TOOLS: Harbor frieght tools.. hit or miss, still worth it sometimes.

[TomsMR2]

HF buffer. the pads included are junk, the sand paper included is junk.. the buffer itself? its not too bad.. it.. well.. buffs i have good 3M buffing pads and compound (which actually cost more than the buffer lol). it bogs down a little under heavy pressure, but i used it for a couple hours and it didnt smoke or burn out or do anything terrible.. im happy. ended up getting a real good buff out of it.pretty much everything at HF, the included items are total junk (buffing pads, accessories etc etc), but the piece itself isnt too bad.

i also bought a HF 14 inch chop saw for 50 bucks a couple years ago. this thing is awesome, it works fantastically well.. again, the included blades sucked, replaced it with a good dewalt blade. if you need to cut exhaust tubing, you NEED this. perfect straight cuts, great fit-up for welding. ive used this thing a million times, and it never fails me.. and if/when it does, id buy another in a heart-beat. its cheaper than buying 500 sawzall or hacksaw blades to make crooked tubing cuts. i bought it to do one specific job one day, and expect it to break.. years later its still in perfect working condition! its also torquy. this is one of the odd-ball cheapo tools that are actually work horses.

i somehow ended up with a HF sawzall. i used it for literally 30 seconds before the motor smoked and it was dead. into the trash it went. cant win them all. the milwaukee "sawzall" is 100x better anyway, and those are pretty affordable these days. go with the real deal.

anything from harbor freight that uses batteries, or god forbid uses rechargeable batteries, is junk. ive seen no exemption to this rule. their sockets tend to crack very quickly and easily. the 12 points are great for stripping bolts their wrenches are also fairly poor fitting, and also tend to strip bolts. these are not the sockets you want for those tough rusty bolts.. all in all, id pass on their sockets, wrenches and screwdrivers.. even for home use its worth it to pay a little more for a better screwdriver.

and my last cheap HF tool review.. HF hammers. its a big metal lump on a stick, its hard to go wrong. everyone that works on cars should have a 2-3lbs sledge, a copper hammer, a rubber mallet, and a dead blow. that'll run you a few hundred from anyone else, or maybe 50-60 HF. they're fine hammers.

at work i have a toolbox full of snap-on, SK, IR and some mac and matco stuff. its all top of the line, and i use/abuse it every single day.. at home for random crap i hardly ever use, harbor freight junky tools sometimes do the job and last years and years.

[canadam]

Where are Harbour Freight products sold?

[butter nuts]

at Harbor Freight...

The name implies exactly what it is, Chinese junk.

I have several tools from there that have worked wonderfully... electric impact? 3 years of abuse and still going strong. It was $29.99

Their hand tools are definitely throw-aways though.

[PHOENIX]

defintitely agree on the hand tools, they are junk. But i have a jigsaw from them that i use moderatly (whenever i can, cars, house, thanksgiving) and its about 4 years old, running like a champ!

[TomsMR2]

www.harborfreight.com

the online prices are cheaper than in-store prices, some times considerably..

AND!!

you can use coupons in the store, or online. sometimes they're pretty significant coupons (25-30% off). ill post the coupons when i come across them (they accept computer printed coupons, or use the code online). with online pricing, and a good coupon, you can grab $100 (instore) stuff for like 30 bucks online.

[PearlJammzz]

Ya, HF rocks. When I was a roofer I'd always buy hammers and clips and shit from there. Not the best shit, but a lot of it you just CANNOT beat for the price. They have parts cleaners that are good sized, and cheap as can be. How can you make ab ad parts cleaner? lol

[bufferdan]

Yeah sometimes its worth it, sometimes not. I just recently broke a breaker bar from them...still need to take that back. I have a few other tools that have been working just fine though.

[canadam]

This place must be similar to Princess Auto Distributors here. They're in-house brand, Power Fist, is very hit-or-miss also. Many tools are produced on the same Chinese lines as brand name tools, however, and the store offeres a lifetime warranty on anything.

[biorchang]

I bought a hydraulic engine pulley...cheap and it worked perfectly for the motor drop. I was able to drop the motor onto the legs(wheels on it) and rolled it out from under the car with ease

[mr2gq]

Dude Harbour Freight is the shhh! It dont matter what ur looking for they got it almost all the time. Lol it can be a very expensive tool you might need to do a job and dont have the cash to buy it. But you can bet money harbour freights got it cheap and it will last at least long enough to get the job done lol

[black94t]

I'm on my second powdercoating gun. Not sure why but it starts spewing out clumps of powder. i just exchanged it and the 2nd gun has been working great this past 1.5 months. We'll see.

I also have HF angle die grinder and stapler. I didnt spend more than $50 on both. Works like a champ. I also have their cherry picker. I understand the cylinder gets bad pretty quick but you can always buy a better cylinder somewhere else and stick it in there. The frame is great and feels as sturdy and damage proof as a craftsman.

I also purchase their glass bead products. Very good media and does the job I need done. I'm tempted in purchasing their blast cabinet but hell, I made mine already.

Don't buy at store price and dont buy online!!! You buy online, you pay the freight. You buy at store price you miss out on the deals. Just do your window shopping online. Find what you want online, print out the discounted price and take it to your local store. They will honor online prices (if it is in stock). I believe the stores carry rougly 80% of what's offered online. Nearly all the products online with discounts are found in stores. And getting online coupons are easy. Just sign up for email/snail mail coupon offers. I get quite a bit of traffic from them.

EDIT: oh ya, I also bought their $7 float charger for batteries. I've had the MR2 in hibernation since first week of November. It's been sitting on a float charger since and it's been keeping its charge....

[black94t]

Originally Posted by canadam

This place must be similar to Princess Auto Distributors here. They're in-house brand, Power Fist, is very hit-or-miss also. Many tools are produced on the same Chinese lines as brand name tools, however, and the store offeres a lifetime warranty on anything.

x2. I mean, my philosophy is that ****'s going to break. You wont find those warranties on craftsman products unless you pay for the warranty. It's very easy to just take the defective product back for a new one. Sears or craftsman would be very reluctant to even make a good deal. I bought my air compressor from Sears. HF didnt have the size I needed for the cash I wanted to spend, so I went craftsman....crossing my fingers on that one.. hehe

[kbrew8991]

Originally Posted by butter nuts

at Harbor Freight...

The name implies exactly what it is, Chinese junk.

I have several tools from there that have worked wonderfully... electric impact? 3 years of abuse and still going strong. It was $29.99

Their hand tools are definitely throw-aways though.

still got one of those as well, kicks ass!!

[canadam]

Originally Posted by black94t

x2. I mean, my philosophy is that ****'s going to break. You wont find those warranties on craftsman products unless you pay for the warranty. It's very easy to just take the defective product back for a new one. Sears or craftsman would be very reluctant to even make a good deal. I bought my air compressor from Sears. HF didnt have the size I needed for the cash I wanted to spend, so I went craftsman....crossing my fingers on that one.. hehe

Yeah, for the shadetree mechanic it's no big deal, but when your job keeps getting put on hold, it's sometimes not worth it.

[black94t]

Well, you can always get a store credit and shop elsewhere. lol....If you're running a business, now that's a completely different thread topic.

[muffinman]

I spent quite a bit of money on a Craftsman compressor and it died about a year later and it was way to costly to repair so I bought a new one at HF and its still going strong. Besides if it breaks I'll just buy a new one and I'm still ahead.

[jholder]

i agree its pretty hit or miss on a lot of things, but my 4" angle grinder (14.99) has been WELL worth it. Hard to go wrong with things like hammers, and leather welding gloves, and yard gnomes as well. Bought a cheap pack of 27 one-piece screwdrivers for 5.99, since my quality replaceable tip screwdriver didnt always fit. For that kind of thing, its definitely worth the money.

did i mention lawn gnomes?

[KingCeaser]

HF is a complete miss for me , the die grinders fly apart an hit me in the face, their vise grips dont even grip they just break , the air ratchet never worked the head spun off, an i dont have the time to take it back, if that happens to my snap-on stuff or whatever other brand of tools fill my box at work, i throw it at the tool guys an make them fix it. Hf tools are ok for simple things but if you use tools all day an night to do your job they aren't gonna last, at least not the way I use em, but I have gotten some cool stuff there like engine lifts an what not. but Im also gonna have a tool bill for the rest of my life.............damn

[jazzcornet]

the only thing i buy from HF is blasting media. i bought my blast cabinet from there and haven't had too many problems, but did replace the gun only a week or two of owning it. but i go through media entirely too fast to pay good money for it. in any given week, i'll go through 150lbs of aluminum oxide, 150lbs of glass beads, and 300+lbs of walnut shells. i cant afford to pay good money for something that wont last a week anyway

[jazzcornet]

Originally Posted by black94t

x2. I mean, my philosophy is that ****'s going to break. You wont find those warranties on craftsman products unless you pay for the warranty. It's very easy to just take the defective product back for a new one. Sears or craftsman would be very reluctant to even make a good deal. I bought my air compressor from Sears. HF didnt have the size I needed for the cash I wanted to spend, so I went craftsman....crossing my fingers on that one.. hehe

if the craftsman breaks, go with the lowes kobalt brand. i bought the 60gal for $299.99. and it's rated at 11.7scfm @ 90psi. i cant complain. i have had no problems and i leave it on 24/7 and use it AT LEAST 8 hours a day