Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Cycledude]

My issue is, every time I go to HF, I wind up spending more than I wanted to. My big hit was last year when I blew 4 grand in one shot. I try to keep it under control but I will say overspending is easy with the HF plastic and their deferred payment plan. I don't buy the cheapo stuff either, almost always, Bauer, Icon or Herc.

I've had tremendous good luck with Bauer 20 volt cordless tools and I have about every tool Bauer makes.

Not for everyday, 8 hours a day use but for me, they work fantastic.

One of my favorite Bauer tools is the cordless 20 volt shop blower. I actually have 2 of them simply because, as much as I use it, I fully expect to wear the first one out soon.

It blows the chaff out of my tractor radiators, sweeps the shop floor, sweeps off the decks and provides concentrated combustion air for starting my ever present burn pile plus it will inflate blow up toys and wading pools real quick.

Last fall I got it caught in the tailgate of the round baler (don't ask how) and after some super glue and wood screws it's still tooling along, just fine.

Best part is it fits behind the seat of the Kubota, ready for instant use and a 5AH battery lasts a good long time too.

HF says a 200 mph blast and I can buy that.

I have also been interested in buying a cordless blower, Bauer makes 2 different models, your blows 200mph but only 120cfm
The $49 Bauer blower blows 96mph and 338cfm
Would be interesting to see them demonstrated side By side

 

[California]

Got the free pail from Harbor Freight yesterday, also bought the 8 inch fast adjust water pump pliers, I do wonder how it got the name “water pump pliers” ?

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-in-fast-adjust-water-pump-pliers-56747.html

The long handles were so you could reach down to the hex on the adjustable water pump/fan shaft to tighten the packing. On cars of the 20's and 30's, maybe before that.

 

[California]

I have also been interested in buying a cordless blower, Bauer makes 2 different models, your blows 200mph but only 120cfm

One to avoid is the 18v Ryobi. I found mine at Goodwill for $10. Wimpy, that's about what its worth.

 

[jyoutz]

One to avoid is the 18v Ryobi. I found mine at Goodwill for $10. Wimpy, that's about what its worth.

I have the Makita cordless blower and am very happy with it. I use it every week for something. It takes 2 18V batteries. I ordered from HD online. The kit comes with the blower, 4 batteries, and a charger. Its worked flawlessly for 3 years so far and is powerful. It’s not cheap though.

 

[BravoXray]

It's not even wire...the conductor was some sort of tinsel with insulation that got brittle and broke after less than a year.

A lot of the wire coming out of China today is copper coated aluminum, and is worthless. Aluminum fatigues and breaks after a couple of bends.

 

[JeepHead]

I picked up a couple of items from HF over the holiday break. I got a new 27" top chest to sit on my work bench. I picked the orange one which matched my Kubota perfectly. I also picked up the 6L ultrasonic cleaner. Man I love that thing! I have cleaned carbs with great success, I took an old rust chainsaw chain and it came out looking brand new. Had some ratchet wrenches that had rusted so bad that they would no longer turn but after a bit in the US cleaner, they cleaned right up and function perfectly.

 

[California]

I think there's a gotcha in today's email offers. Buy a battery, get a tool free. Great!

But what about a charger?

 

[California]

This is a short summary of his longer video. Hercules seemed equal to Dewalt in his teardown test as well as the peformance. He likes it!

He mentions heat in this excerpt but on the long version he says the heat never increased from this level after his more strenuous tests.

 

[bmaverick]

I think there's a gotcha in today's email offers. Buy a battery, get a tool free. Great!

But what about a charger?

I got the Rigid deal of buy 2X batter and tool free on BF. The box did have a charger.

I would check to see if HF does the same in the package.

 

[jyoutz]

I think there's a gotcha in today's email offers. Buy a battery, get a tool free. Great!

But what about a charger?

That’s interesting. For months they have been running a deal to buy a Hercules 5ah battery and charger for $99 and get a free tool. I just looked and now there’s offer is to buy a 8ah battery for $99 and get a free tool. No charger. I guess this would be a good option if you already have a charger.