Go HF!

[Lewis Ehrhardt]

I bought one of the HF's cheap belt sanders, about $18.00. I sanded one room with oak flooring and it didn't miss a beat. Room is about 12' by 13'. Still going strong. That makes four of their tools that have lasted and done a fairly decent job, especiallly for the money. Belt sander, recipacating saw, 90-degree drill, and hammer drill. These tools are keeping up with my Bosh's, Rigids, Dewalts, Ryobi's, Craftsmans, and Deltas. Any of you all had good success? Decent tools for the money. I remember buying a B/D drill years ago, drilled one hole, and the motor burned up.

[Dustin Lorenz]

I had a Milwaukee port-a-band, borrowed it to a friend who was building a race truck and needed to cut roll cage tubing. He ended up running it over and like the good friend he "was" replaced it for me with a HF one. I do have to say it has been working good for the last couple of years even though it was about 1/6 the price of the Milwaukee, however the first time I hit the trigger I thought you got to be kidding me. The thing is very loud and makes almost as much noise as an angle grinder! That is the only tool I own from there and except for the noise I can't complain heck the original blade lasted more than a year and I do use it quite a bit. It even has variable speed.

[Bill White]

Dang Dustin. What a pal. Can I borrow one of your tools (not the HF)?
Bill

[glenn bradley]

Dang Dustin. What a pal. Can I borrow one of your tools (not the HF)?
Bill

Me next, me next. What a way to upgrade.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I bought one of their multifunction tools (read Fein almost clone.) Used it to do two jobs this week. More than got back my $29.99 in saved labor. Liked it so good, that yesterday, I bought a second. My son (in a similar business) also bought one this week. His guys had been looking at Dremel one at HD, which was $100. He stopped at HF and bought one for $39.99, as he didn't have a discount coupon. October 2009 issue of Wood has a coupon for the $29.99 price.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

They sell a 40 buck fake fein? Will the fein stuff fit? Wow.....

With HF though it hit or miss. They have CHEAP stuff and the have cheap STUFF.

[Stephen Edwards]

HF has a OSS that looks EXACTLY like the Triton except for the color scheme.....same specs and all. You can get it on sale once in a while for 90 bucks vs $150 for the Triton. I've mine for over a year....works great.

[John Coloccia]

Over the years I've bought a bunch of crappy Harbor Freight tools with the idea in mind that I'd only ever use it that one time, and I can just throw it out when I'm done with it. Air tools, hand tools, etc. Sometimes I buy them because I need to modify it for a specific task, and need something cheap and disposable.

I have to say that this thread got me thinking... I don't think I ever actually threw out a HF tool. Nothing glamorous about them...they just kinda' work, and sometimes that's good enough.

[Stephen Edwards]

[QUOTE= I have to say that this thread got me thinking... I don't think I ever actually threw out a HF tool. Nothing glamorous about them...they just kinda' work, and sometimes that's good enough.[/QUOTE]

True, indeed. I think that this forum has helped a lot of us to know which of the HF tools are worth the money. I know that it's helped me to make informed decisions based on other people's experience with a given too.

There are lots of HF threads here on SMC. Some people don't want anything from HF while some of us have found "some" of their tools to be a good value for our needs. I'm in the latter camp.

[scott spencer]

I've been very pleased with my 13" HF DP (38142), and the $100 mortiser has more than earned it's keep. The Pittsburg bar clamps are a bonafide deal on sale, and they go on sale about every other week. Not happy with their crappy hair clippers, and their drill bits have been marginal. Ya just need to pick and choose.

[John Harden]

I've been very pleased with my 13" HF DP (38142), and the $100 mortiser has more than earned it's keep. The Pittsburg bar clamps are a bonafide deal on sale, and they go on sale about every other week. Not happy with their crappy hair clippers, and their drill bits have been marginal. Ya just need to pick and choose.

Definitely hit or miss. I remember when their bar clamps were pretty awful. I bought a few and tossed them in the trash a few years later. Had a chance to use the "new" version with the plastic handles recently and MUCH better. Ran out and bought about thirty of the 6"ers for a bent lamination project that is upcoming.

I hear you on the hair clippers. Bought them to cut my kids' hair. That only happened once.

Aside from mechanics tools, which I buy a ton of there, my favorite other bargain has been a heat gun. I think I paid $15 for it. I'd never used one and needed it to use on some shrink wrap tape. Home Depot's offerings were well over $100, which I couldn't see for something I may use 10-15 times. The HF one has been great and I've actually used it a lot more than that.

I don't think I'd buy their routers, drills (cheap batteries) or some other stuff, but quite a lot of what they have is pretty good for the price!!!!

[Brad Wood]

I've got the biscuit joiner (is that the right term?) I haven't used it a whole lot, but that is why I bought a cheap one instead of one of the high end models. So far I have cut about 200 biscuit slots with it, and it has done just fine. Certainly have gotten my 20'ish dollars worth from it.

I've also got their heat gun and it gets hot, no doubt about that. Again, not something I use every day. Actually got it to use with that heat shrink wire wrapper stuff, which it is awesome for.

I've got a bunch of the pipe clamp setups for 3/4" black pipe, they have earned their worth as well.

I think HF certainly has its place and if I were making a living on certain tools and was using them every day, all day, I'd probably go higher end. I think for occasional use / hobby type stuff, it is perfect... pretty much have the same thoughts on Ryobi products.

[Neal Daughtry]

I've got one of their 21 deg framing nail guns (approx $60 on sale) and have built a couple of decks, a shop and helped on a 3200 sq ft fellowship hall and it has held up very well, even better than some of my friends more expensive nailers. My rule at HF is don't buy anything that cuts.

[Don Dorn]

I live a little less than a mile from one so I'm there quite a bit. Over the years, I found the following exceeded my expectations: Angle Grinder, Nailers (except pin), dust collector, Metal cabinet, digital safe, right angle drill, drawer slides, Pittsburg wrenchs, electrical items, two part epoxy (fantastic stuff), drill press table, laser thermal thermomiter, and I'm sure a few others that slip my mind.

The following are things I found barely acceptable: Sandpaper, forsterner bits, twist drill bits, router bits, paddle bits, mostly bits or accessory items for drills, dremmels, etc.

The following are things that I found as total crap: Saw blades, any hole saw they sell, masonry bits, any drill related gizmo, and batteries.

[Dave Lehnert]

Some people refuse to be open minded enough to save some money and buy at HF. They have some great deals.

We have a HF reciprocating saw at work. It is junk compared to my Milwaukee at home BUT....... I wasted my money on the Milwaukee. For the two times I used it in the last 6 years the HF for $19 would have more than done the job.