Harbor Freight "Inside Track Club"

[D60]

Anyone joined this? There's an annual fee, but if you really do get cool sales flyers or additional discounts it could be worth it.

[apple]

I joined it a couple of years ago. There was supposed to be a charge on my credit card, but it never actually appeared. I get the flyers regularly every month without fail, now long after my "subscription" should have expired. I don't know whether this is a mistake, or whether they just say there is a charge to prevent casual buyers from asking for the free flyers, which cost money to print and mail after all. I don't think the company is very well run.

I don't order much from them for several reasons, but the prices in the monthly flyers are good deals, and worth the charge, if it appears on your card at all. There are monthly freebies of one sort or another if you spend, typically, $39.99 or more, which is easy enough to do. If you like them, go for it.

There are several things I don't like about Harbor Freight, however.

A lot of their tools appear to be junk made in China, and you have to be careful about the item. You generally get what you pay for in life, and there is little point in buying stuff that is just TOO cheap. How good can it be at some ridiculous price? There's a saying, the bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the cheap price is forgotten.

Myself, I would never buy their private label power tools regardless of the price. What do you do when they need repair? Who knows where the stuff is made or how long parts remain available? What do you do for service, send it all the way back and wait forever for it to be returned, maybe repaired properly, maybe not? If parts are no longer available, the tool is worthless. I would rather spend a little more and buy a name brand tool where I have more confidence that if it needs repair, I will have a better shot at getting it back into working order, and maybe from a local authorized repaiir facility.

On actual name brand quality tools, their prices don't seem to be any better than local discounters or internet sites. Every once in a while there is a good deal, but that's it, in my opinion. That's about the only time I'll buy.

I live on the East Coast. It takes a long time for stuff to get here by their standard shipping. And if I have to send something back, it costs a good buck for UPS. That's a factor for me, given my mixed experience.

Customer service is variable. I called up about a bum 1/4" ratchet in a set, and they sent out a replacement ratchet without requiring a return of the defective one. That's certainly fair, as the cost of return shipping would have exceeded the price of the set. No many companies would do that. Then again, the ratchet wasn't exactly the price of a Proto or Snap-on.

On the other hand, I bought a set of 3 flex head ratchets that was described in the catalog as packaged in a vinyl roll, but they came in a useless plastic throwaway clamshell instead. I called up about this, and the stupid so-called customer "service" rep first told me that they weren't responsible for the description because that was provided by the manufacturer, and they hadn't actually seen the tool. When I said that was unacceptable, she then said vinyl is a kind of plastic, so the description was accurate. How f*cking idiotic is that? And you can never get to speak to an actual supervisor in person there; they always put you on hold and then get back to you.

You have to watch the descriptions. For example, what is described as a 8-piece socket set is actually 7 sockets plus the tray or socket rail. That's just not the way it's done. Nobody counts the packaging as one piece of the set, except Harbor Freight that is, to jack up the apparent size of the item and make it look like a better deal than it actually is. And if you ask for more info, typically they don't have any.

The blizzard of catalogs from them, plus the Inside Track flyers, is annoying. The front and back covers and inserts always have special prices and special deals like free shipping and freebies, so if you want a particular tool, you have to shuffle through all of them looking for the best price because they will NOT give you the best price on the item unless you order from the ONE catalog that has that price. One tool may have 3,4,5 different current prices, sometimes 2 different prices in the same damn catalog!

I guess that's more than enough about Harbor Freight. Sorry guys.

[Murph]

Myself, I would never buy their private label power tools regardless of the price.

They are disposable. I have 2 or 3 of their $10 angle grinders that are still working fine after two years of occasional home garage use. When they die I'll pony up the $100 for a Milwaukee, but until then...


Andy

[D60]

A lot of their tools appear to be junk made in China, and you have to be careful about the item. You generally get what you pay for in life, and there is little point in buying stuff that is just TOO cheap.

I guess that's more than enough about Harbor Freight. Sorry guys.

News flash. You don't say??

I was gonna say something in my original post about please not bashing HF just to keep the thread OT, too late for that. I realize a lot of their stuff sucks, as does everyone else here. But OTOH I like some of their stuff. As has been discussed here, they're a good source for consumables. Being in a small town I can mail order 10 packs of grinding discs, cutting discs and chop saw abrasive wheels (some people say the chop saw wheels explode but I've yet to see it personally). And yes, the 10 packs of 4.5" stuff goes on sale regularly.

So far it seems a lot of their air tools are decent. Upon the reco of people here I bought their nibbler and it seems to work great. Ditto for their sheet metal shear. The thing w cheap air tools is that they use a lot of air, but that's less of a concern for me w a big compressor. Their air drills seem decent, but I'd avoid their impacts. Some here have said their air rivet gun stands up to even production environments. IOW, you gotta know what works and what doesn't.

A lot of their air tools regularly go on sale, and for a non-professional shop they seem ok, altho I admittedly can't speak for longevity. Their die grinders work better than I expected, esp for $9.99. I'm also wanting to order their air file and needle scaler. And they have closeout deals on Campbell Hausfeld stuff, etc.

I bet 90% of the people on this board own at least one of their cheap electric angle grinders.........if nothing else they're great for multiple accy's like wire wheels, flapper wheels etc

Now, back to my original question, I joined the Inside Track club yesterday online and was able to sign in immediately; almost surely before they charged my card the $9.99. Some of the deals were decent and saw a couple items I recently ordered even cheaper than what I paid "on sale." So, I think it'll work out.

[glfredrick]

Some of their stuf is worthy - for instance, their lug nut socket set is great. My kid uses one every day for regular paid mechanic's work and it holds up great. (The ones that are color coded with the plastic sleeve.) I have several other of their house brand hand tools - lifetime - no questions asked. I broke one puller set twice trying to get my tranny apart - just get another one - and it costs $19.95 compared to a similar Snap On set for $159.00. I also have their ball joint press - works perfectly - with no evident wear after 4 ball joint jobs and a couple dozen u-joints. I now carry that on the trails with me - beats hammering stuff out on a rock... $29.95 on sale - and worth every penny.

Other things I use and like:

-Their auto-darkening welding helmet - LOVE it and they warranty it for 2 years - no questions asked.
-Their cut-off wheels (beat the snot out of the Norton line!)
-Their VERY cheaply priced AAPCO airline fittings (about a buck each compared to $5 at any other store!)
-A ratchet wrench that I have yet to break (I try)
-Their breaker bars (24") which selll for $8.00 - can you say 4 foot pipe extension?

Some stuff that was pure crap:

-A cut-off saw - only made 2 cuts before it smoked - but they traded me up giving me full price back on theirs to a Makita that was on sale that rocks (I only paid sale price for theirs initially)
-Some of their sockets (some are unbreakable some dust the moment you put pressure on them - no quality control - the funniest was the small set I got for the trail rig that threaded themselves onto threaded rod when I tried tightnening a nut on some)
-Chinese sandpaper - might as well be toilet paper

Just gotta take your chances on some stuff - I generally get the extended warranty on anything electical - simle replacement deal then - no repairs - they just give you a new one - and ALL their hand tools are automatically covered.

[D60]

-Their cut-off wheels (beat the snot out of the Norton line!)

Agreed, their 4.5" cutting discs last 5x longer than Norton, and they're way cheaper. I like the ball joint press, too, have one in the shop and carry one in the trail rig. They take a lot of abuse and even if you strip it out it's not a big deal (watch for the smaller set in a gray case on sale for $20).

Oh, and their sets of 1/2" drive deep impact sockets (in the long black cases) can't be beat for ~$11

[Geesh]

I've bought the gamut of shit from HF. Some good, some bad.

FWIW, I say avoid the added warranty that they charge ya for. I bought the mini mill/drill from HF (see attached photo) and the warranty and had to send it to some shop for evaluation and pay to get it upgraded. Turned out I fried a gear set that is cheaply available on this web site~ littleMachineShop (http://www.littlemachineshop.com/Info/minimill.php). Good folks there and affordable. Since then I've bought several add-ons and it works great.

But don't go to HF expecting product support, FYI

[saf-t scissors]

Don't forget about the 5gal bucket oil pump. Best $25 I ever spent.

[Packman5280]

I have the $40 chop saw. Don't use it too much but it works great everytime I do. Also have a 220V MIG from them. Don't use it too much, but it works great when I do. The way I see it, there was no way for me to learn how to weld if I were to spend $500 on a welder. I would never be able to justify that much money just to tinker and learn with. But for $200 I got a 220V welder that will weld 1/4", eventually I can add gas, and when I get better I can get a better one if it turns out I use it that much. Personally, I love HF and only live like 10 minutes from the store.

[Lil Toe]

Things I like/disliked from HF:

14" Chop saw: burned up after about a month, but unlike others here I think it was as much a fault of their cutoff wheels as the saw. My DeWalt seems to work better with the DeWalt wheels than the HF wheels.

Drill Press, the $160 on sale one, works well, no complaints

8" bench grinder, works fine for light stuff, just can't lean into it

6" disc/4" belt sander, not bad for the $60 it cost, works well for light stuff.

Auto dark helmet, the solar one, works great.

Gear pullers, flats on the arms snapped, but new ones are easily made

29 pc titanium bit sets for $20 or less can't be beat

Swivel impact sockets work well.

Propane forced air heater, still works after 10 years of dirty shop environment

Can't beat the prices on little stuff like picks, c-clamps, those plastic clamps, just have a reasonable expectation for the price you're paying

You can even get good deals on name brand stuff, got my 1/2" IR Thunder gun for $160 and got a closeout deal on a IR 2112 3/8" gun for $130.

Just some of my purchases...Chris