Harbor Freight gets million dollar fine

I have NOT bought a tool other than from HF in the last 5+ years. Have NOT had any failures and have saved TONS of money this way. Most folks do not realize that they have IMPROVED the quality of their tools because of past failures and you are wasting money if you think a Lincoln is the only way to go.

bid_time wrote:
You get what you pay for. On the other side of the coin, You don't always need a Lincoln Town Car, sometimes a Ford Focus will do the job. Case in point, I have an $80 air compressor that has been working just fine for about 10 years, but I only need it a few times a month for mundane tasks. Same for my cut-off saw, air nailer, drill press, 2-ton jack, etc. My cordless tools are Makita, Dewalt, or Ryobi, I use them a lot.

X-2, what a crock, it would take longer than 5 days to figure out how to rectify the problem, another government agency flexing it's abuse of power for no reason, if those people were too stupid to return the product for the correct item then they deserve everything they DON'T get.
Harbor Freight will still get my money, I know when I walk in the door that the stuff is cheap quality, (THAT'S WHY IT'S CHEAP) :S, but if I pay $20 for something & it lasts me for 5 years, then i'm way ahead of the game, rather than paying $300.00 for an item for something to do the same job, that may, or may not last as long.If it only lasts 2 weeks, then i'm only out $20.

By the time you buy 5 or 6 wrenches of each size, and of course, you won't need just one size you will need a whole set. Pretty expensive.
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I agree for wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, hammers and so on their gear is good enough. And it's certainly a lot cheaper. The local store has a return policy that gives you another item when the first one breaks. No questions asked. I don't know if that extends to power tools or not. The store is 20+ miles or so away so that policy isn't as good as it seems for me. The one time I used it was for some clamps, they broke, I exchanged them, and the replacements broke in exactly the same way.

I honestly have not had a HF tool fail on me yet. I have a dual action sander that I have used extensively for years and it is still doing the job. I have a bunch of Craftsman sockets that have broken the first time I used them.

Do the pliers and adjustable wrenches have too many moving part?
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Well their vice grips, don't. Grip that is and their adjustable wrenches have slop in the movable jaw so it does not reliably lock onto a bolt head or nut.

The alarming thing from RVers standpoint is that the towing supplies they sell do not meet the required standards

I have one of their 18V cordless drills around here. I got it to use on the jacks on a RV. The battery is lucky to last thru 2 uses on the jacks and the torque is underwheming. My 18V Dewalt will just about twist your hand off and when used in raising and lowering jacks the battery lasted for weeks last summer.

I only use HF for "throw-away" tools that I'll only use once or twice.
I bought an electric planner to level out a part of our floor in the basement.
It did it's job - may never use it again. I'm okay paying HF prices for "throw-away" tools.

My "keeper" tools are of a better quality and get used many more times.

HF has a place in our economy and kudos to them for finding that niche.

When farming here in Wyoming you will find out you need a wrench in each tractor, a wrench in the shop, a wrench in your swather. By the time you buy 5 or 6 wrenches of each size, and of course, you won't need just one size you will need a whole set. Pretty expensive. I have lost lots of wrenches in the field while working on equipment. I would have gone broke buying all those pricey tools when Harbor Freight tools will work just fine. Ever price a 2 or 2 1/2 inch wrench at Napa? The bigest problem with Harbor freight tools is you do break them. Not the big ones. However, I have broken some high priced tools also. If I was working in a nice warm shop or it was just a hobby and only needed one tool box I totally agree those pricey tools are nice to have. If I only had one real nice set of wrenches I could walk a mile or so back to my shop, pick up my tool box, ask my DW to drive me back to my equipment. Oops, didn't have what I needed. Balony! Harbor Freight serves us well. I have lots of Harbor Freight tools. I have 3 roll aways in my shop full of tools. I have no big complaints with Harbor Freight tools. Just walk into a Harbor Freight in Farming and Ranching country and see how many people are buying their tools. I asked a rancher years ago, why would you possibly need 3 tractors? One would do the job. Those answers just come to you when you are doing the job yourself. :B

I find it interesting that the safety guys fine HF for lights while the apparently ignore US tralier manufacturers like Kompact Kamp Mini-Mate for the same thing.

Below is a discussion on one of the MC boards I read.

Motorcycle camper lighting discussion

agesilaus wrote:
My rule has been that anything more complex than a screwdriver or combo wrench is not safe to buy from HF.

Do the pliers and adjustable wrenches have too many moving part? :B

I bought a electric hoist from HF for my hitch removal , mounted to the ceiling of my garage, and for what little use it gets its been great. Granted if I was going to use it daily for lifting I would buy a better quality hoist