The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Harbor Freight Tools

OK, I'm not a fan of the 90% Chinese made junk, but then I look around many places and they are selling the SAME junk, in a different color,... Cant flippin win!

Anyhoo, I have a few good tools from HF. I have a hide-a-way truck bed crane that folds down over the fender well, it works great and is always a source of tool envy. The big adjutable angle vise with pipe & standard jaws is a huge sucker and solid as steel gets. My 3.5 ton floor jack is years old and works great. I have a 10-ton pipe bender that gets it done quite well. And like tclederman I have a 4.5" angle grinder my father in law bought me that I have abused for about 10 years that is still kickin! (sounds like the bearings went out 5 years ago, but still works great)

On the other hand, I have bought some crummy tools there too. I'll never buy any hand tools from them again after having the wrenches spread under torue, spit sockets, and sheared screwdrivers. At least if that happens with my Craftsman tools I can goto any Sears and get new ones for the cost of the gas to get there.
As far as power tools, unless they are carrying some good name brands, I tend to stay away from them.

My important hand tools are either Craftsman or Snap-On. BUT! I have had bad experiences with them as well. Snap-On had a Mag-Lites knock off that was the cheapes POS I ever used, we destroyed a case of them at work in a week! Cost more, work less, muct be a politicians flashlight,... We also destroyed several Snap-On power tools, to the point we quit buying from them and I never bothered to buy any myself. I've killed several Craftsman drills, & I bought a Craftsman Dual-Cutter saw (awesome tool, super handy for my needs) and the motor melted down in my hand one day. Bought replacement parts, and it still didn't work & had to buy a new one (nobody else makes a tool that will do the trick, yet).

Comes down to needs, usage, and most of all, care.