[forgetfreeman]

I'm not advocating for running out and filling your shop with boutique tools by any stretch. Mid-market brands like Dewalt are perfectly serviceable without incurring all of the safety issues that harbor freight brands are notorious for.

[yial]

Yes. Sorry. I didn’t think you were!

Harbor Freight is interesting to me, many of their items I won’t buy due to the quality, but certain other things tend to be excellent. However, I have noticed a trend where HF has started to have a few genuine quality offerings - but the price differential from a name brand shrinks drastically.

Example: their Hercules dual bevel miter saw- $349.99

A mostly comparable dewalt is $399.99.

(The dewalt is better in my opinion even because of how the detent overide and adjustment works, not to mention more positive stops )

An example of a gem however is their $50 electric planer. I own an older version of it. I don’t think it’s particularly great as your only / primary electric hand planer(except in a pinch), but the ability to use it roughly / places / ways that would damage a better planer. (Example, planing an old door while still mounted, or leveling a floor with luan ply, and planing areas that have adhesive, small nails, debris…)

[forgetfreeman]

Yeah idk, a lot is going to have to change with their offerings before I'd ever consider shopping there again. After first hand encounters with overheating issues with motor tools to weird shit like angle grinders with 2x the normal RPM and zero torque, abrasive disks that delaminate and fly all to hell under normal use, chain falls with chains so short the unit is functionally useless, leaky jacks, and incorrectly heat treated hand tools, I got tired of playing roulette.