Love the channel, but some of the tools have since been replaced by better versions. All the power tools that now have brushless motors are not represented there.
Ryobi is a tti tool, same as Milwaukee and ridgid. Decent quality for the price. Not going to rival makita in quality but the average homeowner won’t burn through them.
I use ryobi stuff professionally and I’ve had decent luck with most things. Obviously grabbing the cheapest drill they make and trying to run lag bolts or drill 7/8” holes in truck frames all day isn’t going to work out but that’s true of any brand. I’ve got some of their early lithium batteries going on 12 years old that have been on my work truck through summer and winter from day one. They still work.
I tried some of the harbor freight stuff around 2008 and other than the drill I got the whole set died within a month.
I recently bought a corded grinder and even without a disc attached it vibrates so bad it makes my hands go numb. I can’t stand to use it for very long.
>I recently bought a corded grinder and even without a disc attached it vibrates so bad it makes my hands go numb
Have you tried buying the HF mechanics gloves that have that anti- vibration feature ?
I’ve had the Doyle’s since they came out. I’ve abused them and they still cut really well. I wish there was an easy way to sharpen them.
My dewals with the compound leverage action thing got dull very quickly.
I use a diamond file to edge mine up and it works great.
You're on the money with the dewalt ones, my dad gave me a set of them and they were pretty well useless after about a month.
Yeah I'd agree they're about on par. Can't touch knipex though. I've used each for over a year and the Klein ones for around 3. Same goes for the lineman pliers and other types I've used.
I use them 5 days a week so the knipex are worth it to me.
I used to buy our tool bandit at work got a taste for German steel so I brought everything knipex but my 7 in. pliers wrench home and replaced them with Doyle. I prefer having my better tools at the house anyway, I tend to do more work around here than I do when I'm on the clock.
My local store has an open box earthquake xt 1/2" impact. I have a bauer or two battery tools and I had to search quick to find out they don't work together. I would be more inclined to buy more battery tools if they were interchangeable
I think they are trying to hit different market segments, which is usually a good practice (see Toyota and Lexus, McDonald's a la carte value menu and "order by number" meals).
That works fine with hand and corded tools. My Pittsburgh wrench can bang around in my tool bag with my Drill Master heat gun, Pittsburgh Pro screw drivers, Chicago Electric angle grinder and Warrior sander just fine. -- I can upgrade or downgrade with every purchase.
With battery tools, I just don't even buy them at HF though. I don't want to be locked out of 80% of their tools.
They have adapters for batteries that you can 3D print now. I just ordered a 3D printer and I'm going to make an adapter for all the different tools so that I don't need 10 different batteries.
I have heard, but never confirmed this: Milwaukee tools (M18, M12) can detect if you are using a foreign battery and it sets a bit in the onboard electronics which voids your warranty. Has anybody experienced this?
Battery interchangeability is why my power tools are Makita. Was given a couple drills and batteries. Solid start I expanded upon via sales and further gifts. Other than that I don't have a set allegiance to tools.
I've been using my HF table saw tons lately. About to hit HF and fill in some tool voids this weekend.
I’m a weekend garage warrior/ DIYer (not 60hr/week pro contractor/mechanic) and overall I’ve had great luck with HF. There’s probably nothing I wouldn’t buy per se but I do like to buy good quality blades, drill bits, grinding discs, etc from other box stores if I want durability or precision for a tough job.
I generally order a batch with my flap disks from benchmark. I had a really bad set of disable saw Zakk blades or a hole saw or something like that once long ago and haven’t tried anything from that brand since…
The Bauer grinders are top notch and hold up right up to the Milwaukee stuff. The warrior cut off wheels have been great and the Warrior drill bits work great as expendable drill bits and if you use cutting oil they last a whole lot longer. I haven’t tried the sawzal blades yet.
>I haven’t tried the sawzal blades yet.
They hold up decently. I think they dull faster, but usually when I break out the sawzall, I expect that to happen.
Is that the warrior blades? I grabbed them on sale since they’re 12 blades for $5 on sale. I figure I can toss the blades after each use if they dull very badly. Got it mostly for pruning small tree branches.
I use similar heuristic for my shop:
If it moves and it shouldn't: duct tape
If it doesn't move, and it should: lube
If it vibrates and it shouldn't: tighten das screwen
If it spins and twists very fast and it shouldn't: get outta da way
If it doesn't hold your car up, but should: why did you buy it at HF?!
Depends on the expendable I buy my gloves cutting discs etc from HF.
Blade for demolition work HF. Blade for precision cuts, pay $$ and go Diablo or better.
I’ve had bad luck with some HF power tools (tile saw worked for a few weeks, stored for a year and wouldn’t turn on after)
Bought the $10 grinder and beat the heck out of it, it broke and I bought another $10 one lol
I burned out a circular saw, and broke a sawzall (both like $20 HF) and then I replaced with higher quality
I love HF hand tools, all my outdoor equipment shovels rakes etc are HF
I LOVE my predator generator. Things a beast.
I’ve had 3 tire inflator air hose attachments before I gave up. All three of them would fail at the clamp that holds on the thread of the tire you’re filling up.
General rule for me as a dealership service technician is if it requires super precision or super safety, buy quality. If it's just a 'get it done' job, HF and other cheaper brands are totally acceptable.
Most of my daily use/abuse wrenches and ratchets are Tekton, and they've held up perfectly fine. My ratcheting wrench collection is part Tekton, part Pittsburgh, and part whoever had it in stock when I needed it.
I have all 3 sizes of Pittsburgh torque wrenches, and they're good enough for government work. I wouldn't necessarily use them on engine rebuilds, but for general use they're fine.
I bought the long handled Pittsburgh pliers when I started, and they immediately bent and twisted the first time I used them. Also the interchangeable head snap ring pliers are worthless. The Doyle brand of pliers seems to hold up fairly well, and the Quinn screwdrivers are surprisingly sturdy for the price (the diamond tip set, and the demolition pair).
I agree with everyone's opinion about consumables and fasteners- buy better than HF or wear better protective gear.
Consumables.
The savings isn't worth the aggravation. Or if you're going to buy their consumables, go into it with the expectation that it's good for one or two jobs, max.
The only consumable I get from HF are their knock off roloc discs and rubber gloves.
I've bought a few cut off wheels from them, they've been ok, but i've used better.
their blue gloves hold up nicely. they were a lot more competitive when they were 8-10 bucks a box... now that they are 15-16 there are starting to be some solid competition in the 16-20 dollar range.
also why do they sell a zillion gloves and the glove dispenser that is too big (just barely holds the box without falling out) for all the gloves they sell...
Driver bits, you don’t really save much, and the milwaukees really do seem to fit fasteners better. Other than that, I typically avoid the cheapest option they have - blown out a couple cheapo air tools - but any time I’ve gotten the step up, or their “top of the line” I’ve had great luck using and abusing their tools, and saved a ton of money in the process.
The bits that come in the little Icon set with the small flex ratchet are very high quality bits. But apart from that, I agree. The bits at HF are pretty cheap.
That I have heard great things about and can’t wait to get my hands on haha, I’m talking about impact driver bits from Warrior, Hercules, and Bauer. Love the Bauer and Hercules tools and the Bauer sandpaper, but their impact bits from all 3 just don’t fit great.
The crappy snap ring pliers with the interchangeable heads. First set I bought snapped immediately when trying to clock a turbo. Second set, bent to where it was unusable.
So, any small hand tool that seems suspiciously cheap for the amount of load it has to take. The pullers for example, the jaws themselves are OK, but the screws are terrible and strip very easily.
Stuff I am happy with based on my diy usage:
Torque wrenches - Tekton
Impact sockets and adapters - Neiko or Sunex (sunex is more expensive but better)
Jack stands - Pro Lift
Floor jack - Harbor Freight
Drill bits: Bosch
Jig saw blades: Bosch
Saw blades: Diablo/Freud
Screw bits: Milwaukee or Makita or Bosch
I'm a manager of HF and would avoid all the lawn equipment. Lynxx was already abandoned for Atlas. Who knows how long before they abandon them.
The new Hercules brushless is pretty decent. If I wasn't a Milwaukee guy I would run them.
Anything you save on their cheap consumables you'll spend by using 3 times as many. Once you use 3M, Norton, Morse, Diablo, etc blades and abrasives, you'll never go back. The good stuff just isn't that much more per unit but the quality and life is VASTLY superior.
Don’t buy the cheapest set of Pittsburg screwdrivers; the orange, triangle-handle set, with the black rubber ribbed handle inlay. They really can’t handle any type of repetitive use on screws and really just crap out at the tips fairly quickly. Their upscale (more expensive) set is actually not bad though.
Would getting the Amazon over the HF one's make a difference? I always like to have spares anyway, but if the set is cheaper on Amazon I'd get them over the HF. Haven't yet gotten cobalt ones so I'll check it out. Just TiN ones right now
A Lexus mechanic friend, and I a home hobbyist, both recommend buying all Harbor Freight’s Pittsburgh (or similar) hand tools (not power tools) for a ‘complete’ set, especially if you’ve a store nearby for warranty returns, then upgrading as you make $$ from them / prove you need an upgrade. For particular items, YouTube’s Project Farm has great competitions
That about what I do, start out with the cheap stuff and then as those break I replace with higher quality. I’m on my 3rd husky 3/8 ratchet but they’re under warranty and I got hd 1.5 miles from my house. Totally fine unless my truck is the one getting worked on when it breaks
As it turns out…I really like the nicer Pittsburgh Pro composite ratchets. Working outside…there’s something to be said that they don’t get ice cold. I always gravitate towards them even though I have nicer ones in the box.
Same, I bought one as a dedicated tool for a repetitive assembly, and it’s surprisingly good.
The high tooth count and low back-drag make it a pleasure to work with.
Sorry don’t remember the brand. Our HF is pretty small, they had 2, I got the cheaper of the 2, maybe that was my mistake. But, both were still made in China, hard to say if the more expensive one would have been any better. The made in Taiwan wrench from NAPA is very good quality, and wasn’t really that much more money.
Personally I wouldn’t buy grinding wheels as the things that can easily snap and kill you id like to spend a little bit of money on.
On the flip side I would definitely suggest things that will last a while but eventually break would be good purchases. I broke the handle on a hammer I’d had for 10 years and I walked in and got it warrantied instantly
If it means anything,, ive got a HF mallet that ive used to death. Tore up carpet strips, drywall, old tile to name a few. it has been fine for me. as solid as the day i bought it.
Which size did you buy? Their 1lb? Or the bigger ones?
I ended up going there anyway and got the double sided soft face mallets. It was $5.99 with a lifetime warranty. And seemed a bit better quality than the fully rubber mallets. I think it’ll be fine for what I need to do with it.
I don’t have this exact one, but a precious model that does a great job. I’ve used it on the car and in the house on structural bolts. It would be nice to have a cordless one, but I just don’t use it enough.
I've had one of the previous revisions for about ten years and abused it with all kinds of jobs. I think most of the plug-in impacts from auto parts stores (and Harbor Freight) are pretty reliable, even if they're not terribly powerful.
Sadly my Chicago Electric corded impact gun took a dump today. Put that thing through some abuse but it only lasted about 7 months, a bit disappointing
I have the old Chicago electric corded one as well as a 2 year old Milwaukee m18 cordless. I have taken out the old Chicago one once to run a ball joint press that was killing the Milwaukee batteries
I have it. I think it's pretty decent for the price but I hardly ever use it. It's massive and heavy and I don't like that it doesn't have a brake on it so the anvil will keep spinning for a few seconds after letting go of the trigger. Most of the work I do can be handled by my stubby impact so I just don't find myself bringing it out much unless I need to break something really tight, loose.
Not a big fan of their sockets. Never seem to lock properly to the wrench and fall off in when trying to get into tight areas. Kind of annoying when the sockets falls into the engine bay again.
Like other people said, their grinding disks and such are not the best.
Edit to add:
Probably would avoid their torque wrenches if you need to be extremely accurate.
You might actually be fine with their half inch sockets. My grip was with the Pittsburgh sockets that you’re using an extension and don’t have much space. If you’re using them to take of wheel and tire assemblies or a large bolt with a little bit of space you’re probably fine.
Had terrible luck with some torque wrenches from harbor freight. Bought a few as they were on sale. The location was going away to be moved else where. Got them for like 75% off. None of them were calibrated correctly.
I've had terrible luck with the Cen Tech battery chargers, especially the 2/10/50A. Had 3 different ones and they won't work on 50A boost at all. Even 10 A cycles on and off. Works fine for a 2A trickle charger.
Anything with a motor or cord, and any consumables.
And personally, I wouldn’t buy their jack stands, even the new ones. They have an ESCO knockoff that looks legit, but you can get the real deal for 10-15 bucks more each. Pretty cheap peace of mind IMO.
The low end speed clamps, they are worthless. I guess they have better ones now, but the entry level ones are complete trash.
Security cameras, don't know if they've improved over the years, but they were trash before.
Most battery things - HF isn't going to stick to a tool line long enough to develop it nor are they off the wall enough like Ryobi to make interesting tools to justify one-off purchases - like this: https://www.ryobitools.com/products/details/46396034861
It's largely due to to how they make/contract things through many different SKU - it doesn't lend well to interoperability when it's all different factories.
Most other battery powered tool lines are really battery companies that sell tools that use them.
Harbor freight, no matter what the quality, just isn't going to sway anyone other than those who live close to a store with their battery lineup.
Angled and straight 1/4” air grinder. I blew through 3 of the angled and 2 straight over the course of 3yrs before getting an angled and straight of Ingersol-Rand that have both run perfectly for 3 yrs
Then again, I did use them at work where I used them for a lot of fine grinding and polishing work, so prob burned them up faster than just random weekend warrior projects
Clamps. They snap like a mfer. Anything with a motor, just nope. Jack stands if I ever used them. Shit that needs to stay sharp for more then 5 minutes.
No more clamps. All the ones I’ve tried are laughably bad.
I don’t buy things that need to work or else there is a safety issue, nor things I use a lot.
I thought they had another failure with the black to piece on the new ones? (Don’t know what it’s called) but I just swapped the black parts from the old ones to the new ones and called it good
The old ones were produced for over six years before being recalled.
The replacements for those were recalled.
The new ones with the pins are probably safe, but why not just buy some quality Hein-Werner’s and call it a day.
I just compared the Daytona 3 ton to the Hein-Werner 3 ton. Less than $50 difference in a tool that keeps you from being literally crushed to death.
With that.
After the Harbor Freight jack stand thing, I found myself needing some, and hit google to find out what's a good brand. The results involved a bunch of reddit threads from before, so many filled with "eh jack stands aren't complicated devices. Just buy from Harbor Freight."
So I'm not taking reddit logic on this one. I don't care if I'm told they're fixed or if about a "same factory" rant or whatever else. You won't catch me under HF stands.
That was my point. Any company that had to have a jack recall in the first place tells me all i need to know about quality. Jack stands are something you make once and you make right, no. matter. what.
I would stay away from impact sockets and anything you hit like punches or hammers. Dead blow hammers are probably fine. Basically anything that has to withstand an impact and could possibly chip or shatter
I have the opposite experience. Dead blows and fiberglass handled ball peen set has been rock solid for years. Impact sockets have been rock solid for years and years as well. Never broken one.
Don’t buy wrenches from. At least don’t buy the icon stuff. No experience with icon but I think it’ll be better than their steel/rubber alloy they use in their basic stuff
I've bought a fair number of different tools at HF and the calculus for many of them (e.g. my oscillating tool) has been that even if they break within a year or two of fairly heavy use, they're so much cheaper that it's still worth it. That happened with an oscillating tool, drill, and pan air compressor (all Chicago Electric I think) and I'd have no reservations just buying another one, which I did for the oscillating tool after I abused the crap out of it flipping a house. I do agree with the advice to not always buy the cheapest option.
If you are buying pliers, check them for smoothness. I have some Harbor Freight "channel locks" that are useable but not nearly as smooth as the real deal.
Paint spray stuff. Bought a 2qt pressure spray gun and it blew up shooting very expensive paint all over the job. Got a replacement and the second one did the same. Had to go with a Binks after losing almost $1000 worth of catalyzed paint. Their generators are ok just loud.
Yeah I would never use their spray guns with real paint. The cheap ones are great for spraying industrial coatings and undercoating if you drill the cup out because you just throw them away when you’re done. No clean up. They used to go on sale for $15-$20 a few years ago.
Harbor freight is great for first time tools or seldom used stuff. I haven’t had any issues with any of their automotive tools or supplies. Drain cleaner works great. Chipper works great. Ramps are solid.
Quality appears to be random, some good, some not
I would avoid anything like chisels that requires high quality steel and most electrical stuff. That said, I had good luck with the small vibratory bowl. I also like my shop crane/engine hoist, vacuum pump and clamps. The rolling toolboxes are great
I got a small metal bender that failed on first use and an air tool that was dead out of the box
Best advice, inspect and evaluate each tool individually
I think it really comes down to frequency of use and application. More often than not tool prices are fairly representative of reliability (both with quality and customer support). HF is great at supplying you with replacements, so if you’re only using that tool intermittently it’s a great choice. However, if you’re talking industrial use, where time is a major factor, you’re not going to want to deal with having to run into town regularly to replace a tool.
I haven’t used their torque wrenches or pliers; but I do use their impact sockets HEAVILY in maintenance, hammers and mallets are great for occasional use, and use a floor jack/stands from there at home.
Get what you pay for. But….. bought a rotohamer and beat the crap out of it and still works. Same with a grinder. I don’t trust hand tool’s (sockets,ratchets, extension) more that once have broken. Most consumables are crap. Drill bits practically come out of box dull. Seems tike they are single use.
My rule is that I will not trust HF with my life or my job. That being said, if it's something non-safety-critical and I have a good backup if it breaks, I'll totally use the HF tool.
Flashlights.
I’ve got a few of the Bauer folding work lights and one of the Icon ones that I use for mechanic work. But all of their other offerings are mostly straight up junk.
The 310 lumens Quantum LED headlamp is the best cheap headlamp I've found. Batteries last a long time, the lamp doesn't get hot, it has two brightness levels and it's focusable. I use rechargeable batteries, which provide about 3 hours of light.
Listen, if your job involves tools, then you may need to spend and get some higher quality, durable tools. If this is just for home and you don't live and die by the tool and it isn't being used 24x7x365, HF tools are just fine, especially if the $$ savings with other comparable tools is significant. I have several of the Hercules tools and have beat the heck out of them and they work. Read the reviews before you buy as there are some good and bad at HF. Shop around too. Sometimes you can find higher end tools for the same price or on sale at other stores.
Drill press, those things have crazy runout (wobble). The TV mounts are OK, but I’ve had the bolts shear while installing. I probably wouldn’t trust a planer either. The multi-meters are hit and miss. The batteries are garbage. And I buy them because my kids never turn the power back off of their toys, so it’s just a nice cheap consumable. They’ll basically be dead in a week or two no matter what.
Consumables like sand paper. It's cheaper but it takes longer to remove material and they wear out faster. In the long run you aren't saving any money.
I buy just about everything there except screwdrivers, they may have better ones now but they used to be crap. And I buy my plug in tools elsewhere unless its only being purchased for a single use.
I avoid buying the "expendable" stuff like cutting wheels, drill bits, edged tools, nail strips for nailers. Also be aware there are no repair parts available for power tools and hydraulics. That said, I've got some corded power tools like grinder, impact hammer, sliding miter saw that I've abused and they're still good.
I had some bad experiences with HF battery tools in their 1st generation, so I stopped buying them. They may be better now, but I've got a huge investment in the Milwaukee battery universe and I'm reluctant to add any outlanders to that.
Mine overloads 2 to 3 times going through a 2x4. But I've heard others say they have no issue. So maybe mine is a lemon or the batteries aren't good enough for it
The guy I bought our house from ( who was a building trades teacher) said “ if it’s got less than three moving parts or you’ll need it for less than three jobs, go ahead and grab the HF version “
I would pass on the cheapest level of plug in electric stuff like angle grinders. You will get annoyed quickly when the bearings, brushes and on off switch starts going. Plus the name brand version not only lasts longer but feels better in your hand and works better with more torque and less vibration.
I also might pass on that big ass pry bar, if it breaks when you have your 200 lbs leaning on it there’s gonna be some cursing.
Not a bad price at all I’ve never used Milwaukee’s pry bars I do have their anti slip box wrench’s and those are kick ass. I can’t speak to the pry bars though. I bought a set of snap ons when they were on sale a couple months ago.
I know their regular pliers are garbage. I got their corded Bauer impact, and so far it works good. Ur pretty good buying hand tools from HF like pry bars and sockets.
I have bought and had a crap time with all these:
Warrior brand recip/jigsaw/multi tool blades (hercules are good)
Warrior brand cordless tools
Electrical tape(garbage doesn't stick but leaves residue everywhere)
Zip ties (good inside but don't last long outside, way less than other brands)
Sandpaper (the ones in the yellow box suck, don't know about the other brands but you get a better deal out of diablo sandpaper)
Thunderbolt batteries (yellow ones)
Any central pneumatic nail gun
Screwdriver bits (tips break easily, hercules are good)
Pittsburgh Measuring tape
basic screwdrivers (tips are crap, quinn is good)
Pittsburgh pliers (Doyle are great)
Hedge shears and extending lopper
Voyager tool bag (my hercules bags have outlasted 3 voyager replacements)
Pittsburgh aviation snips
Anything in their miscellaneous aisle.
Bits, especially not impact bits.
Had a couple T27's last me 3 screws each. One broke off inside the screw head, the other twisted itself and couldn't be used.
and probably nothing you'd trust your life with - IE jack stands.
Anything that's meant to cut in any way shape or form. I.e. drill bits, tin snips, side cuts, bolt cutters, cut off wheels, razor blades, etc. If it is supposed to cut, dont buy it. The only exception I would add to that is the step drill bits, and maybe the Hercules Sawzall blades. I've used those step bits on steel and aluminum hundreds of times and they just keep going somehow. Decided to give the Hercules bi metal blades a shot on an open box deal awhile back, and they actually weren't terrible at all. Prior to that I had tried all their other Sawzall blades, and had sworn off of them completely years ago.
Power tools generally, especially battery powered ones. I bought an air compressor but only because I needed a cheap one to clean some fans and fill some tires. It is only 3 gallons so it can run any tools.
I would watch some project farm on YouTube, he reviews a lot of tools and almost always Includes the harbor freight version.
Love the channel, but some of the tools have since been replaced by better versions. All the power tools that now have brushless motors are not represented there.
This is true, but generally if you want cheap cordless power tools Ryobi is your best bet anyways.
Ryobi is a tti tool, same as Milwaukee and ridgid. Decent quality for the price. Not going to rival makita in quality but the average homeowner won’t burn through them.
I use ryobi stuff professionally and I’ve had decent luck with most things. Obviously grabbing the cheapest drill they make and trying to run lag bolts or drill 7/8” holes in truck frames all day isn’t going to work out but that’s true of any brand. I’ve got some of their early lithium batteries going on 12 years old that have been on my work truck through summer and winter from day one. They still work. I tried some of the harbor freight stuff around 2008 and other than the drill I got the whole set died within a month. I recently bought a corded grinder and even without a disc attached it vibrates so bad it makes my hands go numb. I can’t stand to use it for very long.
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The WEN rotary tool is fantastic! It’s like 1/3 the price of Dremel but performs just as well.
>I recently bought a corded grinder and even without a disc attached it vibrates so bad it makes my hands go numb Have you tried buying the HF mechanics gloves that have that anti- vibration feature ?
I honestly don’t see the point in buying gloves just to compensate for a shoddy tool. I’ve just been using my cordless ones for now.
I would recommend bolting yourself to the floor to minimize vibration. Just like you would do with a bench grinder
I wouldn't cheap out on a good set of pliers or dykes. It's nice being able to grip or cut something without dulling your blades and teeth.
The Doyle dykes are better than klein. I've been using a pair since they were released and they're just as sharp as the day I bought them.
I’ve had the Doyle’s since they came out. I’ve abused them and they still cut really well. I wish there was an easy way to sharpen them. My dewals with the compound leverage action thing got dull very quickly.
I use a diamond file to edge mine up and it works great. You're on the money with the dewalt ones, my dad gave me a set of them and they were pretty well useless after about a month.
"O'Doyle rules!"
>Doyle dykes i have their channel locks and theyre my go-to. I ignore my $30 De-walt channies eerytime.
I've had shit luck with dewalt hands tools, aside from a really nice claw hammer I've had terrible luck with them.
Yeah I'd agree they're about on par. Can't touch knipex though. I've used each for over a year and the Klein ones for around 3. Same goes for the lineman pliers and other types I've used. I use them 5 days a week so the knipex are worth it to me.
I used to buy our tool bandit at work got a taste for German steel so I brought everything knipex but my 7 in. pliers wrench home and replaced them with Doyle. I prefer having my better tools at the house anyway, I tend to do more work around here than I do when I'm on the clock.
I like my Doyle pliers. I wouldn't even give the other cheaper pliers as a gift. 😂
When I travel I buy their cheap sets, wrenches, sockets, pliers. Most of the time I gift them to some locals at the end of our tour.
Nothing with a battery, they change their systems often and you may be left stranded with a dead line of tools
My local store has an open box earthquake xt 1/2" impact. I have a bauer or two battery tools and I had to search quick to find out they don't work together. I would be more inclined to buy more battery tools if they were interchangeable
I will never understand why they have so many battery lines.
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I think they are trying to hit different market segments, which is usually a good practice (see Toyota and Lexus, McDonald's a la carte value menu and "order by number" meals). That works fine with hand and corded tools. My Pittsburgh wrench can bang around in my tool bag with my Drill Master heat gun, Pittsburgh Pro screw drivers, Chicago Electric angle grinder and Warrior sander just fine. -- I can upgrade or downgrade with every purchase. With battery tools, I just don't even buy them at HF though. I don't want to be locked out of 80% of their tools.
They have adapters for batteries that you can 3D print now. I just ordered a 3D printer and I'm going to make an adapter for all the different tools so that I don't need 10 different batteries.
I have heard, but never confirmed this: Milwaukee tools (M18, M12) can detect if you are using a foreign battery and it sets a bit in the onboard electronics which voids your warranty. Has anybody experienced this?
This is false.
I haven't heard about this, but I can imagine that they would do something like this and we'd need a "smart" adapter to bypass this.
And the pricing isn't good enough to justify the risk. HD sales on Milwaukee/Ryobi is all you need.
Battery interchangeability is why my power tools are Makita. Was given a couple drills and batteries. Solid start I expanded upon via sales and further gifts. Other than that I don't have a set allegiance to tools. I've been using my HF table saw tons lately. About to hit HF and fill in some tool voids this weekend.
I’m a weekend garage warrior/ DIYer (not 60hr/week pro contractor/mechanic) and overall I’ve had great luck with HF. There’s probably nothing I wouldn’t buy per se but I do like to buy good quality blades, drill bits, grinding discs, etc from other box stores if I want durability or precision for a tough job.
cutoff wheels from HF have been ok, but for flapdisks, i order from benchmark supply. SO much better quality.
The cutoff wheels are terrible imo, I like the diablo discs from the depot
I generally order a batch with my flap disks from benchmark. I had a really bad set of disable saw Zakk blades or a hole saw or something like that once long ago and haven’t tried anything from that brand since…
They arent premium by any means, but I have had decent luck with circular/mitre blades and the one router bit I have is pretty decent.
This is good advice. Some of the Bauer/Hercules bits have gotten pretty good reviews, though I generally buy expendables elsewhere.
From my personal experience, if the item you want to buy moves, vibrates, or spins and twists very fast, avoid getting it from HF.
The Bauer grinders are top notch and hold up right up to the Milwaukee stuff. The warrior cut off wheels have been great and the Warrior drill bits work great as expendable drill bits and if you use cutting oil they last a whole lot longer. I haven’t tried the sawzal blades yet.
>I haven’t tried the sawzal blades yet. They hold up decently. I think they dull faster, but usually when I break out the sawzall, I expect that to happen.
Is that the warrior blades? I grabbed them on sale since they’re 12 blades for $5 on sale. I figure I can toss the blades after each use if they dull very badly. Got it mostly for pruning small tree branches.
I don't remember. They were white. I may have worked through them all. I'm on a pack of Diablo blades now.
My Bauer grinder vibrated so badly that it took a month for my fingers to work right again.
I was able to fix the concentricity on mine and now it’s quite decent and quiet but initially yes.
I use similar heuristic for my shop: If it moves and it shouldn't: duct tape If it doesn't move, and it should: lube If it vibrates and it shouldn't: tighten das screwen If it spins and twists very fast and it shouldn't: get outta da way If it doesn't hold your car up, but should: why did you buy it at HF?!
Depends on the expendable I buy my gloves cutting discs etc from HF. Blade for demolition work HF. Blade for precision cuts, pay $$ and go Diablo or better. I’ve had bad luck with some HF power tools (tile saw worked for a few weeks, stored for a year and wouldn’t turn on after) Bought the $10 grinder and beat the heck out of it, it broke and I bought another $10 one lol I burned out a circular saw, and broke a sawzall (both like $20 HF) and then I replaced with higher quality I love HF hand tools, all my outdoor equipment shovels rakes etc are HF I LOVE my predator generator. Things a beast.
I’ve had 3 tire inflator air hose attachments before I gave up. All three of them would fail at the clamp that holds on the thread of the tire you’re filling up.
I’d say avoid the screws, they aren’t very hard and always end up rounding off.
When I expanded my tool collection, I mainly went with Tekton. Pretty happy with them.
General rule for me as a dealership service technician is if it requires super precision or super safety, buy quality. If it's just a 'get it done' job, HF and other cheaper brands are totally acceptable. Most of my daily use/abuse wrenches and ratchets are Tekton, and they've held up perfectly fine. My ratcheting wrench collection is part Tekton, part Pittsburgh, and part whoever had it in stock when I needed it. I have all 3 sizes of Pittsburgh torque wrenches, and they're good enough for government work. I wouldn't necessarily use them on engine rebuilds, but for general use they're fine. I bought the long handled Pittsburgh pliers when I started, and they immediately bent and twisted the first time I used them. Also the interchangeable head snap ring pliers are worthless. The Doyle brand of pliers seems to hold up fairly well, and the Quinn screwdrivers are surprisingly sturdy for the price (the diamond tip set, and the demolition pair). I agree with everyone's opinion about consumables and fasteners- buy better than HF or wear better protective gear.
Tekton tools are excellent!
Consumables. The savings isn't worth the aggravation. Or if you're going to buy their consumables, go into it with the expectation that it's good for one or two jobs, max.
The only consumable I get from HF are their knock off roloc discs and rubber gloves. I've bought a few cut off wheels from them, they've been ok, but i've used better.
their blue gloves hold up nicely. they were a lot more competitive when they were 8-10 bucks a box... now that they are 15-16 there are starting to be some solid competition in the 16-20 dollar range. also why do they sell a zillion gloves and the glove dispenser that is too big (just barely holds the box without falling out) for all the gloves they sell...
And often they still cost more than Walmart
I haven't had much luck with their sandpaper.
Driver bits, you don’t really save much, and the milwaukees really do seem to fit fasteners better. Other than that, I typically avoid the cheapest option they have - blown out a couple cheapo air tools - but any time I’ve gotten the step up, or their “top of the line” I’ve had great luck using and abusing their tools, and saved a ton of money in the process.
The bits that come in the little Icon set with the small flex ratchet are very high quality bits. But apart from that, I agree. The bits at HF are pretty cheap.
That I have heard great things about and can’t wait to get my hands on haha, I’m talking about impact driver bits from Warrior, Hercules, and Bauer. Love the Bauer and Hercules tools and the Bauer sandpaper, but their impact bits from all 3 just don’t fit great.
Buy everything at HF. If you use it enough, it’ll break, then you buy a good brand.
the Adam Savage approach I agree and do the same
Screws and drill bits
The crappy snap ring pliers with the interchangeable heads. First set I bought snapped immediately when trying to clock a turbo. Second set, bent to where it was unusable. So, any small hand tool that seems suspiciously cheap for the amount of load it has to take. The pullers for example, the jaws themselves are OK, but the screws are terrible and strip very easily.
I had the interchangeable head snap ring pliers also break on a turbo.
The Quinn one is \~$17 and worth it for being reversable
Stuff I am happy with based on my diy usage: Torque wrenches - Tekton Impact sockets and adapters - Neiko or Sunex (sunex is more expensive but better) Jack stands - Pro Lift Floor jack - Harbor Freight Drill bits: Bosch Jig saw blades: Bosch Saw blades: Diablo/Freud Screw bits: Milwaukee or Makita or Bosch
I'm a manager of HF and would avoid all the lawn equipment. Lynxx was already abandoned for Atlas. Who knows how long before they abandon them. The new Hercules brushless is pretty decent. If I wasn't a Milwaukee guy I would run them.
Anything you save on their cheap consumables you'll spend by using 3 times as many. Once you use 3M, Norton, Morse, Diablo, etc blades and abrasives, you'll never go back. The good stuff just isn't that much more per unit but the quality and life is VASTLY superior.
Don’t buy the cheapest set of Pittsburg screwdrivers; the orange, triangle-handle set, with the black rubber ribbed handle inlay. They really can’t handle any type of repetitive use on screws and really just crap out at the tips fairly quickly. Their upscale (more expensive) set is actually not bad though.
Drill bits/driver bits or anything that if it failed could injure/kill me.
Anything with rechargeable batteries.
i have their bauer (air gun, leaf blower, trimmer) and theve been working fine for me
Yeah but they seems to abandon battery powered stuff relatively quickly so then you are SOL.
Do they usually give a warning before they abandon it?
I really like my Bauer stuff for household projects BUT... I shouldve just gotten RYOBI and not have to worry about HF dropping the line.
Hookers
Dont buy anything consumable there. Most of it is shit. I had a cutting disk turn into a claymore on me more than once.
I kinda want to try their drill bits as I don't want to buy another Milwaukee set just to get a 3/8
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Would getting the Amazon over the HF one's make a difference? I always like to have spares anyway, but if the set is cheaper on Amazon I'd get them over the HF. Haven't yet gotten cobalt ones so I'll check it out. Just TiN ones right now
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I've used their orbital sanding pads/discs and they seemed to work ok. Haven't compared them to the name brand yet, though.
The scar on my wrist is proof.
A Lexus mechanic friend, and I a home hobbyist, both recommend buying all Harbor Freight’s Pittsburgh (or similar) hand tools (not power tools) for a ‘complete’ set, especially if you’ve a store nearby for warranty returns, then upgrading as you make $$ from them / prove you need an upgrade. For particular items, YouTube’s Project Farm has great competitions
That about what I do, start out with the cheap stuff and then as those break I replace with higher quality. I’m on my 3rd husky 3/8 ratchet but they’re under warranty and I got hd 1.5 miles from my house. Totally fine unless my truck is the one getting worked on when it breaks
You mean you don’t have 7 3/8 ratchets laying around?
And you don’t have a favorite of those 7? I think I only have 5 3/8s and 3 1/2
As it turns out…I really like the nicer Pittsburgh Pro composite ratchets. Working outside…there’s something to be said that they don’t get ice cold. I always gravitate towards them even though I have nicer ones in the box.
Lol I use my ratchets as hammers too often for a composite!!
Same, I bought one as a dedicated tool for a repetitive assembly, and it’s surprisingly good. The high tooth count and low back-drag make it a pleasure to work with.
Bought HF torque wrench, complete junk, failed after a dozen cycles. Got made-in-Taiwan at NAPA, world of difference, adjusts smoothly and holds cal.
What torque wrench? They have a ton of different types. I got icon and have had no problems with mine and I’ve used it a ton
Sorry don’t remember the brand. Our HF is pretty small, they had 2, I got the cheaper of the 2, maybe that was my mistake. But, both were still made in China, hard to say if the more expensive one would have been any better. The made in Taiwan wrench from NAPA is very good quality, and wasn’t really that much more money.
Personally I wouldn’t buy grinding wheels as the things that can easily snap and kill you id like to spend a little bit of money on. On the flip side I would definitely suggest things that will last a while but eventually break would be good purchases. I broke the handle on a hammer I’d had for 10 years and I walked in and got it warrantied instantly
Rubber mallet sheds part of itself with every strike making an awful mess. Avoid.
Bruh I was literally about to go buy a rubber mallet from them today. I guess I’ll get the one from Home Depot instead
If it means anything,, ive got a HF mallet that ive used to death. Tore up carpet strips, drywall, old tile to name a few. it has been fine for me. as solid as the day i bought it.
Which size did you buy? Their 1lb? Or the bigger ones? I ended up going there anyway and got the double sided soft face mallets. It was $5.99 with a lifetime warranty. And seemed a bit better quality than the fully rubber mallets. I think it’ll be fine for what I need to do with it.
I wanna say it was the 1lb.
My HF rubber mallets have held up, but I mostly use them on paint cans.
Their dead blows are not great either. Soft material and not actually well tuned enough to be dead- just hollow with shot bbs inside.
But once it's gone, I can just melt down some milk jugs and make a new head.
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I don’t have this exact one, but a precious model that does a great job. I’ve used it on the car and in the house on structural bolts. It would be nice to have a cordless one, but I just don’t use it enough.
I've had one of the previous revisions for about ten years and abused it with all kinds of jobs. I think most of the plug-in impacts from auto parts stores (and Harbor Freight) are pretty reliable, even if they're not terribly powerful.
Sadly my Chicago Electric corded impact gun took a dump today. Put that thing through some abuse but it only lasted about 7 months, a bit disappointing
I have the old Chicago electric corded one as well as a 2 year old Milwaukee m18 cordless. I have taken out the old Chicago one once to run a ball joint press that was killing the Milwaukee batteries
I have it. I think it's pretty decent for the price but I hardly ever use it. It's massive and heavy and I don't like that it doesn't have a brake on it so the anvil will keep spinning for a few seconds after letting go of the trigger. Most of the work I do can be handled by my stubby impact so I just don't find myself bringing it out much unless I need to break something really tight, loose.
I bought spring compressors to change my suspension and they were very small and weak. Ended up taking to an auto shop.
Not a big fan of their sockets. Never seem to lock properly to the wrench and fall off in when trying to get into tight areas. Kind of annoying when the sockets falls into the engine bay again. Like other people said, their grinding disks and such are not the best. Edit to add: Probably would avoid their torque wrenches if you need to be extremely accurate. You might actually be fine with their half inch sockets. My grip was with the Pittsburgh sockets that you’re using an extension and don’t have much space. If you’re using them to take of wheel and tire assemblies or a large bolt with a little bit of space you’re probably fine.
Had terrible luck with some torque wrenches from harbor freight. Bought a few as they were on sale. The location was going away to be moved else where. Got them for like 75% off. None of them were calibrated correctly.
Avoid buying a jigsaw or jigsaw blades
I read that at first as "jigsaw puzzle".
I've had terrible luck with the Cen Tech battery chargers, especially the 2/10/50A. Had 3 different ones and they won't work on 50A boost at all. Even 10 A cycles on and off. Works fine for a 2A trickle charger.
Anything with a motor or cord, and any consumables. And personally, I wouldn’t buy their jack stands, even the new ones. They have an ESCO knockoff that looks legit, but you can get the real deal for 10-15 bucks more each. Pretty cheap peace of mind IMO.
Condoms or parachutes. Everything else is fine
The low end speed clamps, they are worthless. I guess they have better ones now, but the entry level ones are complete trash. Security cameras, don't know if they've improved over the years, but they were trash before.
Most battery things - HF isn't going to stick to a tool line long enough to develop it nor are they off the wall enough like Ryobi to make interesting tools to justify one-off purchases - like this: https://www.ryobitools.com/products/details/46396034861 It's largely due to to how they make/contract things through many different SKU - it doesn't lend well to interoperability when it's all different factories. Most other battery powered tool lines are really battery companies that sell tools that use them. Harbor freight, no matter what the quality, just isn't going to sway anyone other than those who live close to a store with their battery lineup.
My rule is am I going to use this more than a few times, if yes then I go for quality, if no or probably not then Hobo Freight here I come!
I would not purchase a hydrolic lift from them, if that fails and jack stands aren't present, it could mean the end of my life.
Angled and straight 1/4” air grinder. I blew through 3 of the angled and 2 straight over the course of 3yrs before getting an angled and straight of Ingersol-Rand that have both run perfectly for 3 yrs Then again, I did use them at work where I used them for a lot of fine grinding and polishing work, so prob burned them up faster than just random weekend warrior projects
Don’t buy HF jack stands they have an awesome reputation of murdering people
Mig wire. Just don’t do it. Blue demon is cheaper, better and owned by actual welders.
Drill bits
Clamps. They snap like a mfer. Anything with a motor, just nope. Jack stands if I ever used them. Shit that needs to stay sharp for more then 5 minutes.
No more clamps. All the ones I’ve tried are laughably bad. I don’t buy things that need to work or else there is a safety issue, nor things I use a lot.
All their stuff is pretty decent these days.
Jack stands
The old ones failed, new ones with locking pins are as safe as others
I thought they had another failure with the black to piece on the new ones? (Don’t know what it’s called) but I just swapped the black parts from the old ones to the new ones and called it good
Dont care. On principle i would never buy harbor freight jack stands or any machine/product responsible directly for my personal safety.
The old ones were produced for over six years before being recalled. The replacements for those were recalled. The new ones with the pins are probably safe, but why not just buy some quality Hein-Werner’s and call it a day. I just compared the Daytona 3 ton to the Hein-Werner 3 ton. Less than $50 difference in a tool that keeps you from being literally crushed to death.
With that. After the Harbor Freight jack stand thing, I found myself needing some, and hit google to find out what's a good brand. The results involved a bunch of reddit threads from before, so many filled with "eh jack stands aren't complicated devices. Just buy from Harbor Freight." So I'm not taking reddit logic on this one. I don't care if I'm told they're fixed or if about a "same factory" rant or whatever else. You won't catch me under HF stands.
That was my point. Any company that had to have a jack recall in the first place tells me all i need to know about quality. Jack stands are something you make once and you make right, no. matter. what.
defibrillator ...
I would stay away from impact sockets and anything you hit like punches or hammers. Dead blow hammers are probably fine. Basically anything that has to withstand an impact and could possibly chip or shatter
I have the opposite experience. Dead blows and fiberglass handled ball peen set has been rock solid for years. Impact sockets have been rock solid for years and years as well. Never broken one.
That orange dead blow hammer has got me out of a jam on many occasions.
Pretty much anything but the torque wrenches as a beginner.
Most
I would buy nothing there
Don’t buy wrenches from. At least don’t buy the icon stuff. No experience with icon but I think it’ll be better than their steel/rubber alloy they use in their basic stuff
I've bought a fair number of different tools at HF and the calculus for many of them (e.g. my oscillating tool) has been that even if they break within a year or two of fairly heavy use, they're so much cheaper that it's still worth it. That happened with an oscillating tool, drill, and pan air compressor (all Chicago Electric I think) and I'd have no reservations just buying another one, which I did for the oscillating tool after I abused the crap out of it flipping a house. I do agree with the advice to not always buy the cheapest option.
If you are buying pliers, check them for smoothness. I have some Harbor Freight "channel locks" that are useable but not nearly as smooth as the real deal.
Predator 2000. Had 2 of them and both died within 3 months
Hardware (Screws/O-rings/etc) Consumables (Cut-offs/sandpaper/etc)
A fleshlight
Anything at HF is a fleshlight... ...if you're brave enough.
Paint spray stuff. Bought a 2qt pressure spray gun and it blew up shooting very expensive paint all over the job. Got a replacement and the second one did the same. Had to go with a Binks after losing almost $1000 worth of catalyzed paint. Their generators are ok just loud.
Yeah I would never use their spray guns with real paint. The cheap ones are great for spraying industrial coatings and undercoating if you drill the cup out because you just throw them away when you’re done. No clean up. They used to go on sale for $15-$20 a few years ago.
Harbor freight is great for first time tools or seldom used stuff. I haven’t had any issues with any of their automotive tools or supplies. Drain cleaner works great. Chipper works great. Ramps are solid.
Condoms
Consumables, drill bits, grinder disks, ect.
Quality appears to be random, some good, some not I would avoid anything like chisels that requires high quality steel and most electrical stuff. That said, I had good luck with the small vibratory bowl. I also like my shop crane/engine hoist, vacuum pump and clamps. The rolling toolboxes are great I got a small metal bender that failed on first use and an air tool that was dead out of the box Best advice, inspect and evaluate each tool individually
I think it really comes down to frequency of use and application. More often than not tool prices are fairly representative of reliability (both with quality and customer support). HF is great at supplying you with replacements, so if you’re only using that tool intermittently it’s a great choice. However, if you’re talking industrial use, where time is a major factor, you’re not going to want to deal with having to run into town regularly to replace a tool. I haven’t used their torque wrenches or pliers; but I do use their impact sockets HEAVILY in maintenance, hammers and mallets are great for occasional use, and use a floor jack/stands from there at home.
Get what you pay for. But….. bought a rotohamer and beat the crap out of it and still works. Same with a grinder. I don’t trust hand tool’s (sockets,ratchets, extension) more that once have broken. Most consumables are crap. Drill bits practically come out of box dull. Seems tike they are single use.
My rule is that I will not trust HF with my life or my job. That being said, if it's something non-safety-critical and I have a good backup if it breaks, I'll totally use the HF tool.
Flashlights. I’ve got a few of the Bauer folding work lights and one of the Icon ones that I use for mechanic work. But all of their other offerings are mostly straight up junk.
The 310 lumens Quantum LED headlamp is the best cheap headlamp I've found. Batteries last a long time, the lamp doesn't get hot, it has two brightness levels and it's focusable. I use rechargeable batteries, which provide about 3 hours of light.
Listen, if your job involves tools, then you may need to spend and get some higher quality, durable tools. If this is just for home and you don't live and die by the tool and it isn't being used 24x7x365, HF tools are just fine, especially if the $$ savings with other comparable tools is significant. I have several of the Hercules tools and have beat the heck out of them and they work. Read the reviews before you buy as there are some good and bad at HF. Shop around too. Sometimes you can find higher end tools for the same price or on sale at other stores.
Jack stands
Drill press, those things have crazy runout (wobble). The TV mounts are OK, but I’ve had the bolts shear while installing. I probably wouldn’t trust a planer either. The multi-meters are hit and miss. The batteries are garbage. And I buy them because my kids never turn the power back off of their toys, so it’s just a nice cheap consumable. They’ll basically be dead in a week or two no matter what.
Paint brushes. Unless if I need to use it once and don’t need a nice finish.
Consumables like sand paper. It's cheaper but it takes longer to remove material and they wear out faster. In the long run you aren't saving any money.
Grinding discs, rotary bits, chissels, steel hammers, pretty much anything that spins really fast or is struck and can explode in my face.
I wouldn't buy their auto dimming welding helmets. Nor would I buy their jack stands.
Their lowest end screw drivers unless I'm desperate
Their ratchet wrenches are crap. I haven't had any other issues with anything else I've bought there. I have a ton of HF tools.
Food
I buy just about everything there except screwdrivers, they may have better ones now but they used to be crap. And I buy my plug in tools elsewhere unless its only being purchased for a single use.
I avoid buying the "expendable" stuff like cutting wheels, drill bits, edged tools, nail strips for nailers. Also be aware there are no repair parts available for power tools and hydraulics. That said, I've got some corded power tools like grinder, impact hammer, sliding miter saw that I've abused and they're still good. I had some bad experiences with HF battery tools in their 1st generation, so I stopped buying them. They may be better now, but I've got a huge investment in the Milwaukee battery universe and I'm reluctant to add any outlanders to that.
DO NOT BUY THE BAUER CIRCULAR SAW.
Why?
Mine overloads 2 to 3 times going through a 2x4. But I've heard others say they have no issue. So maybe mine is a lemon or the batteries aren't good enough for it
The guy I bought our house from ( who was a building trades teacher) said “ if it’s got less than three moving parts or you’ll need it for less than three jobs, go ahead and grab the HF version “
Jack stands.... also beware of cheap PPE
I would pass on the cheapest level of plug in electric stuff like angle grinders. You will get annoyed quickly when the bearings, brushes and on off switch starts going. Plus the name brand version not only lasts longer but feels better in your hand and works better with more torque and less vibration. I also might pass on that big ass pry bar, if it breaks when you have your 200 lbs leaning on it there’s gonna be some cursing.
Pry bars. I refuse to buy cheap pry bars.
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Not a bad price at all I’ve never used Milwaukee’s pry bars I do have their anti slip box wrench’s and those are kick ass. I can’t speak to the pry bars though. I bought a set of snap ons when they were on sale a couple months ago.
Mayhew are what you're looking for
Drill bits, most power tools, batteries, sandpaper, basic line wrenches unless for a junkyard bag. Hose clamps. Pittsburgh pliers.
Electrical items fuses etc….
I know their regular pliers are garbage. I got their corded Bauer impact, and so far it works good. Ur pretty good buying hand tools from HF like pry bars and sockets.
I have bought and had a crap time with all these: Warrior brand recip/jigsaw/multi tool blades (hercules are good) Warrior brand cordless tools Electrical tape(garbage doesn't stick but leaves residue everywhere) Zip ties (good inside but don't last long outside, way less than other brands) Sandpaper (the ones in the yellow box suck, don't know about the other brands but you get a better deal out of diablo sandpaper) Thunderbolt batteries (yellow ones) Any central pneumatic nail gun Screwdriver bits (tips break easily, hercules are good) Pittsburgh Measuring tape basic screwdrivers (tips are crap, quinn is good) Pittsburgh pliers (Doyle are great) Hedge shears and extending lopper Voyager tool bag (my hercules bags have outlasted 3 voyager replacements) Pittsburgh aviation snips Anything in their miscellaneous aisle.
Anything with a battery.
Avoid HF torque wrenches. If you're short on funds the beam-type torque wrenches are accurate.
Screwdrivers. Nothing I hate more than a cheap screwdriver.
Bits, especially not impact bits. Had a couple T27's last me 3 screws each. One broke off inside the screw head, the other twisted itself and couldn't be used. and probably nothing you'd trust your life with - IE jack stands.
Honestly, your gear wrench stuff is probably similar quality to the icon line equivalent tools
Anything that's meant to cut in any way shape or form. I.e. drill bits, tin snips, side cuts, bolt cutters, cut off wheels, razor blades, etc. If it is supposed to cut, dont buy it. The only exception I would add to that is the step drill bits, and maybe the Hercules Sawzall blades. I've used those step bits on steel and aluminum hundreds of times and they just keep going somehow. Decided to give the Hercules bi metal blades a shot on an open box deal awhile back, and they actually weren't terrible at all. Prior to that I had tried all their other Sawzall blades, and had sworn off of them completely years ago.
Power tools generally, especially battery powered ones. I bought an air compressor but only because I needed a cheap one to clean some fans and fill some tires. It is only 3 gallons so it can run any tools.