Depends on how much you use them, for every once and a while home use... sure.
Don't make your living with them.

 

Harbor Freight historically had fair hand tools and most electrical stuff was junk. The last few years they have stepped up and improved their brands. Bauer is a decent homeowner line but Hercules is very good. Hercules brushless tools now have a 5 year warranty and HF makes warranty service easy. My experience is that if I throw a broken warranted tool on their counter they hand me a new one. No sending it in or finding a service center. I recently gave up on Makita and moved to DeWalt’s battery platform. I was seriously considering Hercules and what swayed me was the DeWalt lineup of 200 tools. HF is continually expanding their lines, though. I would not hesitate to get Hercules but Bauer only has a 90 day warranty. If they don’t think it will last longer than 90 days, neither do I.

 

If I'm going to use it once every few years, it doesn't need to be top tier quality, or it's a sacrificial tool => HF

 

Marq, not everone has the budget for top notch tools, especially for diy work. I personally have some HF tools that are 40 yrs old and still in working order.

 

Marq, not everone has the budget for top notch tools

He's a clown. He might have some instabilities, based on some of his responses. All we can do is keep correcting his posts so others understand, but he personally is not going to get it.

 

HF can be a good starter tool.

 

Once upon a time if you bought name brand you could get parts when you needed them. Not sure true now.

I have a Makita recip saw is the basement that cost $$$$ with a bent and obsolete part. I have 2 HF recip saws $ in the basement that work just fine and when one of them dies it shall go in the trash and if needed be replaced with another HF.

Do you want to support the brand name advertising budgets of have money in the bank? The choice is yours. It is all made in China.

 

Considering the price paid I've had decent results with HF electrical tools. I bought a HF 1/2" drill to mix mud and roof paint about 25 yrs ago and it still works well. Used for work but not every week. I've burned up one 4" grinder but it lasted 10 yrs or so. I replaced my Craftsman router with a HF router about 15 yrs ago and other than the switch going bad it still works great.

I always check the amp rating prior to buying an elec tool.

 

I have burned up 3 120v HF wire feed welders, pushed them until they melted.
I have a 14" HF chop saw going on 35 years, just used it to cut all the steel studs for my new home. All the structure parts were done by the erectors.
Got a 7.5" skill saw that I use when I need to, the motor bearings scream during start up and shut down, still works after 30 years.
When I was working and traveling for work south of the border I would always spend about $100 bucks for a hand tool set which I left on site. Huge good will with customers.
I had to remove the stabs on a transformer lots of 11/16 and 13/16 bolts and nuts.
I bought a dark colored wrench set. All of the other tools broke, the HF wrenches are still in my tool cart but the dark color came off the two widely used wrenches.

As long as your expectations are not over the moon and you do not expect 0.004 accuracy, they are good to go.
The hand tools, screwdrivers and such, yes the tips are a lower grade than what I use for work, (electrician). Water pump pliers, a bit loose compared to brands that are double the cost. Pipe wrenches work great as long as you lube them.

I still go to HF and buy stuff. I have never owned a battery tool from HF.
I do have 2 of their 4" hand grinders, Two different kinds of wheels on them. I hate changing wheels when I am working on steel.

I purchased a Hobart 210 MVP as a welder and it is all that I need.

 

You’re right. He should chop his boards to length with a boy scout hatchet rather than an inexpensive saw from HF.

OOOhhh, some anger management is in order!

I've got Snap-On, SK, & Mac tool that were my great Grandfather, from the 20's/30's/40's that are as good today as the day they were purchased. Thats 3 generations with my kids next in line, some day.

How many generations do you think all those cheap HF tools will make it?

 

That sounds good if someone wants to buy tools for their great-grandchildren to fix their 3-D printers and flying cars with.

Do you think currently-made Snap-On, SK, & Mac tools will last as long as the ones made in the 20s/30s/40s?

 

It's pretty clear if you read. Sometimes they obviously are, sometimes they obviously aren't.

 

Don’t waste your time or money on cheap tools. You end up replacing them with REAL tools!

 

Sandpaper is all I buy at Hazard Fraught. Everything else is Junk.

Hazard Fraught Price Tracker

hfpricetracker.com, a free Harbor Freight price tracker. Find the best deals and the latest coupons, updated daily

hfpricetracker.com

 

Everything else is Junk.

Hmm. Another DIYer who somehow has tried everything from there. Or, maybe it's just something he read on the internet.

 

By my count there are 14 posts that support junk, 6 that state so-so, and 3 that love them. And of course many useless attacks by a few individuals who seem to get upset that someone offers opinations that they don't agree with!

I think the topic is now resolved!

 

By my count there are 14 posts that support junk, 6 that state so-so, and 3 that love them.

No, as usual, you missed the point again.

There are basically 2 groups of people here. Those who say that there are some good things and some junky things from Harbor Freight. These are the pros who have sampled a lot of their stuff and have the experience to voice a well reasoned opinion.

Then there are those who either have used maybe a few tools, or are just parroting what they've read elsewhere like memes on Facebook or internet sites (usually written by fake foreign aggregators), who really don't have enough experience to voice a sound opinion. It should be obvious that this is going to be the largest group, just based on the fact that there are far more home DIYers than there are professionals with real experience. Just like there are way more people willing to voice their opinion on Facebook about medical advice, foreign policy, economics, etc than there are actual experts.

The opinion of one actual expert is worth more than the opinions of a thousand opinionated wannabes.

You might be in a third group all your own - someone who actually either has very little experience in the industry, or the same useless experience over and over and over who thinks you know more than all the experienced professionals on this forum put together, and refuses to learn anything new.

 

Dont buy "starter" tools, all you do is spend more money in the long run because HF is junk!

Tools are an investment, not an expense!

 

You’re right. He should chop his boards to length with a boy scout hatchet rather than an inexpensive saw from HF.

 

Some of their tools are okay. Meaning they will work for awhile. Sadly they are not always the best deal price wise.

I have the old style Dewalt 18 volt tools (drills, lights, sawzall, small circular saw) and they have worked well for over 20 or so years. They also haven't been given a kid glove treatment. I have my doubts that the HF equivalent would have lasted near as long.

 

The Harbor Freight Tools Pass/ Fail Thread . . .

So I have a love/ hate relationship with Harbor Freight. But to their credit, I have found some gems over years that have done right by me. But I have also purchased a few turds. So this your opportunity to showcase which ones’ you swear by, and the one’s you would run away from. For me I’ll...

www.diychatroom.com

 

I would never buy harbor freight power tool. Many here talked about old tools and old tools had metal gears and such and from taiwan. These days gears may not be solid metal and esp all range of batteries for cordless. Cheap means cheap and you may be using them 10 years or break tomorrow. For value, basic tools, I would start with ryobi. Circular saw means no vibration and good bearing. Impact driver, gears and hammer, etc. You may store them for 3-4 years then you want them to work as before. Cordless are king. No competition. I'm tempted every month or so. But if you can live with cord, cord.
Check youtube AVE for tool dissections. Ignore torque competitions.

 

I would never buy harbor freight power tool. Many here talked about old tools and old tools had metal gears and such and from taiwan. These days gears may not be solid metal and esp all range of batteries for cordless. Cheap means cheap and you may be using them 10 years or break tomorrow. For value, basic tools, I would start with ryobi. Circular saw means no vibration and good bearing. Impact driver, gears and hammer, etc. You may store them for 3-4 years then you want them to work as before. Cordless are king. No competition. I'm tempted every month or so. But if you can live with cord, cord.
Check youtube AVE for tool dissections. Ignore torque competitions.

Cordless tools have their place, but not everyplace. If you've ever done major demo or metal fab you will waste the day charging batteries.

For the price, the corded tools I have actually used from HF seem decent. They've gotten me out of a couple jams.

 

There is a longer thread in the Tools forum, I would check that. The arguments are better there.

edit: oops sorry @Jeekinz missed your post

 

I hate to admit it, but I have some HF tools, mostly stuff I only use a few times a year or for things I know would mess up my pro grade tools (Milwaukee). The one that springs to mind is a 4" corded grinder I use to cut stucco and concrete, I know the dust is going to kill it even running a vac while I work, so I just buy a cheapie from HF and figure on tossing it when it dies. I also have a Baer jackhammer because I only use it about twice a year. I also have a bucket of HF flat bars I use to raise rows of tile when I'm doing gutter guard.

For a homeowner that's going to be using them a couple times a month HF is probably fine. If you're going to be making a living with your tools buy better quality (Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, Festool, etc).

 

Milwaukee tools and not made in the USA anymore. China new a man that had a co that made there tool shells . They told him he was going to have to move to China. Sold his business and retired.

 

I've used HF pneumatic flooring nailers several times and I've never had a problem with one. Now this is for personal use around my home. I've also used their small tile saw, no problems there either.

 

I don't have any electric tools from HF, but I do have a Ryobi drill that was given to me about 30 years ago. It still works fine--although it's not a daily user--and currently new batteries will work in it. Ryobi is worth considering for typical homeowner use.

 

As to home owner use and value. you may ant to look at the Royabi platform for power tools.

I don't own any, but my SIL has quite a few....and I'm pretty impressed by them

 

Marq, not everyone has the budget for top notch tools,

And I get that, but as I have always stated, tools are investments, not expenses!

If your doing DIY work then your saving 2/3 the cost of paying someone else so once. Add up 20, 30, 40 years of projects and you've paid for that tool many times over.

There are many products at different price points, not every tool has to be the best but as a whole HF is not going to give you a quality, long lasting tool. The worst scenario is buying cheap, realizing that it is cheap then having to re-buy, you didnt save with that decision!

 

And I get that, but as I have always stated, tools are investments, not expenses!

If your doing DIY work then your saving 2/3 the cost of paying someone else so once. Add up 20, 30, 40 years of projects and you've paid for that tool many times over.

An interesting thing to note is that things don't start to become true simply because you say them over and over.

For most DIYers, tools are exactly that - expenses. They are not using tools over and over for 40 years. They have a project or 2 that requires a tool. They might or might not need that tool again. Buying an expensive tool in that case is a terrible idea. Especially when many if not most tools from Harbor Freight actually work very well.

I have a reciprocating saw that I bought to do a job 15 years ago. I didn't know if I'd be using it much, so I bought Harbor Freight. I also knew that I'd be beating on it very hard for this job, so I thought I might damage it and then throw it out after.

Not only did the saw work flawlessly for that job, but it kept going strong. I ended up doing a LOT of work with that saw. I loved how the saw worked so much that I bought a backup, because Harbor Freight has a tendency to discontinue tools and I wanted to make sure I used the same one. And keep in mind that buying 2 of those saws was still less expensive than a big name brand.

Well here we are 15 years later and I'm still using that saw and it's going strong. The rubber wrapping in the grip area has been torn to shreds and fell off, but the saw is strong as ever. I still haven't broken out the backup in the box, but it's there when I eventually need it. (And that model is no longer available of course).

 

Do you think currently-made Snap-On, SK, & Mac tools will last as long as the ones made in the 20s/30s/40s?

Absolutly, just go into any garage repair facility and see what they have in their tool boxes!

 

An interesting thing to note

And the really questionable thing here are you agreeing or disagreeing that cheap tools are the best option, you need to be a little more clear so that others can understand what your posting!

 

With tools, you don't always get what you pay for, at HF or anywhere else. I've bought expensive, brand name tools that were junk, and I've bought cheap, no-name tools that I'm still using 30 years later. I broke an SK box end wrench trying to remove a rounded off oil plug from my sister's car, then successfully removed it with one that only had the words "Drop Forged Taiwan" on it.

The HF hand tools you can generally tell the quality by handling them. The junk is not finished well, and the machining is sloppy. Most of their pliers fall in that category. OTOH, I've been very happy with the ratchets and breaker bars I've gotten from there, especially the indexable head ratchet - it's easily my favorite tool for automotive work, so it's gotten alot of use in the 13 years I've had it.

 

With tools, you don't always get what you pay for, at HF or anywhere else.

I've got a Ryobi BT3000 table saw. Works good enough for me. When my power miter box died I bought a Ryobi. Didn't take long before it turned into a POS and I don't abuse my tools.

Needed a more powerful router. Bought a Bosch. Router works great but the switch needs to be cleaned of dust about every 20 hours.

Bought a cheapie pneumatic hardwood floor nail gun from Lumber Liquidators for my living/dining room, hallway, install. 10+ years later I did my 2 bedrooms. Worked like a charm.

FWIW...Don.