5 Craftsman Tools You Should Avoid Buying (According To Users)

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Not every product you pick up will work flawlessly. There's a slight chance that when it was made, faulty wiring was used, or it was partially damaged during transportation, and now it could have some issues whenever you turn it on. These problems occur occasionally, but consumers who buy from Craftsman have some products they recommend avoiding if possible.

A person's experience with an item may vary. Our list focuses on Craftsman products with poor user recommendations, reflecting negative experiences after buying them. The complaints include faulty equipment, potential damage to the product upon delivery, and poor quality. For those who have been buying these products for years, we have the details surrounding why you won't find Craftsman tools offered at Home Depot. We've searched through several Craftsman items to find the ones that many consumers agree you should avoid. We'll use Amazon and consumer reviews to identify Craftsman products that users may think you'd be better off avoiding. 

A stud finder is a handy tool designed to help you properly hang heavy items on a wall during minor or large projects. Having one in your toolkit is always a good idea if you mount television screens, paintings, mirrors, shelves, or anything you want to remain in place in your home. Unfortunately, consumers don't recommend picking up the Craftsman Stud Finder. Users who have shared their experiences with this particular item don't find it as helpful as they expected.

There are mixed reviews on Amazon, with some users reporting that the Craftsman Stud Finder works fine, while others have had more negative experiences. The device failed to locate studs, incorrectly detected live cables in the walls, or claimed there were none when they were present. Additionally, many users experienced faulty equipment issues, even with fresh batteries. One user reported that it could lose a stud that it was previously detecting.

You never want to use a tool that gives you mixed reports, based on those reviews, especially when it comes to live wires or digging into your walls. You're better off finding an alternative tool to focus on locating wall studs. For those on the hunt for a new stud finder, they are out there, but with the Craftsman earning 3.9 stars out of five on Amazon over 500 ratings, it's middle of the road at best. 

A trusty lawnmower is a reliable tool to have for cleaning up your yard. Keeping the grass trimmed and in top shape is a must-have for any homeowner who wants to enjoy the outdoors during the summer. The tricky thing about lawn mowers is finding the right one. The Craftsman V60 3-in-1 Cordless Lawn Mower is not one that many users recommend you pick up to keep your grass in check.

For many who ordered this item, the delivery of it was an unfortunate state of affairs. Several users found that when they unboxed it, the wheels bound against the structure, parts of it were already missing, and a handful even discovered sections of it had notable rust. Some had the troubling discovery that if the exterior of the item was good, the interior was in trouble, as it already had motor issues or the battery wasn't able to keep it going for a reasonable time. Some owners had higher grass than an average person, and this lawnmower was not up to the task of getting rid of it. For many who tried it out from Amazon, it's a lawn mower that caused a good amount of issues, resulting in a 3.7 out of five stars overall ranking. Those in the market for a new lawn mower might find a better option by checking out every major lawn mower brand ranked worst to best.

Clearing out a driveway, sidewalk, or lawn after raking leaves or moving grass clippings can be taxing work. Some of the best leaf blowers can cut that time down, properly distributing this debris in better locations and freeing you up to work on other tasks in your yard. However, the Craftsman 20V Cordless Leaf Blower is not one that consumers think is worth picking up.

A big issue with this product was the battery. Several shared experiences where they purchased this item and had problems with the battery, which wouldn't charge or hold any power. This issue happened multiple times, even after getting a replacement. One reviewer had problems with the strength of the leaf blower, as it wouldn't produce the 90 miles per hour speed as advertised, which made clearing up certain types of yard debris difficult.

As a cordless product, being able to use this leaf blower without being plugged in is a massive appeal for consumers. Unfortunately, the battery is the most significant recurring problem that many run into, with reviews frequently recommending others to look elsewhere for a different leaf blower. If you're looking for a leaf blower to help clean up fallen leaves, the Craftsman achieved 3.9 out of five stars with over 1,500 recommendations.

A dependable gas generator is not only important when you're working on at-home projects, but it's also phenomenal to have at the ready during emergencies. You never know when power could go out at your place for an extended period, or you could lose heating at a critical time of the year when it's paramount to have any warmth. For those who value safety, relying on the Craftsman Gas Portable Generator might not be the best choice, given the number of negative reviews consumers have left this product on Amazon.

When using this item for the first time, a user claimed to follow the instructions to have the product die and refused to work. Another had a similar experience, except after running it, the generator had gas pouring out of the bottom, causing a hazardous mess. Many report that the gas generator is out of the box and doesn't work, experiencing problems with starting after filling it up, and discovering the fuel line hadn't been installed. After these issues, consumers reported reaching out to customer support for Amazon and Craftsman, only to be bounced around by both parties and unable to get a solution to their issues.

The Craftsman Generator has only a couple of hundred reviews on Amazon, but given its importance and potential danger, its reviews and 3.9 rating are less than impressive. It may be wise to turn to portable generators from major brands. 

A hammer drill is designed for harder materials, such as concrete, stone, blocks, or even brick. It operates differently from a traditional drill, employing a hammering technique in addition to the usual rolling and rotating motions when drilling objects into a slot. There is an option to turn the hammering off, turning it into a traditional drill, increasing the versatility of this product. However, as reviewers have shared on Amazon, they don't think the Craftsman V20 Cordless Hammer Drill is a worthwhile product.

A frequent problem was the battery of this item. Consumers could get it working for a brief time before having to charge it, and after they did, the battery wouldn't hold a charge. This appears to be an issue with the product itself, as consumers swapped the battery to other Craftsman products and it worked fine, or they requested another, and still had problems with their Hammer Drill. Even when the product does work, the battery life is a frequent issue due to its quality. When it does work, with no battery issues, the hammer quality of the drill was less than desirable, which is a significant factor in getting this product.

There are other hammer drills for you to pick up that could have better reviews from competitors. Brands like Dewalt, Makita, Bosch, and Milwaukee have hammer drills that you can use during your next big remodel.

The products we've chosen to feature on this list were selected because of several user reviews that appeared on the product pages for Amazon. We chose this as our baseline because it provided an in-depth look at users who had experienced issues with these Craftsman products. We not only looked at the lower reviews provided by consumers, but at the higher ones that also detailed problems with the items, despite a high rating.

Although there were a good number of positive reviews for each product, the larger-than-average negative reviews make them standout products from Craftsman that consumers would not recommend. The user reviews on a product's page were our primary source for reference. We factored in the quality of the item, weighing how much someone could get from it out of the box.

For many products, like the Cordless Lawn Mower and the Gas Portable Generator, many users reported that these did not work when they were out of the box. Some consumers also had experiences with delivery issues, such as items missing or being partially damaged, which impacted the product's efficiency and overall use.