Harbor Freight Tools...better Than The Rest?

[onlyinajeep]

have a milling machine and leath from for about 5 years mill was in 5 feet of salt water for 2 days and still worked for a year changed the moter still useing it

[Joeskey]

they got staple guns that are only like 12 dollars and it works great i always use it constantly

[CodyB]

The way I look at HF tools, is like a shop towel, you use it a few times then toss it and get another, ultimately spending the same if not more on the HF stuff than the brand name stuff... My tool "equation" looks like Brand Name + Planned Use / Price = Deal...

Oh and you get what you pay for with blades, saw blades, sand paper, drill bits, and tape for sure, cheap crap that WILL break and/or suck...

[audiofanaticz]

Tools that I use everyday at work:

Power tools = Makita or Bosch

pneumatic tools = snap-on or mac

hand tools = usually craftsman or snap-on

I think you are almost dead on!!

Only thing different here is:

Power tools = (old) bosch, (new) makita, (with an exception to craftsman router/jigsaw/table saw/ sawzall).

pneumatic tools = all snap-on (except impact guns, craftsman seem to whoop snap on, and last longer) for me anyways.

Hand tools = Craftsman sockets only, snap-on fine tooth gear ratchets, as well as snap-on gear wrenches (if and when i break a socket its less time consuming to goto a sears or kmart to exhcange).

[philip]

i use their purple gravity feed gun for painting ports. i like it. i wouldn't try to do any finish work with it though.

[Forevrbumpn]

I have a perfect use for HF tools that will shut everyone up ( not in a bad way guys)

I do appliance repair, I fix ovens, fryers, and other cooking equipment for companies like Safeway, and subway. I travel on average about 200 miles a day, 1 day in San Francisco, the other in Chico. When you go to a place you will go to about once every 3 months, and you leave a $115 Snap-on 1/4" socket set, and your $95 Snap-on ratchet at a store, thats a bog loss!!!

But if you have a HF $6 ratchet, and $9 socket set, who gives a flying fuck, right?

Thankfully I still have my Snap-on socket sets in 1/4" and 3/8"s and some other Snap-on and Craftsman stuff, and I have a habit of losing the cheap stuff, not the good stuff. I have had them for about 12years now, and I hope I never lose them at a repair site

and the same goes for Installation, car and home audio, leave a $250 drill in a customers car, and they take off, notice they have this new drill, what are the odds they will care to return it? ( They didn't for me)

[Colin - STAPUFT]

I have a strange addiction to Harbor Freight. I don't really buy many tools, just odds and ends.

Every now and again I will buy a tool from them, but only if I am going to use it once or twice. Power tools that get used on a regular basis I try to get Milwaukee or Makita, Craftsman for hand tools.

[theabunai]

I install for a shop part time and I understand the brand name and planned use thing...

but lets be honest... lets compare door panel removal kit from HF vs Snap on... try leaving one of them in car

Or the unibit knock offs

The socket sets vs snap-on or craftsman...

they all do the same thing (and i'm not wrenching cars so i don't need it to be super durable)...

in my line of work it's not breaking tools that happens often but rather losing them (or the famous i like borrow and never return cause i lost it)....

i'll admit in my day job (i'm a Sheetmetal worker HVAC) I grab the good stuff for shop work and HF for field work... once again it came down to losing it on a job site, getting it stolen on a job site or leaving it ontop a duct after they gyp board ceiling goes up... Id rather lose a 4 dollar razor blade knife then a 24 dollar one... hell I can replace it 6 times before i catch up with the 24 dollar one.. but for shop work tools need to be durable, long lasting and if they beak i'd like to get it replaced asap and in the shop we have lockers so we lock our tools up...

[Neel]

alot of their stuff cant be beat for the price, i have their 8$ cut off saw and its been working just fine for me for the last couple of months. I use it to cut fiberglass, nails and screws. (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Category.taf?CategoryID=331&pricetype= )

If the tool has no moving parts like a hammer or a wrench i usually get it from harbor freight , but if it is something i use regularly and has moving parts in it like an air ratchet or socket set i will usually go with craftsman or husky.

[lanman31337]

I just dropped 75 bucks into HF last Saturday. They had 18 inch clamps and 24 inch clamps for like 5 or 6 bucks each, little 6 or 8 inch ones for a buck each, step drill bits, I bought a vice, combo wrench set, all kinds of goodies.