Harbor Freight trip

[messmaker]

I had not been in in a couple of months.Wow, things have changed. They have reset the entire store. Have all or their new more expensive tool lines more visible. The welding stuff looks nice. The cordless stock is improved. A Hercules 12" dual bevel sliding miter saw was the first thing you see. Looks like a lot of the cheaper stuff now is no longer there. I think HF is trying to change their image. The crap Warranty is the same on these new and obviously better tools. I saw several people with the red Bauer tools in their cart. The 20% coupon has been carrying restrictions on use and was not included in the monthly catalog for the first time that I remember.

[BloomingtonMike]

There are new 44" toolboxes coming in red blue and black

[Roly]

If you are looking for a 20% off coupon  go to this Harbor Freight site.      As you said the 20% coupon is not good for the better quality tools.   It seems like they have three lines of tools varying in quality.   As far as the best quality cordless tools are in the same price bracket as name brand tools.  While the quality may be somewhat the same not so with replacement parts.   Roly

[photobug]

I had not been in in a couple of months.Wow, things have changed. They have reset the entire store. Have all or their new more expensive tool lines more visible. The welding stuff looks nice. The cordless stock is improved. A Hercules 12" dual bevel sliding miter saw was the first thing you see.  Looks like a lot of the cheaper stuff now is no longer there. I think HF is trying to change their image. The crap Warranty is the same on these new and obviously better tools. I saw several people with the red Bauer tools in their cart.  The 20% coupon has been carrying restrictions on use and was not included in the monthly catalog for the first time that I remember.

This is a first.

"I went to Harbor Freight and I was blown away with the high quality of the products I saw." 

[DFJarvie]

I just bought their 8 inch grinder to sharpen lawn blades, etc. I took it out of the box and plugged it in and no vibration at all. I was very impressed.

[Bill Wilson]

I had not been in in a couple of months.Wow, things have changed.

Did it smell any different?

[Robert Adams]

Did it smell any different?

That outgassing smell is gone on their better stuff now. 

   Also their air impact wrenches are extremely good for the price and are going to put the hurt on snapon,mac etc as they perform just as well in real world tests and are built  very well not to mention drastically cheaper. Course being made in Taiwan by the same company that makes many of the German brand and other name brand tools might have something to do with it. 

     They are really starting to up their product quality and others need to take note. Take a look at the teardowns of their new tools and they are quite impressive compared to what they were.

[TDKPE]

This is a first.

"I went to Harbor Freight and I was blown away with the high quality of the products I saw." 

They are really starting to up their product quality and others need to take note. Take a look at the teardowns of their new tools and they are quite impressive compared to what they were.

Sort of mirrors the (perceived by me) history of Grizzly.  At the risk of offending Papa Griz, I seem to recall that back-when they were making knock-offs of Delta and others.  Now, they're a major player, not a knock-off factory, and the quality seems to have improved. 

They're not quite Minimax, but then Minimax isn't quite Minimax any more from what I've read here, and Griz's customer service is all over that aspect in spades, also from what I've read here.

And I'm still in mourning for the loss of Delta as I knew it, including their customer service (run by a member of this forum at the time).


Just some random observations.

[Dan Moening]

There are new 44" toolboxes coming in red blue and black

U.S. General brand? I hope so ... I'd like something other than bright red.
The drawer slides on these are quite good.

[tomsteve]

HF is still the same,though- some gems and some...ummm...not gems.
like their ceramic tile hole saw kit. a waste of shelf space.