Harbor Freight Reviews

So I'm a cheapass, I love Harbor Freight for a lot of things. As a commercial electrician, I use a lot of different tools, as a Tacoma owner, I use a lot of different tools, and as a man, I use a lot of different tools. When my old man passes away i'll have a lot of nice expensive stuff, but for now I try to get by as cheap as I can. I figured I'd start a thread we could all post reviews of Harbor Freight tools we buy so we know what to buy and what to stay away from. I'm a member of the "Inside Track Club" (really does pay for itself, even more so if you split the cost with 2 other guys...) so I get a lot of deals and coupons, I won't buy something unless I have a 20% OFF or super coupon, I've got about thirty of their free 9-LED flashlights so far haha to find coupons join their email/postal list, also find ads in the American Hunter magazine and some daily newspapers. Most ads will have a 20% OFF coupon and a FREE Item Coupon

100 Piece Security Bit Set
These are so great I have 2, 1 at work and 1 for my garage. Almost every bit you could ever need. Never had 1 break. Stick some cardboard in the case if you plan to throw it in your tool bag and its going to get bumped around, the bits tend to fall out.

32 Piece 3" Long Reach Security Bit Set
Great buy, handy to have. Bought this set to take apart Xbox 360 controllers and power tools. Need to buy another set for work

6 Piece Star Bit Set
Bought this set as I needed a #6 torx bit to take apart a SATA hard drive
Worked great, only complaint is that instead of a #5, it came with another #9 so I need to go exchange it

Blue Glow Mini Off-Road Fog Lights
Great for the price, work great as backup/bed lights. Just bought 2 pairs for $9.99/pair. come with wiring and whatnot, will buy again if needed

6" Off-Road Light System
Poor man's KC Lights. Work wonderful with a little silicone and some paint, they get a little foggy and rusty if you dont. I swear they used to come with 100W lamps. You can get them on sale for like $7 each, well worth the price for some lighting, hold up great once you paint/seal em

Circuit Breaker Detective
Works great! Had to do some electrical work for the inlaws, this takes all the guess/trial work out of finding what breaker a plug or light goes to, trust my life on it. get em for around $13

Mechanic's Gloves
I wear these EVERY DAY at work. Im in construction and wear gloves 99% of the time I'm at work. These gloves are just as good and last just as long as some $25 pair you'd get at home depot. Sometimes they are on sale for $2.99/pair, STOCK UP! My favorite HF Item.

Water-Resistant Cold Weather Work Gloves
CRAP
Again, I wear gloves ALOT, work outside ALOT... These gloves are crap, they are the $9.99 ones. The liner pulls out with your fingers when you take them off leaving you to try and get everything back where it goes. Not worth it in my opinion, might try the new Cold Weather Work Gloves $19.99 they have if i can get a good deal

Low Profile Rear Motorcycle Spool Stand
Couldn't be happier, works great for my NINJA, perfectly sturdy. I use these with spools i bought from HF also, they may not carry them anymore though

Motorcycle Swingarm Rear Stand (With Front Fork Adapters)
I use this stand with the Front Fork Adapter, they may not carry those anymore though. This way I have a front and a rear stand (the low profile spool stand above) Both stands hold my NINJA perfectly, alone or together, oil changes and full revving...

17 Ft. Type 1A Multi-Task Ladder
Great ladder! Just as sturdy as any Little Giant I've used, I trust my life on it. got mine for about $99

17 Piece Heavy Duty Slide Hammer Kit
CRAP
Broke this thing within 3 minutes of having it out of the box. The forged pieces are weaksauce, would never buy again unless they revamped the product and i read some positive reviews... Thankful for their easy returns haha

Battery Quick Charger and NiCd Batteries
Having kids (and my XBOX), we go through a LOT of batteries This charger has been great. I wasn't paying attention though and bought a shit-ton of NiCd batteries, should have got the NiMH batteries, but this charger does both. The NiCd batteries are just inferior
YAY for the charger, YAY for the NiMH batteries, BOO for NiCD

3.5" 9 LED Mini Flashlight
As stated up top, i have about 30 of these suckers floating around, if nothing else at least i have 90 AAA batteries on hand but the lights are great, stocking stuffers, one in each drawer of the house, a few in every vehicle, a lot sitting in packaging in the garage. Great light for the price (FREE)




That's all for now, i'm tired and i might be just wasting my time anyway...

 

A lot of it seems to be hit or miss from there. I get the one time use tools from there some times

 

100% agree. Their bits, wrenches, sockets are okay, there's not much wrong that can go with those tools, but power tools from there more of less suck. I bought an impact wrench to replace the struts on an old Corolla, and it did absolutely nothing!! Granted I've heard electric impact wrenches suck in general. I ended up doing it the old fashion way. It's an okay store for cheap tools that you will use rarely.

 

Thanks for the review. I want to swing in there one day just to wander around and see what I might be able to randomly use or need one day.

 

They also have HDMI cables for like $5. I use them to hook my computer up to the flat screen when i want to watch a downloaded movie.

I use to use my $65 gold plated that I pulled from my PS3. Do not notice a difference. Both great pictures w each cord.

 

Never had a problem with my impact I got there, other than the retainer clip that hold the socket on broke. I've had it going on 4 or 5 years now. Their 12 ton jackstands are awesome too, and their floorjacks. We get all of our welding wire in the big spools there too, very cheap.

 

I have tons of HF tools 4.5" band saw is great works like a champ no issues with over 1000 cuts. I also have five 4.5" and three 7" angle grinders that are great I've had one for over 5 years. My 7" get used for at least 2 to 3 hours a day and I got all three of them for the price of one at HD. And the 20% off payed for the 2 year replacement warranty so I can use the hell of them with no worries.

 

This is a great store, seems like they have everything. I still question the quality of a lot of the things they sell but haven't bought anything that "broke" right away. If you need something cheap this is the place.

 

well, i'll always question the quality of stuff coming from china.

 

nice post OP

 

No doubt.

I go out of my way to buy things NOT made in China, if possible, for a number of reasons.

 

that 9 LED flash light I got form them for free when some people were outside handing out flyers, they were right at the door telling me that they would give me a free flashlight if I gave them a flyer to toss away ... had me thinking but ... a long while later lol.

TO sum it up, the flashlight is a POS. It worked for a while, even though the one I was given had only 8 of the LED's working. Now all it does is flicker here and there (brand NEW batteries also) between uber dim to the way it should be lit. I have to smack it from time to time also JUST to get it to light correctly, but even at that the normality doesn't last long.

 

a free flashlight isnt any good? HMM lol


in my experience, their lowest tier air tools tend to be shitty. their hand tools work well and I've yet to break a socket, extension or wrench.

 

the 2 ton hydraulic low profile jack is great. i have had no issues with it. it go's tall so i have no problem getting my front end off the ground.

 

lol, I know right? should have known better.
to add, I have bought and used Chicago type electric tools and have yet to have problems with them (angle grinder - will get hot under excessive use!! and reciprocating saw). power drill wasn't bad either, don't know the volts though, was a friends.

whatever you do DO NOT get that low profile jack or what have you made by General. My old boss got it, not even a week old and it turned into a POS. It's the Blue/Silver looking one.

 

yeah..the blue/silver one thats always seems to be on sale sucks.

the orange one kicks ass. i have one at home and there's a few at my work that has been around for years that are still kicking and working well

 

X2!! the homie has had that for I don't know how long and each time we have used it ALWAYS works perfectly. most of the orange colored tools are made by Chicago (some of the chicago stuff is blue and/or red I think. I'm weary about the blue colored ones, they seem cheap, the others Re/Black, Orange White (DEFINITELY THESES ONES WORK) have worked very well for me).

 

I have one of the orange ones. It's not a low profile but just a regular 2.5 ton. It leaks a little bit of oil but I just refill it occasionally. I've had it for about 6 years now and used it countless times. I bought it at a sidewalk sale for 39.99.

The emergency tools I carry in my truck are HF tools.

I have quite a bit of their stuff and at this point in time with most of it, I've gotten my moneys worth and beyond.

My HF 25 gallon air compressor finally took a dive after 6 years a few months ago. One of the capacitors on the motor melted (burning capacitor smells AWFUL btw!). I looked up the part number online and I can order another for $20 so I'll probably just fix it.

As long as you don't buy them having high expectations that they're going to perform and last just as long as name brand tools, then you'll be fine.

 

forgot, I also have a metal drill bit kit, not bad, my only grip is that they don't have bevels, it's just a round cylinder shape at the end of the bit. So if it gets caught, it'll end up spinning nasty for a bit till you notice.

 

Has anyone bought the 3"x30' snap strap from there? $34.00