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AvE does a lot of teardowns of power tools. Here's a comparison of a HF vs Milwaukee item: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSiI9MB9MA https://www.youtube.com/
by stickfigure 4y ago
AvE does a lot of teardowns of power tools. Here's a comparison of a HF vs Milwaukee item:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSiI9MB9MA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cSiI9MB9MA
I've watched a few of these and the upshot is that there's definitely a quality difference between HF and name brands. I've burnt out a HF angle grinder (which they replaced under warranty). For the most part, HF tools work fine for hobby use and sure they're cheap. But when this angle grinder dies again I'll buy a name brand one (for probably $50) - it gets a lot of use and driving to HF is annoying.
- Arrath 4y agoThis is the way. If you're not sure how often you might use something: Buy the budget Harbor Freight equivalent tools, if you use it enough to wear it out/burn it up, upgrade to a better brand. If you never push it so hard it dies, you're perfectly fine with the HF version.
- BenjiWiebe 4y agoOr if you got lucky and got a truly good HF tool, in which case you are set there as well.
- Arrath 4y agoWin/win!
- dokem 4y agoThe HF subreddit also has good discussions on the quality of various tools. I'm kind of dissapointed that the HF quality and price has been going up over the years. A lot of people are only going to need that random tool a couple times a year, or maybe only for this one project. HF was perfect for that. Now they're trying to be a slightly cheaper Milwaukee/HomeDepot. Might as well spend a little more and get something that you know is going to last, in many cases. I'm mostly referring to their power tool line. RIP Chicago Electric.