Harbor Freight
Reviews
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The
unofficial review forum for Harbor Freight™ tools. |
Our mission is to buy one of (almost) everything in the Harbor Freight™ inventory, test it and write a review based on our evaluation. These first-person reviews eventually show up here on the Harbor Freight Reviews website. This is a slow and tedious process, but it’s also quite fun. Indeed, the primary goal is to have fun. The revenue generated through online advertising and from sales of a few select items helps off-set the expense of purchasing “one of (almost) everything in the Harbor Freight™ inventory” and the cost of website hosting and related expenses.
There are two things that we want our readers to clearly understand about Harbor Freight Reviews. First, we love Harbor Freight™ tools. Yes, we have some complaints from time-to-time and we grumble about out-of-stock items and get frustrated by their triple-pricing policy, but WE LOVE HARBOR FREIGHT™ and are very ‘pro’ the company and its various product lines.
Second, we are totally independent of Harbor Freight™ and are in no way affiliated with that company. We receive no commission on sales and do not even accept advertising from them. Our product reviews are based strictly on OUR evaluations and are not influenced by Harbor Freight™ or by our sales of Harbor Freight™ and other products. On the other hand, the products we choose to occasionally sell are based largely on our product evaluations.
Harbor Freight™ trades under the names of Harbor Freight Tools™ (online sales) and Harbor Freight USA™ (retail outlets). Some of the popular Harbor Freight™ brands (product lines) include:
Central Forge
Central Machinery™
Central Hydraulics
Central Pneumatic™
Haul-Master™
One Stop Gardens™
Pittsburgh™
U.S. General™
Western Safety™
Although most of us would consider these to be “off brands,” the company stands behind their products. Indeed, Harbor Freights™ boasts a 100% satisfaction guarantee (usually a 30-day “no hassle” return policy) and a lifetime warranty on ALL hand tools. Recently, their retail outlet Harbor Freight Tools™ has added a 1-year low-price guarantee which claims they will match any price for the identical item within one year of purchase. (Wow, does that include their own clearance sales and coupon offerings?) It’s hard to imagine how you can get any better than this!
We can be reached through e-mail at info@HarborFreightReview.com and through telephone numbers provided when necessary (We are avoiding nuisance telephone calls and unsolicited sales requests, and therefore restrict distribution of our telephone numbers to only parties with whom we have an established relationship.).
The “Hot Buy” list is intended to help people fill-up their tool boxes with what we consider some of the best buys at Harbor Freight™ when purchased at or below our listed “target price.” It might be the extra thing you buy to make your trip worthwhile when going to the store to purchase some other small item. It might be an item or two on your wish list, things that you would eventually like to get for your home shop. Or it could be a gift for a friend where you don’t mind saving a little money while pleasing them with some interesting or useful tool. In any case realize that it is our ‘opinion’ and use you it as you see fit. Keep in mind that we are slowing adding this to our “Hot Buy” list and not being on that list doesn’t mean the item won’t be added later. If you wish to know what items we consider a bad purchase at (almost) any price, check our current list of “The Junk.” Marginal and special purpose items (things useful if you have a special need or that might be good purchase for some people) are added to our list of “Everything Else.” Shop carefully, shop wisely, but most of all—happy shopping.
The purchasing strategy we use at Harbor Freight™ is rather simple.
Our “target price” is the best price for purchasing items for which you have no immediate use. Many of these items are well worth their retail prices if it’s to be used in some current project. We shop ahead, like many other Harbor Freight customers, buying things we think we might need some day. If we’re in the retail outlet and haven’t bought anything for a while, we look around for something on our wish list that is at our target price or lower. We tend to buy lots of stuff over an extended period of time, carefully checking things off our want list. Some people might accuse us of collecting tools for the sake of collecting. Tools needed for a current project are a much different matter.
The retail and frequent sale prices are prices that we’ve collected from catalogs, fliers, advertisements, and special mailings. We do NOT update these prices on a regular schedule; we update them periodically when we discover that the price no long reflects the value it is intended to reflect. All “best prices” have been observed in the past two years and retail prices are current at the time of writing the review. All are subject to change.
We try to abuse our test items somewhat before
writing the
full review. Most people who shop at Harbor Freight are not investing
in high
quality tools and they’re often the same people that don’t oil their
saw after
each use or clean all of the sawdust off their drill or sander each
time. Mild
abuse, yes, but they are still not taking optimal care of the tools. We
mimic
this type of behavior with our own practices—drilled the hole but not
time enough
to clean up the drill properly after each use. Items from our “Outdoor
Living”
selection undergo the
Most of the content of this website and of Harbor Freight Reviews™ is copyrighted by our parent company, Beaux Arts USA™ and may not be used without permission. Some product photographs used for educational and review purposes are copyrighted by Harbor Freight Tools™, Sears™, and other companies as noted. Craftsman™ and Kenmore™ are copyrighted by Sears, Inc. Windows™ and Outlook™ are copyrighted by the Microsoft Corporation.
The content of this website is deemed accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of its publication. However, we assume no liability for inaccuracies or other errors contained herein. Policies and warranties for third-parties (e.g., Harbor Freight™ and Craftsman™ tools) are subject to interpretation and to change without notice. All information contained on this website and on the Harbor Freight Reviews Discussion Forum is provided for educational purposes only. Opinions expressed in the reviews of products and of the various companies are ‘opinions’ and should only be considered at most a guide to purchases and to the use of products described in these reviews.
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Copyright 2009-2010 Beaux Arts Last
revised:
03
August 2010 11:43 (EDT) Contact:
info@HarborFreightReviews.com |