Harborfreight.com, my new toystore :).

You look at the item, you look at the price, you think "How bad could it possibly be?"

Answer: Far worse than you would expect.

Yes, I know Harbor Freight.

 

I bought a few things from them thinking like you did but it is all broken and gone.

As an example I got one of the aluminum race jacks from them. Same ones sold everywhere for $100 or so. 1st cold day (this is Ca. a cold day here is 45 degrees) the aluminum shrunk enough that the seals could not seal and even without trying to use the jack it was parked in a pool of it's own oil. I refilled it and it started to break up a few weeks later.

I did find out though that the handle makes a great break down cheater bar to get 288 GTO wheels off and will fit in the trunk so I gave it to a client.


I have to admit though, I am my Fathers son. I will happily pay for quality when I know that what I am buying will be in perfect condition long after I am dead.

 

I went through a Harbor Frieght phase too.

My favorite score was the auto darkening welding helmet for around $30.

 

There's no secret to the prices. The place is called Harbor Frieght. As in, it came here on a boat. From China.

You trade quality for price. That works for the weekend warrior like me who wanted to teach himself how to weld. But my livelihood doesn't depend on my ability to stick two pieves of metal together. If it did, I wouldn't be buying my gear at HF.

 

Some of the Harbor Freight stuff is junk and some of it is just as good as the more $$$ brands. I have plenty of items from them that see lots of use and have been great.

I have a $120 press that has done countless transmissions, suspensions and wheel bearings, a $10 sander that has worked hard for years, a $60 tile wet saw that did my entire kitchen (I'd have spent just as much to rent one for just one weekend!) and the $15 sawzall is great for pruning trees

What everyone needs is one of these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=34074

 

You take it for what it is worth, meaning, if you need tools to do a one-time project, that may be the place for you, but if you are looking for power or hydraulic tools that you expect to use day-in and day-out over the course of a few years, that may not be the place for you.
But for the manual stuff like hand tools and measuring tools, or tools you will use ONCE, it's a good place to go.

 

You get what you pay for, that is a constant in life and it will never change. Having said that, if you only plan on using something a few times, then this kind of crap is great.

 

Craftsman

or


Snap-On

'Nuff said.

 

+1

Never buy cheap tools, unless they are a Christmas present for your father in law...or your step brother

 

You got that right!!!!!!!!

 

Do they stock:

Ferraris

Caspian Sea Caviar

fine wrist watches

French Modernist Architectural Furniture (viz, Prouve)

Handmade Western style boots

Turnbull & Asser white barrel cuff dress shirts

vintage George Jensen silver

to name a few.

I'll be there in a minute.

 

Oh, I have a few Craftsman, Snap-on, Matco and Cornwell tools in my boxes as well, I think I even have some USAG stuff as well......

 

I have purchased many HF tools over the years, IMO if you need the tools to make your living such as a mechanic forget them, moderate use they are okay.

Most of the electrical tools are good as most anything else except Makita and such, you can get an orbital buffer for $15 from HF, they are good at making electric motor appliances.

Air tools are hit and miss, the professional series is good.

ratchets don't last, the professional series is better, sockets are thick wall stuff vs a Snap On which is strong and thin

Hydraulic stuff, jacks, porta powers all will fail over time in the seals and leak, okay for occasional use but not regular


If you shop Sears carefully you can get great deals on much better quality tools, HF has had a huge impact on their sales and they have tried to be more competitive

 

First of all, lots of tools are made oversees. Take tablesaws (I'm a woodworker). An article in Fine Woodworking several years back compared table saws. Almost all came out of the same factory in Taiwan--quality differences were determined at the outset, via build specs provided by the individual companies. I'm not defending China or the products that come from that country, but they aren't necessarily crap.

Another example is fly fishing and fly tying tools. A big brand is Dr. Slick (made in India). I'm also a surgeon, so I have been able to compare directly the tools from India (many of these tools are surgical instruments) versus instruments from Germany. Are the instruments from India of much lower quality--yes. Do they work perfectly well to bend down the barb on a hook or pull a fly from a trout's mouth? Absolutely. Would I repair a face with them--only in an emergency.

So that is my take on Harbor Freight--the quality varies greatly tool to tool, and is probably never great. But for an occasional and non-critical use, they can absolutely serve a purpose.

 

problem with that is it leads them to believe that you dont know crap about tools. Every self respecting man should at least pretend to know about tools....

 

agree and I love to wander around their stores to see what they have, kind of like Home Depot.

 

You're trusting your EYES to a $30 welding helmet? You're damaging your eyes and you don't even know it. You will soon be blind.

My rule is: NEVER EVER, buy anything from HF that has moving parts. That is until I bought some sand paper and it was softer than a roll of toilet paper. The place is a great gift store. Buy the tools for someone else, not for yourself.

 

Was thinking the same....oh wait a second. I meant....

+1

 

Ditto. Did that mistake once, now I pay big $$$ for quality stuff, but at least it doesn't bail on me.

 

Quite to the contrary, it show's you know enough about tools to give them **** tools

Was only a joke really. I get along well with my father in law, but it's common knowledge that some don't.

 

I go there when I know I'm only going to need a tool once or twice. Anything with moving parts will fail after a couple uses. My bro bought spring compressors from them once that SNAPPED when under pressure, nearly killed him. Needless to say, never, no matter how cheap, buy anything from them that could cause serious injury if a failure occurs.

 

For some of you newer members:

Here is some interesting tool information that was posted by somebody here on F-chat a few years ago. I saved it because it has a lot of good info that helps avoid the Chinese tool infection that is rampant these days.

> I'm not the final word on tools by any means, but since I work in the
business, I've learned a little bit about it. Okay, here's more than you
ever wanted to know. As someone pointed out in a previous post, Lowes now
(as of earlier this year) is selling a line of Mechanics Tools called Kobalt
which is made by Snap-On. They are good tools. Home Depot's Husky brand is
made by Stanley Mechanics Tools, a division of the Stanley Works. Husky are
also good tools and have a good lifetime warranty (they'll even replace your
broken Craftsman with an equivalent Husky). Until 1994 or so, Stanley also
made Sears Craftsman tools. Sears Craftsman is now made by Danaher Tools.
They beat out Stanley on the contract
over price. Danaher also manufactures MatCo Tools, the third largest player
in the Mobile Automotive industry (behind MAC and Snap-On). Odds are, if you
own any Craftsman tools that are older than about five years ago, they were
made by Stanley in plants in Dallas, Texas, Wichita Falls, Texas, and
Sabina, Ohio. Stanley also owns MAC Tools and manufactures MAC tools in the
same plants. Now here's the kicker: MAC Tools, Proto Tools (a very expensive
industrial brand), Husky Tools, and, (prior to five or so years ago)
Craftsman Tools are all made from the same forgings in the same plants.
Proto is unique because it goes through additional testing and certification
because it is used by NASA, the military, and industrial customers
(including General Motors). There are three MAJOR players in the USA
mechanics tool business: Stanley, Danaher, and Snap-On. Stanley and Danaher
(almost identical in sales revenue at about $28 billion each) are the
biggest followed by Snap-On. Each of these three manufacture and sell tools
under a variety of brands (there are many other brands that Stanley makes
that I haven't even named). The quality between these three manufacturers is
roughly the same. I know its a bit of a let-down to hear that, but its a
simple fact. Then there are a hand full of other minor players (Vermont
American, etc) and an endless list of Taiwanese import tool companies (some
of which Stanley own as well as Danaher to serve the lower end consumer
import brands at WalMart, etc). How do I know all of this? I work for
Stanley Mechanics Tools, specifically with the Proto Industrial brand. I
personally do not think that MAC, MatCo, or Snap-On branded tools are worth
the extra markup since they use the same forgings and manufacturing
processes that make Husky and Kobalt and pre-1994 Craftsman. Where you need
to pay attention are things like ratchets and torque wrenches. There are
different specifications of ratchets and you do pay for the difference. Some
mechanics require a finer, more precise ratcheting mechanism than guys like
me who just bang around in the garage on the weekends. By the way, Metwrench
is basically considered a "gimmick" infomercial tool brand that is not
considered as a serious competitor to Danaher, Snap-On, or Stanley. Then
again, IBM once didn't see Microsoft as a serious force in the personal
computer business. Hmmmm.... Regards, Greg Hutmacher (now back in lurk
mode)

 

Cheap tools might be appropriate if it was simply an issue of how long they last. Unfortunately there’s often more to it. Many cheap tools don’t work well, don’t fit right, and so on. In other words, they don’t do a good job.