Best approach to buying tools?

Thirdly, lose the Pittsburgh total crappola. If you cannot afford the best, such as Snap On, Mac and the like, I suggest Husky from Home Depot or Kobalt from Lowes. Both great tool lines for the money.

Wrenched for seven years straight, 60 hrs a week in a fast paced shop, broke one Pittsburgh ratchet (like a 2 foot long quarter inch drive) and a dozen or so craftsman, a pair of snap on ratchets and a handfull of stanleys. Also shattered or split a good number of snap on sockets and countless craftsman, had to get several name brand wrenches warranteed as well.

This isn't the 80s or 90s anymore, the chinese/taiwaneese etc are making decent products, I'm not the only one that had good experiences with their stuff either. Now if it were the difference between a six point wrench (best choice) and a 12 point (okay, just not for breaking things loose) yeah there's a huge difference. Jumping on a bandwagon because its 'usa' made and therefore untouchable isn't always right anymore. A budget USA toolset would be awesome, but... We can all see what happened there.