# Have you checked Harbor Freight lately?



## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I just opened their latest flier and now they are selling tool cabinets for $5000 and 14 piece wrench sets for $100, all under the name "Icon". At those prices, they have to be good. They are comparing them to Snap-on that cost more than double. Is this a trend towards high quality HF tools? If I were buying a tool cabinet, I would definitely check out HF. They list their cabinets as "assembled in the USA". Where the parts are made, who knows. Next time I visit a HF store, I will certainly check them out.

They appear to be promoting 3 lines of tools; cheap, intermediate and quality high end. Their quality seems to have been going up while the name brands have been sliding downwards. The time may have arrived when consumers no longer laugh at HF.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Glad to see the quality move at HF. Good on them.


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## corelz125 (Sep 23, 2015)

I guess the part "assembled in the USA" is when you bring it home and put it together.


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## Gentile (Jun 3, 2013)

A buddy of mine bought a tool box from them. I thought it would be junk until I saw it. It ain't too bad


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## therealSteveN (Oct 29, 2016)

Eric Smidt has sold all the really cheeeep stuff America can hold. He knows he needs to up the quality, to keep in the game. Lately they have been adding quite a few lines of merchandise that will go up against some of the bigger, better names.

I dropped by a shop I know the owner of, they do really nice cabinet work. Sitting there were 2 of the new Blue miter saws they are selling. My Friend said they are kicking butt, he said much better than the Milwaukee's he used to have.


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## fuigb (Apr 21, 2010)

HF is predicated upon selling cheaply made pirated copies of orhers' intellectual property. Not having to fund RnD means that they'll reap the benefits of others' work without having to pay the cost to get there themselves.


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## theart (Nov 18, 2016)

> HF is predicated upon selling cheaply made pirated copies of orhers intellectual property. Not having to fund RnD means that they ll reap the benefits of others work without having to pay the cost to get there themselves.
> 
> - fuigb


There's almost zero intellectual property involved in manufacturing most tools. Which is why I can walk into the local bigbox and see a yellow circular saw sitting next to a blue one and a red one, and they all function exactly the same way. Is the yellow one a pirated copy of the blue one, or is it the other way around? Switches, motors, bearings, screws, batteries, etc. are all outsourced from third parties who do the real R&D. The "manufacturer" makes a few castings and a box. Quality control and brand loyalty are the only differentiators.

Harbor Freight started out by doing the same assembly job as everyone else but buying lower grade components from the subcontractors and pretty much skipping any quality control. But I think they've reached the number of physical stores where it's starting to get easy for customers to return stuff that was broken out of the box. So they're spending the few extra bucks to buy the good internals, and because they own the whole supply chain are still coming in under the bigbox price tag.


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## bigJohninvegas (May 25, 2014)

I think they are trying to up there game in Quality, and I too have seen the price tags on the new boxes. But I have not seen one in a store yet.
I did buy the two biggest US General boxes they sell this year. The black one back in February, and the Green one just about a month ago. Very well made. I did shop and compare the US General boxes with Kobalt, and Husky brands at the big box stores. and I feel that US general is a better quality box. 
Both the HF boxes replaced smaller stainless steel (Costco, Sams Club) versions that I had out grown.


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## CyberDyneSystems (May 29, 2012)

Based on this thread, I looked at the ICON line which was news to me. they do look a lot like the "US General" which they've sold for years,. I have a number of US General boxes and love them all. Heavier duty than my old Craftsman to be sure.
Two years ago they launched "Series II" US General that look pretty much exactly the same, but have better drawer extensions among other hard to see improvements.

I wouldn't put much stock in the comparison with SnapOn,. at least not just because ICON is new. They've been making such comparisons for as long as I have been getting the catalog with everything from tool boxes , impact drivers, jacks, welders you name it.

Also, yes, HF has been doing this "upgrading" for some time. They keep outdoing themselves in some categories. It used to be the electric tools, all crap, were "Chicago Electric" or "Drill Master" etc.. 
Then they came out with the "Bauer line", at higher prices and seemingly better build quality, then it was "Hercules" even more pricey,.

Same thing with Welders, used to be just the Bargain name "Chicago Electric" they still have those but now they have 3 different lines of welders, it's getting really hard to compare between the lines. and they keep making newer more expensive ones. Last year (2018) "Vulcan" was the best, highest cost and arguably highest quality. 2019 they added "Titanium" .. and so it goes. So Icon is just another one of these upgrades.

Based on the prices of the ICON line, and the value of the US General, personally I will stick with US General. I'm not a pro mechanic though, but those US General boxes have repeatedly been named best value in tool boxes. They are very good.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

With the bad press HF has gotten in the past, it's hard to justify spending $5000 on any HF product. It may take a while before HF can be regarded as "quality".


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## edapp (Jun 27, 2014)

Like bigjohninvegas, I built a miter station on top of one of the 72" "US General" boxes. I have loved the box and have no issues with it. for ~700 bucks it was a great addition to my shop and I store all of my hand tools, measuring and marking tools, drill/driver bits, sandpaper and misc blades bits and accessories in it. Keeps my shop clean!


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## CMO (Apr 22, 2017)

HF has definitely improved the quality of SOME of their products; while others has lagged behind or even backslid further into trashdom. I purchased a Hercules 12" sliding compound miter saw about a year ago there was very little adjusting to do out of the box, and it has stayed fairly true since. I tune it everytime I change the blade out and it never takes much to dial it in. Their drill press on the other hand is pure junk just sayin. I think the only way I will be able to make this a usable tool in my shop will be to replace the motor. It is so underpowered on startup I have to manually turn the chuck to start it turning. Most likely a capacitor issue but very aggravating to say the least.


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## nkawtg (Dec 22, 2014)

They might be assembled in the USA but they're made of Chinesium.


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## alittleoff (Nov 27, 2014)

I don't know where the tool boxes are made but to me and J.M.O. There one of the best boxes out there, and the no.1 box in their price range.
Gerald.


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## edapp (Jun 27, 2014)

> HF has definitely improved the quality of SOME of their products; while others has lagged behind or even backslid further into trashdom. I purchased a Hercules 12" sliding compound miter saw about a year ago there was very little adjusting to do out of the box, and it has stayed fairly true since. I tune it everytime I change the blade out and it never takes much to dial it in. Their drill press on the other hand is pure junk just sayin. I think the only way I will be able to make this a usable tool in my shop will be to replace the motor. It is so underpowered on startup I have to manually turn the chuck to start it turning. Most likely a capacitor issue but very aggravating to say the least.
> 
> - CMO


I had one of their benchtop drill presses for a year or so. Seemed like a solid unit especially for $40. But the depth stop collar was plastic (I think the only piece of plastic on the dang thing) and broke quickly. Without that it was of little use to me. 
The tool box however feels much heavier and better built than what you will find in the blue or orange stores.


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## P89DC (Oct 1, 2017)

In the old days I went to sears and bought Craftsman. In the 70s much of it was made in Japan. Where should I buy Chinese presses, stands, wrenches, ratchets etc these days? Lowes, HD? I go to HF. I still won't buy high end power tools from HF. OTOH I bought Craftsman through the 2000s and theres no spare parts for any of it now. The HF tool chests are impossible to beat, I bought 3 of them (with coupons or on sale!).


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## JayT (May 6, 2012)

For those interested in the Icon tool storage, here's some good reading

https://toolguyd.com/kicking-the-tires-on-the-new-harbor-freight-icon-tool-cabinet/


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## WoodenDreams (Aug 23, 2018)

With HF you have to watch and compare what your buying, and understand that you only have a 90 day warranty unless you pay extra for a extended 1 yr warranty. I do like shopping HF to save money, but I do compare for the longevity of usage.


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## moke (Oct 19, 2010)

I was looking at the flyer just last night. Is one of their cordless lines, made by Makita? just from th photos they sure look like Makita batteries and overall style…...


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

> Both the HF boxes replaced smaller stainless steel (Costco, Sams Club) versions that I had out grown.
> 
> - bigJohninvegas


This is particularly interesting to me as I'm now in the exact same spot, my where ever the heck I bought it stainless box is now too small and starting to have problems, I might be able to get a couple hundred bucks for it but need to see what a comparable new one from Costco costs to make sure I can get it gone quick when I replace it. I have no room for an outgrown box and the right sized new box in my garage together.


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## bigJohninvegas (May 25, 2014)

> This is particularly interesting to me as I m now in the exact same spot, my where ever the heck I bought it stainless box is now too small and starting to have problems, I might be able to get a couple hundred bucks for it but need to see what something new costs to make sure I can get it gone quick when I replace it. I have no room for an outgrown box and the right sized new box in my garage together.
> 
> - bigblockyeti


When I bought the 56" black box earlier this year, I gave the 42" stainless box to my brother in law. 
But when I decided to Get the 72" green box I was in the same spot as you. No room to store it, and finding the right price to move. 
So I had a 72" stainless box that came out of Costco a good 5+ years ago. and they don't have it anymore. But they do have a 66" version. And i spotted it one day and took this photo. $599.99.
So I was moving tools into the new box, and my neighbor walks up. $300, and I never had to deal with Craigslist.


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## bigblockyeti (Sep 9, 2013)

Mine is made by "Knight" and it certainly came from Costco in Avon, OH or Sams Club in Sheffield Village, OH but I can't remember which one, it would have been about 98' or 99' that I bought it for ~$700 after tax. It's served me well and I'd love to be able to find something only slightly wider and much taller, like 8" - 12" taller. The only time I messed mine up was when trying to winch the top box up a ramp onto the bottom box while it still weighed somewhere around 400lbs. the drawers were locked but the bottom right drawer was narrow and pretty deep, that one took the brunt impact as somehow it came open, luckily it has dual slides which I think saved it from being totally fubar. Having a three car garage smaller than my former two car garage and all of my shop and shed stuff crammed into the garage as well has put floor space at a tremendous premium, so much that I thought of completely emptying the whole box and welding another structure to go underneath it. I never put any wood underneath the chassis but when I was a tech, another guy with an older Snap-On box did, he said it better protected the bottom when using a pallet jack or tow motor to move it around (infrequently) as the forks would bear on the wood instead of bending the thinner edge metal. If/when I by something new, that will definitely be in the works.


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## jglen490 (Feb 5, 2015)

Yep, HF has always compared products they sell to the big names such as Snap On. They are only comparing tools performing similar functionality with those price comparisons. You know it, I know it, they know it. It's a marketing ploy that every seller uses, and in no way is it intended to say that the HF tool is the same (perceived) quality as the big guys. They've gotten slapped already for that.

Does that mean I wouldn't buy something from HF based on price? I actually do it a lot, based on my tool usage and skillset. I'm not a pro, and am just a part time rank amateur who likes working with my hands - as time permits. Some of their tools are good, and I've gotten some stuff that has broken pretty quickly. I have an oscillating cutter that still works but just takes it sweet time to wake up if it hasn't been used in a while. When it wakes up, it works quite well, so I have no real problem.

I like that they are expanding their product lines to include some better products, that may still be budget considerate. Having choice is a good thing, but if Snap On is the only thing that meets someone's use case, I'm sure that HF will still have a good customer base without that someone.


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## Oprod (Sep 7, 2019)

I have Craftsman, snap on, Matco and harbor freight and husky from Lowe's boxes. Matco and snap on hold their values well no problems or issues anywhere. The craftsman's are light duty work fotr most folks but the slides and the steel are well lighter duty. The huskys are pretty good with the hardware slides and latches. The harbor freights come in different quality ranges. The heavy duty ones are great boxes the slides are good quality but have plastic slide locks that can break. Also the latch bar mechanism has a finger lock designed to prevent the drawer from accidentally rolling out on its own, a great feature but is made of plastic which I've broke two off forgetting the were there… would definitely recommend the husky's or the harbor freights for the budget concious.


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