HF tools are great until you're trying to get some job done and they fail in the process. Someone told me that HF really means "Hot then Fix".
I try to go with tools that you can use till the end of the project.... Then still good for the next?
If you were playing tennis for the first time, would you run out and buy a $2500 custom tennis racket, or do you think a $100 racket from Sports Authority might get you through some games?
Pros should by pro quality stuff. Casual/hobby users, if they have the coin and want that level of quality, sure thing. On the other hand, I've used the heck out of the $10 grinder and made some very decent welds with a $100 MIG welder. And I probably wound't have started down that path without those cheap tools. Now I can decide if I want to move up the tool quality food chain, with a better understanding of how this stuff works. I won't be welding or cutting on any building structures, nuclear power plants, or metro rail systems, and certainly not cutting or welding to make a living. It's purely hobby stuff.
And to boot: HF stuff has gotten dramatically better over the years. In my estimation, many of their entry level tools are roughly the quality equivalent of the consumer brands found at the big box stores (and probably sourced in factories with very similar capabilities). The "better" HF brands (Hercules, for example), I can't say because I generally don't buy them.
Example: My wife uses the HF Central Pneumatic 23ga pin nailer every day in her crafts business. We bought two, for exactly the reason you suggest (potential breakage at a critical time). The first one is closing in on 100K pins fired. We thought it broke a couple months back, turns out it just needed a good cleaning (user servicable!). Still going strong, with the backup still in the box. Any tool that can do something harsh like hammer pins 100,000 times, at a price of $20, represents good quality and value.
