"Robert Swinney" wrote in message
...
Thanx, Harold for a "voice of reason" reply. I always respect your
opinion
and often look to it as advice from an expert. All too often, many posters
betray their naiveté by out-of- hand comments re. Harbor Freight and other
discount suppliers. I wonder how many of those shop at Wal-Mart. I'm not
a
particular advocate of Harbor Freight, but like you, I refuse to bad-mouth
them in the belief that others will look up to me as more sophisticated
than
I really am.

Bob Swinney

Thanks for your kind words, Bob. The truth is there are some very good
buys at HF---even the import items. I can't tell you the number of times
I've been bailed out by buying one of their inexpensive offerings.

Sure, often the tool in question is not nearly as nice as something that
sells for several times their asking price, but for a one time use, it beats
not having one, and it's often superior to something that you might rent.
I've been the route of renting tools that are poorly maintained and are
nothing but trouble. When the smoke clears, the rent center has your
money, you have an empty pocket, but the task at hand still remains. A
cheap tool often gets you through the crisis, and you have it for future
use, should a need arise. Makes sense to me. A good example is the 1/2"
hammer drill I purchased recently. It replaced a Hitachi that I bought
yours ago, a Hitachi that was not worth the price I paid. The HF thus far
has performed no worse than the Hitachi, and it cost 1/4 what I paid for the
Hitachi with dollars that *were* still worth a little, not the worthless
dollars of today.

I can't imagine anyone that is more snobbish than I am when it comes to
machines/tools, yet I still manage to frequent HF fairly often. Some
times you simply have to let good sense rule. I just don't set my
expectations high when I make a purchase at their stores.

Harold