I don’t often shop at Harbor Freight.
I’ve got a new outlook on them, due to their attempts to push into the Pro tool market, and the direction they do seem to be headed in.
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But if you’re expecting me to tell you about all the great deals they have planned for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season, you’re going to be disappointed.
The truth is, I simply don’t know – I haven’t paid serious attention to Harbor Freight offerings, and so I simply can’t tell which of these are good deals, others products to avoid.
Their HaulMaster 17-foot multi-task ladder, for example, is on sale for $100. That ladder is $140 right now – although I didn’t check for any current coupons, and so $100 is a good deal. But is it a good product? When dealing with ladders, I’m inclined to go with more “tried and true” brands.
Sorry, I digress.
Shown here, are Harbor Freight Black Friday 2017 tool deals. I’ll provide commentary where I have something to say, but just know that there’s not much else I can offer in the form of insight or opinions.
But if Harbor Freight continues on the path they set out on, to produce higher quality tools, perhaps this time next year will see me saying a lot more about 2018’s new tools and tool deals.
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I can add that the US General 13-drawer roller cabinet looks like a good deal, at $350. Harbor Freight’s US General tool cabinets seem to have a good reputation on many online forums and communities. If there was just one tool I’d seriously look at in their Black Friday 2017 sales flyer, it’d be that one.
Deals kick off on 11/24/2017, Friday, at 7am in stores.
Has anyone seen the Apache weather-resistant cases in store? Comparing to Pelican is a very tall claim. I LOVE Pelican cases, and have yet to see a brand that compares to it on even ground.
Hmm, if that Apache case is even anywhere near Pelican quality, maybe it will be worth my taking a trip to my local Harbor Freight during Black Friday weekend. If you’ve seen it and think I’ll be disappointed, please let me know and save me the trip!
The Harbor Freight Hercules 20V Max drill/driver will be $90, which is $10 less than I paid for it.
It’s not a perfect drill, but I think it is a step in the right direction for Harbor Freight. If they’re after professional tool quality, they’re not going to get there with their first attempt. I think that their Hercules line is promising.
Those step drill bits seem to be popular, although I personally prefer sticking with better known brand names.
I’ve heard some good things about that Earthquake XT air impact wrench. If I were a heavier air tools user, I’d look more closely at it.
Is that a Diablo-branded 3/8″ x 50′ rubber air hose? Can they use the Diablo brand? Legally, I don’t see why not, since Bosch’s Freud Diablo brand doesn’t offer air tools of any kind.
Anyways, forget what I said about not being much interested in Harbor Freight’s Black Friday 2017 sales flyer. I’m on the fence about whether I really want to head to Harbor Freight next weekend or not, but the Apache case and Diablo air hose are working to convince me.
Have you seen or used this air hose yet? If so, do you think it’s worth it? Or should I stick to a Goodyear rubber air hose, currently $28 at Amazon? I’ve tried Goodyear hoses, and they’re good for the money. I posted about them ever so briefly back in 2012.
For those of you that will be shopping at Harbor Freight stores or their website next week, what are you buying?
fred
Air hoses are often a compromise. First you need to look at the quality of the hose, then its fittings and finally how the fittings are attached. The old-style heavy rubber hose may take abuse on the jobsite but be a nightmare in really cold weather. A more flexible hose may lay flat in the cold – but have poor wear resistance. We tried PUR, Goodyear, Amflo, Parker, Milton and others. Our joke was the best air hose was the one you hadn’t used lately – because memory fades.
Tim
Although admittedly not a production setting, I like my Flexzilla air hose, and it doesn’t seem to have worn as much as the husky hoses I also have and use even less… but being in the market for some shorter ones, what would you recommend?
fred
You might try a 25 foot – 3/8 inch Goodyear
Tim
I’ll grab a Goodyear to try out, thanks! All my other hoses seem to be 50 feet, which is just usually a bit much for around the garage.
Mnbska
I never really had a tool store of my own until I went to Harbor Freight. If most DIY enthusiasts took a clear look at their tool inventory, they’ll see only about 10% of their tools are used for 75% of their jobs. That’s about my split for HF versus noon HF tools. My home inspection tools are high end, and my drills are high end. Other than that, all my tools are either HF, or perfectly replaceable by HF tools.
I spend my evenings and weekends doing home improvement or working on my cars. I have very few complaints about most of my HF tools. I spend a fraction of most people on them. I get a lot more done because I can have the right tool for the job every single time. So what if the oscillating tool is loud? Because it was $15 I could afford all the different blades. Yes, the tape measures are chintzy. But I have a dozen all over the house. And when it’s decision time to hire something out, I think “what if I had the tools?” And the barriers come down. I love Harbor Freight.
Brandon
Picked up the Earthquake 1/2″ impact a couple weeks ago. So far, have been very impressed with its performance. Time will tell about durability and longevity.
Blythe
I played with the hard cases last week, they seemed to be quite heavy duty, but I don’t have much need so I didn’t linger on them.
Depending on what your air tool use is, I’ll offer my experience. Unless you need extreme cfm capability or are working with harsh chemicals, a 1/4 polyurethane hose is ideal. It’s all I use in a construction setting, and they are great for not having cold weather memory, are really light, and last a really long time. I routinely lower my framing nailer from the top of the ladder by the hose and have never had a problem. The Diablo one is probably fine, but I don’t use my rubber or hybrid hoses anymore because they’re such a pain. These are the ones I use, and will be $15 in Black Friday which is a great price
https://lowes.com/pd/Hitachi-Professional-Grade-Polyurethane-Air-Hose-50-ft-x-25-in/3033412
I’ve used one of the haul master ladders that a customer had, lighter than my Werner but it didn’t seem at unsafe, no complaints. The Werner 17’ and 22’ adjustable will go as low as $99-$120 if you pay attention to sales.
I’ve had good results from the moving dollies and the 20 ton press
Bradley Hanstad
Something interesting about the apache case I noticed. The one listed (63926) with the picture to correspond to “medium” size is listed on their website, but look at the comparison prices…
It looks like they used the “large” sized apache case for the compared to price, heh.
http://puu.sh/ynCdJ/900ad1b21f.jpg
Mnbska
Oh they absolutely use the shadiest, hackiest tactics. I love HF but I’m fully aware of their weird pricing. BTW, their black friday prices can be had all year long.
Hang Fire
What’s with the funky watermark on the pics?
Stuart
The first site to get the ads applies their watermark. So it was either get the images from them, find a completely different source, or take images from another site which uses the same images but applies lossy methods to try to remove or mask the watermarks.
I try to redo the images once sales flyers are officially released.
Harbor Freight owns the copyright to the material, but the deal sites all try to foil their competitors by branding the ads with annoying watermarks like this. If it was less annoying, it would be easier to remove.
teicher
Stuart, most of these prices are barely lower than sales at other times of the year. Those hardy work gloves for $3.79? You can often get them for $3.99. Who the heck wants to deal with BF crowds to save a few pennies?
You’re right on the tool storage, the red US General boxes are amazing for the money.
ktash
I have a red US general box. I would recommend it. Look for a sale and use the 20% coupon (you can stack the sale and the coupon). Don’t get the black painted ones, though. They are inferior quality. You can compare them in the store and see the difference.
Brian
It’s good advice, except.you can’t use the 20% off coupons on the tool boxes/chests.
Coach James
The two nearest HF stores to me will not allow coupons on the tool boxes. The red boxes are still a great value though.
Cr8on
I noticed the Apache cases and gave them a second look, not bad at all, I have no need so I didn’t spend much time with them but my first impression is they are well made and as far as I can tell quite sturdy.
FD
Nothing special about the HF prices.
They do go out of their way to make evrything look like a deal with higher msrp, mark up, mark down … and now doubly so with their compare to brand name tools (with proven track record and warranty)
The hard cases I saw seemed decent, but have no current use for them.
Bryan
Tools aside, I’m surprised HF legal approved the savings based off of competitor products. Not a common practice in retail advertising. In fact, I cannot recall seeing this done elsewhere. Has anyone else? We’ve all seen the same product advertised at one store showing savings vs. another store, but this seems interesting to say the least.
Toolfreak
Guess the $9.99 torque wrenches are a good deal since you don’t need a coupon.
HF definitely isn’t where I’d go on Black Friday, though. Maybe if they had a load of “no purchase required” free stuff coupons for things they don’t normally have them for.
Way better killer deals at other stores that only happen on Black Friday and might not happen again, not worth saving a few more cents on something that’s ever so slightly discounted more than usual.
Really, you can probably stack a 25% off coupon with a “sale” price and get a better than Black Friday deal on most stuff.
Brian
As someone else mentioned, these prices arent terribly special. Those torque wrench set we’re 9.99 back in September too. The Hercules drill and Earthquake impact are probably the better deals, being about $5-10 cheaper than the usual sale prices. I went last year and the crowd was basically nill, so it’s pretty easy to get any of these deals if you want them, but they aren’t earth shattering. They are a discount tool store, so it’s hard to get even more discounts.
Rick
The motorcycle lift for $279.99 is $20 less than what it regularly goes on sale for.
I have owned this lift for about 15 years. It is a quality product and works great. I use it on full size motorcycles, I strongly recommend it.
Van
I own one of those multi size ladders I got for father’s day. It works great.
jim
These prices are typical i wouldn’t go on BF. But I will say don’t poo on HF people like to say this tool lasted ten years or this name brand is better quality, who cares! When its this cheap if it breaks k decide ill roll the dice again or go somewhere else. If you buy enough of their tools yes one will be DOA soo return it. Simple (.)
Lauren
Most is within 10% of normal pricing.
I have the red Diablo rubber hose and I like it for my basic auto work. I don’t have it on a reel so I’m constantly twisting out the loops to straighten it, but zero issues.
Sean
The yellow Daytona floor jack is pretty nice- i’ve got one and it is solidly built with really smooth actuation. However it is frequently on sale for $180, so $174 is a modest 3% off. I wish HF would tone down the all-caps attitude in their advertising. It gives me a headache.
Matt
Anyone know how busy it gets on BF? Would like to pick up the welder but am not gonna call put for it.
Stuart
I’ve never been there on Black Friday. Home Depot mornings tend to be crazy, afternoons it’s calmer, almost like a regular weekend day.
DaiIchi
Another way to save is buy discounted HF gift cards online. I buy them @ almost 20% discount. Between HF 20% coupons and discounted HF gift cards I haven’t paid “full price” @ HF in years.
Most of their power tools are throwaway, don’t know about their new pro line.