Opinion On Harbor Freight Tools

[Craig Michael]

Surprisingly they sell michelin us made air hose

Something US made at HF? I bet someone was fired for that screw up.

I'll buy a few things at HF. I bought a roll of drawer liner for my tool box, I buy a low profile creeper for auto work, etc. As with someone who posted on the first page, I will not buy anything there that could be deadly or seriously injure me. Jack stands are very basic but I do not trust HF for that, my life is worth more than saving $50. They have their place for the infrequently used tool. I always check the reviews on HF's website to see what people say. There are so many items with reviews "worked for 1 week" "worked 3 times, now won't work", etc.

I always try to buy a good brand used before I go HF.

[Roger Feeley]

I wouldn't buy anything there with moving parts. I bought a plastic dead blow hammer there that was fine.
I do get my grinder stands from there but I always beef them up with some more bolts through the base into the posts. As they are sold, I wouldn't trust them.

I talked to a roofer once that bought hammers there. He said his people stole his tools so he bought cheap ones. I took his card so I would never use him.

[Ron Bott]

I always check the reviews on HF's website to see what people say.

I'm not sure what value that would be. Would you trust a review of someone so clueless about tools that they would buy any of the garbage they have at HF?

[Steven Hsieh]

Something US made at HF? I bet someone was fired for that screw up.

Actually it was a brand new harbor freight store just opened here that has it.

[Lee Ludden]

There big rolling tool boxes are about the best value out there. I buy some leather work gloves there for $8 that are, as far as I can tell, the same as the $20 Carhart ones, lacking only the Carhart name across the back. Their brass threaded inserts are great, and although I never use most of the sizes in the bundle, it still is cheaper than buying them elsewhere. I stock up on the 24" wire straps when they are on sale ($1.49 for 10) - they make great tie downs to hold a tarp on a trailer. As someone else mentioned, their ratcheting tie down straps are pretty nice.

I get the feeling that a lot of the stuff they carry comes off the same assembly lines that make the brand name stuff, but there is basically no quality control. When I buy pegboard pegs from there, about 1 in 10 need to be bent to properly fit in the peg holes, but even if I had to throw that one away, it is still cheaper than buying them at the BORG.

I haven't bought anything from there that is electrically powered however.

[Dan Hintz]

I buy some leather work gloves there for $8 that are, as far as I can tell, the same as the $20 Carhart ones, lacking only the Carhart name across the back.

I believe I have the same pair... the first pair were slowly destroyed over the course of a summer while I was doing a lot of work in the wet and lifting heavy objects with just my fingertips. The fingertips eventually wore through, but the gloves overall were a champ. The second pair I picked up a couple of years ago... I've kept those dry, and they show no signs of any real wear.

[Curt Harms]

Something US made at HF? I bet someone was fired for that screw up.

I've purchased some USA made Supercut wood cutting band saw blades and they seem fine, comparable to Lenox IMO and may last longer. Imagine my surprise to see Supercut metal cutting bandsaw blades at Harbor Freight. I have seen a few U.S. made items there but those items are not the cheapest of their kind.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Just because I'm avoiding actually working this morning, here is my $.02.

One of the simple little things that I enjoy about my life is the feeling you get when you use a great quality tool. That is one of the reasons why I never buy less then the best tool I can find. I also hate stopping a project because a junk tool or component failed. Because I live an hour from anywhere, it costs me half a day to go get a replacement, minimum, and I consider my time pretty valuable.

Maybe some of HF's products are good, but I can walk in and see enough junk that I'm not taking the risk. Won't shop there, and will gladly reward the few stores left that actually carry good quality tools and products with my business.

[Stephen Cherry]

Just because I'm avoiding actually working this morning, here is my $.02.

One of the simple little things that I enjoy about my life is the feeling you get when you use a great quality tool.

I'm avoiding also, (actually I have a little bit of a bug). And I agree about the enjoyment of good tools.

BUT, I have a few tools from harbor freight. A little pump to suck the oil out of my boat, things like that. Personally, I never get a good feeling while changing oil. Also, I have a manual tire changer, and tire irons. That way I can by tires cheap and put them on myself. This has saved me big money over the years.

[Ben Johnson WI]

HF has a handful of "big iron" tools that aren't too bad. The big tools with induction motors tend to be the OK ones. Run away from anything with a universal.

The dust collector has been mentioned by a few folks. Walk out the door for $150 with a coupon, drop $130 into a canister filter, build a Thien setup for it, and for $300 you've got a decent machine.

I've got their 14" bandsaw. Looks like the same one as several of the other 14" saws. Got mine for $220. Added the riser block, urethane wheels, Cool Blocks, a link belt, a decent blade, and a Cobra Coil, and it does a nice job of resawing. I haven't needed to resaw anything thicker than 7" so far, but I have been able to peel off nice thin slices of cherry that only needed a few plane swipes to be good to go.

The 12" swing lathe is basically the same thing as the Jet 12x36 lathe from the ways up. The stock V-belt is cheap and the legs don't exactly inspire confidence, but those aren't the "high-value" parts of the lathe, and are both easily improved upon for not much money. The important parts work fine.

6" jointer? Looks like pretty much every other 6" cast iron jointer. For what I've used it for as a weekend warrior, it's done the job. Sometimes the fence needs to be convinced to be perfectly square and stay put, but for <$200 out the door, again, I'm willing to deal with having to tweak things a little.

Basically, if you go into those tools knowing that they probably will need a little tweaking, you might find yourself happy with the results. If you're expecting the tool to "just work" out of the crate, you have to pay for that. You either pay for it in your own time, or in the time of a higher-end manufacturer. If I were spending time in my shop every day, it might be worth the extra scratch to buy a higher-end tool. They do good enough for me.

[Eric DeSilva]

I'm in the "you get what you pay for camp." That said, my HF cabinet sandblaster works just fine when I need to sandblast something, and it was priced right. Their hex shank nut drivers and drill bits are so cheap, I keep some in the garage and in the shop and in the tool bag. I bought one of those furniture dollies, but its useless since the caster wheels don't rotate freely. The nitrile gloves are great. The wire brushes work as you'd expect, and for $0.50, I consider them disposable. Their cheap funnels work as well as any other cheap funnels. I'm also considering one of their combo 30" metal shear/roller/brake things, since they seem pretty much identical to all the other inexpensive ones I see around. So, they serve a purpose in my book.

I did love the quote in the article "They're robust enough for at least one serious use before breaking."

[Steve Peterson]

Something US made at HF? I bet someone was fired for that screw up.

They have (or used to have) US made link belts for about 30% cheaper than anyplace else.

I also like the $1.99 bench brushes that are almost comparable to the $10 ones. This way I can buy several any have a better chance of finding one when I need it.

Steve

[Chris Studley]

+ 1 on the 1236 lathe clone. Great starter lathe.

My only problem is that it is too small and underpowered. But I would have the same issues w/ the Jet for 3x the price.

[Prashun Patel]

I like their 12" bar clamps.

[Mike Manders]

I've made a lot of good purchases from HF over the years. The have many of the exact same items as Sears, Auto parts stores, etc. only much cheaper. Especially if you watch the sales flyers and coupons.

Pittsburgh Pro hand tools are as good as any of the other Taiwanese lines (husky, stanley, kobalt,) and for a hobbyist they work great. Their "heavy-duty" drillpress is excellent. The smaller ones not so much. Their floor jacks, jack stands, engine stands and hoists are the best value out there. So are their air compressors and so are their toolboxes with a special shout out for the US General brand boxes which are far better than any costing 2-3x as much.

Nothing they sell is the best available in the market. But a lot of it is the best value in the market. And they're consistently by far the cheapest on commodity disposable items like gloves, brushes, rags, safety glasses, etc, etc.