20 percent off ANY Item at Harbor Freight

The catch probably is that AFAIK, Harbor Freight has house brands that nobody else sells. Electric power tools are branded Central Electric, pneumatic tools are Central Pneumatic, and hand tools are Pittsburgh. They do carry some Ingersoll Rand pneumatic tools.

In looking at their electric tools, the plastic tool body feels flimsier than on name brand tools like Milwaukee, Bosch, Dewalt, etc. and the tool seems larger and bulkier than a name brand tool with comparable capabilities. Craftsman power tools also tend to be a little bulkier.

I bought inexpensive tools for my son when he went to college, and a set of prybars for me. I've gotten a fair amount of use out of the prybars and have been happy with them. I got an Ingersoll Rand pneumatic angle die grinder (excellent), a Central Pneumatic pneumatic rotary cutoff tool (OK but bulky and uses a lot of air), and a long reach blow gun (works well). Overall, I've been happy with the limited tools I've bought there but I'd be leery of buying anything that requires a precision fit like screwdrivers, chrome sockets, wrenches, etc.

IMO, the stuff that Harbor Freight sells is OK for the shade tree mechanic, for tools that one only uses very occasionally, or where you are not that concerned about performance.

I believe that Ramadan just ended.

Great points, Ray.

You pretty much get what you pay for when it comes to tools. I once read that only the rich can afford cheap tools.

Will they also pay the medical expenses incurred after their crappy quality tools fail and injure you?

--scott

Well since Snap-on, Mac, Cornwall, Matco, NAPA, Craftsman, don't pay if one of their tools fail why should anyone else? Especially since some of the tools HF sells are sourced from the SAME companies as the above.

I've seen that 20% coupon, with different expiration dates, in AW (used to be Auto Week, when it came out weekly), Business Week, Popular Mechanics, Car & Driver ( there's also a coupon for a free screwdriver set in the same ad), Popular Science, and it's reportedly also in Maxim.

The Harbor Freight brands are about equivalent in quality to the low end brands from Sears (Craftsman) and Home Depot (Rigid), at about 1/2 the price. I.e. their 12" sliding miter saw is about $120 with the 20% off coupon, and a very similar low end 12" miter saw from Sears or Home Depot is about $300. Of course the better quality DeWalt, Makita, and Hitachi saws are much more expensive, but for occasional use at home you don't really need the higher end tool.

I know that the Rigid "lifetime warranty" is not real, but I've never bought an extended warranty on any Harbor Freight tools so I don't know if they try to get out of honoring it.

One nice thing about Sears is that you can buy even the smallest replacement part even for their lower end Craftsman tools. I.e. I broke the bolt that holds the circular saw blade in on a miter saw and it's a weird metric, left hand thread bolt, and I was able to get one in a few days (actually I ordered only one, but they sent me a whole box of them by mistake). Now the blade guard broke and they offer replacements of those as well. With Harbor Freight, forget about ever getting a replacement part, you have to either fabricate it yourself, find the same tool in another brand that does sell parts, or throw the whole thing away and start over.

My local store is great about warranty stuff. Walk in with a broken tool and they hand you a new one. No questions or anything. Just a Sorry for your trouble Sir, here is your new tool.

Not true. HF will usually take a replacement part off a display or order you a new part if needed. They have also handed out new tools if they cannot find a part. (at least the local store does this)