I have a HF 14" band saw. I use it for one thing: cutting windsor chair seats out of two inch thick pine. It works wonderfully for that. So I would say it depends upon your intended use. You can't resaw with this for instance.
Hence my comment about Harbor Freight tools being OK for occasional home use. If you need tools for a business don't get them from Harbor Freight.
One more thing, is that when even the good tools are made in China, I shop mostly based upon price. I'm prefectly willing to pay more for something that's not made in a thirld world country, but the manufacturers are not giving me that choice unless I want to go out of my way buy professional grade items that no homeowner would ordinarily use.
Like I said, it depends on the tool. You're rolling the dice. Several of there tools that are actually acceptable and represent pretty good value.
However most of them are unfit for any reasonable use. If you only get one usable tool for every 4-5 you purchase then you have been penny wise and pound foolish.
I think their upper end air tools are decent. Feedback on their cheapy angle grinders is also pretty good.
However I would never touch any of their tools where precision or cutting is a requirement. An example if their cordless drills. You can actually wobble the chuck laterally!!
I bought one of their 1/2 HP 6" bench grinders. What total garbage. The motor is so gutless it stalls out at the slightest load. I measured the running amperage and it was only 2 amps. (another deceptive HP rating)
On the other hand I bought one of their $2.99 digital multimeters. It's perfectly acceptable for basic use. If I need precision I'll dig out my Fluke, but for simple continuity tests or rough voltage measurements it's OK.
Just curious, which HVLP Paint gun did you buy from Harbor Freight? I'm thiinking of buying one of their turbine type sprayers (no air compressor needed).
Several
you'll
frustrated
high-priced
perspective
I have been eyeballing HF power power tools for about a year. I finaly brokdown and told my wife to get me a combo disk/belt sander for Cristmas as an experiment. It was the central machienry brand 4" belt with a 6" disk. On christmas day I assembled it pluged it in and fooled around with it for about 10 minutes. It seemed to be acceptable. I did not expect it to last very long because it was CHEAP. The other day I needed to use it for real the first time. I turned it on Its motor was bound up and it literaly went up in smoke.
I dont use some of my more than others this was one I knew I would not use every weekend but when I had a use for it, it would be very handy to have.
I think this exeriment can be dubed a colosal failure. I tried to return it but could only get store credit which is fine I love HF. But I think I will stick to buying thier disposable hand tools, saw blades ect.
I am an avid woodworker and It is a good rule of thumb you get what you pay for when you buy power tools. HF power tools are great for a one time project after that the tool will probably just colect dust in a garage.
The argument of buying a cheap tool to learn with I find very strange. Why not buy a good tool that is easy to use. I makes learning much easier and fun.
All this and you "love HF"???
I don't live near any of their stores to actually see the tools first hand, but I've not been tempted to order anything based just on stories like yours.
The two exceptions to this are the 4" angle grinder which can sometimes be found for as low as $12, and the 7x10" machinist's lathe which has sold for as little as $250 in the past and gets very good reviews from folks who seem to know what they are talking about. My angle grinder takes a licking and keeps on ticking. If it ever stops, it goes in the trash with few regrets.
LD
I've got a store nearby, but based on what I've seen there I would NEVER buy anything from them online - even clamps.
Ah the old argument, cheap v expensive tools. I'm in UK so no HF here but we have our equivalents and I assume that the same Chinese tool factory supplies our retailers. I have a number of cheap 4 1/2" angle grinders. They're great tools. Not as powerful as the top line stuff so I take a little longer on a job. That's not a problem for a hobbyist. I take the view that even top grade tools fail eventually. If you have spent all of your $ on one of those, then you are stuck. I have a few cheap grinders so when one fails I always have a replacement. I can also have them set up with different wheels for the same job. e.g. one for cutting, one for grinding. The other side of the argument is whether the tool will actually do the job. This is when cheap = nasty. When you need accuracy or you are relying on one tool, pay for quality. I carry good quality tools in my car so that I don't have to carry more than one of each. In the workshop, space is not so much of a premium so I may risk cheaper tools. It is not always the case that cheap = poor quality. Many Chinese tools are now very good indeed. When I was maintenance engineer in a sawmill, a local supplier sold spanner sets (6 - 19mm) for £2.99. That's 1/4" - 3/4" for about $3. In 5 years we never had a spanner fail and, believe me, they were used hard every day. We lost a few but who cares at that price. The difficulty is spotting quality in a tool. If anyone can tell me how to do that without reference to the brand name, please do so.
John
Have bought lots of stuff from HF and like it. Can't beat it for non-precesion tools like clamps, rulers, misc, etc. I needed a cheap router for some jobs that I only do a few times a month so picked one up for $49 and it has worked out great. Picked up a really nice drill press for $40 and it has been better than expected. If I were to use a router on a regular basis I would have got a good one and it would have cost me a couple of hundred bucks. So, as was said, you get what you pay for. Only you know "how much tool" you need. As far as waiting and spending all of your $$ to get a top quality tool is not always the wisest thing to do either. Use some common sense and you will be fine.
We use several HF / Central Machinery tools in our business and have found they are either go bad right away or they last a good while. We bought a Central Machinery demiliton rotary hammer last Wedsnday and have already put
8 hours on it. It has paid for itself twice already. $59.00 vs $349.00 for a name brand. We have several. nail and brad guns and have never had a problem with any of them. $19.99 for a 2" brad nailer !!!! I love it!!! I don't worry about theft near as much. You don't see any HF tools in a pawn shop.AZCRAIG
like any vendor, there are the good ones and the bad.
Porter Cable routers are among the best made. PC's detail sander seems in the running on the most useless tool thread.
Harbor Freight's 2 HP dust collector gets good reviews. their bench grinders, OTOH....
snipped-for-privacy@all.costs wrote: ...
...
I think that particular rap is on the detail sander as a tool itself, not PC...
And, as noted, my wife uses one a fair amount and is quite pleased to have it..."different strokes..."
I followed (price) this hose reel for sometimes, last year I paid something like $19, it look and feel exactly like one selling for more than $40 plus elsewhere.
I wasn't clear. I buy the clamps off the shelf in the store. Just won't order anything from them online. ALL my pipe clamps are HF - bought the
3/4" for $2.49 ea.In my experience, the drill bits were pure crap. The normal bits (like brad point, but without the brad points), broke with alarming frequency. The Forstner bits dulled very quickly.
Compared to a name brand, there's no comparison in quality on the drill bits.
Also had bad luck with their jigsaw blades.. pure crap.
I'm now of the mindset of the other poster.. you lose so much money off the crap that you buy there, that it's not worth the occasional good value.
The only item I was ever truly happy with was their heavy duty grinder stand. Their pliers/wrenches have poor tolerances.. it's just piss poor. I feel stupid for wasting about $200 there over the years. for basically a grinder stand and about 1/2 the pipe clamps held up ok (the other half stick or otherwise perform substandardly to the Ponys).
Hi,
A contractor friend of mine told me that voltage, translates into work.
So I ordered a right angle cordless drill at 18V., and a regular cordless drill, also at 18V. .
After endless charging sessions, I did get ONE hole, in a plastic cup, using a wire drill, ~1/32", (or-so) - and nothing else.
Now, I've got to locate quality
18V. batteries, or try to repair the four that HF sent.Lesson learned.
Ken .
From my experience, HF tools in general are both cheap and inexpensive. I have some really nice, cheap, automotive measuring gauges, for the little I use them, they're fantastic. If I were a mechanic, they would have never have held up. I also have a HF sand blaster and table saw. Again, for the little I use these things, they are perfectly fine. I would never buy a tool from them and expect it to work as well or hold up like a professional quality tool would.
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