Words to the wise.


Jul 31, 2022

"Harbor Freight has a secret. This secret is the key to how they are able to make and sell their tools so cheap. When you understand how it all works, you will know what tools you should buy from Harbor Freight and which Harbor Freight tools you should avoid."

As an everyday user of tools, some even from Harbor Freight, the presenter's experiences pretty much jibe with mine. They have their uses, but not for anything requiring precision (e.g., torque wrenches), or anything used frequently and hard (like most of their cordless and air power tools). Even a Milwaukee cordless impact gun didn't hold up to my use. It broke the clutches in less than 7 months, while an Aircat air impact gun, equivalent in power, is still going strong after 6 years, despite everyday use and sometimes dragged or kicked across the floor.

^ on that note, was kicking around starting a thread: Can you recommend a brand for quality hydraulic wrenches? Every time I use mine I curse them and plan to throw them all away and start fresh. I usually end up just buying more of whatever, hoping for quality.

Now I have way too many, some okay, some crap.

Pretty much everything we all know.
I have to disagree on one thing. He said stay away from their floor jacks.
While the lower end ones yes. I have one of their top end Daytona jacks and it is a very nice piece.
Their US General Tool Boxes are also very nice. My US General is far better than my US made Craftsman box.

I bought one of their cheapo reciprocating saws . I tore down a wooden bridge , a deck , and a fiberglass shower . I ran it till the blade was dull , swapped blades and kept on going . I couldn't kill it . I gave it away because somebody gave me a Craftsman saw . It died the first time I used it . Now I have nothing .

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
Pretty much everything we all know.
I have to disagree on one thing. He said stay away from their floor jacks.
While the lower end ones yes. I have one of their top end Daytona jacks and it is a very nice piece.
Their US General Tool Boxes are also very nice. My US General is far better than my US made Craftsman box.

I examined their US General rolling chests as well, and they are better made than my very old craftsman and my new Husky. If I were buying another one I'd get the General line, it's a (whole) LOT of box for the $. Regarding the Daytona jacks, they get good reviews for the upper line as you stated. When my 3.5 Ton Arcan goes out I'll be looking at the 4.0 Ton Daytona. Don't get me wrong, a US or German made shop grade jack is good, but the prices, though justified for a busy shop, are out of the question unfortunately. So yea, SOME things from HF are good value, it just depends. Some guys buy HD bars and such for one time or few time use for big dirty jobs, or purposely buying a shitty tool for one time use use to destruction for a job you'll never repeat etc., so there's that.

I have one of their Pittsburgh floor jacks and a Daytona one and I've never had a problem with either.
Just don't expect that $20 socket set to withstand much use and abuse.

I’m not planning on watching the video…

You are aware, that Harbor Freight is a Chinese owned company operating on US soil. Everything they sell is made in China. I am aware that many if not all out shit is made in China, but damn, I have a hard time going to or buying anything from harbor freight.

That said, I have an angle grinder that I bought from them around 2008. It sounds pretty rough, but I have used the hell out of it and it still runs.

+1 on the Daytona floor jacks.

Silent

quote:

You are aware, that Harbor Freight is a Chinese owned company operating on US soil.

Harbor Freight was founded in 1977 by Allan & Eric Smidt (father and son) in Hollywood, CA. Still headquartered in California, 1,200 stores, 25,000 employees, and over $6 billion in revenue. Still privately owned.

What they figured out is that they can import (mostly) Chinese made product with their name on it and sell it for less than the Chinese products large brands import with their names on it.

The free lifetime warranty on many things has been useful to be and is a reason to go there. Across the years a harbor freight bench vise, floor jack, and a few wrenches broke. Each time I took the broken tool in, they simply said to pick out a replacement and have a good day.

I too have been leery of HF quality, yet have had some good to great service from certain products.

Especial value IMHO was the US General tool chest in use the last 5 years, and a few of their 'Apache' line of gun cases.
They continue to perform well under my moderate use demands. Low end rivet gun was a deal, and a few one-off products I never wanted yet had a short term use for.

Some hard caster wheels & a few of the smaller pneumatic utility wheels have served well for years.

On the other hand, just where is a good source for decent bungie cord/ stretchy rubber tie down straps 1-3' long?

No H.F. thread is complete without this...

Increasingly HF has gotten better and Craftsman has gotten worse to the point that there isn’t much difference anymore. My first Craftsman hand tools were made by S-K, and to this day, they ooze quality. A new Craftsman set is the same Chinese junk that is in HF, so what’s the difference. Sure, Craftsman has some Taiwan built tools that are nice, but so are the Icon line from Harbor Freight.

The price you pay for a tool seems to be more important than the brand. This is true within a single store like Harbor Freight, and among different brands (or within a single brand, like Milwaukee brushed -> brushless -> Fuel). The exception to this may be SnapOn, which are great tools, but have a lot of extra cost for name recognition (snobbery?) along with a high degree of service built into the price. The Apple of tools.

I bought a HF multi-tool because I wasn't sure if I'd use such a tool enough to warrant buying something from Milwaukee (my preferred brand for power tools). I ended up using the darn thing for so many oddball jobs I finally went and bought the Milwaukee 18v version to go along with my other tools. I just used the HF version as a 'try before you buy' option.

And a big thumbs up on their tool boxes. I'm currently planning a tool box buy and will be buying one of HF's ICON boxes (a step up from US General).

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Increasingly HF has gotten better and Craftsman has gotten worse to the point that there isn’t much difference anymore.

There is a key difference: the price.

I believe Craftsman may have moved tool production back to the US but back in 2012 when I was looking for a set of long beam combo wrenches, I looked at Craftsman and it was made in China. HF was made in China yet 1/2 the price. If I'm going to end up with something made in China, it won't be at a US price.

Stanley Tools purchased the Craftsman name a few years ago and is spending something like a $500 Million dollar factory in Fort Worth to make American Made tools.
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Don't buy crap tools, you will live longer and a less frustrated life and have something of value to pass down to the next generation. Just because they are "American Made" doesn't make them good tools either. I've used plenty of American made screwdrivers whose tips weren't worth spit! If you can't use a screwdriver as a light prying instrument, it's of no value. Anyone who has ever picked up one and done it knows this.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

quote:

You are aware, that Harbor Freight is a Chinese owned company operating on US soil.

Harbor Freight was founded in 1977 by Allan & Eric Smidt (father and son) in Hollywood, CA. Still headquartered in California, 1,200 stores, 25,000 employees, and over $6 billion in revenue. Still privately owned.

What they figured out is that they can import (mostly) Chinese made product with their name on it and sell it for less than the Chinese products large brands import with their names on it.

I stand corrected. I am not sure why, but I had thought for sure, that they were a Chinese owned company.

quote:

Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
Sure, Craftsman has some Taiwan built tools that are nice, but so are the Icon line from Harbor Freight.

I have some of their Pittsburgh PRO branded sockets which are made in Taiwan and they are good quality - sufficient for homeowner/moderate use.

Their occasional 30% of under $10 item coupons are good for single use or disposable supplies.

ETA: I checked, and also have a set of HF metric combo wrenches that are made in India not China.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blackmore,