What do you spend on hot rod and garage tools every time you go into Harbor Freight ?

Every time I go into Harbor Freight Tools store it's between $200 and $250.
When I step into Sears I average $80.
When I hit Home Depot or Lowe's near my home its between $70 and $80.
Does this tell you I spend more on my shop and cars than on the house and other essentials?
Is that a bad thing?
This morning 2 of my buddies and I went Christmas shopping for ourselves (naturally) and each of us dropped $250 or so.
A very fulfilling shopping spree again!

 

You're probably gonna kill yourself with Harbor Freight tools. I've broken a ton of junk from there. Some things are ok but I wouldn't invest too much there

 

I would have a hard time dropping $200-$250 at HF.

 

If I only need it one use, HF ok, try not to buy CHINA stuff, not just in tools, but in my everyday life as well. Just my two cents

 

I would think that you allready know that , the Quap from harbor freight is at the bottom of quality and is considered as a one time use type of tool.

of the few various things I have wasted my money on from there,
I do noy allow others to know about..

except for maybe the razor blades and bungie cords / light bulbs....

 

I think you guys are looking at this all wrong. I think he has figured this thing out. He buys 25 of those $10 grinders and that way he will always have at least one laying about that will work.

So I could see how he would spend $250 each time he goes in.

 

I have a Harbor Freight 1 mile from the shop. Everything there is junk . I dont even go in there anymore.

 

I bought one of those $10 Blue grinders just for shits and giggles and it lasted a minute and a half then died. I kid you not, a minute and a half.

 

I have Never even been In Harbor Freight !

Fuck That Chinese Junk .....

 

Its good for throw away tools. I have made so many large tool investments for work I'm immune to sticker shock. Spending my left nut on power and hand tools is second nature to me unfortunately.

 

I hadn't been in there in a while. Last week I was up that way to pick something up and popped in. It's gotten worse than I remembered. Wow. There was some serious crap there. .

 

not a dime

 

I've got the same 10.00 HF angler grinder that I bought 8 or so years ago and another one that I paid 20 for. They get used every time I go out and work in the shop and although they make a lot of noise they work. I've also got a 90.00 name brand angle grinder the same size that hasn't been off the shelf for the past 5 years Odd sized nut on it that no one anywhere has at any price and a couple more that either don't get used or see little use although I paid a bunch of cash for each one.

I don't feel guilty about having an HF 4-1/2 in grinder for each function. one for cut disk, one for flap wheel one for cup brush and one for a 4-1/2 inch grind wheel. All for less than what I paid for that one that lives under the bench.

It's 70 miles to the closest HF store so I don't get down there on a regular basis and don't spend a lot except on consumables when I go but I did order a 25.00 cover for my metal framed carport thing the other day and will install it today. It will probably last a year and I'll get another one and go again.

It would be nice to be able to afford to go out and buy pro quality tools and shop equipment to use at home but face it, the vast majority of us on here have pretty tight budgets for tools and equipment and a 100.00 knockoff will usually get the job done if we have a bit of patience and even work pretty good if we do a modification or two as others have shown they have done.
Plus if you outgrow the HF unit you can then feel justified to go and spend the money for the "good" unit knowing that you will actually use it enough to warrant spending the extra money to get a better product from it.


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cheap cutoff wheels are about the only thing I grab in there, hard to beat the price on a consumable like that

I've gotten a few tools from them, stuff I don't use a lot, like a $30 heatgun I got for $9 with their ever present coupons. For an extra $5 I got a 3 year warranty on it...if it dies, I go get another one, but as much as I use a heatgun I doubt I'll ever kill it.

 

All I buy from HF is cut off wheels.... and after a few uses they explode in your face lol

 

He proly spends so much there because he has to keep going back because the Chinese shit keeps breaking.

 

Whenever I think about going to Harbor Freight I just flush a few bucks down the toilet. It saves on gas and frustration.

 

Cheap import tools do have a use. We've all run across a situation where we've had to modify a wrench (shorten, bend, thin down, or whatever) that will most likely never be used again and since it was modified, not really useful for anything other than that one specific job. Buy some cheap piece of import crap (pick up some at a yard sale or swap meet, stash 'em in the garage) and when you need to hack one up use it instead of one of your Craftsman or Snap-on wrenches.

I've always owned and carried name brand tools in my vehicles simply because that was all i ever bought. Same with my jeep. I figured if i broke down on the trail, i knew they would get the job done. Then one morning the jeep was gone along with several hundred dollars of my tools. After that i only carried cheap crap i picked up from yard sales or swap meets. When i got ready to go wheelin' i swapped out the junk for good tools.

Same with my T-Bucket. There's not really much storage space in it so i made some small compartments under the seat and stashed a few cheap ass hand tools. Atleast i can make a simple roadside repair, and if some jerk off decides he needs the shit worse than i do i'm only out a couple of bucks and it's no big loss.

Other than that HF does seem to have a bunch of useless crap.

 

funny ,i stopped in one for the first tme last week....came out empty...nothin there i wanted. and i am a bit of a hack...

 

Exploding Chinese Junk

 

I just want to know how much KIRK spends on beef jerky from there each time he goes in.-Weeks

 

Does HF have something I have not purchest yet ? I walk up and down the Isles and look an look an look and my wife says to me are you going to buy anything I just turn and say I already have one of them an those an that.....etc
I guess Ill haft to go home and break a tool so I can come back and buy a new one .

 

we have a hf local, haven't been there lately, grinding disc don,t last, i have one of their grinders, don't use it, i had rather spend money on stuff that will last

 

I work for NAPA and all the crap we sell comes from china new and rebuilt just look on the parts they will be stamp made in china repackage in the usa and sold for top dollar might as well go to HF and pay half the price for the same carp.
the word made in the usa don't mean much anymore even sears export there tools MFG to Mexico.

 

I've noticed NAPA has alot of china krap also!

Rebuilt parts made in USA, new made in China and more expensive than the rebuilt part.

 

I just bought a LED drop lite at HF and its kinda cool,magnetic base and its 12 volt with a car charger plus a home charger for $20............alotta crap is exactly that but here and there its not to bad...............

 

My wife works for NAPA also. It's just in the last few years they started selling China made parts. But like she said when i asked her "When did NAPA start selling all that made in China crap?" "Unfortunately to stay competitive we have to sell import parts. Alot of our suppliers buy their parts from China now."

 

Yep I know I handle it everyday and so does auto zone and O'rallys they all do, the bad part is they are charging top dollar , so don't be fooled by the store name, like get the good stuff. ya right lol

 

I have a HF throatless shear, modified it and it works, but nowhere near as good as my buddy's Beverly Shear...the HF shrinker/stretcher kit I bought used on ebay had junk dies in it, so I gotta replace them, but I got it cheaper than going to HF...the HF chop saw I got for my B-day is HORRIBLE, and so was the 120v welder I picked up as a dropped freight deal...the standing drill press and benchtop lathe were both dropped freight deals, over half price off, and both are usable but not very heavy duty...I think I've probably spent $500 there over the years including consumables, and I will only shop there in an emergency "need something today to get the job done" or if I happen to find another dropped freight deal on an English wheel kit or something...(my drill press and lathe had damaged boxes and cost me a total of $200 for both, nothing was wrong with them, but they can't sell "damaged" equipment)...next time you go there, ask if they have any damaged equipment or dropped boxes in the back, when you can pick up a $300 drill press for $100 or a $450 lathe for $100 it makes for a decent deal...

 

I only buy the stuff thats 'NOT' made here in the USA!