Is there an appriciable difference between big name tools?

well i used my dad's before i got mine . proto , plumb , sk , craftsman , thornton , barcalo-buffalo , ect ..... . and their still in use today . no jap or chink tools here .
I inherited some of those names along with Bonney and Williams. I believe at one point Williams was making Snap-on, and I know they made the early Kobalt tools before they outsourced it.