Harbor Freight gets million dollar fine

i buy tools from HF, that have a specific use and are not used too much
since i'm retired, and my hobbies do NOT include daily major mechanical work
the vibrating multi tool i bought 8yrs ago, has seen a lot of use, several sets of replacement blades, still works great, my nutsert tool, large hand rivet tool for steel rivets, still good, i recently bought their on sale 10" cable cutter have used it twice, perfect for my use, wish i had these 40 years ago when i was puling wire 6 days a week as a construction electrician
had to settle for using my Line mans pliers or a hack saw, couldn't afford the price of a pair of GreenLee or kilen cable cutters for my tool pouch

I, also, have the HF magnetic lights. I got them 8 years ago.

I had to rewire mine. They originally were wired with the bright filament hooked to the tail light wire, and the dim filament hooked to the turn signal/brake light wire.

I wonder if the trailer lights in question, the ones that didn't have the side illumination, are the magnetic set that come on sale occasionally. I have a set of these lamps and they do come in handy for pulling trailers with inoperable or unknown light problems. I just unroll the wiring, attach the lights and connect to the truck with the included four-way connector. Keeps me legal and illuminates for braking, turning.

Well....I guess it doesn't keep me totally legal if no side illumination.:o

My decent 5" orbital sander was on long term "loan" to one of my kids. I grabbed a $29 one from HF. It didn't do the job real well, but it was pretty entertaining. For some reason, after a few minutes of use, the hook and loop fastener would fail. The fleece side on the paper would spin, the disc would break loose and fly fifty feet away in the yard. I first attributed the problem to cheap paper, but it did the same thing with name brand stuff. After a few hours of suffering through that issue the switch started to fail intermittently. Overall, it left me with the impression that their power tools are best avoided. They were good about refunding my money, and I wouldn't hesitate to continue buying other tools there.

I get most of my trailer towing stuff there............ never had a problem with any of their tools :) Been buying tools from them since the 1980s still have a engine hoist from them from back then but they called themselves Harbor Freight Salvage........

If I had to, I'd buy a motor from HF, if I were trying to breathe new life into an old log splitter. The motor is a C-note or so, a new gasoline powered splitter? $2000.

The one thing I really wish HF would do is update their solar kit with the three 15 watt panels. For the area the panels take up, that should be a 200-300 watt cluster, at the minimum, and it wouldn't cost HF that much more.

And I bought one of ther largest jigsaws to instal a floating floor it did this ok,amount later I tried to split a marrow bone for dog and it shorted out, sorry only 30 days warenty.
Frank.

I'll buy anything without a motor from HF. Got a log splitting maul with fiberglass handle for $16 to keep on the TT. I see no reason to spend $50+ for a tool I will only use a couple times a year.

Sounds to me like HF wouldn't pay off the regulators. There's nothing wrong with Harbor Freight Tools as long as you're not expecting them to last a lifetime. And I certainly wouldn't count on a bottle jack if I intended to crawl under whatever I was jacking up. But I don't have a problem using a huge screwdriver as a pry bar, or a crescent wrench if I didn't mind rounding off the head of a bolt.
I suspect that even Craftsman tools are now manufactured in whole or in part overseas. They just don't feel as "sturdy" as the old ones. I was lucky to inherit my Dad's Craftsman tools after he died. If a wrench says "1/2" inch, it is. And his 1/2 and 1/4 inch electric drills were made of metal - not plastic. He bought them in the 30's and they still do the job 80 years later.

In the mid 90's I bought a bench top grinder at a HF truck sale to sharpen mower blades that I use on rental properties of over 20 acres total. Still runs like a champ. I agree, some of the stuff is sub-par but for the most part I've had good luck with the things I've bought from them.