[not_the_fda]

I strongly disagree. Cheap tools are a pain to use, and break when you need them most, and perpetuate throw away culture. If a good tool is too expensive to own find a rental or buy used, otherwise buy high quality.

High quality is a joy to work with and will serve you a long time.

[Eduardo3rd]

High quality tools are absolutely a joy! I love the high end tools that I get to use in my professional life as a mechanical engineer. (less frequently now that I am a manager, but you never get tired of using a well designed Festool, Bosch, or Wera product)

However,I don't need the same level of quality in the things I have at home. I've built, repaired, and otherwise tinkered away on countless projects over the years with things I found/bought on sale/picked up along the way with no issues. I'm not a professional [plumber, carpenter, electrician, mason, machinist, etc] and I don't need the same tools they have to get the job done safely.

There's nothing wrong with choosing to spend your personal money on high end tools. In general I find the attitude around tool ownership to be one of gate keeping though, and I'm more interested in getting started and discovering what I really need with less expensive tools than I am in spending my entire budget on high end equipment only to learn that I don't need specific expensive features after a few uses.

[D13Fd]

Some people are into creating things, and other people are into tools. As the saying goes, it's a poor craftsperson that blames their tools. But I also think it's a poor craftsperson who tries to improve by improving their tools.

I see it a lot with photography. Some talented photographers pull incredible images out of older digital cameras and lenses, and don't bother to get new cameras/lenses because the reality is that a new camera wouldn't make their images much better.

Other photographers lack that kind of creative skill but still spend their time buying better and better gear, talking about gear online, and taking pictures of test charts—all without improving their skill.

[ce4]

I'd say it depends on the use case.

For example I own a cheap non branded wire stripper (an upgrade to using a knife) instead of the high quality 150€ self adjusting Knipex equivalent (which "only" makes life easier and saves time).

But with safety features I wouldn't budge (eg. saw and grinding tools). For example Bosch blue has anti kickback in certain angle grinders which detects jamming discs and stops the motor.

[darksaints]

I've been burned repeatedly by your philosophy. It only seems to hold if you know exactly what you want. I've got closets littered with high quality things that I don't ever use anymore because I lost interest before I could ever appreciate its quality.

[CoastalCoder]

Not detracting from your point, but maybe sell them on Craigslist?

[darksaints]

Selling them is a pain of its own. I would have preferred to have bought cheap and not have to worry about recuperating value.

I think people get it into their heads that they need to be a buy cheap or buy quality person entirely, and I think the most succinct point I could make is that it doesn't have to be one extreme or the other. Buy quality for the things where you know what you want and value the quality improvement, and buy cheap for the things that are new and unknown to you. You don't need a pro-quality snowboard before you decide that you like snowboarding.

[0x457]

Depends on kind of tool. A good (and probably expensive) tool will last you long, but sometimes those tools are more complicated to use because they are targeting professions. When it comes to an adjustable wrench - sure, buy an expensive one from a good brand. That makes sense because cheap and expensive only differ in quality and durability.

When it comes to complicated tools, probably start with something reasonable and cheap. That covers not just tools, but also appliances and other things: cheap coffee machines are put coffee/capsule in and press a button, expensive one would be very manual.

[bluedino]

I think he means more towards 'buy the cheapest, but quality tool'

You don't want to use a dollar store screwdriver but at the same time you probably don't need a Wera.

I have a friend who has a fault of buying the best of everything, for example he bought a $300 Milwaukee cordless to hang some pictures on the wall, because "One day I might want to build a swingset". It's been 8 years and he never built that swingset.

[sliken]

Sure, an unused $300 milwaukee cordless is a waste, definitely don't buy something like that before you need it. Especially since there's quite a few choices available.

However a 6 piece Wera screwdriver set is $30-35 and easily to justify in any apartment or home and should last dramatically longer than a dollar screw screwdriver and MUCH less likely to cause damage to whatever you are working on. Even building a piece of Ikea furniture and the most minor of repairs (light switches, door hinges, loose chairs, etc) would justify the wera set.

Much better to buy something decent set for $35 than might last a lifetime of light use than the nearly disposable dollar store stuff. Even a small apartment can justify a handful of screwdrivers and allens.

[sliken]

Indeed. I hate cheap tools, and they can damage not just themselves, but whatever you are working on.

Last thing I want to do is round an allen, strip a screw, or round a nut because a tool can't be bothered to be the right shape and be made out of the right materials to apply whatever torque/pressure is needed.

Good tools easily last decades, and I have some from my dad. Cheap tools often last a hard use or two, and sometimes less than a single hard use.

[animal_spirits]

I follow this sentiment. Buy nice or buy twice

[Rebelgecko]

For me it's more of a pareto thing. 90% of the time, the Harbor Freight tool is gonna do the job. Even if I end up needing to buy a more expensive tool 10% of the time, I'm still coming out ahead. YMMV depending on how often you need to use various tools or if you're buying jack stands (or anything else where failure could lead to death/injury)

[sliken]

However I got a harbor freight pneumatic nail gun, oiled it before use, and every night before putting it away. It almost lasted the building of an 80 foot fence, almost.

Funny enough I did buy some jack stands that looked good, and we recalled for catastrophic failures: https://images.harborfreight.com/hftweb/recalls/Jack-Stand-R...

If you need a single or low use unpowered tool I consider harbor freight. Generally anything powered, which is more expensive, I want to keep longer, and has a higher chance of damaging itself, what you are working on, or you I buy something name brand.

The harbor freight rolling tool chests are quite nice, and features on various tool/garage forums as a great deal.

[mikestew]

From the recall notice:

...a potential, while under load and with a shift in weight, for the pawl to disengage from the extension lifting post, allowing the stand to drop suddenly.

Having just run to the garage to make sure that my Harbor Freight jack stands aren't in that recall, it occurred to me, "how do you fuck up jack stands?" If there ever was a patent, it had to have run out before my grandfather was born; just go copy a high-quality model, sorted. Even if one doesn't just plain copy the design, I don't think you'd have to be much of an engineer to come up with something that won't collapse on itself under load. I mean, there's three pieces to the whole damned thing, and the design seems to allow a lot of slop on tolerances. Yet the folks at Pittsburgh Jack Stands(tm) seemed to think, "but we could save another nickel if we made the tolerances just a bit larger."

Anyway, that's why I always slide some sort of backup under the vehicle no matter the quality of the jack stand.