The Harbor Freight PASS/FAIL Thread...

[Bo Heck]

I went today and got the plastic molded creeper for 22 bucks after I used a coupon and it rolls great, is very comfortable, and has a tray on each side for bolts or tools. So...

Plastic Molded Creeper - Pass

 

[fatfillup]

I paid my first visit to HF to buy Evaporust last week. I bought a lot of tools over the years from cheap to great. Most times "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR". I am trying to avoid cheap tools because long term they never make me happy. I would rather buy used American then new junk. Sometimes we are seduced by a low price, but its just like an easy woman, its fun while it lasts, but it don't last long.

 

[Chris Adams]

I paid my first visit to HF to buy Evaporust last week. I bought a lot of tools over the years from cheap to great. Most times "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR". I am trying to avoid cheap tools because long term they never make me happy. I would rather buy used American then new junk. Sometimes we are seduced by a low price, but its just like an easy woman, its fun while it lasts, but it don't last long.

Except of course, I've had lots of expensive tools fail, badly, and lots of really, really cheap tools that work forever...

Remember, it was a retailer that coined the 'you get what you pay for' slogan, not a happy customer.

Strangely, paying double or triple or even 10 times what something is worth never improved it.
Except in the eyes of the seller.

Metro was one of the best cars, though hated by people who don't drive them. Delorean was one of the worst cars ever made, loved by people who don't have to drive them...

Harbor Freight sells some god awful junk, some poor quality stuff, and a LOT of good, workman like decent quality stuff for very low prices.

Or why I had to stand in line 20 minutes today to buy a box of cheap nails at HF. Same quality I could have paid twice as much for at Home Depot, where there was NO line. Home Depot today had more employees than customers, but that just meant the employees had someone to talk to rather than help the customers. At HF they were busting tail, being swamped, and helping the freakin customers, rather than standing in clumps talking Spanish like HD.
Pass, HF customer service Fail HD customer service, ditto Fail Lowe’s customer service. Couldn’t get waited on at either big store, got helped and saved money at HF.

 

[fatfillup]

Chris, well thought out reply and I agree that paying more for the same quality is foolish. You got customer service at HF and not HD or Lowes. Your lucky, I haven't gotten any service at any of them. What part of the country are you from because around Baltimore customer service at most any discount retailer is nonexistant. I ask because in some areas folks care, around here most don't. As far as a retailer coining the phrase " you get what you pay for" you are probably right, but it has most times been true for me. I can't think of too many exceptions, but I'm sure I had some. I just know that I've bought many tools the second time because I didn't buy good enough the first time. Also, I am 51 years old and have been around long enough to wear out a lot of stuff (including my knees, back and eyes) and definitely had a different opinion years ago. But that's ok, because diverse opinions is what makes this forum fun. Good luck and God bless.

 

[MarkH]

You get what you pay for. It is said by customers too. At times in extreme frustration.

It is what I said to an employee as I was showing how far I could pitch the common elcheapo impact wrench that it seems everyone sells. Ours had come through Cummins. It could not have removed anything. Delay at harvest. Combine down. Two hour trip to get a working wrench. Machine down dumps 300 bushels every 10-15 minutes. Loss of quality due to delay due to not completing before the weather.

Cheap piece of **** not a great investment. Cost us $3,000 could buy a damm big lot of better ones for that. I think my words at the time were you buy ****, you get ****.

 

[fatfillup]

Check it out, this thread has over 18,000 views, just in front of ratchet **** at 17,??? and behind show me you latest ebay purchase, 24,???. Hats off to Bolster!!!

 

[Chris Adams]

Chris, well thought out reply and I agree that paying more for the same quality is foolish. You got customer service at HF and not HD or Lowes. Your lucky, I haven't gotten any service at any of them. What part of the country are you from because around Baltimore customer service at most any discount retailer is nonexistant. I ask because in some areas folks care, around here most don't. As far as a retailer coining the phrase " you get what you pay for" you are probably right, but it has most times been true for me. I can't think of too many exceptions, but I'm sure I had some. I just know that I've bought many tools the second time because I didn't buy good enough the first time. Also, I am 51 years old and have been around long enough to wear out a lot of stuff (including my knees, back and eyes) and definitely had a different opinion years ago. But that's ok, because diverse opinions is what makes this forum fun. Good luck and God bless.

Have to laugh at your description of yourself. OK, I’m a little older, but dang, also worn out knees, back, eyes and sadly heart so I can relate to ‘wearing things out’.

We needed better quality control, or at least a warranty on our bodies, heh?


I’m in Southern California. Here, it’s the big stores that don’t want your business. It’s mostly because Southern California is about 80% Hispanic and they don’t want Anglos in ‘their’ stores. I mean, REALLY don’t want Anglos around. Big chains can’t control this behavior but smaller stores either don’t wait on Anglos or give good service to everyone, depending on the manager. Example, we have 3 local Kragens parts stores. Anglo are welcome at two, distinctly not welcome at the third. Nothing about Kragens, all chains get this here. Just goes with the territory, it’s a cultural thing.

If you were here, I would show you dozens of really high quality cheap products I own, and dozens of high priced junk items I also own…

My wife would agree with you, but then, she’s a Cadillac owner/driver, a Nikon camera person, and an AKC dog owner if you understand me.
Me, I'm a Suzuki, Ford, Chevy and mutt kind of guy.

 

[Chris Adams]

You get what you pay for. It is said by customers too. At times in extreme frustration.

It is what I said to an employee as I was showing how far I could pitch the common elcheapo impact wrench that it seems everyone sells. Ours had come through Cummins. It could not have removed anything. Delay at harvest. Combine down. Two hour trip to get a working wrench. Machine down dumps 300 bushels every 10-15 minutes. Loss of quality due to delay due to not completing before the weather.

Cheap piece of **** not a great investment. Cost us $3,000 could buy a damm big lot of better ones for that. I think my words at the time were you buy ****, you get ****.

Um, maybe.
I bought the most expensive pistol I could buy, then had to have a forcing cone cut into it. S&W had a bad day...
My low price guns don't shave lead, don't have to have timing adjusted, etc.

I bought a MB, new. Don't want to talk about the trips to the dealer, but I got on a first name basis with everyone the first year...
Bought six Suzuki’s.
Never met the service manager

Bought a new Cadillac, 56k. Got my 56K back eventually…
Bought a new Ford F-150 for 10,400 under sticker. It’s still in my driveway. Needed a blower fan once…

Bought a really expensive 60’ flat screen TV. It lives at the service shop, not my house.
I actually watch the WORKING super cheap Samsung 54’ projection TV. It’s never had any service, bought it cheap at FRY’s in 2001.

My Mac air ratchet just hisses.
My HF air ratchet turns bolts.

But sometimes it is true that buying junk bites your ****, but buying cheap is NOT always buying junk.

 

[fatfillup]

Chris, you're alright in my book. You've been around long enough to have an informed and experienced opinion. Don't know that I could deal with culture issues you have in SO CAL, not that I'm prejugdiced cause I'm not, but I do expect folks to be thankful when I spend my money. I guess customer service is lacking all over though, I just hate when I pay for something and the cashier is talking on their cell phone and I pretty much don't ask for help unless the clerk is over 30.

 

[T56 Impala]

If it gets the job done, I'm all for it! The lower the price the better, not lower quality.

I like my AKC dogs by the way! Quality, and they have never let me down. I only hope they can say the same thing about me.

You do have to tell me how you went from a Benz to a Suzuki some time. Or from a Caddy to a Suzuki. I like my comfort too much to do that! I'll stick with my $100k sedans and the K50k cabriolet thank you!

 

[The Muffin Man]

7 Drawer End Cabinet for Roller Tool Chest... PASS

For the price it can't be beaten. The Power coat finish is excellent, the steel is thicker than any Craftsman/Waterloo side cabinet I've felt and the price is great. Heck even the shipping is fantastic ($11.99 others want 3 or more times that.)

If there is one thing HarborFreight did right, it was definitely their tool chest.

 

[T56 Impala]

7 Drawer End Cabinet for Roller Tool Chest... PASS

For the price it can't be beaten. The Power coat finish is excellent, the steel is thicker than any Craftsman/Waterloo side cabinet I've felt and the price is great. Heck even the shipping is fantastic ($11.99 others want 3 or more times that.)

If there is one thing HarborFreight did right, it was definitely their tool chest.

+1 on this. I picked up one of these for my stainless box. I had to modify it to work and in the long run, I didn't like it added onto that box. I again modified it to mount under my work bench. It works great, the drawers are by far better than Craftsman ones. I only wish I had known about the bigger boxes before I bought my SS one.

 

[nadogail]

I have used the Pneumatic Die Grinders, Small Pneumatic Cut Off Tooils, Angle Die Grinders ( will try LocTite on that one), Automatic Welding Helmet, 14" Metal Abrasive Chop Saw, Welding Magnets, 1/2" Long Breaker Bar, The Black Handle Square Screwdriver Style Pry Bars, the 6" stainless dial caliper, The $10 two temp heat gen (a painter burnt up the first one; he had no concept of "Duty Cycle"), the 3 gallon twin tank air compressor, the $20 18 guage bradnailers, The 9" 'DIsc / 6" Belt Sander, the 42" tool box set,the 12" disc sander, transfer punches, air hosees, 1" chip brushes, the better $5 hack saw, 1/2" and 3/8" socket sets, hamers, and a few drills. These have been good for me.

Not all thier stuf is equal. I feel their are differences. Sears had Good, Better, Best. Harbor Freight seems to also have three levels ****, Fairly Decent, and Pretty Good. The problem is they do not put ****, Decent and Prettyt Good Lables on their stuff.

I will continue to buy from them, hopefully I will be able to sort the wheat from the Chaff.

 

[WSMC633]

I’m in Southern California. Here, it’s the big stores that don’t want your business. It’s mostly because Southern California is about 80% Hispanic and they don’t want Anglos in ‘their’ stores. I mean, REALLY don’t want Anglos around. Big chains can’t control this behavior but smaller stores either don’t wait on Anglos or give good service to everyone, depending on the manager. Example, we have 3 local Kragens parts stores. Anglo are welcome at two, distinctly not welcome at the third. Nothing about Kragens, all chains get this here. Just goes with the territory, it’s a cultural thing.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one that gets to enjoy that treatment in SoCal.

 

[oldgoat]

Since we have a HF close to me here it is used a lot more than I used to when I had to order. I agree that you have to watch what you buy because some of it is total junk, usually the drill master line for electric tools. However I have HF grinders, impacts and air grinders that have been very good for me. The 12" compound miter saw was good, but the 10" was junk. You can also buy name brand air tools there also. Saw in the ad for a IR titanium impact like we have here at work for sale there. Now that is one good impact and lightweight also. So I vote with cheap doesn't always mean junk and expensive doesn't always mean the best.

 

[BigK600]

Funny thing I went into HF a couple months ago and walked out of there with everything made in the good old USA. Drawer Liners, Zip Ties, a 36" steel ruler, maybe there was something else to, I was kind of surprized when I got home.

 

[RickP330]

QUOTE]

I have to disagree on this one. it's a FAIL. I bought this one and it's totally useless. The arbor is so out of true that if you use a scotch bright pad on it it will damage most surfaces you are trying to clean. It's got to be over 1/8" out at the edge of the pad. I don't know what it's still doing in my box....
RickP

I have to retract my "fail" on this one. I replaced the pad with a genuine 3M Roloc pad and it's perfect now. the piece of junk that came with it from HF was horrible. FWIW.
Rick

 

[Bolster]

Hot dang, this thread got 20K views in its first 40 days.

This thread is running 500 views a day!

 

[r6_cannibal]

These tools don't get abused too much, I tend to buy name brand stuff if it's going to be used all the time. With that said...

1/2 inch 24" long breaker bar - Pass

14" cutoff saw - pass but marginally. It's good for smaller work, but I've done 4" square tube that has 1/4 inch thick walls. the weakest point on it is the hinge which can really change the angle of the cut. keep meaning to machine a new plate for it to sit on.

magnetic parts tray - pass

3/8" swivel stubby ratchet - epic win the 1/4" one is awesome too.

auto-darkening welding helmet - Pass and a half! probably one of the better purchases I've made, ever. This greatly improved the quality of my welds and I got it on sale to boot. I've had it for years now and it still functions perfectly.

security bit set - pass I have yet to break one of these, I don't use it all the time but it has paid for itself when I've needed an obscure bit.

multipurpose angle finder - pass I got this not too long ago, but already I think it's worth its weight in gold...even if it doesn't weigh much...hmm, I guess that expression doesn't work so well here.

3 piece scraper set - epic fail I got this in a pinch and was kinda sketchy about it in the store but they were out of the other scrapers. upon its inaugural use, the handle snapped and embedded the blade into one of my knuckles. The only reason the other two pieces of this set are still in my tool box is that I'm afraid they'll explode if I disturb them. I wouldn't touch these even if they had *****.

 

[tpolley]

has anyone used their 2hp 8gal and 3hp 10 gal air compressors?

 

[The Muffin Man]

Plastic Socket Holders, Set of Three....PASS
The website list these as being 10in long, however to my surprise they are 14in long! They come with plenty of sockets, 15 1/2in, 16 3/8in, and 15 1/4in. The only downside out of the box was that the 1/4in socket studs were consistently not able to fit sockets since they had some excess plastic when they were molded. With 15 min and a dremel they all were fixed.

3 Piece Hex Drill Socket Extensions....Pass
They work fine and cost less than the Craftsman ones. I've used these in my Bosch Impactor and they held up.

4 Piece Socket Adapter Set...PASS
Not much to say other than they haven't broke.

 

[Danglerb]

3 piece scraper set - epic fail I got this in a pinch and was kinda sketchy about it in the store but they were out of the other scrapers. upon its inaugural use, the handle snapped and embedded the blade into one of my knuckles. The only reason the other two pieces of this set are still in my tool box is that I'm afraid they'll explode if I disturb them. I wouldn't touch these even if they had *****.

Thats the plastic set, and it even looks fail, but the 4 piece metal set is a PASS
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94036

 

[Tom2]

Anyone have the pneumatic Roller seat?
Only $20 in my flyer..Hard to beat..Thinking of picking up a couple.

 

[Danglerb]

I'd have some concern over load capacity with the height adjust part, but the cheapy $10 rolling seat works fine for me at em, eh 240 lbs.

Rolling seat, PASS
http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=3338

 

[WSMC633]

Anyone have the pneumatic Roller seat?
Only $20 in my flyer..Hard to beat..Thinking of picking up a couple.

Have 2 in my shop. Holding up great! Keep Waiting for them to go on sale in my area to grab a couple more.

 

[tpolley]

Anyone have the pneumatic Roller seat?
Only $20 in my flyer..Hard to beat..Thinking of picking up a couple.

i use one almost every day. they're very durable

 

[Tom2]

Sounds like a good deal. Thanks..

 

[bchee]

muffin man - how is the flex on these? Could they be used for heavy, deep impacts?

 

[bchee]

I have these too and so far they haven't broken, but I don't feel I've used them enough to give a fair assessment.

 

[Chris Adams]

New additions to my lists;

28 Degree frame nailer. PASS. Got it for 56 bucks. Been using it to frame a shed and after I figured out why it was splitting wood it has worked great.
The wood splitting was not the nailer, the nails were 'too pointed'
Dulling the nails fixed that and now it works great on 60 pounds of air.

Cheap angles PASS. What the heck, an aluminum angle for 1.50? what's to go wrong.

Evaporust. Stuffs great PASS.

Autodarking welding helmet. Not only works great, it's fun to play with. PASS.

FAIL the spot welder gun, like the Eastwood unit but won't work on A/C. Says it will on the box, but a piece of stapled paper inside says it won't. It won't.

 

[The Muffin Man]

muffin man - how is the flex on these? Could they be used for heavy, deep impacts?

They do flex quite a bit with the 1/2in standard depth chrome sockets. I do not remove entire rails from the tool chest though so it isn't a factor for me. I ended up buying several 3"x14" 1/4" thick poplar wood strips and screwed two rails to a strip to keep them upright. With the poplar base, I can remove two sets at a time and there is no flex.

 

[Tom2]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?function=Search

Anyone have this cabinet?

Its listed for $176 in my local ad..Plus the 20% off coupon..Puts it around $140.

The drawers are a bit small..but good for most small hand tools, and other misc machine work stuff.

 

[goodfellow]

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?function=Search

Anyone have this cabinet?

Its listed for $176 in my local ad..Plus the 20% off coupon..Puts it around $140.

The drawers are a bit small..but good for most small hand tools, and other misc machine work stuff.

I have one. I used the top and middle chests for my machinist's tools and relegated the bottom to hold all my body repair hand tools. For the price it's a good enough chest. It's about as good as a current Sears "homeowner" grade chest. Don't put a lot of weight in the top chests because the friction slides tend to bind.

The bottom cabinet is crammed full of heavy body repair tools, and it has held up nicely. It uses a locking bar, which makes it a "pain" to lock/unlock, but it works well enough.

The krinkle finish is very tough and the casters are of decent quality. They hold up well on a concrete floor, but being small, they don't work well on a rough sevice.

For that price it's well worth it -- just don't expect "ball bearing" performance.

 

[Tom2]

Thanks for the review! I just realised though..I probably cant use the 20% off with the $176 coupon in my ad. Dang.

 

[stricht8]

I have the one with the seat back. Can't find it on their website. The bottom black sheetmetal base with wheels is the same. This thing is no good. FAIL. The base is made of light gauge sheetmetal and cant support the load above causing the wheels to **** inward when you sit and roll. And no I'm not overweight. 180lbs.

i use one almost every day. they're very durable

 

[kythri]

Central Pneumatic "Earthquake" 3/8" drive impact wrench - PASS
Central Pneumatic "Earthquake" 1/2" drive impact wrench - BIG PASS

Just purchased the 13pc SAE and 14pc Metric shallow-well "Earthquake" impact sockets to complement the Stanley SAE and Metric deep-wells that I bought at Wal-Mart a couple years ago, so I can't comment on them much yet, but I'm sure they'll do just fine.

 

[243]

Central Pneumatic Auto Drain - Fail (w/ Campbel Hausfeld Compressor)

Tubing supplied with the kit appears to be the standard size tubing for air horns, air brakes and similar from NAPA.

The air hose on the CF 60 gl from TSC is the same OD but much smaller ID so the fittings with the auto drain kit will not work with the fittings on the compressor.

Every single fitting was loose and required removal and new teflon tape. In the end I extended the drain valve on the compressor.


Pry Bars - Pass

Impact Sockets - Shiny, thick walled set - Pass

 

[sharkytm]

Central Pneumatic Auto Drain - Fail (w/ Campbel Hausfeld Compressor)

Tubing supplied with the kit appears to be the standard size tubing for air horns, air brakes and similar from NAPA.

The air hose on the CF 60 gl from TSC is the same OD but much smaller ID so the fittings with the auto drain kit will not work with the fittings on the compressor.

Every single fitting was loose and required removal and new teflon tape. In the end I extended the drain valve on the compressor.

I've got one, about to hook it up. Did you follow the instructions at:http://www.paragoncode.com/shop/compressor/ ?
He upgraded the tubing to copper, and for $10, what do you expect?

 

[macmotor]

Has anyone used the large english wheel?

 

[243]

^^^ I didn't "expect" anything and simply offered my opinion.