This I feel is closer to the reality - craftsman has "sold the brand" so hard that they can't charge anything like a premium, and their quality is now south of Harbor Freight.
It’s easy to shit on HF but some of their products are basically industry standard - like winches and floor jacks. It’s really odd to be honest because people will frequently mention buying something cheap off “Amazon or Ali express” and then scoff at HF. I’ve seen some HF products out perform SnapOn tools in YouTube reviews.
Not everything is “good” but it’ll get the job done.
Daytona floor jacks, good stuff. Icon tools pretty much one step below Mac/Snap on. Cable Porter, Warrior, etc. brand well its cheap and disposable. Pittsburg - well you're buying brass brushes so you use em once and throw em in the fuckit bucket. The names they give stuff do a good job indicating what the quality is.
Where would you go to buy air compressor and accessories at retail but HF? Nobody caries them. I bought excellent standing air compressor at black Friday sale couple years ago!
I love shopping at HF but I've had to learn through experience which of their products are decent and which are utter dogshit. And sometimes I still buy the dogshit if I know I only need the item once and plan to toss it.
Every now and then a crappy tool is exactly what’s needed. Ever had a hole in a countertop but a misaligned or otherwise inadequate hole in the plywood under it? (Or just wanted to drill a new hole through both?). Get a cheap, crappy Forstner bit the same size as your hole, stick it in the countertop hole, and drill through the plywood base. Cuts perfectly and takes very little time. Also destroys the bit very quickly. I don’t think there’s any benefit to using a nice Forstner bit for this. (A cheap hole saw could also work, but some fiddling with the drill bit portion may be needed.)
Obviously one should use a high quality diamond bit for cutting the countertop in the first place, with proper dust control.
buy cheap for the first one and if you ever have to replace it you know you will use it enough to pay for a quality replacement. that way you spend money on tools that need it.
I stopped buying harbor freight tools and went all in on Milwaukee. The productivity boost dwarfed the extra cash I paid...which now seems trivial in comparison to my capabilities with the tools.
> For my purposes harbor freight is where sears used to be
That's very contrary to my experience. I have a lot of tools. Most of my hand tools are Craftsman from Sears back when they were around. Nearly all of them are very adequate quality for a non-professional (i.e. used only on weekends, not full time). Sears hasn't been around for a while but I still have all the tools, all work great.
I went through a phase of trying to save money and bought a lot of junk from HF. Nearly all of it was an exercise in frustration and I've thrown it all away in anger. Soft metal, bad tolerances, pure junk. The only HF tool I have left is a cement mixer. It's not great (the belt keeps popping off) but for my limited cement needs it's been tolerable.
Honestly even their mid grade and above power tools are decent. I have an earthquake xt electric impact that makes short work of suspension and lug nuts.
The main downsides of their power tools is the refusal to make them share batteries and that the decent ones get into the Milwaukee/Dewalt tool price areas.
All "brands" do this now. Rather than selling one thing, they sell a variety in a "Good, Better, Best" tiered system so that a customer is never priced out of buying from them.
TTI does this too: Ryobi (Good), Ridgid (Better), Milwaukee (Best).
The average HF tool is probably expected to survive a single project. If you've ever taken apart any of their power tools it's honestly really sad. Some of the components are average for higher end tools but where they cut corners making them horrible will leave you scratching your head... Literally 10 dollars more could make a tool sold by a competitor for 100 that is sold by them for 20 unnoticeable to most hobbyists... Still not good nor reliable but passing for lay people.
