what do u guys think of harborreight tools. there is one in my town that i went to the first time yesterday and i was not so impressed.

They are ok for tools or equipment not used much. Such as at home on the weekends or one use items. I got a nice auto darkening welding helmit for less than $50 and a paint spray gun for $40, a neadle scailer. The items I'm happy with.

What I don't like is it's all from China. But you go to Sears, Home Depot, Menards, etc. and most of the off brand odd ball tools are still From China. The above store just charge more.

IMHO, tools for either a DIY, or as above....one use items. I saw a nail gun awhile back...$40; only used nails they sold....but they were 'pre-rusted' & from China.

Remember the old saying...ya get what ya pay for (sometmes)

i got a 24oz framing hammer and it allready broke. Only had the thing 1 day. went to pull a staple out of a wall and the whole handle pulled apart.

I have used several Harbor Freight tools, with great success, for years. I've also seen pure junk sold by them.

IMO, the cheap tool on the truck almost always trumps the fancy tool you can't afford to buy. Many times, it is the blades / bits / accessories that make a tool perform, more so than the tool itself. For example, I have probably spent three times as much on bits, than I did on my roto-hammer itself.

There are some tools too important for you to compromise on, or take chances with. I might take a chance with an umbrella - but that parachute needs perform 100% every time!

I dislike the temptation to judge items by brand name alone. Almost every "quality" manufacturer out there has a few products that are disappointments.

I have a few items from Harbor Freight, and for the most part I am happy with them. Bought a 10" sliding compound miter saw for 99 dollars about 7 years ago, it still works, not as fast or as prety as a DeWalt but the dewalt is about 500, and I am not a carpenter so there is no way I would use one enough to pay for the dewalt. When I worked in a textile mill I bought 2 sets of the Pittsburg Forge combination wrenches, used them for years never had one to break. I think they are too big and thick to work on any newer cars with, but they worked for me in that job. I bought a 125lb Russian made anvil for less than 1 dollar a pound, the chinese version was 1.10 per pound. Just as has been already said some tools are worth it and some are not.

I'll buy name brand stuff from them and I'll buy simple tools (no or maybe one moving part) for light use work.

But I've seen too much of their other crap fail to ever buy a power tool or much of anything I'd bring to a paying job.

YMMV

There is a Northern Tool Supply store right around the corner from the condo my mom owns in Fort Myers. I was visiting in October and November so I walked in one boring day. I got all kinds of cheap China stuff to take home, and so far am pleased with it all. Best value for dirt cheap was the carbide unibit set for under $20 bucks and the several multimeters for $1.95 in the discount rack. Christmas gifts. I have no problem dragging a $1.95 multimeter into an attic. If I forget it up there so what. Please no safety speeches, it will never see any voltage above 240. Got a good working amp clamp on meter with a large jaw for under $20 bucks. My Fluke cost more than 10 times that amount, and it didn't make 10 years so we will see which one was the better value in 9-1/2 years from now.

Although I would stay away from their power tools (unless it's something you would absolutely use only once in a blue moon), their hand tools are starting to carry lifetime warranties. Since I work a lot in situations where tools can walk off, I like the low prices.

It's like my cheapo pocket knives; if I loose an $80 Benchmade, I feel really stupid. If I break or loose my $1 made in China knife, I pull another one out of the drawer and keep working.

A couple years ago I got a job that required a few custom bends in 1-1/2" RMC. Because most of my work is either residential or control/instrumentation stuff, I didn't have a bender that would handle the job. I was going to rent one for the job, but Northern Tool had a hydraulic pipe bender for sale for less than a 2-day rental on a Greenlee would have cost me.

Sure, this thing isn't even remotely close to a Greenlee in build quality, but for a tool that might only get used for one small job, it's hard to justify shelling out $$$ for the "Made in USA" version. If I was bending rigid on a regular basis, it would be a different story.

Cheap tools have their place, particularly for "one-off" jobs, or if you want a tool that you can modify to do some strange function.

It's something of a 'dirty little secret,' but I know several frequent ECN contributors who have some Harbor Freight / Northern / cheap China import tools in their trucks.

The cheap tools have their uses. For example, I bought the HF version of the 'roto-zip.' I was not sure if it was worth keeping such a tool (a small router) on the truck. Well, the tool proved it's worth rapidly - especially when a wall had a wood layer to it! This $20 experiment persuaded me on the merits of spending six times as much on a 'real' one, plus some accessories.

Some tools I've had excellent luck with. These include their versions of the 'porta-band;' the pipe bender NJ mentioned; their roto, demo, and jack-hammers; their angle grinder; and their saber saw.

The angle grinder is a good case in point. When I recently replaced it, it was not because the tool went bad ... rather, my use had shown me that I really wanted a 'paddle' switch, rather than the usual thumb-operated switch. Paddle switches are much harder to find, and often need to be ordered. I might very well have purchased an expensive model, with the wrong switch, had I not tried the HF first.

HF tools that have proven to be pure junk include their cordless tools (the batteries and chargers) and their version of the 'Sawzall.' Let's see ... HF for $20, top of the line brand name for $200 .... maybe there IS a difference

The example of that saw aside, HF tools tend to sell for 1/3 the price of a comparable brand-name tool.

Harbor Freight does not have any tools "comparable" to brand name.

It is to brand name tools as Meisterbrau is to Heineken.

I have an 4" angle grinder from harbor freight that has out lasted 2 maketas. I use it to cut stucco and concrete mostly and the one in the truck is 6+ yrs old. Other tools have not lasted one job. I get step drills when they are on sale and don't mind too much when they get dull, they work good for long enough. I just bought an 700 watt inverter so will see how long it lasts. Rod

I’m not a big fan of cheap tools. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t need to shell out for the top of the line tools, especially for only occasional use, but at least by something in the lower to middle range of reasonable industrial/pro quality rather than the gutbucket junk.

A company I worked for years ago, in an effort to cut costs, bought some drill bits and other items, like tie-wraps, from HF that where absolute garbage. The drill steel was so soft it dulled and cutter tips snapped within the first few uses. They were so bad that they make Milwaukee’s current Taiwanese crap drill bits seem like they are well made. The tie-wraps were so brittle they snapped like dry tinder, even in warm weather.
The only thing they bought that was any good was a “Pittsburg” 3-peice-aluminum pipe wrench set. As I recall it had 18, 24, and 30”wrenches. They seemed to hold up all right, at least as far as electrical pipe work goes.
I know of another company that tried those cheapo power tool brands that HF sells like, Chicago Electric, Jepson, etc… and they turned out to be junk.
I’ve tried a few myself over the years and learned the hard way that you only end up risking hurting yourself and then have to replace them again anyway as they will fail when you need them most. The only way I could see supplying your employees with these cheapo tools is if you have a high loss or job theft rate in your area, because I don’t think even tool savvy thieves would steal that junk.

Cheap slop, junk, trash!!!

As long as you understand that you are buying
"throw away" I dont see the problem.

Since someone mentioned ISO9000 in SBIs other thread it might be important to point out I doubt any measuring tool from Harbor Freight comes with an ISO9000 compliant calibration document. Calibration costs more than most of these do new. (I used to be the I9K guy)
I do believe that in a large percentage of the country we abandoned ISO9000 and "six sigma" quality programs years ago.

I know IBM handed out "Market Driven Quality" hats at a meeting (along with the M&M presentation) and we never heard about "six sigma" again. We stopped chasing Sony and fell in behind Sam Walton.

I have herd of other items that they only sell the consumables that fit that tool. Such as a mig welder that uses a wire size only HF sells.

As far as tring out a new tool it worked for me also. The first paint gun I bought for maybe $30 was a suction feed with the wrong sized tip for what I was doing. I learned what I needed with the $30 mistake. Still between the 2 guns I came out cheaper than one at another box store (that was also made in China).

Another thread reminded me ...

Apart from the 'quality vs value' debate ... HF has another thing going for it: Very often it is the only source for 'industrial' type tools. Much of what they sell is simply not available at the usual tool stores .... and many places that sell the 'real' versions deal only with commercial accounts (such as W.W. Grainger).

I cannot speak as to the welders ... but their grinder, band saw, circular saw, reciprocating saw, and drills all use 'normal' tooling.

i went to some other bargain tool place to day and found allen wrenches up to 1 inch in a set for $ 20.00 bucks. that a good deal compared to what they wanted at sears and other big named stores. They also had stanley 36 inch prybars 5 a pc. so i guess sometimes these bargain tool outlets aren't that bad if u know what u are getting and take your time and inspect the quality of the merchandise.

Like others have said, depends on what you want to do.

In our business you sometimes have to make tools do what you need them to do,like go around corners.

Watch the guy in charge of the tool board turn purple as he shows up just in time to see a $$$ dollar Snap-On wrench cooling after some "modification".

We always keep a couple of "single use" tools around for just such contingencies.

I have a 4 1/2 inch HF angle grinder that just keeps going and going.... despite the collet lock missing and no grease in the gearbox.

Trainwire

Never trust a weatherman with no window in his cubicle.

We have "Princess Auto" up here in Canada... same idea, offshore tools at ridiculously cheap prices.

I find I can afford to buy the cheap knock-off first... see how it lasts and how much I use it. Then when it breaks or I lose it, I decide if I need something better or the same again.

HF is OK for simple, stationary, single-casting items that can be readily inspected for defects, i.e. tool rests, anvils, etc. Maybe I'd go out on a limb and buy a vise. Anything that rotates at high RPM, watch out! Ditto anything that needs a dielectric. (Call UL and ask them if the product really is Listed.) I've seen far too many pumps and gennies that even the display models were busted.

Oh yeah, and this ad copy on the package of a drill pump:


A reputable manufacturer will hire a French speaker to write French copy, and an English speaker to write English copy; not a marginal quasi-wannabe-polyglot to do both. I might be biased, since I married a technical writer, but this stuff is important to me.

Oh yeah,
It is currently fashionable to pick on the Chinese, but slipshod workmanship can be found in any country, not to mention doing the tech writing on the cheap.

Case in point: the Bhopal tragedy may have been caused in part by the company's failure to publish technical manuals in any language other than English, in a country where that would be a second language at best for most workers. There were other, absolutely inexcusable failures at work here. Half a million people were exposed, and it has been estimated that one person dies each day as a result of the exposure. If the Bhopal disaster had happened in the US, can anybody doubt the victims would have had their day in court?

I think it is perfectly legitimate to fault the Chinese for making dangerously cheap products, at the expense of the health of their workers. But didn't we do the same before OSHA (pre-1970)? And aren't we still doing it, when we eagerly snap up cheap imports, paid for by the blood of someone we don't know, halfway around the world?

Multinational trade agreements should consider worker safety. Some 20,000 Indians have died as a result of Bhopal, something that happened when I was 16; yet Union Carbide was an American company!

Ahh Yes,
The great tool debate.
IMO, if you buy low quality tools and are rough on them, they won't last 5 minutes.
If you buy top-notch tools and are rough on them, expect them to have a shorter lifespan than they were designed for.

During my training as an electrician, I was encouraged to get the best quality tools that I could afford, these being the ones you use the most and cannot afford to have them break during a break-down job and the like.

I still have all of these tools, I look after them.
If you ever break a tool, think about why it broke, were you using it for something it was not made to do?(a common death for a lot of cheaper tools).

Part of being a tradesman is the correct selection and use of hand and power tools, that is usually instilled into a 1st year apprentice.

BTW, someone above mentioned an Auto-Darkening welding mask,
be VERY careful purchasing one of these, some of the cheaper helmets don't have the correct shade for Stick welding and are made for TIG or Gas welding only.

Using anything less, will seriously damage your eyesight.

Having said that, I use a stock, standard head-band type helmet with the flip-up lense.
It only takes a second to nod your head forward and bring the mask down and start welding.