"Northern Tool and Equipment" vs "Harbor Freight"?

[mnib]

I see a lot of posts on this and other forums about Harbor Freight, but not about Northern Tool and Equipment which seems like a roughly equivalent company.

Does anyone know (preferably through personal experience) whether Northern Tool and Equipment is in general any better or worse than Harbor Freight?

 

[John Hasler]

I see a lot of posts on this and other forums about Harbor Freight, but not about Northern Tool and Equipment which seems like a roughly equivalent company.

Does anyone know (preferably through personal experience) whether Northern Tool and Equipment is in general any better or worse than Harbor Freight?

I've never dealt with Harbor Freight but I've bought stuff from Northern Tool (formerly Northern Hydraulics) and never had any problems. Haven't dealt with them recently, though.

 

[Sandia]

In my experience, the overall quality of Northern Tool is considerably better than Harbor Freight.

 

[Cheeseking]

Oh ya- I love browsing thru Northern Tool catalog. From what I can tell it appears to be higher overall on the quality scale. Not to say there isn't some chicom garbage mixed in. Either way the enormous variety of cool things they offer is amazing.


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[astjp2]

I've never dealt with Harbor Freight but I've bought stuff from Northern Tool (formerly Northern Hydraulics) and never had any problems. Haven't dealt with them recently, though.

Your showing your age, I remember Northern Hydraulics when I was a real young kid and my dad used to get wood splitter parts from them....in the 70's. Tim

 

[Terrywerm]

I have dealt with both companies, and continue to do so. In fact, I often comparison shop one against the other for both apparent quality and for price. I tend to find slightly better quality at Northern Tool, but each store carries many items that the other store does not. Harbor Freight seems to have a stronger focus on hand tools and such, whereas Northern Tool seems to focus more on power equipment. Well, it seems that way to me anyway.

In short, both companies have their own strengths and weaknesses, but an enterprising shopper can hunt down the best deals out there with a little bit of homework.

Oh, I still refer to Northern Tool as 'Northern Hydraulics' most of the time. Who remembers the short period of time when they were calling themselves 'Northern Handyman'?

 

[Henrymac]

I too have shopped at both stores. I believe Northern Tool has higher quality merchandise than Harbor Freight, but that being said, they charge more for that quality. The old adage holds true, you get what you pay for.:makingdecision:

 

[Rbeckett]

Mnib, tyhey are about the same. They usually just specify a different color and sticker and off they go. Sometimes when your shopping for the smaller cheaper 7X lathes they will include more accessories or maybe even include a pack of Junk carbide bits, so they are worth comparing, eve the miller, Lincoln and Hobart equipment from price wise, but keep in mind those machines are made and directed at the home owner price point markets too. Unfortunately big boy toys are best from big boy machine and equipment dealers of from the web. The down side to that is even when discounted they are still significant amounts of money. As far as the only lathe I have seen in their catalog recently it is the same as all of the rest of the 7X series, just different paint. And stay away from all of the 3 in 1 welders for 799 or so. They are pure junk and blow up rapidly. The vendor will replace them but your paying the freight and that gets expensive quick, especially on the second and third try. That is why you see so many on CL and Ebay...Sorry to be a buzz killer.

Bob

 

[arvidj]

I live in the same general area as Terry and like him shop both places. My general pattern is that electrical tools come from Northern, air tools come from Harbor Freight and just about everything else is a toss-up between Harbor Freight and Enco.

 

[TOOLMASTER]

N T HANDS DOWN