I lived for a long time where the nearest HF was about 300 miles. I'd heard about how they had incredible bargains in tools, so went there on a trip and bought a few things. Don't remember what they were, but all turned out to be garbage. I didn't try them again for years. Then, stopped by one when I was out of town, needed to tie something down in my truck that I had bought, and bought two packages of ratchet straps. When I got them out and tried to use them, turns out they aren't ratchet straps, but some kind of buckle arrangement, that didn't work particularly well. Once the strap came out of the buckle/latch thing, I'm not smart enough to put it back in, so I just use them for strap extensions now. Amazingly enough, still find them in my truck occasionally, they don't wear out because they don't get used.
Then, bought a $99 hoist to load something heavy when I was out of town. Worked okay for that one use, but at home it leaks all the time. Bought a second one under the same circumstances, it doesn't leak.
Bought a box of nitrile gloves there, used them for mechanics gloves and thought they were good, so bought another one when they ran out. I opened them and used some for painting last winter and they were okay, then this week had to put on 3 pairs before I got one that didn't rip. But, the ends of the fingers fell off after using them for a bit. Apparently, the nitrile somehow deteriorated in the past few months since I got them. I've had other brands for years without deterioration, so they must have somehow decreased the quality on the ones they sell. I bought a HF floor nailer from a guy at a yard sale. Unused, he had bought it and not done the project. I nailed about 2000 sf of floor with it, about 15,000 nails. At first it worked great, but by the end was jamming and had to be disassembled about every 50 nails. It has worn so that it double feeds nails. My 1970's porta-nailer hasn't worn at all, and has been used many times, probalby 100 times more than I used this HF one. I guess for a $20 yard sale purchase, the HF was worth it, but I'd be a bit irritated if I had bought it at the store.
My experience with HF has pretty much been that they are inexpensive, but not a good value if you intend to use the item more than cursorily, or as a throw-away. Probably okay for their target market, the lowest price, need for one job homeowner or renter tool user. Not a good choice for extensive or professional use, or for more demanding use.
