More new name branding at HF

[DFB]

Anyone seen the latest catalog where Harbor Freight is advertising their DOYLE brand name of pliers and cutters and comparing them to Klein and also Bremen locking pliers compared to Irwin/Vise Grip brand to go along with those other new offerings like Bauer, Hercules, Vulcan etc.

 

[ocloc24]

Anyone seen the latest catalog where Harbor Freight is advertising their DOYLE brand name of pliers and cutters and comparing them to Klein and also Bremen locking pliers compared to Irwin/Vise Grip brand to go along with those other new offerings like Bauer, Hercules, Vulcan etc.

It's about time they revamped their pliers, that's probably one of their worst items. They are awful. Curious how these are.

Any pictures? Can't find anything online.

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[Ign]

All I can think of is O’Doyle (sp?) Rules!

“O’Doyle, I got a feeling one day your whole family’s going down.”

 

[DerekV]

all i can think of is o’doyle (sp?) rules!

“o’doyle, i got a feeling one day your whole family’s going down.” :d

 

[Brownsfan]

Got a link ?

 

[kythri]

It's in the latest flyer that just showed up in the mail.

New brands (at least to me) appear to be:

Doyle or Quinn pliers
Bremen locking pliers
Apache hard-case storage
Voyager tool bags
Union safes
Vanguard extension cords
Cobra video surveillance
Thunderbolt Magnum solar
Drummond or CreekStone pumps
Berger or Olsen welding stuffs

 

[mbshop]

Love the crazy names. Hard to think they are refering to tools.

 

[siegsuwa]

I think all of their rebranding is a double-edged sword. It sure would be a lot easier if they consolidated their names to a few different brand umbrellas that represented their quality tiers. The 3-4 types of battery powered tools is holding them back as well. Most people I know agree that you kind of marry into a battery system (I picked the DeWalt 20V lithiums) and it greatly reduces the battery charger madness for the various tools. HF doesn't really allow for that since their tools all come from different suppliers with wild new brand names.

Why couldn't their Pliers be branded as Pittsburgh (pro, even?) to match up with their other hand tools. Every little sub-category of tool type doesn't need a new brand to remember. In a few years they'll all be lost to memory when everything is rebranded again.

 

[sberry]

They are about the smartest people in the tool business right now. At wholesale prices it cost so little to get a lot better product which they are doing. They raise the prices a little which is ok since it is a much better product. If a premium is 30$ and junk is 3 and a good can be had for 4 then the incentive for the 3$ wrench goes by the wayside.
I think the various brands offer some choice in the mind of the consumer and lets them evolve some. It lets them flush some reputation, if someone thinks all Pit's are junk it now allows for another choice.

 

[Brownsfan]

I happened to stop in a HF today. They had a few of both on the peg hooks. They had 8" diagonal cutters angled and straight. And 7 and 8 needle nose. And few of the locking pliers. All Taiwan made. The locking pliers all looked and felt like Milwaukee. The others looked very nice for the money. May have to give them a shot.

 

[Mr_B]

If they put effort into sourcing good taiwan or china stuff as well as do for branding nonsense they would be on a winner every time .
Expanding range and having singles/no skips would be game changer too .
Problem with HF is execs not in tune with potential customer base so missing the no brainer easy improvements .

 

[SMKS]

Can someone please post pics? I usually get the fliers, but I didn’t get this one.

 

[Super Sport]

I was just in HF today, and I noticed the same thing in the catalog. It's crazy to me that they want so many different brand names. I think "less is more" in this arena.

The Doyle pliers were made in Taiwan and looked OK, but the grips felt like they belonged on a cheap pair of pliers. They were cheap rubber and spun pretty easily on the handle, at least on the 1 or 2 that I picked up.

 

[ocloc24]

Yeah a pic would be great because harbor freight has a ****** website. Matches most of their tools I guess

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[Snakebyt]

Yes, pics please,

 

[Zeke]

Seems like it all started with the tool box everyone likes.

 

[Stadger]

I wonder if they'll honor the lifetime warranty on a Pittsburgh tool with another brand.

 

[shawndp]

I wonder if they'll honor the lifetime warranty on a Pittsburgh tool with another brand.

They probably will swap out to an "equivalent" brand if this trend continues. If you have been a bad mechanic, you will get relegated to a special corner of H%$# where all you do is work on Ford F250's with the 6.X diesel and the tools are all Pittsburghs that have been warranty returned...

 

[kctyphoon]

So when is someone gonna create "The Harbor Freight Addiction Thread"?

 

[American Locomotive]

I was just in HF today, and I noticed the same thing in the catalog. It's crazy to me that they want so many different brand names. I think "less is more" in this arena.

The Doyle pliers were made in Taiwan and looked OK, but the grips felt like they belonged on a cheap pair of pliers. They were cheap rubber and spun pretty easily on the handle, at least on the 1 or 2 that I picked up.

They probably figure the "Pittsburgh" and "Chicago X" brands are too tainted to try and fix. So it's just easier to make new brands for every tool. Plus all the different brands makes it easy to change suppliers/tool designs whenever.

 

[ocloc24]

So when is someone gonna create "The Harbor Freight Addiction Thread"?

Oh god...

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[kctyphoon]

Oh god...

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Lol.. you know it's gonna happen eventually.

 

[potato]

 

[Brownsfan]

They don't look too bad. I may grab a set of those crimpers. For the money and for being a field technician the quality may be good and not hurt when you loose them. Because I will loose them far before I break anything.

 

[ocloc24]

Wow.. Doyle beats Klein! Lol. Thanks for the pic!

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[6PTsocket]

I think all of their rebranding is a double-edged sword. It sure would be a lot easier if they consolidated their names to a few different brand umbrellas that represented their quality tiers. The 3-4 types of battery powered tools is holding them back as well. Most people I know agree that you kind of marry into a battery system (I picked the DeWalt 20V lithiums) and it greatly reduces the battery charger madness for the various tools. HF doesn't really allow for that since their tools all come from different suppliers with wild new brand names.

Why couldn't their Pliers be branded as Pittsburgh (pro, even?) to match up with their other hand tools. Every little sub-category of tool type doesn't need a new brand to remember. In a few years they'll all be lost to memory when everything is rebranded again.

Do you think it might be so they can add the new brands to the list of their brands for which you cannot use your 20% and occassionally 25% off coupon. Adding an old HF brand to the list looks worse than creating a new brand that is exempt from the start. The discount coupons will probably only buy their cheapest stuff in the future.

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[archirelic]

Those insulated pliers look eerily similar to Wiha pliers.

 

[kythri]

Do you think it might be so they can add the new brands to the list of their brands for which you cannot use your 20% and occassionally 25% off coupon. Adding an old HF brand to the list looks worse than creating a new brand that is exempt from the start. The discount coupons will probably only buy their cheapest stuff in the future.

This doesn't bother me so much as the 4 different brands of power tools with 4 different battery setups. I agree with the above poster, I think it's a poor business move to not have a consolidated battery platform.

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Can ya'll turn this off?

 

[Ign]

Did they go thru a list of acceptable names for quarterbacks???

 

[KnurledNut]

Thanks for posting pics, potato.

These pliers look much better than their previous offerings.

 

[davethorik]

Those insulated pliers look eerily similar to Wiha pliers.

The Doyle line looks like straight up copies of Klein, too.

I'll keep my Kleins, thanks.

 

[SMKS]

Thanks for the pics.

I also assume these will be exempted from the 20% off coupons. We will see.

There are good, affordable USA-made options for pliers, like Wilde, Channellock and Klein, so I don't foresee getting many of these unless they turn out to be a good quality and a super bargain.

Now, if they had made the release on the locking pliers work the more ergonomic way, and not the non-sensible way that Vise-Grips work, then I'd maybe be interested in some of those.

I'm talking about a release lever like this, which make way more sense:

 

[Fender1325]

For those prices you could pretty much buy made in america channel lock brand stuff. Sorry HF.

 

[L.Cheapo]

I can't be the only one laughing at "Doyle".

 

[DerekV]

I picked up two "Berger" 12" welding F clamps the other day...I am blown away by the quality-price ratio. Less than $40 for BOTH after tax and with a coupon. The only other option that's of comparable or better quality are the real deal Bessey's, and those are like $50+ a wack. I'm not kidding, they're damn nice. Oddly China and not Taiwan. Don't get me wrong, the Bessey's are sweet, but it stings if you need a few of them. Check out the Berger clamps if you're in the market for F clamps for metal fab.

I'm actually pretty interested in those locking pliers, namely the 18" ones. Nice ones are hard to get and they are NOT cheap, especially when you want 4+ of them, because clamps. I had to special order the Milwaukee's, they're very very nice and made in Taiwan. Tight, no slop, strong metal, beefy rivets. But man they were nearly $40 a piece. I would've bought more than two if they were half that (and still nice of course [emoji4]).

If these aren't cheap soft pot metal, we may finally have affordable clamps that are easy to get/warranty and don't blow.

 

[jessesandy]

Those don't look like the Harbor Freight prices any more.

 

[zendriver]

Looks like they are making progress, if we went from complaining about The quality of their tools, to complaining about the smell of their tools and now complaining about the name of their tools.

"Doyle beats Klein!"

Kinda catchy almost sounds like a newspaper headline results of an old-school prizefight.


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[ku17]

HF is really going all-in with the thinking that their customers are dumb enough to assume that if it looks like the offerings from a competitor then it must be the exact same tool.

 

[Ign]

I was thinking about this further, and it’s just an attempt to re-create themselves. “Obviously,” you say.

But what I mean is everyone’s figured out to associate Pittsburgh, Chicago Electric and Central Pneumatic w crappy import ****. I wonder if they’ll also rename Western Safety? Anyway, produce more **** but give it a different name and figure it’ll take ~10 years before enough people have figured it out that you have to rinse and repeat.

 

[zendriver]

HF is really going all-in with the thinking that their customers are dumb enough to assume that if it looks like the offerings from a competitor then it must be the exact same tool.

It seems like the people that don't shop there, are usually the only ones that care.

Most HF shoppers just want a decent pair of pliers at an affordable price.

Probably don't even know who "Klein" was.


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