I bought a spiral saw from HF after seeing the roto zip commercial and
seeing that it cost $70 or so.. Sure the HF may not be as trim and
nice looking but it works fine. I dont use it everyday but I have
it. I also bought a $19.99 recip. saw. It works okay but definitely
is not as nice as a genuine sawzall. For craftsmen who use a tool
daily it's worth paying more. But for homeowners, HF allows us to
have a wider variety of tools without breaking the bank.
On Aug 10, 6:04 am, "Keith Stelter" wrote:
With so much stuff being made in China and India these days, The Harbor
Freight situation is kind of like the Family Dollar situation. You can buy
name brand athletic shoes for $100.00 at a sporting goods store, or you can
buy a nearly identical shoe made in the same factory by the same people at
Family Dollar for $10.00. You just aren't paying for the name. Most of the
tool companies who used to make quality tools are having their stuff made in
China now, so the impact wrench that you get with a "Pittsburgh Tools"
sticker on it at HF is the same as the Rockwell or Ingersoll one that costs
3 times more. I own a machine shop so I HATE that everything is going
overseas, but at least Harbor Freight is selling the imported stuff at a
reasonable price without trying to portray it as high quality by selling it
under a well known brand name.
"RickH" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Jul 31, 10:31 pm, wrote:
Harbor Freight sells GARBAGE tools. Unless you enjoy tossing money in
the garbage, DO NOT buy from them.
Anyone who buys tools will know what they are buying, you have to be
picky and not generalize. I bought a sheet metal brake that I use to
make electronic chassis (I like to build tube powered guitar amps) it
works great I regularly use it to make boxes out of 1/8 inch aluminum
stock and similar steel stock.
I bought their resistor assortment a few weeks ago:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95860
I've used them in amps recently, they are as good of quality as
anywhere.
I have their electric spot welder, again for making chassis, it's the
first one I've ever used that did not destroy aluminum and still be
adequate for steel spot welds.
I also set up one of their security cameras outside my home, pointing
at the back yard so I can see the dogs, etc. It has been running non-
stop for about 4 years through 4 Chicago winters, that says a lot, I
modulated the signal to one of my unused cable TV channels.
Would I buy a cheap ass set of Chinese screwdrivers or sockets
anywhere, no, because I know better than that. Would I but a painting
scaffold from them? probably not, Would I buy a case of paint rollers?
probably yes.
I did buy a cheap pocket multi-meter from them for $3.50, that did
stop working, but I never expected to get a B&K or Fluke quality in a
$3.50 digital multi meter, and I may have blown it myself testing a
circuit with the range setting wrong.
Their rolling project carts are a great value and as good as
Rubbermaid or other steel ones, I use them in the shop to keep
separate in-progress projects organized, all parts on each cart for
that project. I like to restore old guitar amps, so sometimes I'll
have 3 of them on carts in various states of dis-assembly, or 3
separate speaker cabinet projects.
I think you got burned and you're just venting, because in reality
everybodys shop contains some crappy tools, and yes we all use them.
If your shop has no crappy tools I would probably question that. We
all cant live in a "Norm Abrams" fantasy world where every tool in the
shop is received gratis and of top quality.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -