Northern Tool or Harbor Freight

[airbiscuit]

Back in the day, Northern Tool came onto the scene with a few stores, a killer catalog, and lots of good stuff for good prices. Then Harbor Freight started to appear - first on the web, then more and more stores and lots of catalogs. So, who do you buy from more, and why?

 

[dusty3030]

I probably buy more from Northern Tool. The local Harbor Freight and Northern Tool are right down the street from one another.
Prices believe it or not on like for like items NT are often cheaper or very close for what I have purchased. I have found the NT store brand stuff to be of good quality as well.

 

[Diggin It]

I don't have an NT store within 80 miles and the one isn't very easy to get to. I've been there once and it was somewhat 'better' than my HF store. That said, NT has a LOT of stuff that isn't in stores and they seem to focus more on industrial products than HF does.

Their website lists 3 point implements for example and then there are the various car lifts and auto shop tools. They also stock parts for their products. That's where I got blades for one of the 6' finish mowers I'm working on.

 

[chim]

We have 3 HF stores all within 30 minutes or less away from home, and one store is less than 15 minutes from work. For personal things it's HF because NT is internet order only in our area. At work we go through a lot of misc. stuff like rubber gloves, tyraps, etc. We sometimes stock up on their cheap spray guns when they're on sale and toss them when we're done shooting two-part coatings rather than clean them. I just picked up a couple carbide tipped circular saw blades last Friday to try out.

 

[radioman]

there is no northern tools around here - i seen outside of store once while driving by on a trip - no time to stop and look. i did get northern tool catalog long time ago but stopped getting them. Right now as a handyman - i have slowly stopped going to harbor freight and started buying home depot tools. for the stuff i do i need more specailized tools that harbor freight dont have and i already have alot of harbor freight stuff so i am probably saturated with hf non electrical tools. i have few power tools left from harbor freight and if it dies i get home depot stuff. for the reliability,ruggedness home depot and Milwaukee just beats harbor freight like night and day. Now home depot is carrying more and more milwaukee hand tools i started to switch over to them, but worry about leaving it behind at customers house or having it stolen. i just cant win in this dept.

 

[Roadworthy]

My cheap hand tools come from Harbor Freight. Anything electrical does NOT come from Harbor Freight - they don't sell repair parts. I don't shop Northern Tool because they're pretty distant. Harbor Freight is local. I do shop Lowe's, Home Depot, or Tacoma Screw for more serious tools.

 

[cdaigle430]

I skip them all and go Alibaba.com its where all Northern Tool and HF stuff comes from anyway.

 

[two_bit_score]

Neither are ideal. But between the two I prefer Northern Tool.

 

[RalphVa]

Last thing I bought was an oil extractor pump from Northern. Ruined the seals when I pumped the hot oil from the Mz3. Wouldn't work then on the Mx5. Northern refunded my money and said to keep the pump. I use it occasionally to pump diesel from a 5 gallon container rather than heft it onto the hood of the tractor. Lots of air pumped with the diesel. Hefted the container last time I did a refill. May just discard the pump.

They opened a new Harbor Freight here in Charlottesville. Have had one over the mountain in Waynesboro for about 5 years. Haven't been to the one here yet. They keep sending out "grand opening" stuff.

Ralph

 

[rangerfredbob]

I find it silly that all the Northern Tool stores are in the south... that said, we don't have any Northern Tool stores around here, I've been to some as well as Tractor Supply (again, none around here) and wish they were around here. Due to not having options I got to HFT...

 

[Sonny580]

NT has a bit better quality, (not by much) over HF.

 

[Timmer92]

I find it silly that all the Northern Tool stores are in the south... ...

NT's Corporate HQ is in Minnesota. They are all over the upper midwest. It's Northern Tool, not Northwestern Tool!

For quite a while I was solely a Northern Tool customer between the two. I had bought a few things from Harbor Freight and it either was bad out of the gate or didn't last. However, a nice new Harbor Freight store came in that is closer than Northern Tool. I've purchased a few things now and am satisfied.

 

[jasonzee]

HF I have over a dozen tools that ate ok and still do the job today. NT the fraight is always to much thats why I have cut down using them.

 

[Locoweed]

I'm a fan of quality tools that last. I don't buy from either place.

 

[EddieWalker]

Northern Tool over HF. But I gave up on HF years ago and rarely go to NT. Most of the time I buy tools from Home Depot because they carry Makita, but if I have time and don't need it today, I like to read the reviews on Amazon and then search online for the best price. Surprisingly, Home Depot will have the best price on some things. Biggest surprise has been buying assessories for my Kawasaki Mule from them online and picking it up in the store.

 

[crazyal]

Northern seams to have some nicer stuff than HF. But without one near here and their shipping charges being pretty high on heavy items I rarely buy from them.

 

[John_Mc]

Northern Tool does carry some name brand tools of high quality (Milwaukee, for example). I do buy some things from Northern Tool, usually stuff I can't find locally, or occasionally where they have some special buy that a local store just can't come close to.

NT also sells some cheap junk. Cheap junk has it's place, but one of the things that bugs me about them is their tendency to carry cheap Chinese knock-offs of well designed US-made products. Sometimes, the imitation is so close that they closely match the logo sticker of the company they copied. It's clearly an attempt to cash in on the originator's design and reputation. At least with Harbor Freight, their cheap junk is not trying to pass itself off as some name brand. And more recently, Harbor Freight has started upping their game on the quality front and offering some decent quality tools.

 

[Diggin It]

But without one near here and their shipping charges being pretty high on heavy items I rarely buy from them.

Watch for their frequent free shipping sales and offers. Seems like every month or so. Maybe not for the time being, but we'll see. I also found that other chains with Price Match their sale prices.

 

[JDAOWNER]

I'm a fan of quality tools that last. I don't buy from either place.

AMEN --I USE NEITHER, BUT THERE ARE NONE CLOSE BY ----FOR ODD BALL STUFF I USE GRANGERS.

 

[Slackdaddy]

There are no NT near me.
2 HF stores.
That said, you have to know where to spend good money, and where to spend cheap money.

My Cordless are Milwaukee from HD (Chinese BTW)
Ratchets, sockets, combo wrenches, etc are all USA Craftsman,, I will not buy Chinese on these.
Frequently used air tools are USA made used,, or Astro and the like from Amazon.
Seldom used air tools,,, HF all day long.
Spray guns,, cheap guns from Amazon when I catch them on "open box sale"
Corded tools - used or new USA stuff (Weller, BD pro, etc)
Welders(mig, tig) - Lincoln, Hobart, miller.
Spot welder that I use once or twice a year - HF
O/A torch - victor

Tool boxes, hyd press, mag tool holders, - HF on sale.