I just saw a Summit Racing tool catalog. An awful lot of their stuff looks like the same Harbor Freight item, sometimes painted a different color, always at a higher price.
Dont feel bad. Alot of name brand tools look exactly the same as some harber freight stuff down to the box that holds them. Sad for shure.
um.... this is true with many parts , tools and related items. The there is the stuff outside of the automotive arena.
China makes all of it, and paints it different colors based on which container/brand name it goes to.
Cheap is cheap for a reason and you gets what you pays for. Buyer's remorse sets in the moment you find out why. Quality tools are a lifetime investment.
Harbor Freight is the most raddest place ever. drill bits that dont drill and sockets that explode, it's the best joke shop ever.....only if they had whopee cushions.
Its all in how much you use it. My USA made engine stand will hold a 3208 (V636) Cat. But I had it from back when that was an issue. A small block Ford on it stands up like morning wood when you need to take a leak. I don't really need it, but I've had it a long time. Cherry pickers, well, expensive or not, and regardless of where they are made you have to follow the same rules, keep anything you can't afford to lose out of it. I got a lot alot of my tools off the Snap-On truck. On 1/4 flex and 3/8 flex and bent handle drive, they are geared right, and the flex head and bent handle on the 3/8 drive just gets you into places you have a hard time getting into. After using it awhile everything else feels like a club. I use them the most and have gotten my moneys worth. 1/2" and 3/4" drive its just some old craftsman stuff I picked up at a yard sale that must be 40 years old. There are very few things I need to do that require the "big guns" The Snap-On 3/8" will break off 7/16" thread bolts as it is. A good torque wrench is a good investment along with good sockets. Precision is the main issue. Metal shaping tools, I used my father-in-laws Harber Freight press brake and the results were predictable. I wasted a good piece of sheet metal because it was like a cheap set of scissors. But his hand bead roller from the same place is fine. Go figure. The HF blast cabinet works just fine. I think I would get the stuff like an english wheel, press brake etc from a little better quality source, but there have been some things that worked OK.
I think it depends on what you use it for. If its a hammer I will go to Princess Auto (Harbor Freight North). If it is something I will keep for a while I will go with craftsman, I am not a pro mech so I cannot justify the cost of snap-on for hand tools. I would love to have them and do keep an eye on the cl***ifieds for folks leaving the business, but I will not buy them new. Some things work great some are complete ****, all depends on how they will be used.
These threads make me laugh. I always love how everyone says "everything I have ever bouth from HF was junk or broke" which imply's that you have bought more than one thing there. You pay next to nothing for a tool (compared to quality products), ***** when it breaks but then when you need something else you go right back and buy from them again and again. I think there is a saying "fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me" which couldn't be more perfect for these situations. I agree that the stuff is junky and ****py but everyone knows that and that's what most people want to pay for so don't ***** and whine when it is junky and ****py.
My Harbor Freight belt sander is 3 years old and works like new- My Craftsman lasted 2 years.. My Harbor Freight band saws have outlasted both my JET saws... I guess it's how you use them... HF saw that I use to cut 18g tube $175 - Jet $360- HF belt sander $179- Craftsman $350- Don't get me wrong HF has some junk... But I have had really good luck with some HF tools...
I have posted before that there is a place for any kind of tool, cheap or expensive. I have tools from every place from Snap-On to HF to heirlooms handed down generations back. In the back of my hot rod is a $7.00 set of HF cheapos because I know someone is going to walk off with them some day. So, given that there is a place for cheap tools, you might as well buy them from HF, since Summit and, apparently, others are selling the same thing for more.
I don't do HF tools OR Summit tools , Its just a side line for Summit to make more money , Buy the good stuff the first time and you'll not have to buy it a second time, unless you loan it out !
Sell out? Hardly. Summit's store brand, has always been (with few exceptions) cheap offshore ****. Doesn't matter if you're talking 2009 or 1989. Doesn't matter if you're talking tachometers or tools. Cheap ****. Having said that, sometimes cheap **** fits the bill.
A buddy of mine built a rock crawler Jeep & bought his winch at Harbor Freight. Except he calls Harbor Freight the Chinese Home Depot. Like any thing else, you get what you pay for.
I can get one or two (if i'm lucky) good holes per each ***anium drill bit in the indexed set that I got from Horrible Freight. That's not bad,....is it? When I use them and they wont drill metal anymore,.. they become wood bits and I replace them with a good quality bit. I really only got them because of the index set box that they come in. it's nice
I put a nice blade on mine and now it's a champ. I have a HF 4 1/2" grinder that WILL NOT die. I even ran over it once. Sometimes you get lucky I guess.
I to have bought stuff from harbor freight and the only things that havn't broke yet are the ones I havn't used yet.Trying to save a buck backfired,from now on it's "made in U.S.A." only!
This reminds when my sister went on an anti-walmart rant, talking about how bad the workers that made there products were treated in China. She said " im only shopping at Target" I responded "where the hell do you think Target gets all there cheap Chineese made products from?" she did nt have an answer and still shops at walmart.
Summit sell out? Hardly...it's been this way for years, and we all enjoy the cost advantage. Generally speaking, you do get exactly what you pay for, AND Harbor Freight makes the world go around. Think of it this way...whereas not all their products are made in China, and whereas many products are finished in the U.S., the list of manufacturers who import and sell Chinese-produced parts include Moroso, Edelbrock, Manley, Eagle, ****, Hamburger, Hedman, TransDapt, Crower...the list goes on and on. Hell, my SoCal Speed Shop coffee mug was made in China. And I have mentioned this before: With very few exceptions, none of us are wearing U.S. made clothing, and a significantly smaller percentage are typing on U.S. made computers. And don't get me started with G.M. Try buying a U.S. made Silverado. The market for cheap tools and cheap clothes and cheap computers and cheap (poorly built) cars exists simply because THAT IS WHAT WE BUY. No other reason. If we didn't purchase it, it wouldn't be sold here. But, we do, because it's affordable. End of story. Summit is not a venerable icon to old world values, they are just a business, doing what businesses do. We are not victims of the Chinese. We are their most trusted and valued customer.
Yeah, the summit, and JEGS as I recall, cheap stuff looks the same as everybody else's Chinese stuff. This topic has been discussed to death on the garage journal board. HF is great for what it is, and a chinese home depot is a pretty good description! You get what you pay for, and sometimes you get much more. I only buy 4 1/2" angle grinders from there when they're on sale for around $12...I've seen shops buying 50 of them at a time at the store... They're not as smooth as my pals makita but I won't be half as sad when they die as he will! not to mention the couple years he's been swapping grinding/cutting discs on that same *ONE* grinder, while I have two , one with a grinding disc and the other a cutting...and a third in reserve in case one dies, or more likely I accudentally cut the power cord or something!
Beep wrote: I certainly hope that was a one lesson trip, otherwise why would you go back for seconds. I only buy Craftsman tools. A long the way I have inherited a number of Snap On tools, but I didn't buy them. I don't find them to be any better than the ones from Sears, although Snap On does make some oddities that Sears doesn't sell. Although I confess to looking, I have never purchased anything from Harbor Frieght. I guess the need just has not yet arrived.
I have bought my home press my pot blaster, my blast cabinet, my angle grinder that has out lasted my craftsman. I bought a stud puller works great, I bought my 80 gal compressor, works great and is quieter than my neighbors. Not to mention loads of clamps and other tools for modifying. My point is they sell some nice stuff. I buy the warranty on every thing I can, if it does break take it back and get another. No big deal. Drill bits and other items that are degradable by nature will probably fail sooner but that is only to be expected. I also bought a smaller lath for home use it works just as good as the small one in my shop.
It's really sad to go into a Harley shop. They tote themselves as an American icon, yet everything you pick up says china, viet nam, or mexico on it.
summit is not trying to supply a career mechanic, they are targetting backyard builders. a lot of guys cqant s****e up the bucks and blow it on a tool you will only use once. i was always so against cheap **** tools, but there is a HF about 15 miles from me, first time iwent ther ei laughed at all the cheap **** they have. then i found myself needing tools i could cut and modify or only need to use a handful of times. i do shop there. they do have junk but if you know what you are looking for you can get some good ****. craftsman tools? they arent much better than the ti-ching ****. yeah i mostly have craftsman tools but they break just like any other and thier wrenches **** ***.
Please keep in mind no one needs to buy into the global line if baloney unless they want to. It's pretty funny guys will perserverate on the traditional ideal to the point of cuteness and then buy Chinamen junk. Hotrods were never built with that stuff. Ever. If you want to buy into it, thats fine, but please then don't tell folks about "correctness", or "how it was".
I find most of my tools on the side of the road while out training on my bicycle. I must have picked up 200 sockets over the years. I've subsequently discovered that a 5/8" ratchet drive is perfect to throw at cars that buzz me too close on purpose. Interestingly enough, Snap-On screwdrivers get scratched up far less than Craftsmen when run over repeatedly by traffic.
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