Top ten things you should never buy from Harbor Freight

Buying tools for a "head to head" comparison I'm sure...

 

Horror Fright. That's my favorite nickname for it.

The predator engines are a great buy. Although I would never use one for any type of aircraft. I'm sure there's others, but as mentioned, most of their tools are single use items.

I didn't know what pitons were either, as I've never seen the word spelled out. Then I looked it up. I've actually used them though, but at least I wasn't placing them.

 

I haven’t been in one of their stores in 20 years. I bought some stuff in there that I use a lot and have abused. One being a 1/2” deep well impact set, metric and standard, standard set goes up to 1 1/4”. Walls aren’t super thick so they fit in tight spots. I hammer on them with my Milwaukee 1/2” impact. No failures yet. I also have standard and metric 3/8 wobbles that have yet to fail me, I keep both sets on my service truck, which I use more than my high dollar sets in my big box. Don’t get me wrong most of its JUNK. When I bought that stuff I had every intention of replacing in time but i keep using them

 

I have some of their stuff. Can not remember breaking anything offhand. Cutoff wheels are good, carbide saw blades have lasted usually hit a nail before they wear out.
Latex gloves are a deal. Plan on buying 2 of their big boxes and tool cart for in the shop. My neighbor has a tire shop and has used every cordless impact made. He says the HF is the best by far.

 

Hmm...I bought a box of those there once...still have most of them, they're crap.

I'd have to see that to believe it...some of their better grade air impacts weren't awful in recent years...but the cordless...hmm...

 

I have a few things from there. My ten inch battery chainsaw has been very handy for limb cutting and 6 to 8 inch branches that I spilt for firewood.

some of their hand tools rate pretty high by different YouTube guys who make comparison tests with snap on and craftsman.

my main car discussion boards is full of glass half empty type. Many speak highly of the mechanics tool chests

 

I believe their stuff is getting better over time. How much better idk.


(I remember a 4" grinder lasting about 10 minutes from cutting it out of the package till it was too hot to touch and let the magic smoke out.)

 

Maybe they're getting better at reverse engineering and design theft.

 

I think this is the answer. I mean when you can literally take one Honda and one predator engine apart and swap parts between the two and have two perfectly fine running engines, that says a lot.

 

This happened to me also!

 

I was in today, and inspected the returns table. Bought a drill driver unit with battery and charging unit for price Of the driver alone. It is the same brand as my chainsaw, so now I have a second battery for that brand. Waiting for the pole saw to get back in stock.

 

Not sure if Aldi is nation wide, but I have some friends that think they live rich neighborhoods that would laugh at me for shopping there.

Then all of a sudden they realize that the veggies are cheaper and they say I only go to Aldi for fruit and produce...next thing you know stopping at Aldi is part of there grocery trip.

Seems similar to HF to me. Some good some bad!

As far as HF goes for me...I don't work with tools for a living, so if I need a 22mm socket I have 2 choices...call Snap-on or go buy a one at HF.

 

I use their chain sharpener as well. Pretty low on the quality scale, but it does sharpen chains, and cost me $29 5-6 years ago. I expect it will last a few more years, but if it died today I would buy another.

 

Lol. I seem to recall a fairly large recall on jack stands or car jacks.

 

I have a pneumatic impact gun from them that was a steal and works great. I have a 24" 1/2" drive breaker bar, deep well impact sockets, dead-blow hammers, and a few other hand tools that would have cost me several hundred dollars for "quality" tools...but were a fraction of that at HF. I've been very happy with them for the 2-3 times a year that I actually have to use them.

I have had some bad experiences too. I bough an angle grinder for a nasty job cutting a bunch of clay tile (save my good one) knowing it would be a throw-away..it lasted about an hour before it literally caught on fire. I returned it...not a big deal.

I may pick up a generator before this winter...my farmer buddy has one in his truck at all times (usually rolling around in the bed) and says he's put it through everything and it hasn't missed a beat.

 

I have a few things... angle grinder, palm sander, nail gun, reciprocating saw... they all kinda work I guess. They are also cheap enough that I can replace them for not a lot of money when they break. I only use each of those things a few times a year and I have duplicates of all of those tools.
I did have a compressor from HF that kept blowing fuses, I returned it. It would be nice to have a small compressor that I could keep in the garage.

Any more, I have been breaking name brand tools. Recently, I fried a Metabo/Hitachi drill, broke a Stanley socket wrench, and snapped a DeWalt die. I feel like they all come out of the same factory so it makes me have less confidence in all of the brands. HF is probably the worst though.

 

They didn't give you a hassle when you asked for a refund on a corded lump of charcoal?

Moral of the story is: Shop at HF, don't lose your receipt!