Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

HF will be knocking the socks off HD and their 40 volt line. The HD close to me stopped stocking the 40V Lithium batteries because they had so many returns. I will be a convert to the Lynx line if they don't solve the problem soon. I have 3 Ryobi outdoor 40V tools and have gone through 4 batteries in two years. Some get their tool home and the first charge and it fails. Ryobi is grossly not customer friendly. Hung up on me twice and refuse to answer email asking what's wrong and when do they expect a fix. I think they are milking the $100 each replacement market. HF here I come.

Ron

Yep, my biz partner bought the whole Ryobi kit and it was total junk. Batteries failed. Tools flimsy and underpowered. Funny how things change; would rather shop HF than HD now.

 

[jerrybob]

I have a HF oscillating sander that I use in my shop a lot...bought it with a coupon for about $70 10 years ago...it works great and does a great job. I do a lot of woodworking...I am surprised this sander has stood up to the abuse.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I have never had a problem with the 18V stuff. I now have a mixture of old and new in almost all items they offer. Have worn out or broken several of the older ones (Blue), 2 recip saws doing demo work. Have all new lithium batteries (8) and the 6 place charger. I think I have somewhere 3 of the new single chargers (accumulated from sales where battery and charger is included for virtually $0). The 40V battery problem has been ongoing since they came out.

I know they deliberately hung up on me as I was pretty frustrated with there rig a roll and run around. They are not trained or encouraged to work sanely with a frustrated customer. I never did use profanity. Folks at the store indicated they are working on the problem.

Ron

 

[John_Mc]

Yep, my biz partner bought the whole Ryobi kit and it was total junk. Batteries failed. Tools flimsy and underpowered. Funny how things change; would rather shop HF than HD now.

I think that is as much or more a reflection of Ryobi than Home Depot.

Home Depot does carry the Milwaukee M18 line: both the regular M18, and the higher-end M18 Fuel. I have a bunch of the M18 Fuel tools, batteries and chargers. They are just about bomb-proof - though you do pay a good bit for them. HD also carries the Makita cordless tools. My brother has several of them, and has had good luck with them (he uses them pretty regularly in his home repair/remodeling business).

 

[aczlan]

Aaron, any lights, or just completely dead like mine (the red light came on for about 1 second before it went dark)?

Nope, no lights, no sounds, nothing.

Aaron Z

 

[sixdogs]

Yep, my biz partner bought the whole Ryobi kit and it was total junk. Batteries failed. Tools flimsy and underpowered. Funny how things change; would rather shop HF than HD now.

Any thoughts on Hitachi? I only have two of their things and those have been real quality in my opinion.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Any thoughts on Hitachi? I only have two of their things and those have been real quality in my opinion.

If you want guaranteed bulletproof, just go grab the DeWalt. My DeWalt 18V drill/circular saw/sawzall/light combo is somewhere around 15-20 years old and no difference today than the day bought. I've been through some 18 volt batteries for sure, but the equipment has built decks, done additions and been used at the apartments for all of the repairs and maintenance.

 

[Threepoint]

I have never had a problem with the 18V stuff. I now have a mixture of old and new in almost all items they offer. Have worn out or broken several of the older ones (Blue), 2 recip saws doing demo work. Have all new lithium batteries (8) and the 6 place charger. I think I have somewhere 3 of the new single chargers (accumulated from sales where battery and charger is included for virtually $0). The 40V battery problem has been ongoing since they came out.

I know they deliberately hung up on me as I was pretty frustrated with there rig a roll and run around. They are not trained or encouraged to work sanely with a frustrated customer. I never did use profanity. Folks at the store indicated they are working on the problem.

Ron

Ron, was this Ryobi or HF?

 

[Midniteoyl]

Ryobi

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

If you want guaranteed bulletproof, just go grab the DeWalt. My DeWalt 18V drill/circular saw/sawzall/light combo is somewhere around 15-20 years old and no difference today than the day bought. I've been through some 18 volt batteries for sure, but the equipment has built decks, done additions and been used at the apartments for all of the repairs and maintenance.

Rock Crawler, I don't think you can compare tools from 15-20 years ago to anything today (that I have tried, anyway). Wish I still had my old Milwaukee tools (all stolen). That drill went through concrete like butter. My newer Milwaukee drill (bought 5 years ago) the clutch failed twice with normal use. Finally went all-Dewalt-cordless recently; tired of all the different chargers, failed batteries, etc. Seems decent quality so far. Just got the Dewalt mechanics wrenches and sockets (for the tractor) and my mechanic brother declared them to be very nice quality. Probably could have saved some money with the Pittsburgh set from HF.

I've been quite happy with most of my HF tools.