Harbor Freight...Why?

My Porter Cable circular saw, everything about it is right. I've abused my Milwaukee Sawzall and right angle and straight drills since 1991. They're about 20% used up.
All the Hitachi stuff has been good so far. As has the Makita hand power planer and drill. Ryobi has been worth the price. And the Skill right angle saw from 1984 is immortal. Never damaged a Rigid tool, I tried. My Bosch router is a piece and a half. Same for the Bosch hand power planer and jig saw. All the Estwing hammers are still here.
I'm not buying any more DeWalt, B&D or Kobalt.
 
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My US General tool chests from HF compete with the best but cost far less than the name brands.

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I have a friend who owns a house painting company. He used to buy really expensive sprayers and his crew would meticulously clean them after every job.

Now he buys them at Harbor freight and throws them away at the end of a job. It cost too much to clean them (He's paying people by the hour) and sometimes the "low skill" workers would damage them.

I love Harbor freight, but I'm careful what I buy there. And one time I bought towing straps that I could have gotten cheaper (and better) at costco.

Thing is, many of us don't need industrial grade stuff. If you are putting in a brick/tile woakway or floor and need a tile cutter, It's fine to get one that will last a job (or two) and then throw away than spend a LOT more money on something you'll never use again.
 
Anyone have opinions on other brands of power tools like Porter Cable, Kobalt, Hitachi, Skil, B&D (current), Rigid, Ryobi, Milwaukee, Makita, DeWalt?
Well, to me, B&D always made cheap consumer grade power tools. What I had used or bought were just above junk. Older Craftsman power tools (by Emerson) were great as were Porter Cable. Now that B&D owns them and DeWalt, I wonder if the quality will still exist. For me, the best drill I have ever owned in my little Makita Lithium cordless. In the days of consolidation, you need to judge each tool separately, not by the name badge stuck on it. I think Ryobi has some of the best values out there.
 
I only go to HF for single-use tools that I do not care if they break. I made the mistake of buying a Chicago Bridge Tile Saw from them. I (incorrectly) assumed that parts were available. Nope. I do buy angle grinders from them as they are really cheap. I only use them for sharpening my mower blades. So, when one quits, I go buy another. My hand tools that I use often are all Snap-On. My boxes are older Craftsman. Saws are Ryobi. Battery tools are Milwaukee.
 
I am more likely to visit HF first when looking for something to do the job. But you have to use good judgement and not buy any expensive items if you have been in there breathing the fumes for very long. My general observation is that many of the types of plastic used do not hold up; lots of things crack prematurely. I confess to being a sucker for those colorful comic book style ads.
 
I like my tool box I just bought a few weeks ago from HF. However, the latches are a bit flimsy. I won't ever use the top handle, it's just there for looks, the side handles are actually part of the box and can handle the weight of my largest wrenches, sockets, ratchets, etc whenever I need to move it. Normally, I keep my hand tools in the basement where it's dry. Someday I may replace those latches with stronger ones.
 

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I too have had better luck with harbor freight ,my harbor freight ratchets will click 3 or 4 times to every 1 click of my Craftsman ,I bought my mig welder from HF going on 15 years ago and I've ran dozens of spools of wire and tanks of gas through it without a hitch ,my joint planer is a decade old ,heavily used and zero issues ,I've got a 12" metal chop saw that's every bit of 20 years old and the only repair was to weld a patch over the gaurd where metal shards wore a hole pointed directly at my eyeball .
 
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