There’s a fail-safe way to make sure every tool in your vehicle’s field kit is top quality: Chase down a Snapon truck, hand over a list and your Amex card. Of course, you might wince at the resulting tab, likely to be the equivalent of a low-mileage five-year-old Tacoma.
On the other hand, if you have to break out the tools in the middle of nowhere, it’s because something has already gone wrong. Do you really want to risk compounding the problem by trusting a $39.95 200-piece tool kit?
Not to worry. It’s easy for those of us of modest means to ensure we have tools of sufficient quality for any job by following a simple axiom: Economize where possible; spend where critical.