Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

newbury · Apr 25, 2023

1Mech said:
You ever notice when you have a bunch of hammers, or whatever and leave them scattered around so you don't need to bring one along, eventually, they are all in the same room or area!

For me it was mostly HF free tape measures and flashlights. They are not the best tape measures or flashlights but having a working one handy is important.

California · Apr 25, 2023

John_Mc said:
I just can’t bring myself to trust the HF battery chargers. The charge and float voltages on the two I measured were not where they should be. (One too high, the other too low.) That was years ago, maybe they’ve improved by now

My experience too. HF claimed you could leave the $4.99 'battery maintainer' attached continually because its current was so low. The one winter when I tried that, it cooked the water out.

The HF license plate size solar panel maintainer was another failed experiment. Useless.

But I've bought a lot of useful things there. Just not those.

5030 · Apr 25, 2023

Not all HF stuff is junk, only the ultra cheap stuff. Heck, even the 'Pittsburg Pro' stuff is pretty good. You cannot beat the Icon or Hercules or even the Chief line of air tools for quality and price. The new Hercules 1/2" cordless impact whips the Milwaukee Gen 3, hands down plus the guarantee is much better too. 5 years versus one year. Returns are seamless at any HF store. Take it back and get a new one or your money back. Try that at Home Despot or Blowes.... and, I've yet to split a HF impact socket and I beat on them without mercy. I've split Snap On, SK Wayne, Craftsman and Mac in the past, never an HF impact socket.

jjeff · Apr 25, 2023

5030 said:
Not all HF stuff is junk, only the ultra cheap stuff. Heck, even the 'Pittsburg Pro' stuff is pretty good. You cannot beat the Icon or Hercules or even the Chief line of air tools for quality and price. The new Hercules 1/2" cordless impact whips the Milwaukee Gen 3, hands down plus the guarantee is much better too. 5 years versus one year. Returns are seamless at any HF store. Take it back and get a new one or your money back. Try that at Home Despot or Blowes.... and, I've yet to split a HF impact socket and I beat on them without mercy. I've split Snap On, SK Wayne, Craftsman and Mac in the past, never an HF impact socket.

I'll say it again for the price of pittsburgh hf impact sockets can't go wrong in my experience with them. Seems the more complex the hf tool the greater chance of experiencing problems with them even if you your handy enough to improvise, repair, and adjust it correctly.

John_Mc · Apr 25, 2023

Gordon Gould said:
That's my problem too. As far as HF stuff goes - Expect the worst and you will never be disappointed. All junk, but a lot of times junk is good enough.

gg

That's my rule of thumb for much of their stuff, but I have had good luck with their Icon hand tools.

I also have their Daytona 3 Ton Super Duty Low Profile Floor Jack and have been happy with that (it was only half full of hydraulic fluid when I bought it, but next time I was at the local store, they gave me a free bottle of hydraulic jack fluid with no hassle).

I do not trust their electrical/electronic stuff, and have several of their cheaper hand tools which are mediocre, but as you noted, sometimes that's "good enough".

5030 · Apr 25, 2023

jjeff said:
I'll say it again for the price of pittsburgh hf impact sockets can't go wrong in my experience with them. Seems the more complex the hf tool the greater chance of experiencing problems with them even if you your handy enough to improvise, repair, and adjust it correctly.

I don't agree with your premise 100% actually. I will say my Icon 1/2" drive and 1/4" drive clicker torque wrenches are as good as Snap On (have one of them as well) at basically 1/4 the cost and clicker torque wrenches are rather complex tools.

jjeff · Apr 25, 2023

5030 said:
I don't agree with your premise 100% actually. I will say my Icon 1/2" drive and 1/4" drive clicker torque wrenches are as good as Snap On (have one of them as well) at basically 1/4 the cost and clicker torque wrenches are rather complex tools.

Perhaps, unfortunately I've screwed up a few things due to a lack of feeling and being slightly tone deaf. Now I only use and own the old beam needle type.

5030 · Apr 25, 2023

With a clicker you can 'feel' it when the torque setting is reached. At 73, I don't have the best feel either.

crazyal · Apr 25, 2023

The problem of "good enough" is when it isn't. I have plenty of HF tools that don't get pushed to their limit so they are actually good enough. But the last 3/4" breaker bar I had couldn't handle removing a 1 1/2" nut (2 1/4" socket). For the price of the Icon there's several other brands, like Tekton that look beefier. If the HF was less than a 1/2 hour away it wouldn't bother me too much to return things. But being more than 3 times that far in each direction I don't want to find out that it wasn't good enough. I'll most likely keep my eyes open for a snap on or a snap on 1" to 3/4" adapter and get a 1" breaker bar from one of the Taiwanese companies.

California · Apr 26, 2023

Interesting! This free website researched suppliers to many companies. Here's their HF page.

Digging down on one cited source, I see 'Toolimex' is in India and claims to be the largest producer of adjustable wrenches in the world.