[JDF/ SwampFox]

I did a search and couldn't find another so This thread is to praise or condemn Harbor Freight items you have bought. Either you love it or hate it but please be honest about your experience with the product. I'll start it off with my experience with the 10ft x 17ft garage tent I bought for $175? if I remember the price correctly. I was very impressed with the frame that came with it but the canvas or plastic tarp covering is rather cheap and mine lasted not quite 2 years in the high altitude Colorado sun. The south side of the roof shredded like paper in the second winter with a little snow and wind. The rest of the covering is ok but the sun did a number on the south top side as you can see. It was all torn and looking pretty ugly and I took scissors to trim it up.

http://www.harborfreight.com/10-ft-x-17-ft-portable-garage-69039.html



I did as many suggested and duct taped the joints to assemble it and added heavier anchors to hold it down. All in all it worked great but the covering needs to be thicker and more sun resistant. I will buy another one and use the frame to add to this frame already standing just to sturdy it up more. Then when the next covering rots out, I will cover the frame with some cheap steal siding to make a metal garage space...
Anyways, I believe the product is well worth the money but anchor it down well and maybe cover the roof with a tarp....

 

[gwc]

I bought a "multi-tool" from Harbour Freight to help get up some flooring off the kitchen floor couple of years ago. Paid 19.99 for it and it worked out great for my purpose... The other one I was looking at a tool store was over a hundred dollars so it was out of my price range for sure....................Gary

 

[dieselshadow]

I have their 20T shop press and 1T engine stand. Both worked good and continue to serve me well. I did have to spend some time "fixing" the engine stand to get it to fit and work, but after that it was ok. The press has worked just fine right out of the box.

 

[jaspurlin]

I bought their 3 1/2 cubic foot cement mixer a couple of years ago.

I don't remember what I paid. Definitely under $200. It was a bit of a pain in the ass to put together, but it's worked well. It can handle 2 60 pound bags of concrete. I've used it to pour some porch steps at our house after I demo'd the old brick steps. Also a couple of concrete pads for air conditioning units, and the foundation and pad to a garden shed I've built.

Overall, no complaints.

Most of the stuff I've bought there over the years has been garbage, I usually stay out of there.

 

[pidjones]

I guess I over-use HF, but not for pro use. I've had good luck with their touch-up HVLP spray gun, we have four or five of their 27 LED worklight/flashlight (often a freebie!), their oscillating multi-tool, and 7"x10" mini lathe. I bought one of their 10 amp hammer drills and some bits on sale, used it to bust an old LP tank's feet out of 3" of concrete, swapped it out twice for free due to failures (I was really hogging on it), and then sold the last one on Craigslist for what I paid. I could have rented one at a tool rental store, but the rental would have been more than I originally paid PLUS bits!

Don't expect super quality. Expect some to be useless or fail early (flimsy snap ring pliers are useless). Some of their stuff is great! Their oscillating multi-tool bits are much better than the name brands at the big box stores. Be safe, be wise. Clean all grease from bearings and gears when you get it and put in decent grease. I think they use congealed chicken fat. Don't overload their electric motors. They aren't under-rated like ours (used to be).

Things that see little use - electric grinders, air tools, pullers I buy from them. Drills and saws I buy name brand. They have a nylon abrasive wheel for drills that is the best I've tried for rust and paint removal.

 

[wolverine]

I have purchased several items from HF, sockets, wrenches, hammers, etc.. You have to have an open mind about their stuff. When your paying up to 1/10th of what the big box stores are pricing their products for, sometimes your going to get crap. On the other hand, sometimes the things I get there are just as good if not better than the stuff I get at Lowe's. I really like a set of fiberglass handled hammers I got there and also an air body saw I got for less than $20.00. Snap-on wants around $300 for theirs. I recently purchased a Badlands ATV winch from there and mounted it on my 43 snow plow. Have not had it long so I don't know yet how long it will last but so far I love it. I am going to get another one to lift my tiller. Just my .02.

 

[Grant Baker]

In Canada we don't have HF,we have Princess Auto. It would be our version of HF.You get what you pay for and as long as you look at it that way there stuff is okay

 

[dhager4692]

We had a discount store here before Harbor Freight. All of their stuff was junk. I bought some stamp numbers and they flattened on first usage. But Harbor Freight has been much better.

My son read some reviews on their ratchets. Some of them performed as well as or better than Sears. I now have some and I like them.

 

[KB]

I've had great luck with mechanical stuff. 110v has all failed in record time.

 

[bobd]

Usually buy small items from them like wire ties, generic hardware kits, tie downs, etc. Have one of their pneumatic cutoff saws and it works as well as many of the name brand tools that I own. Purchased one of their manual tire changers (http://www.harborfreight.com/manual-tire-changer-69686.html) and have used it many times without any issues. Recently purchased one of their pipe tap sets (http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-pipe-taps-42432.html) to clean out the exhaust threads on a few engine blocks and were pleased with what I got for my money. I do agree that their snap ring pliers are a major disappointment. If you use one of their coupons on top of a sale price it’s almost impossible to beat some of their prices.

 

[jaspurlin]

Has anyone here used their blasting cabinet? That's one of the things that they sell that looks hard to mess up, but that may be just my inexperience with media blasting speaking.

Also, I've heard from several contactors (and folks on this thread) that their oscillating multi tool beats the name brand ones.

Oh yeah, I've also got 2 sets of scaffolds from them. The welds look awful, but it hasn't collapsed on me yet!

 

[newguy]

I bought the 3/4" socket sets in metric and standard. I've torqued on them pretty good, I've been pleased with them. A friend bought a set at Lowe's for $200. I paid $50.

 

[pidjones]

The oscillating multi-tool may burn out in 24 hours of use, and definitely requires hearing protection, but - you can buy 4 for the price of a name brand. And their blades are the best available.

I use one of their hand-held blasters (with the cloth bag underneath) at work for blasting one small part on our machine. Just throw the air hose under the roll-up door, take the loaded blaster outside, about 5 seconds of blast on each end removes the built-up tantalum from the inside of the part without messing up the polished OD. Doing this outdoors keeps the grit out of other equipment. My experience with cabinets is that there is always leakage of grit, which being designed to be abrasive will eat things (like bearings) fast! If we had a lot more parts to blast I'd be lobbying for a negative pressure room for a cabinet.

Of cabinets I've seen in use, theirs are on par,00 but most of that is dominated by gun, air supply, and quality media. PLEASE DON'T USE SAND! It causes silicosis. Also, glass beads have given me terrible sinus and lung problems, even wearing a dust mask for the brief period we blast. Switching to Aluminum Oxide stopped that problem.

 

[KB]

Has anyone here used their blasting cabinet? That's one of the things that they sell that looks hard to mess up, but that may be just my inexperience with media blasting speaking.

Also, I've heard from several contactors (and folks on this thread) that their oscillating multi tool beats the name brand ones.

Oh yeah, I've also got 2 sets of scaffolds from them. The welds look awful, but it hasn't collapsed on me yet!

A friend has one. His gun broke right off, and it needed different lights. It was a decent cabinet though, very dusty as they all are, even running a vacuum for exhaust. It's better then my TSC one, but it isn't really comparable. I got the cheapest I could, he got one of the top tier ones.

 

[mm210]

I've bought a lot from them over the years and the comments here are spot on. You have to know WHAT to get. SOME stuff is absolutely junk, others, OK. I've used the tire tools a lot and they are fine. Grinding discs, I get there. I have a one ton shop crane that's fine. Their 20 ton shop press is very highly rated. Their tarps I get when on sale. PROBABLY would buy any electric tools though. They don't look too cool. Mike.

 

[inspired_metal]

I have the motorcycle lift table that is rated at like 1000#. Spent 329 on sale and used a coupon so it was like 280 or so. I put 8" extensions on each side so riding mowers fit right up on there. Works great. Use the stop bar so the load isn't held up by the hydraulic cylinder and so far all is well. I've had a 500cc arctic cat up there and a JD 400 rider. The nice thing is that I can roll it over to the welder and back by myself. I lower it to move it around but it moves well.

Should have got one years ago.

Also have a spark detector. Spent like 5.00 on it. Hook in line between the plug and plug wire. The brightness of the light indicates the strength of spark. Best 5.00 I ever spent.

Dom

 

[coalminer16]

I have bought some tarps from them to line the bottom of the rental storage unit that the floor sweat so bad the stuff was dripping water. Other then that I haven't bought much as I just can't bring myself to buy that low. Sometimes things are too good to be true and growing up with my fathers cheap tools (he WASN'T a mechanic as some may know) and we found out that you get what you pay for and quality tools replaced cheap ones as they broke or broke the items they were suppose to fix (rounding a bolt head isn't as fun). It is also hard to trust a $10 grinder spinning something at 11,000 RPM that could spin off, break and kill you when it lodges in a body part.

 

[rustyknuckles]

Over the years, the general quality of HF stuff has slowly improved, reflecting I think the improving quality of Chinese industry. Part of this is that American companies have been more careful with the specifications of what they order from China. One conspicuous example is the Chinese engines which are now being used for tractor repowers by WFM members. Evidently it is not a big risk to use them.

 

[mikeduwe]

I have the silver 20T hydraulic press and it has worked well.

My 8" digital calipers sucks batteries like no other, so that's annoying.

My mini tire changer lasted a few years then broke.

I have bought some other smaller stuff like clamps and stuff, and the jaws don't line up when you shut them which can be annoying.

Just bought a 3t low profile steel floor jack, have not used it yet.

And I have several of those plastic containers of like cotter pins, snap rings etc, handy for when you are working on something and need one, saves a trip to the hardware store for one part.

I have heard their air tools are inefficient and use more air/less performance than name brands.

People seem to like their predator engines, but based off some of the other junk they sell, I'm skeptical.

 

[mm210]

Their air tools do blow(pardon the pun). Buy GOOD stuff there. CP, Ingersol, Snappy, whatever. The cheap stuff passes more air than it uses! I've got all snap on, CP and a couple of AStro even. Of course, I made my living with them. The Astro is an air powered windshield knife. LOVE that thing. Great for taking off glued on side moldings too. Dang, do I ramble! Mike.