Harbor Freight qualitry must be improving

[California]

...t now have quite a collection of Ryobi cordless. I wouldn't buy Robi if I used them for a business, but for my home use they work great.

I have quite a few HF odds and ends hand tools, cutting disks, sockets etc and have never had any fail on me.

Agree, Ryobi stuff is sufficient for my occasional farm repairs. Some things are a little lightweight. The polesaw feels like its mast will break if used horizontally for example. And the cheap angle grinder is no more powerful than HF's $10 DrillMaster. I should have bought Ryobi's better cordless angle grinder, it has excellent reviews.

Most of the Ryobi tools simply work as expected. The advantage over any cordless tool from HF is my Ryobi tools from years ago accept Ryobi's more powerful modern batteries. HF's practice of starting a new incompatible battery series continually then abandoning them after a while is bogus. I wouldn't buy any of the HF cordless tools for this reason. Don't need a bunch of orphan tools, or a half dozen different chargers.

For hand tools HF's more expensive lines are ok. Cheapest ones are junk. I stripped the ratchet in the $9 (with carrying case!) socket set while on my hands and knees pushing on it, hardly a brute force application. HF exchanged the set without question. Then I soon stripped the replacement ratchet. Substituted an old Taiwan ratchet into the set and I've used that now for years without problems. But I use my old Craftsman-USA socket set that I keep locked up, for any serious work.

In summary, Ryobi is a step up in quality from HF's mid to low price lines, and, it doesn't have the random-defects problem that makes HF tools frustrating.

[Oldendum]

My bro-in-law works next door to a HF store. He shops in their dumpster. Lately, he's fished out two of the shop cranes in nice condition and a bunch of other stuff. He just got two socket tool kits that might have been missing an extension or two and the case had a small split in it. This one that goes for $40. :



He missed out on one of the big roller tool cabinets. It was dumped on top and it was too heavy for him to fish it out. He offered to buy it if they would pull it out with their forklift, but they refused. He has all kinds of stuff like a brake bleeder and a ball joint kit, all trashed.

[Xsbank]

Chinesium! Aarrrggghhh!

I had decided to stop buying anything from China. Just about everything I need is now made there or non-Chinese stuff is way more expensive than say US made. Then, when you read the reviews of something you want to buy, the western stuff has the same reviews and the same complaints as to quality as the Chinesium. Maddening. An example is injectors for my boat engine, Cummins want $285 US each and I bought 6 from a US seller for $60 plus shipping. They are identical as far as I can see, which leads me to believe that Cummins buys them from China anyway. Vise grips, traditional packaging, China. DeWalt, mostly China. Braun shaver, German, now owned by Proctor and Gamble, China.

[cornchip]

Chinesium! Aarrrggghhh!

I had decided to stop buying anything from China. Just about everything I need is now made there or non-Chinese stuff is way more expensive than say US made. Then, when you read the reviews of something you want to buy, the western stuff has the same reviews and the same complaints as to quality as the Chinesium. Maddening. An example is injectors for my boat engine, Cummins want $285 US each and I bought 6 from a US seller for $60 plus shipping. They are identical as far as I can see, which leads me to believe that Cummins buys them from China anyway. Vise grips, traditional packaging, China. DeWalt, mostly China. Braun shaver, German, now owned by Proctor and Gamble, China.

same here. i wont spend one penny on china hand tools. complete junk. recently ive bought quit a few things from sk. they dont have a huge selection like snapon but nearly everything tool they offer is made in usa with usa steel. another great tool company is stahlwille from germany. among the best qaulity you can buy. ive got two of their torq wrenches and one 3/8 ratchet. the precision of their tools is even better than most top usa brands

heres something not everybody knows. even big usa tool companies are putting their name on tools from taiwan. williams is one of then. i know atleast the snapon work lights are from china

[Popeye an old miner]

same here. i wont spend one penny on china hand tools. complete junk. recently ive bought quit a few things from sk. they dont have a huge selection like snapon but nearly everything tool they offer is made in usa with usa steel. another great tool company is stahlwille from germany. among the best qaulity you can buy. ive got two of their torq wrenches and one 3/8 ratchet. the precision of their tools is even better than most top usa brands

heres something not everybody knows. even big usa tool companies are putting their name on tools from taiwan. williams is one of then. i know atleast the snapon work lights are from china

So why are you gettin tools from Germany? Thinkin maybe a bit of hypocrisy there pushin USA tools then pushin german tools. I agree Germany makes some of the best stuff to be found but given the chance I would much rather keep one of us yanks workin

[Xsbank]

I have been constantly annoyed by cheap micrometer calipers that either don't return to 0 or if electronic, have dead batteries whenever I really need it. I finally decided to buy a good quality caliper. A Chinese caliper is anywhere up to $50. A Starrett or a Mitutoyo is about 4 times that but I decided to bite the bullet for a tool that lasts a lifetime. Much to my disgust, they are made in China too. If you look at the reviews, they are exactly like the Chinesium ones, same percentages and same failures. I'll bet (correct me if I'm wrong) that Starrett never had any warranty repairs or complaints about accuracy until the idiots moved production to China?
Careful about "buying US" when it is only US in name.

[ronsii]

I have been constantly annoyed by cheap micrometer calipers that either don't return to 0 or if electronic, have dead batteries whenever I really need it. I finally decided to buy a good quality caliper. A Chinese caliper is anywhere up to $50. A Starrett or a Mitutoyo is about 4 times that but I decided to bite the bullet for a tool that lasts a lifetime. Much to my disgust, they are made in China too. If you look at the reviews, they are exactly like the Chinesium ones, same percentages and same failures. I'll bet (correct me if I'm wrong) that Starrett never had any warranty repairs or complaints about accuracy until the idiots moved production to China?
Careful about "buying US" when it is only US in name.

I have a 6inch mitutoyo and it's great!!! made in japan batt lasts several years use or not... reads to .0005 and best of all I got it FREE from a guy was cleaning out his shop!!! he was just grabbing things.. looing at em'... hit the on button and it didn't come on so in the bag it went just needed a sp44 battery
I bet i have 15-20 6 inch digital calipers in the various shops/vehicles/stock rooms but I like this one the most for some reason??? probably because it was free!!!

I have at least 6 of the cheapy 6inch digital HF's or equivalent's in the mix... the batts last a few months if you're lucky and they flex a bit more than any of the US/jap/german ones... so if you're going for precision.. forget it

[whtbaron]

I gave up on the digital ones... batteries kept going dead when I needed them. Went back to a dial type that has both standard and metric... much more reliable.

[ronsii]

I gave up on the digital ones... batteries kept going dead when I needed them. Went back to a dial type that has both standard and metric... much more reliable.

I do like the dial ones... have a few of those too!!!! but..... they do have their dark sides for instance if you're milling around in the shop and leave one face up 'anywhere' near where metal millings can get in it... you're screwed!!! or grinding near it.. then you're really screwed I have been lucky and was able to clean out a couple of my better ones to make them usable again.. but a few of them were never the same after grinding dust got in em'... RIP little calipers So I try to use only vernier's now when 'working' a piece where small millings or grindings are involved... although it can be frustrating to see the lines some times

[cornchip]

So why are you gettin tools from Germany? Thinkin maybe a bit of hypocrisy there pushin USA tools then pushin german tools. I agree Germany makes some of the best stuff to be found but given the chance I would much rather keep one of us yanks workin

well ive spent alot of money on usa tools. nearly everything sk makes is usa with usa steel to boot. bought three of their ratchets, extensions, pick set, feeler gauges, xframe wrench set, in the last 6months. if you havent seen the x- frame wrench , its the best thing since sliced bread.
same concept as gear wrench but the sk version is miles better than gear wrench imo. but ya i have some stahlwille also. their really in a league of their own if you ask me. top notch qaulity for sure. try one of their torq wrenches and youll never want to touch another twist handle again. expensive but worth every penny to me. and their ratchets are smooth as a rolex watch