Harbor Freight still sells junk
- Thread starter Ipassgas
- Start date
Used for mock ups only!
Just making a point that other than a battery, all my iphones performed exactly like they did when they were brand new. Nothing "quit working"
Seem like physical damage, is the only to take them down from what I have seen.
You stated this about an iPhone
This is what I was responding to since I disagree, at least with an Iphone.
My family has experienced a few things with iPhone batteries, but again, that's more sourcing and chemistry than build/manufacturing quality.
My job in the tech industry is closely associated with engineering, manufacturing and warranty rates. And while what I work on doesn't have to do with phones, there's a lot of information overall that is parallel. I have various criticisms of Apple, but their quality and sourcing is excellent as a whole. The reason is they have standards and manage their factories and supply chain to them.
Apple has thousands of suppliers around the globe that are all a small piece of the big puzzle. They are also one of the most fanatical companies ever when it comes to secrecy that you will ever come across.
Rabid Badger
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2018
- Messages
- 1,338
Life is too short to mess around with ****** test leads. Make your own and never worry about it again.
sparky 1971
Well-known member
This is getting a little off topic, but what have you burned up from the Bauer line? I've been buying a few things for the home shop: cordless grinder, right angle drill, right angle impact wrench, and both styles of blowers just to keep from grabbing the Milwaukee good stuff off of my work truck and not realizing I didn't put it back until I was 50 miles away and needed it. I fully expect to smoke the HF stuff, but not right away.
I’ve had their brushed impact driver/drill/angle grinder for ~eight years now, they’re beat to hell and back but still function fine. Replaced with the brushless versions last year, which I also have no complaints about.
That being said, the 1.5ah batteries are gutless for anything but drills and lights.
I've never had an iPhone or any apple product. From what I have seen they are just as fragile as anything else if not worse. Seen lots of broken apple screens.
That's why I said A phone. I would not use any phone as a benchmark for quality. Every single cell phone is made to be thrown away in ~5 years.
I've never had a case or a screen protector on my phone and the battery was what failed on the last one, also a kyocera. I still would not use it as a benchmark for quality.
The price tells the story. Great products and terrible ones can be manufactured nearly anywhere.
Apple's margin on iPhones, with total control over their supply chain in a way that no other device manufacturer has achieved, is about 50% after freight costs (ie: low). Apple's products are generally top of market in terms of price.
Harbor Freight must have the same or better margin given warranties and the smaller dollar figures involved (it's hard to keep a business operational if you don't bring in enough cash, regardless of margin). They often run 30% sales, so I think it's a safe assumption they've got at least a 50% margin but likely higher on most products. Yet Harbor Freight's products are often the lowest of the market on price.
If you pay top dollar you can get the best manufacturing. Much of which exists only in China, depending on industry. If you sell for bottom dollar, you're also needing to pay bottom dollar - you will not get the best manufacturing at this price.
Sorry guys, “Quality of goods from HF” is a really stupid conversation to have.
HF has a lot of products they offer, from a wide variety of manufacturing sources, and it’s not as simple as saying, “if you pay more, you can get quality”. You could probably pay $10 for a Chinese made test lead and you would still get defects. If you want good test leads, you’d need to find a source that has a functioning QA department.
But the quality of hand made test leads has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of a floor jack or CNC ratchet handle. You have to view each item on it’s own. If you want to predict quality, or see quality trends, at least look at comparable items.
HF has a lot of products they offer, from a wide variety of manufacturing sources, and it’s not as simple as saying, “if you pay more, you can get quality”. You could probably pay $10 for a Chinese made test lead and you would still get defects. If you want good test leads, you’d need to find a source that has a functioning QA department.
But the quality of hand made test leads has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of a floor jack or CNC ratchet handle. You have to view each item on it’s own. If you want to predict quality, or see quality trends, at least look at comparable items.
As has been discussed before, comparing "price" to quality, for China made goods, is mostly meaningless anyway.
China the country, heavily subsidizes their manufacturing sector, so just because an item is low priced, does not necessarily mean, it it any way reflects it's real cost to manufacture.
Would not be surprised if some prices might be less than the cost to mfg.
n8n
Well-known member
5 years is dead in phone years. I had a LG phone that I loved that I had to get rid of because it was Sprint 4G LTE and T-Mobile was discontinuing that service. Phone was maybe 2 years old. Replaced it with a Samsung Galaxy S-something what a hunk of ****. Now have a Motorola Edge+ 2022 which has been great, I had the battery replaced recently because the phone was $500 on sale and I'm not replacing it until I see that I'm missing out on anything. Maybe this one will last 5 years, who knows.
IRQVET
Well-known member
Three orbital sanders in one afternoon. After that I bought the Dewalt, been using it ever since.
rust in the eye
Well-known member
As sales increased, HF has figured out economies of scale. This has driven other tool importers to improve thier pricing & product selection.
I recently shopped for & bought a floor jack. It appears that HF, HD, NAPA, Costco & others sell many of the same products with different paint schemes & logos. HF does stock a better selection of colors & design tweaks.
I recently shopped for & bought a floor jack. It appears that HF, HD, NAPA, Costco & others sell many of the same products with different paint schemes & logos. HF does stock a better selection of colors & design tweaks.
Harbor Freight is good if you know what to look for. For instance the Icon items that are actually Snap On in disguise. But every tool manufacturer it seems has gone the way of the dodo as far as quality consistency. For instance Craftsman just started bringing back their old school Sears OEM rebranded as "V Series" after they found out the China **** they stocked at Lowe's wasn't doing so well. I just stay away from Harbor Freights econo or if it's a serious or precision is of the utmost I go somewhere else. In my Trade I go through a lot of tools and have found name brands are known for the tool the do best: Milwaukee Sawzall, Rigid Pipe wrench, Fluke meter, Klein side cutters, DeWalt impact etc. However Rigid made some horrible screwdrivers and Klein even has entry level stuff as well.
I do like the US General tool boxes. Good value.
I do like the US General tool boxes. Good value.
n8n
Well-known member
Seriously, no snark, when was the last time you got a security update? That's like still running Windows 7.
bwringer
Well-known member
They sell iPhones at Harbor Freight?
rust in the eye
Well-known member
F if I know. Security for what? Nothing on there I can't live without, be used to gain access to anything important or be used against me.
Mine is used as, wait for it, a telephone but sometimes also a camera. Since getting this hand me down from Mrs. Rust 5 or 6 years ago I have mercifully been relieved of 99% of scam calls that palgued my last phone.
If it ain't broke I ain't fixing it.