warranty term.

The shelf’s introduction asks for “stated steel grade”. On the most expensive set on this shelf, the answer is a warranty.

What is not published

No steel grade. No metric or SAE ranges, so which sizes fill the 118 sockets is unknown. No socket geometry — six-point or twelve-point is stated on the other two Craftsman sets and not on this one. No box dimensions, on a three-drawer box. No torque figures. No drawer load rating.

At $249.90 it is the most expensive set on this shelf, the only large one that counts its own sockets, and the only one that arrives in drawers.

Availability

On sale at around $250 on the American Amazon store at the time of checking.

Prices and availability are what Keepa reported on the date this page was updated; both move.