Harbor Freight tool Pass/Fail

[Pronto]

Here's an interesting thread on another board that's worth checking out. Harbor Freight sells mostly China made stuff. Some stuff is OK, some is one time use, and some is pure crap. Although I hate that fact most of the stuff comes from China the prices are attractive especially if you follow the sales. I like the free stuff that they put in the adds. Today I got a junky LED flashlight for free. Probably last a week but hey it was free.
The Harbor Freight PASS/FAIL Thread... - The Garage Journal Board

 

[87GNSteve]

Its not just Harbor Freight but Lowes and Home Depot tools are mostly China. I went the other day to buy Vise Grips and I wanted the name brand turns out they are made in China now. I wrote Irwin Inc. to complain and you should have seen the response I got.....

Just an interesting note that forum those guys can go back and edit 3 year old posts! Just look at the 1st one.

 

[GNXwannabe]

Even Sears has an import line now!

 

[EVIL]

I like Harbor Freight tools. i too see something i like and wait for it to go on sail. I bought the big aluminum jack and it is awesome. I also bought two wheeled carts to wheel my tools around. One has 4 drawers and the other just has a top and a bottom shelf. They are great.

When buying something from there you know if it'll last just by looking at it.

D

 

[turbofrank]

As stated above some items good some bad. I had one of the led lights short and start to melt in my hand watch out.

 

[DCVING 6]

My Fed Ex guy was just talking to me about Harbor Freight stuff. Said they must have a new account with them as he has delivered a few things two weeks in a row now to houses. Said it was 100# of crap in a box that he wouldn't ship dog crap in. One was an english wheel, no packing peanuts, no extra cardboard or tape, etc. Said everything was beat to chit by the time it got to the customers door step.

 

[OhioC5]

Kind of off topic, but I bought a repo hood from China. The box was perfect the hood was damaged. They must have dropped the hood and put it in the box anyway.

They don't even have to make a quality unit and we are in line to suck it up.

 

[Evans Ward]

That looks like a great thread but it's 129 pages! It's usually hit or miss with the HF tools.

 

[Black3]

Like just about anything, you get what you pay for.

 

[injdinjn]

Chinese hard tools are mostly junk, anything electronic is hit or miss, some works some doesn't.
Usually on the hard tools anything like pliers the hinge pins are junk.

I haven't seed a drill or saw in Sears that isn't chinese made in years, even japanese Mikitas are made in china, and Bosch has a chink line.

I go out of my way to avoid chinese made. Only if I have to have it and can't find USA made will I buy chinese.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Sad question of the day is what isn't made in China?

 

[mikes86ttop]

the best thing i picked up there was the jack stands the bigger ones on sale they were 25 bucks so i got two pairs

 

[rag231]

tools

I got the three set of stepped drill bits for openining up holes for like $4.88, one Irwin was close to $34, I got the regular claw hammer $2.88 at Home Depot the exact same hammer was $6.88. It is hard to resist a sale and then they send a flier with 20-30% off on top of the sale items. The only item that I took back for failure were the long adjustable pliers, as soon as you size them and put them on a pipe fitting , it slipped. Ouch

 

[buickgn87]

Harbor Freight

I have the harbor freight benchtop sand blasting cabinet.
It's Chinkanese and I was impressed with the cabinet itself.
However, the siphon gun it came with...well, I remember having toy cowboy guns when I was a kid having better quality.:biggrin:

Other items I have from there are the 3 pc socket trays(Chinkanese). I got SAE and Metric. I had to trim some flash on the 9mm deep well. The SAE was perfectly fine.

I also got the Fir adirondack rocker chair (also Chinkanese) Assembly was easy. I found 2 pre-drilled pilot holes that were oversized. I got around this by positioning the piece slightly over and screwed it down.

 

[charlief1]

I've got several tools from harbor freight. One of the better investments I bought was a 3/4" drive metric socket set. I was working on a BMW and had to take the rear axles out. They use 12 point nuts on the CV shaft so I called the local tool guy to get one. His price for one socket was $40 and since harbor freight was about 20 miles away my boss let me go and see what I could find. I spent $35 on a complete socket set and that was oer 5 years ago.

I still prefer to get good quality tools but when you need something for one job they do save you money. Except for their die grinders, don't get the air tools though. I wont comprimise on my impact tools. Air rachets and air impacts will always be name brand, period.

 

[85Dan85TType]

I go to HF for one thing. The nitrile gloves. I've made mistakes buying tools there in the past; my favorite example is the retractable tape measure. Only problem is, it never retracted. Not even on the first use. Hahaha

 

[Pronto]

2 weeks ago I got "free" 25' retractable tape measure. It works fine but the first time I reeled it in I let it come in fast and it slapped my fingers. I knew when it happened they were slit. Took a few seconds for blood to ooze out. The edges are sharp

 

[asto-t]

I bought a harbor freight electric impact drill and is the best thing I have gotten from them. It makes it a lot easier to take the wheels off now!

 

[williamsGN]

I wish there were more around... Don't think I'd buy a compressor from them, but for the little stuff they are great. For hand tools I like Autozone's Great Neck line, its cheap but has a lifetime warranty.

 

[charlief1]

AZ's getting away from great neck now so you have to have a reciept to prove you bought it there.

As far as the compressors, we had to replace the motor and the pump on ours a couple of years ago and got the HD twin piston pump and a 220 motor. Works like a champ so I don't have a problem with the big units. The small ones don't seem to hold up though.