Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Midniteoyl]

The Parking Lot Sale starts Monday (Aug, 12) for Inside Track and Friday (Aug, 16) for everyone else.

 

[California]

Looks like the HF Quick Hitch really is on Clearance this time. It's listed in the Closeout email.

Or maybe not. Its standard listing no longer says 'Clearance'.

Other notable news:
TITANIUM Easy-Flux 125 Amp Welder at the sidewalk sale is only $130, today (Sunday only) for that price.


And a rant, Amazon this time: I got an unsatisfactory $25
IHOXTX Security Camera Wireless Outdoor.

I went to post a review and got an error message instead: 'Due to unusual review activity, reviews for this item are not accepted at this time'. So no way to warn others!

The thing has 7 thousand positive reviews. Nearly all appear similar like a bot wrote them. But then sorting by 'recent reviews', every recent review is one star and says frustrating and near useless, and the listed product support doesn't exist. First time I've seen Amazon simply refuse reviews. Maybe they have a bot-flagger now?

 

[crazyal]

Anyone try one of the adapters to use Milwaukee batteries on Bauer tools? I have a bunch of Chinese batteries (free from Amazon) that fit the M18 tools. I could use a pole saw but not enough to pay for a Milwaukee one. HF sells them as tools only so I would need to buy a charger and a couple of batteries. Amazon even gave me a free adapter. I'm just trying to decide if I want to spend $80 for the saw to find out how well it works.

 

[KubotainNH]

Anyone try one of the adapters to use Milwaukee batteries on Bauer tools? I have a bunch of Chinese batteries (free from Amazon) that fit the M18 tools. I could use a pole saw but not enough to pay for a Milwaukee one. HF sells them as tools only so I would need to buy a charger and a couple of batteries. Amazon even gave me a free adapter. I'm just trying to decide if I want to spend $80 for the saw to find out how well it works.

A few years ago, I bought one for my son from Amazon that allowed newer Dewalt lithium batteries to work on the old Dewalt Nicad battery tools. That setup really woke up his cordless circular saw. A whole different beast with those better batteries. The only issue with it was you had to make sure the battery was unplugged when done as they will draw the battery down to nothing. The may have fixed that issue by now but it was mentioned in the comment section.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Anyone try one of the adapters to use Milwaukee batteries on Bauer tools? I have a bunch of Chinese batteries (free from Amazon) that fit the M18 tools. I could use a pole saw but not enough to pay for a Milwaukee one. HF sells them as tools only so I would need to buy a charger and a couple of batteries. Amazon even gave me a free adapter. I'm just trying to decide if I want to spend $80 for the saw to find out how well it works.

Can't remember what the verdict was, or what they tested, but this channel did some testing:

 

[5030]

I have the Bauer 20 volt pole saw and in my opinion, it's a dandy. Has a built in chain oiler and easy chain tensioning (single knob) as well. Got mine on sale on the ITC club flyer a while back at half price. Just run the Bauer 5 amp batteries as I have a pile of 20 volt Bauer tools and none have let me down yet. Only have one DeWalt tool left and when it expires, I'll ship it off to the landfill anyway.

Lets see, besides the pole saw, I have the 4.5" angle grinder with the newer motor, a 1/2" varible speed drill, a 20 volt hex impact driver, the oscillating sander and a 1/2" drive impact wrench. Got all of them on sale, ITC, Not commercial grade stuff, just home owner grade.

 

[5030]

I would need to buy a charger and a couple of batteries.

Shoot me a PM with your address and I'll send you a Bauer 20 volt charger as I have 3 of them presently. You just pay the postage and one is yours. I have some extra 2 amp 20 volt batteries but Postal regs says I cannot send them in the mail. Charger, no issue.

 

[BravoXray]

A few years ago, I bought one for my son from Amazon that allowed newer Dewalt lithium batteries to work on the old Dewalt Nicad battery tools. That setup really woke up his cordless circular saw. A whole different beast with those better batteries. The only issue with it was you had to make sure the battery was unplugged when done as they will draw the battery down to nothing. The may have fixed that issue by now but it was mentioned in the comment section.

I have an 18 volt to 20 volt Lithium adapter on my Dewalt impact driver, works great.

 

[crazyal]

Shoot me a PM with your address and I'll send you a Bauer 20 volt charger as I have 3 of them presently. You just pay the postage and one is yours. I have some extra 2 amp 20 volt batteries but Postal regs says I cannot send them in the mail. Charger, no issue.

Thanks for the offer. Right now I'm trying to only have one battery system. I have about a dozen of the M18 batteries (a mixture of Milwaukee brand and other brands). I was going to get a Bauer tool that came with batteries but most of their tools are just bare tools. The kits that come with a pair of batteries are either two 1.5 AH (drills) or one 1.5 Ah and one 3 AH. The kits that come with just one battery come with a 5 AH battery. But all of them are tools I already have.

It's a little hard not knowing how long the battery will last. The local HF doesn't have the single 5 AH batteries in stock so it's either get a pair of 5 AH batteries or go up to 8 AH or down to 3 AH. I'm not even sure if one 5 AH would be enough. Most likely once I've cleaned up all the trails that need it and then just need to occasionally remove branches a 5 AH would be fine.

HF seems to be trying to compete with Milwaukee and DeWalt but there's just so many tools for the big two that it's hard not to own one or the other. About the only cordless tools Bauer has that I might want would be the glue gun and the buffer. Everything else I already have plus tools that HF doesn't even make.

 

[John0829]

The only adapter I have and considered is for using the newer M18 Lithium batteries on my older Milwaukee 18 volt tools originally used nicad batteries. Since they chose to change the way the two battery systems connected to tools, which sucked. Works great being able to use the older tools with the newer batteries. Not sure I would use batteries between "battery tool species" even if I had other brands.

 

[neverfailyou]

The only adapter I have and considered is for using the newer M18 Lithium batteries on my older Milwaukee 18 volt tools originally used nicad batteries. Since they chose to change the way the two battery systems connected to tools, which sucked. Works great being able to use the older tools with the newer batteries. Not sure I would use batteries between "battery tool species" even if I had other brands.

Mixing battery species using adapters seems to work for me. For three years, I’ve been using dewalt 20v lithium on older (black) Craftsman C3 nicad tools with an adapter and no issues. I switched to dewalt tools and batteries when the 3rd set of C3 batteries died years back. At that time, a dewalt small tool set with two batteries was less than replacement C3 batteries.

The C3 tools are my workhorses; they won’t die. I am very careful with the dewalt stuff.
YMMV

 

[chiefcook]

Not sure about your specific situation, but I use an adapter for Black and Decker 20v lithium batteries on Bauer and have not had any problems.

 

[crazyal]

The free adapter showed up on my front step today. Saturday I'll be over near HF so I'll pick up the Bauer pole saw and see how things work and report back.

 

[bmaverick]

Not sure about your specific situation, but I use an adapter for Black and Decker 20v lithium batteries on Bauer and have not had any problems.

Got a link or the brand adapter to do this?

 

[California]

And - are my Ryobi 18v batteries easily adapted to anything else?

I cobbled together an adapter to a $10 Remington pole saw, using the shell of a Ryobi flashlight with wires plugged into the Remington in place of its NLA battery. Ugly but it was real productive.

 

[Fallon]

Can't remember what the verdict was, or what they tested, but this channel did some testing:

They do some good testing, been a fan for a while.

 

[crazyal]

I ended up getting the Bauer pole saw, the smaller buffer, and the glue gun. All 3 work just fine with the adapter and the M18 batteries. I don't think I would use the adapter on a tool that draws a lot of power as I think it would overheat and melt (a couple of the reviews showing it to be an issue). I'm guessing is they are 3d printed and can't handle high temps.

The pole saw isn't bad but the motor doesn't have a ton of grunt. It's fine for small branches. It easily handled a 1" beech branch. The Oregon chain (made in China) isn't very good though. I adjusted it before using it and after cutting the one branch it looked pretty loose so I adjusted it again. After cutting the next branch it was very tight. The chain is unevenly stretched. It goes from very tight to very loose depending on where it is on the bar. I have two more chains coming, hopefully as it breaks in it evens out. If not I'll try swapping it with a spare. It's heavier and beefier that I was expecting

 

[5030]

As with any chainsaw, be it a pole saw or a regular chainsaw, you always let the saw feed itself into the cut and never apply external pressure. That entails having a sharp loop and the rakers set properly as well and I agree, the supplied loop with the Bauer pole saw isn't the best but it does work so long as you don't push it. I made up a chain (extra for mine) from a bulk roll. I keep bulk rolls of all sizes of chain in the shop anyway. Much less expensive that way compared to already made up loops.

Never been a fan of battery swaps on any tool and the Bauer 5 amp packs have plenty of power for me and I always have a few charged up and ready to go.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I have no sympathy for folks who buy the cheapest tool they can find then complain about the quality. Harbor Freight tools are usually very good for the price, especially if you just need it for a specific project.

 

[John_Mc]

I have no sympathy for folks who buy the cheapest tool they can find then complain about the quality. Harbor Freight tools are usually very good for the price, especially if you just need it for a specific project.

Harbor Freight also sells some pretty darn good tools which give the high end brands a run for their money … but they do cost more than their entry level/disposable tools