Harbor Freight has announced a new Bauer 20V brushless cordless drill/driver.
The drill is priced at $60 for the tool-only, and can be kitted for as low as $90 with bundle discounts.
The new drill delivers up to 405 in-lbs of max torque, which does not compare well against Harbor Freight’s “compare to” choice of Ryobi’s 18V HP brushless drill/driver, which delivers 750 in-lbs max torque.
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However, the Ryobi is priced at $99 for the tool-only and $129 for a one-battery kit.
The Bauer has two speed settings, 0-500/0-1900 RPM. The Ryobi operates at 0-500/0-2100 RPM.
Harbor Freight describes the Bauer as having a “compact lightweight design.” A check of the specs shows that its length and height are both said to be 8-1/4″.
To be frank, I’m not impressed with Harbor Freight’s $89.97 pricing.
At the time of this posting, you can get a Metabo HPT 18V compact brushless drill kit for $78, or a more premium kit for just over $100. 2-3 months from now, we will likely see other pro cordless power tool brands’ typical $99 brushless drill kits return for the holiday shopping season.
We might also soon see seasonal discounts on the better-spec’ed “compare to” Ryobi model.
I’m happy to see Harbor Freight offer more and more brushless power tools, but this is highly competitive territory. If Harbor Freight isn’t going to compete on features or performance, they need to compete on price.
The Bauer seems to be a good buy for Bauer 20V [Max] cordless power tool users. For everyone else, I don’t think Harbor Freight and Bauer answer “why should I buy this?” with a good enough answer.
In their newsletter, Harbor Freight advertises that the Bauer delivers “up to 60% more runtime* than drill/drivers with brushed motors. *Compared to products with brushed motor, using 5Ah battery driving 3-inch screws.”
They repeat this claim on the website’s product listing. The claim is missing the asterisk, but the fine print is listed in normal font size under an Important Information heading, along with a reminder that the tool is sold without a battery and charger.
I give Harbor Freight a thumbs up for this. I still greatly dislike blanket “up to x% longer runtime!” and “up to x% more power/performance” claims for brushless motor tools, but clear qualifiers are a good practice.
I have come to believe that Harbor Freight’s Bauer brand offers serviceable tools, in my opinion, but they have a ways to go before they’re competitive. Frankly, with respect to cordless drills, if I have a limited budget and can’t wait until the next $99 “special buy” holiday season, I’d rather go with Ryobi.
I also still don’t like Harbor Freight’s “compare to” feature. They say you “save 39%” compared to Ryobi, but fail to mention the Bauer’s torque rating is 46% lower.
Model: 2191CR-B
SKU: 58952
Price: $59.99 tool-only
A La Carte Kit Price: $59.99 + $24.99 for a charger + $24.99 for a 1.5Ah battery – $20 bundle discount = $89.97.
Jared
That seems like an odd combination of features and specs. Brushless and an all-metal chuck make me think of premium drills – but ~400ft/lbs is pitifully weak for a just-released drill these days, nevermind brushless.
I agree, this would have to be cheaper to make sense.
John
In-lbs
Jared
Ha, yes.
Collin
All metal chucks can be garbage. Example: Milwaukee chucks
Ben
If HF wants to compete with the well-known brands, they need to fix their warranty. 90 days is nothing. I’m not buying a tool with similar specs and pricing as others if the warranty is a couple years or longer on one vs 90 days the other.
Badger12345
Yea, totally agree here. Three years with Dewalt and five years with Milwaukee says durability. 90 days for a powertool says “disposable” to me and makes no sense.
I also agree with Stuart, at this point wait for the holiday specials with the $99 promo kits. At least they come with batteries and chargers that are usable with other higher quality power tools that one may buy later.
Robert
You are probably implying the same thing, but a 90 day warranty reflects a low opinion of their reliability by the manufacturer. Warranty length is driven by hard numbers their reliability engineers calculate. They won’t give a warranty past the date a pretty marginal number of units will fail. Even given that a lot of users won’t go through the hassle of redeeming on warranty, they will lose money if they did that. Their marketers would love if they could advertise a long warranty, remember when Hyundai got a lot of positive attention for the 10 year (I think it was) warranty?
fred
I don’t know if Harbor Freight has changed with their Bauer and Hercules brands – over some of their previous offerings. But for many years you could expect that many HF power tools would have a fleeting availability. They seemed to almost contract for short production runs from their Chinese suppliers then move on to a new model. Spare parts always seemed to be non-existent. So, if that hasn’t changed, then a longer warranty (except if they offered cash back – haha) might not be of great value if they could not offer a one-to-one replacement.
Warranty durations are perhaps a better measure of what the vendor thinks about MTBF. Having a tool in warranty is slim consolation when a tool fails in the middle of a job. Even if the exchange process is easy and the local HF is near to the jobsite – loss of productivity is an issue.
JR Ramos
My first thoughts as well. These aren’t quite inexpensive enough to be considered disposable throwaway tools (for most that would consider them anyhow) so warranty *AND* parts availability is somewhat important. Commentary over the years says that HF’s warranty in this category isn’t very generous anyway. The tools seem decent enough but it only takes one dead tool within another brand’s warranty period to quickly make the apparent cost savings a cost-loser. And that’s just the tool, not taking into consideration the batteries.
Years ago when the china-made power tools started to hit the US retailers, our company reluctantly got in on that with a few items like angle grinders and drills. What a mess that turned out to be…the tools are a bit better now, though. The profit on these tools, even at very low retail prices, was phenomenal and I would assume that like most of HF’s offerings they are making a pretty margin on their power tools as well. With their private-label lines perhaps a little less but still I’d wager on great profit for them. Now, that said, quite often with these “no name” brand tools or ODM products, the buyer can choose whether or not to pay the manufacturer for a warranty. It’s usually a losing deal either way but if they sell enough units and have a somewhat higher failure rate, they can recoup a little. But they are free to set their own advertised warranty period and the fact that HF sticks with an archaic no-help 90 day warranty is just a shame in this day and age. If their tools are as decent as they advertise then they could easily do a standard 1-year or something, and hey, if the tools don’t suck then they probably won’t be losing that much more to warranty costs.
Having been through the circus that is attempting to find parts for many cheap import bench and power tools, it’s just not worth the retail cost or the time spent, usually…and that’s if you can find the parts available. (On that note, for some common tools, Wen is often a great source for parts with reasonable pricing and communication to determine if the parts will interchange.)
Unless it were a one- or two-time job where the tooling cost can be passed directly to the customer there’s just no way I will ever consider buying HF hand power tools. And with their essentially increased pricing now, they are not very attractive at all when you can get the same or same-ish products from Amazon or other outlets for usually less money (and the same set of caveats).
eddie sky
I don’t know anyone that buys powertools from HF. I’ve watched AvE and chooch their junk.
Just keep bringing cheap chinese made junk to the market for what? To be at some yardsale or landfill?
That thing looks almost splitting image of my Dewalt…
Badger12345
Also agree here. If someone is going to buy “off brand” then an inhouse brand from one of big box stores (e.g. Ryobi) makes more sense. Even the Masterforce brand of powertools at Menards typically comes with a three year warranty on the tool itself. (Anecdote: I bought a corded Masterforce hammer drill to for one project to install a number of anchors in concrete over a period of several days. It was cheaper to buy a drill than to rent one for several days. I have no experience with durability and longevity, but the tool performed very well and seems well constructed.)
notleftyguyatall
I bought into the Harbor Freight 12v Hercules line a while ago for around the house stuff.
Have a “hex compact screwdriver” and a drill. Picked up a couple extra batteries for them on a sale, think got 2 2ah batteries for 20 dollars or something like that.
The drill and hex driver are really the same exact thing. One with a hex end and the other with the chuck. Which is exactly what I wanted. When working it’s handy to have two devices. Example, drilling pilot holes for screws.
I have a Makita 20v impact hex driver and reciprocal saw for heavy duty work.
They work fine. I am sure the torque specs are abysmal, but for stuff around the house the cheap price and small size is more important.
Has enough torque to drive a 4 inch hole saw through hardy board and through a outside wall. So it’s more then enough for 90% of the stuff I need. For things that require more then that I have corded drills.
Use them a few times a week for different projects. Very convenient.
Eventually I’ll get around to printing a adapter to get the 12v batteries working with other brands for more specialty tools when the need arises.
Would I use them professionally?
I suppose so as backups to 20v tools.
Rog
The law of diminishing returns comes in when you’re comparing things like DeWalt/Makita/Milwaukee/etc, in that they’re all good tools with similar enough specs. It really comes down to which platform do you prefer.
However, in this case you’re definitely getting a lot more for the money by going with the Ryobi vs. this.
MM
I agree with most of the posters so far, it’s hard to imagine why anyone would buy this tool. I can absolutely see a place in the market for value priced tools but given the poor specs and not-so-great price I don’t see why anyone would buy this. Ryobi offers much better value for money, a superior warranty, and has many many more tools on their battery platform. And I’m sure if you shopped around a bit you could pick up a Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita, etc, for a price in the same ballpark.
Bill
It is actually inch pounds. Not commenting on how weak or powerful that is. The only Ryobi I found close in price was 400 inch pounds.
Jerry
I also would go with Ryobi over Bauer. For one thing the warranty is 3 years With a 30 day no questions asked return/replacement policy. If the HF really is 90 days it is woefully inadequate.
Also, I have a buddy who couldn’t pass up a deal on a HF cordless tool (wish I could remember which one) and within a year the batteries were obsolete. If you get a Ryobi, you know at least batteries will be easy to find.
Or, spend not much more and get a holiday special 20V DeWalt and have a battery platform ready for pro quality tools. Heck, even the Ryobi HP line is excellent, I have a few of those, and am impressed. They are closing the gap with the pro brand with that line, although the price is getting pretty close, as well. However, it does allow you to have some excellent core tools along with a huge selection of reasonably priced ‘occasional use’ tools, all using the same battery. So, I’d say no to this HF tool, at least at this price point.
John
I do own some HF tools, some good, some so-so. My beef is with the warranty, which is a joke. Also their backend to the business is in the stone ages. Had to return an air dryer compressor which is only available online to purchase, it was beat to hell in shipping, customer service was very polite and helpful but had to wait a week for them to MAIL a return shipping label because their system does not allow emailing a return label. That’s 1990 for you not 2022. Refund did happen but from buying to refund was close to one full month.
I hope everyone loves their 90 day warranties. The owner of HF is laughing at all of us. Saw his 290+ft yacht in the Exumas last fall with it’s 150ft support yacht with all the toys and chopper. He just took possession of a new 370’ish ft yacht months back. All the crap we buy from there makes him money from substandard quality, warranties etc.
Fyrfytr998
With more readily available brushless technology. A lot of lower tiered brands are cashing in on people who just accept that the tool is brushless and thus, must be a very good tool without ever checking the stats.
wu lu
Warranty length is hardly an indicator of quality. All products have early failures. All a short warranty does is transfer the cost to the consumer. Short warranties are cost reduction items. Nothing more, nothing less. I hardly believe HF has set the MTF to 91 days.
JR Ramos
It used to be. Largely still is these days but not always. We saw that shift with the huge move to overseas manufacturing and the subsequent demise of most domestic manufacturing. Aside from the games some vendors play with cheap-cheap high profit items (where you are essentially often paying 2-4 times the product’s replacement value in the initial retail price), you still generally see better warranties (and perhaps other product support, parts, etc) on products that are indeed better. When profit margins are fair and reasonable (cost+markup rather than perception pricing and such) then a company can’t often afford to put a “good” warranty on a sub-par product without the risk of many $$$. Not all products have early failures, either….well, you know what I mean. Better products have a lower percentage of that thing because of higher quality parts and processes, and also sufficient Q.C. before they make it to packaging/shipping and on to the market. Those things are skipped with lower end companies/products because they simply cannot afford the time and such based on their cost of goods/target prices.
The “lifetime warranty” games did run rampant, though. We have a generation (or two) of consumers now that may not really know the difference in these things, or sometimes what actual good or high quality really is.
Jamie Lee Davis
As a former employee of HF, I wouldn’t recommend buying into a power tool system from this retailer.
Reason 1: Deeper systems with much value from established OEM’s.
Reason 2: HF has a history of sku dropping.
Reason 3: Price really doesn’t have value after all is considered.
Having felt the power under load of a proper brushless drill with a decent chuck and robust drive train for years from Milwaukee ( and others, of course ) has made me a believer in buying once.
Munklepunk
Having priced out harbor freight power tools I don’t see any reason to buy them. I needed an electric screwdriver for some light duty work, hf was having a sale, buy tool get free battery or something, even with that it was only ten dollars less than the DeWalt extreme kit. And with the warranty, which is a bit over blown imho, there was no reason to buy the Bauer.
Mike (the other one)
I agree with the general consensus here. The short warranty is a deal breaker for me, considering the price. For just a little more, you can get a known quality brand with a much better warranty, with a wider range of tool that use the same battery system, and you know the tools will be available for a good while.
Store exclusive brands are not always a good choice in the first place, since you must rely on that store for availability. This can be a big problem if you are working at jobsites in different locations, if you buy a home in another city, or the store you got the tools from closes.
HF power tools can’t be trusted that they will perform as needed, you can’t repair them since replacement parts may not be available, and there is no reason to buy into the platform because HF has a history of replacing brands out of the blue. They might be a good choice for working in places where tools are easily damaged, lost or stolen, but otherwise, there is no point.
Collin
Harbor Freight exists solely because of the massive population of low-information shoppers who like to think they’re getting a deal. Nothing more, nothing less.
There will always be lower prices and/or better values at other hardware stores–often both–and often consistently (not just during special sale events).
Joshua
I have a cattle ranch. I own a lot of DeWalt and Ryobi tools. I also own the entire line of Bauer cordless tools from saws, chainsaw, impact, to a larger hammer drill. The DeWalt and Ryobi have become my “house tools” and the Bauer had been my ranch tools for a few years now and I use and abuse them without fail. The hammer drill goes through 6 inch old hard 40s concrete like butter while my DeWalt corded struggles. I have to go up the side of mountains fixing fence and putting up temporary electric on trees and cutting down downed trees. I have multiple Stihl chainsaws but the little Bauer gets used frequently because of the light weight and abilty to take it camping and cutting limbs off of barbed wire. You can’t get a UTV up the mountain and theres a lot of places tou can’t get into with a horse and have to hike up to fix fence and clear off trees. Bauer hasn’t failed me yet. I don’t care about the warranty. If it has a manufacturer defect, that will show up in the first 90 days. Years of daily use and not a single failure. They have plenty of torque for working on tractors and getting lugs off or driving strong ties into concrete. I’ve had a lot of DeWalts fail me right after the warranty expired. As of right now Bauer has lasted longer than DeWalt for me. Sure my DeWalt 1/4 impact is lighter than my Bauer but I actually prefer the ergonomics of Bauer and haven’t found a job it won’t do well that the DeWalt can.
As far as batteries failing and harbor freight discontinuing, those are issues of a different world. For $10 I can get a 3d printed adapter to use my DeWalt or Ryobi batteries on my Bauer tools if they ever discontinued them.
I priced it out and did the math and compared between Ryobi, dewalt, etc at the end of the day I have saved thousands over kobalt/Ryobi/rigid/DeWalt, even on sale. At home Depot online right now Ryobi is $99 for the drill only…Bauer is $59 for the tool only. While purchasing a large compressor one day they threw in a free membership which saves me even more. There’s a lot I won’t but from harbor freight but the things I have bought are still running strong with no issues after years.
A few weeks ago I lost my impact in the pasture somewhere with a 5ah battery. It has been raining almost daily for the last 3 weeks. Today checking cows and fences I found it, in the grass trampled by cows into the mud. I knocked the rain and mud off of it and it works like the first day I got it. For the money I have saved I can’t complain