Rate the Harbor Freight Tools Thread- Pass or Fail?

Well.... it's old, but I can't resist...

What not to buy at HF:
1. Pacemakers
2. Parachutes
3. Vaccines
4. Fire extinguishers
5. Scuba gear

7. Climbing belts
....etc., etc.
 
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roadie33 said:
I just got one of these Tool Carts from HF and it is put together really well.
It is very heavy and needs 2 people to put it together.
I have it sitting right beside my Lathe and have all of my End Mill and Reamers and other tooling in it.
Got it for $107 with coupon in Email. Great buy.

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I bought that same tool chest for my shop and it is my favorite. It is well made. I put my most commonly used tools in it and pull it around my shop to whatever I'm working on. I actually bought a crafstman box first to remain loyal to crafstman, but when I got it home I found that the crafstman box was junk. It was light weight metal and the casters didn't work properly. While trying to get the casters working better with lube I noticed a small "made in china" sticker on the bottom of the crafstman tool box. I immediately returned it to sears and bought the HF box on the way home from Sears. I'm not going to pay sears a "made in America" price, for a "made in China Product" especially when the product appeared to be made by the cheapest factory they could find in China. With the HF box I actually got a "made in China" box for a "made in China" price, but it appears that HF went to much better quality Chinese factory that actually makes a pretty decent box.

Harbor freight has come a long way in the last few years! A lot of thier stuff is still sub par, but I actually dare to say some of thier newer items are now better quality than my older crafstman stuff ever was.

The better HF tool boxes are on par with my old Mac, crafstman, and Rem line boxes. And are actually better than my two 10-15 year old crafstman Boxes.

My Earthquake impact is so good that I actually gave my Old Crafstman impact gun to my neighbor after it was just taking up space in my pnumatic droor unused for a year.

I just bought a earthquake air ratchet after finding out it was a reactionless impact air ratchet that won't jam your fingers. I love the thing. It's made in Taiwan, and the weight fit and finish actually scream quality, and is actually better that my three other regular air ratchets which is saying a lot since one was bought off of a snap on truck a few decades ago, and the other two are 25 year old Japanese made Crafstman ratchets.

I've been using thier impact sockets for decades and never had a problem.

Chris
 
The craftsman name is mud any more. I'll buy husky or kobalt before craftsman any more. just like you said made in Chine charging Made in US price and no better quality than the others. and a lot of theirs is made here. Sad! more people should skip craftsman. or do like I did walk in look at it take it over to the clerk and tell them that is why you don't buy from them any more.
 
Going to "Remain loyal to Craftsman?" Forget about that!! They are not going to be loyal to YOU!!:)
 
I had done the same thing when I picked up the HF Box. I was looking at the one from Sears also. I was checking it over and saw the same sticker on the bottom. It was smaller, lighter weight and drawers were thin and very loose.
The last thing I got with the Craftsman name was a 12 gallon wet/dry Vac. The big Red one. It works great.
The newer ones I looked at the other day at Sears look cheap and poorly built. The HF Vacs look better and heavier. I need to get another one for the outside shop so I will be getting a HF Vac next week and I'll see how well it actually is.
 
Tom Griffin said:
Good or bad, we all buy stuff at Harbor Freight. Sometimes the experience is good, sometimes not. I generally tend to go by the "If it has more than one moving part, don't buy it at Harbor Freight" rule, but sometimes I can't resist the temptation. This post is a place to share your experiences with a specific product and give it a PASS! or a FAIL!, so others will know whether they should shell out their hard earned cash or just run away. Here are the rules:

1) If something doesn't fit when you are assembling the product, it's an automatic FAIL!

2) If the product doesn't work as advertized, it's an automatic FAIL!

3) If the product breaks after only a few uses, it's an automatic FAIL!

4) Everything else is a PASS.

I'll start it out. Have fun...

[h=1]7" Variable Speed Polisher/Sander # 92623[/h]View attachment 31913

FAIL!...FAIL!

I had to file the handle to get it to fit the buffer and once I got it together, it makes so much gear noise I have to wear ear protection when using it.


On the other hand, I bought a set of cast iron stakes from Harbor Freight that are used to hammer form sheet metal, and they work just fine. One is rounded and the other is teardrop shaped. Note: No moving parts ;).

PASS!

Tom
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I bought the HF palm nailer last spring so a helper friend & I could nail up paneling on my smaller shop. After following the 'oil frequently' instructions it worked as advertised right out of the box & maintained thru many boxes of nails. Total PASS (so far!).
 
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