Harbor Freight Tools that DO SUCK II

[California]

It's easy to love HFT and easy to hate China but it takes a patriot to do both well.

 

[5030]

Just ordered up a new Astro Pneumatic 1/2" air impact to replace my IR Thundergun I've had for years. The Thor 1/2" air impact makes 1000 foot pounds in reverse and 725 in forward and the cost is very comparable to the Thundergun, 180 bucks delivered.

The Thundergun makes 700 in reverse and 625 in forward. Both the Astro and the IR are made right here in the USA btw.

I'm curious as to how the HF impact sockets will fare with the Thor Onyx. I've been able to split a couple Snap-On and MAC impact sockets with the Thundergun but none of the HF impact sockets. The Thor will most likely put them to the test. Time will tell. I have a excavation bucket off a Komatsu coming in that needs the grouser teeth replaced and a tear in the bucket side sheet. I bet the grouser teeth are firmly locked on with corroded dome head plow bolts so the Thor will have it's work cut out for it as well as the HF impact sockets.

It's on backorder with Summit with a tentative delivery next month on the 10th.

So far so good with the Bauer 20 volt cordless tools, no smoke yet but the 4.5 angle grinder is hard on batteries, consequently I went and bought a couple Bauer 5 amp hour packs. They keep going up in price (now 56 bucks each) but still a lot cheaper than the DeWalt packs. Interestingly, both the Bauer and the DeWalt packs employ the same batteries (Toshiba). Only issue I have with the Bauer 5 AH packs is recharge time. They take a good solid hour to recharge even using the Bauer high output charger and the Bauer chargers are electronically noisy too.

Been using the Bauer 4.5" angle grinder pretty hard with their Warrior thin kerf cut off wheels lately. Been cutting a lot of light gauge steel with it.

In as much as the Bauer 20 volt tools are about 1/3ed the cost of the comparable DeWalt and one fifth of the Milwaukee stuff, it's very economical for me to buy them, even if I find the smoke, I can still replace them numerous times compared to one DeWalt or Milwaukee tool.

Just bought the Doyle Rivnut setter kit for blind threaded rivets and it's **** but the kit only comes with a limited number of Rivnuts and HF don't sell replacement Rivnuts so you have to go online to get them. The tool works very well and has compound leverage. it's like 50 bucks and worth every penny compared to the one's on Amazon. You cannot reliably set Rivnuts with a pop reivet tool, not enough leverage to crimp in the nutsert.

I agree, the cheap side cuts that HF sells are junk. The Icon ones are much better but you will pay for them

 

[5030]

I have a DeWalt 1/2" hammer drill that is slowly expiring. It's starting to stink so it's on the way out. It's actually survived numerous XR packs and the DeWalt packs are super expensive compared to the HF packs.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I'm not sure if it does or not, but I don't see how anybody can use these without wasting a wrist, shoulder, rib. hip or .....

I don't see 'safe' here at all.

We use them all the time. Work great.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

I'm not sure if it does or not, but I don't see how anybody can use these without wasting a wrist, shoulder, rib. hip or .....

I don't see 'safe' here at all.

Used one to drill a water well. Built a small Derrick. Put a HF four wheeler winch on top. Found a water joint. Made several 1" nipples for drill pipe. Made a bit. Struck water. Simple as that.

 

[5030]

They are wrist snappers for sure. Why I have a PTO PHD. Guy across the road has one and made an ice cutting edge for ice fishing on the lake. Not sure how that worked out though

 

[jyoutz]

That is gone. Now some 'Coolie' is making it for peanuts, literally.

I find the Milwaukee stuff to be way overpriced. Even more so than DeWalt (which is, in reality, Black and Decker).

DeWalt and B &D are owned by the same company, but they are in no way comparable. Every B&D tool I bought died prematurely, but my DeWalt tools are still going strong and work well.

 

[5030]

DeWalt and B &D are owned by the same company, but they are in no way comparable. Every B&D tool I bought died prematurely, but my DeWalt tools are still going strong and work well.

be patient, at some point you'll find the smoke in your DeWalt cordless tools. I've roasted no less than 3 DeWalt XRP drills over the years and repair cost made them prime landfill candidates.

I have zero issues using the HF wannabe cordless tools at 1/3 the cost.

 

[Buggs67]

I think we just need to face the fact that we are going to use Chinese stuff, because that is who will be making everything. They produce to a price and quality point. I think they CAN make excellent stuff (especially since they reverse engineer the best designs, like their Chonda engines). But they will make attractive looking crap under a pretty color/design. And get a one time sale.

American marketers give their requirements to Chinese Mfgers and accept the product and quality (or lack-of) and and push it on us.

And the whole Assembled in the USA, or Produced in the USA, or even Hecto in Mexico disguise the fact that they wrap a chonda engine and Chinese controls in a few Mexican parts and assemble it in Texas. Witness the
https://www.massimomotor.com/about-us
ATV company proudly building ATVs and SBS in Texas.

Try buying an Air Conditioner. My LG was made in Thailand.

 

[Buggs67]

Soon we will be driving Chinese cars. Go ahead and scoff, but years ago we scoffed at Korean cars and in the 60s Made in Japan was synonymous with "Piece of Crap"

Now I'm looking for a 9k-10k portable generator for emergency use and don't know who to trust. Even Generac and Honda make them in China.

 

[5030]

I have a Champion (yes it's imported) but it's 100% dependable. Got it from Generators Plus.

 

[5030]

Soon we will be driving Chinese cars. Go ahead and scoff, but years ago we scoffed at Korean cars and in the 60s Made in Japan was synonymous with "Piece of Crap"

Now I'm looking for a 9k-10k portable generator for emergency use and don't know who to trust. Even Generac and Honda make them in China.

Reminds me of an interesting story.. Back when I took my T&D apprentiship, I was buying precision tools for my tool box and the only 'quality measuring tools were either LS Starrett or Brown and Sharpe, quality American made tools for a price of course. The outfit I was purchasing them at also carried Mitutoyo but they were consider crude and cheap and only good for crude measuring. Fast forward to today and they are considered the premier precision tool makers in the world, Surpassing LSS and B&S.

One thing about the Japanese and soon the Chinese is, they constantly improve on a product but keep the price point reasonable.

I own a couple sets of Mitutoyo digital calipers and their digital bore gage and the quality is at least equal to anything out there and maybe better.

Guess it's all about 'World Class Manufacturing'...

 

[Liquidsilver]

I'm going to go ahead and say the 16" Atlas 40v chainsaw DOES suck.

I only bought it for a quick utility job and I wanted it quieter than my trusty Stihl because I was along somebody else's property line.

It ain't any quieter than a small gas Home Depot saw (I'll bet) and in order to prune stuff without the chain jumping off I had to run the chain tighter than a piano string and that made the battery life pretty poor.

To add insult to injury, I walked by the cheap Home Depot gas saws (that I'll bet was just as quiet) and I could've gotten one of those for 70 bucks less than I spent at Harbor Freight.

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

 

[5030]

Never considered one. I have the corded Portland pole saw and other than the smallish bar oil tank, it's done the job for me. I just take my small inverter genny and put it in the back of the side by side with an extension cord and go prune limbs.

The Portland pole saw comes with an Oregon bar and oregon chain too.

 

[5030]

I have to say, I bought a Tanaka top handle gas saw on Amazon 2 years ago for 100 bucks delivered and I've used the heck out of it. On my 2nd chain and bar. Dandy little top handle pruning saw. Made in China under license from Makita. In fact other than the color (orange and black) it's the mirror image of the Makita for a whole bunch less moolah.

 

[jjeff]

14 gauge rated sheet metal nibbler can't cut 18 gauge without breaking. Might cut aluminum foil but couldn't test it cause it broke first cut. I've learned not to buy hf tools unless you really need it for your current project. That way if it breaks you can easily return it.

 

[grsthegreat]

be patient, at some point you'll find the smoke in your DeWalt cordless tools. I've roasted no less than 3 DeWalt XRP drills over the years and repair cost made them prime landfill candidates.

I have zero issues using the HF wannabe cordless tools at 1/3 the cost.

You must be hard on them….
I have maybe 4 sets of Dewalt and a few milwaukee. Only 1 Dewalt hammer drill failed after maybe 10 years hard use. All others still going strong. These were used daily up until I retired and canned employees.

 

[4570Man]

You must be hard on them….
I have maybe 4 sets of Dewalt and a few milwaukee. Only 1 Dewalt hammer drill failed after maybe 10 years hard use. All others still going strong. These were used daily up until I retired and canned employees.

I have the majority of the Dewalt 20 volt line and use them frequently. Not daily because I don’t do the same thing everyday but they are used. I’ve never had a Dewalt tool fail me. My dad busted the bottom end drill with a hole saw but he deserved it. I’ve never had the better drill fail.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Reminds me of an interesting story.. Back when I took my T&D apprentiship, I was buying precision tools for my tool box and the only 'quality measuring tools were either LS Starrett or Brown and Sharpe, quality American made tools for a price of course. The outfit I was purchasing them at also carried Mitutoyo but they were consider crude and cheap and only good for crude measuring. Fast forward to today and they are considered the premier precision tool makers in the world, Surpassing LSS and B&S.

One thing about the Japanese and soon the Chinese is, they constantly improve on a product but keep the price point reasonable.

I own a couple sets of Mitutoyo digital calipers and their digital bore gage and the quality is at least equal to anything out there and maybe better.

Guess it's all about 'World Class Manufacturing'...

yup

i worked in T&D, fab, precision machining, foundry's, assembly houses, screw machines, N.C. etc etc etc

Brown and Sharpe was the standard.

i just bought a plastic caliper from hf for $3.00.

i have been looking for a caliper with the old slide rule calibrations. i found one at an auction but i'd have to sit around 6 hours to get to it.

Anybody out there can still read a slide rule etc?

 

[daugen]

Guess it's all about 'World Class Manufacturing'...

yes...my chinese built Agco/Massey Ferguson 4707 was a marvelous tractor, competing in performance, features and build quality with JD and Kubota.
for many of us, particularly those of you handy folks who can actually fix these things, parts availability is key.
If an internal gear chips a tooth and you need a new one, and none available, likely another addition
to local land fill. We have been a disposable, throwaway society for a long time. HF is on the top of the heap of throwaways since
usually you can't fix them, which is why their refund policy seems lenient.

I know folks who buy stuff from HF, use it on a job, no intentions of keeping it, and return it saying it's defective.
I think my father and grandfather would turn over in their graves if I ever did that.

HF is definitely changing, in product quality I think for the better. They sure are charging more now.
So maybe our free/cheaper lunch is over. After the Feds successfully sued them for false advertising with all those
nonsensical price structures, and finding three different prices for same item in current marketing, well HF is cleaning up
their marketing act for sure.

For most of us, going in there is our version of toyland. But we all know some of this stuff is just the bottom end and we need to have
fair expectations.

I went from Craftsman cordless to Makita cordless and never looked back.
However, my Predator inverter gen I bought for the rv was a great product. All about the spec.

Slide rule? no...Abacus? no....
we have an app for that