Good Stuff on Sale at Harbor Fright

[j-d]

I own all these items:

These are coupon prices, shown on harborfreight.com

Pancake Compressor 100-PSI $39. Best for tires up to about 60-PSI. It'll air 16" to 75-80, but agonizingly slow. Outstanding with brad nailer.

Electric (120-VAC) Impact Wrench. Amazed how well it handles Ford lug nuts at 140-ft-lb. The 7/8" socket called for is NOT one of the individual sizes HF sells individually. Got one from Amazon Prime $8. Best to use a six-point deep black impact socket directly on the wrench.

Multifunction Oscillating Power Tool $15. I was glad to get one at $39 a couple years ago, they started out at $59. Indispensable problem solver. But it's a little like an inkjet printer - a couple blades cost as much as a new tool.

1/2" HD VSR Hammer Drill $26. Mine is an orange one they dropped then came out a couple years later with this one. It's heavy but butt-kicking heavy duty. I'm talking 1/2" holes in steel, 20 passes through a brick wall with long 5/16" masonry bit.

18-gauge 2-in-1 Nailer/Stapler $16. This and the pancake compressor make you Master of Baseboards. IF, however, you do not plan to ever Staple, and I haven't yet, the anvil leaves a much larger mark on the wood surface than the one in a Nailer Only tool will do. Nailer looks like you used a Nail Punch to set the nails. This one looks like you used a small screwdriver. GET NAME BRAND FASTENERS

[doxiemom11]

Warning -- tarps are very slippery when wet. If you are using on the ground under your awning, be very careful if it rains. Ask me how I know.....

[tad94564]

Tachdriver wrote:

jfkmk wrote:
Wait a minute...they have good stuff on sale at harbor freight??? I thought all they sold was crap.

I haven noticed that on certain tools the quality has gone up.

I almost feel the quality of the competitor's tools have dropped to level of HF, without the price change.

[Tachdriver]

jfkmk wrote:
Wait a minute...they have good stuff on sale at harbor freight??? I thought all they sold was crap.

I haven noticed that on certain tools the quality has gone up.

[SAR_Tracker]

Jfet wrote:
....Things like roll around stools...two of the wheels snapped off with normal sitting in under a month of use. The bolts look like something even the Chinese would reject.

I must've gotten the next one off the assembly line - wheels snapped right off.

Replaced all 5 with some decent wheels (the wheels total cost more than the stool on sale!), and now it's my favorite piece of furniture in the garage!

[fj12ryder]

Some of it is better******than their other crap. Ya gotta be choosy. Skip their combo hand wrenches, and most of their sockets, they're 12-points and will ruin more bolts than they'll remove.

[ScottG]

jfkmk wrote:
Wait a minute...they have good stuff on sale at harbor freight??? I thought all they sold was crap.

It is.

[jfkmk]

Wait a minute...they have good stuff on sale at harbor freight??? I thought all they sold was crap.

[gbopp]

I don't buy anything at HF unless I have a 20% off coupon and a coupon for something free.

[ford_truck_guy]

I got a 20 ton pneumatic bottle jack for $79.00 from them,,, This thing is a BEAST!!!! It also has manual pump valve... I love H. F. .. And I like the fact that there is one less then 2 miles from my office....

[obgraham]

Executive wrote:
I buy my American Flags and dog leashes there....:W.....Dennis

Aren't those just cheap Chinese knockoff dog leashes? My wife refuses to use hers!

[Executive45]

I buy my American Flags and dog leashes there....:W.....Dennis

[MEXICOWANDERER]

IF.........................

They they could only have the original 10-amp manual battery charger on sale for 29.95 😞 😞 😞

[MrWizard]

i have the multi-tool, fantastic for my uses

and i have one of their $19 angle grinders

[obgraham]

I spend more time rejecting the extended warrantees on everything at HF! I bet they offer one on a hammer, too.

[j-d]

On the bottom end of my list is

This Thing. Supposed to be a 1-HP shallow well pump. Wouldn't pop two sprinkler heads. The Myers I bought at ACE for 3x the $ will pop eight.

On the other hand, the marine contractors (dock builders) around here are buying

They can get three for the price of one Honda pump and the Hondas last three times as long. The problem is that either pump gets drenched in salt water, dropped overboard, left out in the rain. Long before either is worn out. Honda isn't enough better to survive that.

C-Leigh - HF seems to have gotten much more date-conscious. I've given them an expired coupon in error and it comes up Tilt when the scan it.

Ah, the Extended Warranty... Used to be you could do anything to a tool any number of times and they'd replace it. I bought a megaphone for $29 on sale and the 2-year extension since I use it on the water. About six months into that, the switch got sticky. So why not go swap it? Took me an hour, half the ones I tried were worse, they had to call their extended warranty provider, and the replacement carried a 90-day warranty. No better than most other extended "warranties."