Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[PapaPerk]

Uh maybe. Both Perkins Diesel and Jeep joined partnerships in China - then saw their patents used for unrelated clones that didn't pay royalties.

Exactly... I can't support country that behaves like this. No morals.

 

[varmint]

This seems like a relevant place to share this: I read an article on container ships, and it said that a can of beer can be shipped from China to the USA for.... 1 cent. So, the costs to ship stuff here from China don't really factor- the trucking across the country is probably much more. I have bought small electric goodies thru eBay from China and Hong Kong, and the postage for delivery to me has to be subsidized- waterproof toggle switch- $2.50 delivered. 5 12v LEDs- $2.17 delivered. So forth. Stuff was fine quality, came within a week.

 

[AchingBack]

I really like this well made, very sharp, stainless steel survival knife. I bought it mainly for decapitating broad leaf weeds.
http://www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-hunting-survival-knife-90714.html

 

[Bob77064]

That knife looks good for the price, it's huge.

 

[sixdogs]

Six Dogs;

I caught this DC on $9.99 sale a year or two ago and find it works well. Compared it to really expensive one belonging to one of our machinist. It was dead on end to end of scale.

My only complaint is that it seems to eat batteries. First battery lasted only two weeks so, I just remove the battery between uses.

Do you remember to turn it off? Everyone told me they were hard on batteries so I use mine and turn it off right away. So far, I have had the battery for maybe 10 months.

 

[Travelover]

........ I have bought small electric goodies thru eBay from China and Hong Kong, and the postage for delivery to me has to be subsidized- waterproof toggle switch- $2.50 delivered. 5 12v LEDs- $2.17 delivered. So forth. Stuff was fine quality, came within a week.

Same here. I buy Chinese electronic components on eBay for $1, with free shipping. One even came registered mail for a buck! I can't send a post card to China for a buck.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Do you remember to turn it off? Everyone told me they were hard on batteries so I use mine and turn it off right away. So far, I have had the battery for maybe 10 months.

Yes, always turn it off after use. The 6" Starrett that the HF was compared to had auto shutoff after 1 minute of non-use as I recall.

Have a project coming up that I will use the DC a lot. Will leave a new battery installed, shut off judiciously and see what happens. Maybe first battery was just a dud. Original battery was not installed when I bought it.

 

[BigE_]

Regarding the grease thing, their small wheels for tool chests or rolling cabinets all need grease added. They appear to have something like the beeswax someone mentioned earlier. No grease = tough rolling.

I had a boss once that always called their grease "Chinese glue". Let it sit too long and it will stick two metal pieces together better than any epoxy.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Six Dogs;

I caught this DC on $9.99 sale a year or two ago and find it works well. Compared it to really expensive one belonging to one of our machinist. It was dead on end to end of scale.

My only complaint is that it seems to eat batteries. First battery lasted only two weeks so, I just remove the battery between uses.

Do you remember to turn it off? Everyone told me they were hard on batteries so I use mine and turn it off right away. So far, I have had the battery for maybe 10 months.

Prior ones at HF years ago did not time out and you had to turn off - and they were really off. Latest ones time out but have a sensing circuit on line constantly to detect motion and turn back on. The old ones lasted well if you turned off. The newer ones have less drain when off, but not 0. The sensing circuit applies a constant parasitic drain. Better than having the caliper on. But not as good as the old ones if you turned them off.
larry
larry

 

[BigE_]

Yes, always turn it off after use. The 6" Starrett that the HF was compared to had auto shutoff after 1 minute of non-use as I recall.
Maybe first battery was just a dud. Original battery was not installed when I bought it.

I have a few of these. The early ones had a slide switch that actually turns off the device, and the battery lasted.

The later ones have a push button switch with auto shut-off, and these tend to eat batteries. A couple of things: 1.) LCDs don't pull current if they aren't changing, so turning off the LCD doesn't do anything to save battery. 2.) There is still a processor running in the background so that it can sense when the button is pushed, so the unit is still running. 3.) The more expensive units will go into low power mode when turned off. The cheaper ones generally don't bother because it requires more silicon, parts, and programming.