[greg273]

Anyone have any experience with that little chipper found in the harbor freight catalog? It LOOKS like a piece of junk, but for my needs and budget, i'm thinking it might work...

 

[Gary in ohio]

MOst of what HF sells is junk. We have a HF store in the large town near us. WHile I have purchased a few items, I am very selective and usually purchase items for one time use projects. Never count on the item lasting and NEVER NEVER buy metal hand tools. ALmost everything they sell is cheap chineese/india import stuff. Poor quality, poor quality control.

 

[tkrabec]

I have a friend who works in one they are all china stuff. Most of what I see there appears to be cast metals. they look very fragile.

-- tim

 

[poppy]

Their stuff is not for the professional, but I have had good luck with what I have bought. Bought a Chicago electric 1/2 inch impact wrench about 5 years ago. I've used it hard and loaned it out numerous times, it still works like a charm. Bought a set of gear pullers and have used them all, they held up good.

 

[Grandmotherbear]

We looked at it and passed it by. It only took branches up to 1 1/4 inch diameter. It was electric and the output was right by the air intake. We decided it wasn't big enough and the design poor.

 

[greg273]

yeah, i will agree, most of their stuff is low quality, chinese junk. However, we did get a cement mixer from them, expecting the worst, and it turned out to be a quality piece of machinery. I was surprised.
The driver that delivered it said most of their stuff is bought from other companies that have either overstocked, or more often, have damaged shipping containers. Thus harbor frieght picks thier stuff up on the cheap.

 

[gobug]

Its interesting to summarize the above comments:

1) " junk products made in China"

2) " bought some tools and they worked fine"

Remember when "Japanese" meant junk, then they pulled the rug from under American car makers by producing top quality cars?

I'm a Harbor Freight shopper. I stop in every Wednesday. The parking lot is always full of pickups, and the store is full of guys drooling over all the tools and cheap prices.

I have bought numerous tools (electric right angle grinder $17, welder $149, pneumatic shears $29, laser level $10, solar panels $30, multi meter $3 and many more). I only buy on sale. They rotate the sales so if you miss one, just wait. They guarantee hand tools for life. You can buy a warranty on all power tools (not for me, but maybe worth consideration if you need the tool for heavy use). I was very cautious at first; still am. I just can't pass up some of the bargains.