Harbor Freight Success And Failure Stories

[BigK]

I bought a HF belt/disk sander about 4 years ago, the motor died, they replaced it on the spot - no hassles whatsoever, and it's been working well since (been thru 2 belts and 3 discs already - zero issues).

 

I also got a HF drill press several years back, it's worked like an absolute champ - I don't even have the tiniest of complaints about it and I use this thing a LOT!.

 

I have a bunch of HF attachments for my Dremel and my Sonicrafter - they're half the cost of the name brand attachments but last well over half as long, which is all I should expect.

 

The only thing I've gotten from HF so far that wasn't worth the price was a set of clamps with plastic handles that you squeeze. They couldn't tighten as much as I needed them to and one finally broke when I squeezed too hard.

[BigK]

You just gotta regulate your force so they die from the sizzle instead of blunt trauma :). They're kinda heavy for a fly swatter.

 

took me a while to learn to use them right, they are very slow to swing, but if you make contact they sure do sizzle

 

love catching one from underneath and hearing them pop when they fall onto the contact area

[TripleGGG]

Wow! I've had this one for going on 4 years, and I haven't had a single problem. I did compare it to some of the Craftsman models, and I wasn't impressed with most of them. I did find that the far more expensive Craftsman models were pretty decent, but I would have had to spend much more money than I could justify. If I had the space, I wouldn't hesitate to add one of the larger tool chests. I'm not ready to give up my parking space, though. [emoji1]

I have a Craftsman set very similar to that one. I've had it for nearly 25 years. Still works good as new. Except for a few dings and scratches even the paint has held up. It's made many a road trip drag racing so I would have to give it a 10 star rating. I looked at one recently and the quality is not even close. Edited March 6, 2016 by ggwilde

[56FordGuy]

Thanks, I've read that the Makita is a good one.  I've got a Makita circular saw, and it's great.  I'm on the fence as to corded or cordless.  I really wouldn't use it that much and it seems like every time I need to use my drill, the dang battery is dead so I have to wait an hour for it to charge.  At this point, I think dealing with an extension cord would be less annoying than batteries that are always dead when I need them. 

 

 

Pretty much all the cordless companies are building good impact wrenches right now. I've got the Milwaukee 1/2" drive brushless, it's a beast. I use it regularly working on equipment, so far I haven't found anything it couldn't remove that my 1/2" air impact could. The one bolt that I couldn't take out with the cordless ended up requiring a 42" long, 3/4" drive breaker bar and still broke two sockets because the frame of the machine was bent just enough to put it in a bind. If you go cordless, make sure it's brushless. Milwaukee has a 5 year tool warranty, Makita is only 3. 

 

As for corded, I'm not sure. I have an old Black and Decker 110 volt impact that I haven't used in years. Really not sure why I still have it. 

[Mark A]

I wish Northern Tools would open up on my side of town.

 

I have a buddy that bought one of their ultra sonic cleaners and is happy with it. Not a bog HF fan myself

[Omega]

I wish Northern Tools would open up on my side of town.

 

I have a buddy that bought one of their ultra sonic cleaners and is happy with it. Not a bog HF fan myself

Stuff comes from the same place.

[BigK]

I got a wet tumbler from HF in the mail yesterday. I tumbled a decent size batch of brass with stainless steel media last night. It worked flawlessly.

[subsonic]

I bought a small boat trailer kit last year for a Sunfish sailboat. It didn't have any nuts, bolts or screws included. Rather than send me the hardware, I had to repackage the whole damn thing and return it and wait  another 3 weeks for a replacement to arrive.