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When it comes to Harbor Freight, it seems everyone has an opinion. You either love it, you go there all the time to just browse the aisles and pick up deals, or you hate it because you had a terrible experience with something you bought there and will never go back.
I saw this sort of passionate polarization in a recent poll I took of the Everyday Home Repairs community. Over two thousand people responded to that poll; 78% said they had purchased a tool from Harbor Freight at some point and 22% said they had never bought anything there.
The amazing thing regarding this poll was the feedback. I got at least five times the number of comments I normally receive on similar polls. This got me thinking there must be something there to investigate and talk about.
Personally, I believe that Harbor Freight has a time and purpose. It can be a godsend to a do-it-yourselfer in certain situations. The store has saved my bacon on a number of occasions because it was the only place that had the tool I needed at an affordable price. A perfect example is this Toe Kick Saw I purchased a couple of years back which was a huge help on a rehab project.
What All DIYers Need to Know about Harbor Freight: A Concise Guide
In this article, I’ll briefly go over the history of Harbor Freight stores. Following that, I’ll run down what I think are five great things to buy there and five things to avoid.
Rather watch than read? Check out this 9-minute video.
DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission.
A History of Harbor Freight Stores
Let’s begin with a history of Harbor Freight stores so that we’re all on the same page.
Harbor Freight has had multiple business phases, but it started as a mail-order tool business. Back in the late 70s, they opened their first store in California, followed by a second location in Lexington, Kentucky in 1980.
You might remember getting the Harbor Freight catalog and looking at all their cheap tools during the 80s and 90s when the mail-order business was going strong.
In the 90s, the company started expanding its physical locations. It was driving sales with coupon incentives that would come to your house with your weekly circular. Over the last decade, Harbor Freight has been expanding pretty aggressively. They now have 1300 stores in 48 states, which is pretty impressive, considering that a giant like Home Depot has 1994 locations.
In this latest phase, the company has started using technology to its advantage. They stopped blasting physical coupons and began focusing on collecting customers’ phone numbers and email addresses. Consequently, Harbor Freight now has a massive database, and electronic communication is the current basis for their current interactions with clients. Some of you may really miss those coupons in the weekly flyer, but no one can deny that this enterprise has adapted to technology and a changing market.
Even though you won’t see paper coupons from Harbor Freight anymore, the coupon incentive is still alive and well — it’s just appearing in electronic format these days. So just to be clear, you should never be making a purchase at Harbor Freight without a coupon! You can bet that at any given moment you’ll be able to find a 20%-off coupon on the app or in your email, even just googling. If it’s a holiday or special sale, you might be able to find coupons for 25% off. These discounts usually come off the highest-ticket item in your cart. Every once in a while, you can get lucky and come across one of their parking lot or tent sales where the reductions are even steeper, but those haven’t been so common over the last few years.
And now for the important stuff: what you should buy at Harbor Freight and what not to buy.
Five Things to Buy at Harbor Freight
1. Specialty Tools:
The Toe-Kick Saw
Number One on my list of what I would buy and have bought at Harbor Freight is a toe-kick saw.
This is a specialty tool that enables you to get a flush cut when you’re removing old sub-flooring and you want to get right up to the toe kick on a vanity or your kitchen cabinets. For jobs of that sort, this tool comes in super handy.
As a do-it-yourselfer, you might not use a tool like this very much but it can save you hours and hours of work messing with your oscillating tool. For the $79 I spent, it was well worth it, and Harbor Freight was the only place that carried it. No home improvement store in my area had a toe-kick saw for sale; I couldn’t even find one for rent.
This toe-kick saw is a perfect example of how Harbor Freight saved the day with a specialty tool.
A Cement Mixer
Oddly enough, certain things that you use only quite rarely can be a good thing to purchase at Harbor Freight instead of renting from a home improvement center. A cement mixer is a good example of this.
Buying a cement mixer (with a coupon, of course) could even be cheaper than renting one.
2. Floor Jacks and Bottle Jacks
Floor jacks and bottle jacks are another good thing to purchase at Harbor Freight. My most recent purchase was a 1.5-ton floor jack.
I have purchased many bottle jacks over the years as well and have been pretty happy with them.
3. Welders and Plasma Cutters
When it comes to welders and plasma cutters, Harbor Freight can give you some really good bang for your buck.
A note about quality categories:
Harbor Freight divides its tools into Good, Better, and Best categories. For things like welders and plasma cutters that draw a lot of amperage, I recommend you choose from the Better and Best items. I’d stay away from the “Good” category for this type of tool; it’s really not good enough.
4. Consumables (Disposable Supplies)
A perfect example of a consumable that I would buy at Harbor Freight is disposable gloves. This is something I save a ton of money on.
I go every once in a while for disposable supplies like this and stock up.
5. Moving Blankets
The last item on my list of things to buy at our controversial tool shop is moving blankets.
You can spend a fortune on moving blankets, even though they are something you’re not likely to use all that often. Still, when you do have furniture to move, you want to protect it, and going to Harbor Freight for these will save you a bundle.
Five Things Not to Buy at Harbor Freight
1. Anything in the “Good” Category
Generally speaking, I would stay away from anything in the “Good” quality category at Harbor Freight.
An exception would be if you needed, say, a set of crappy wrenches because your neighbor keeps borrowing yours and never returns them. In a case like this, purchasing one of their “Good” tools could make sense.
2. Hand Tools
I don’t recommend buying hand tools at Harbor Freight. As I just mentioned, items in the “Good” category are not good enough quality from my point of view, and items in the higher ranks are at such a price point that you could get more reputable brands for about the same money.
Update: I got a lot of feedback on my YouTube where a number of people had reported having success with Harbor Freight hand tools. Sounds like hand tools might be worth a second look 👍.
3. Drill Bits, Saw Blades, Grinder Wheels
For things like drill bits, saw blades, and grinder wheels, I don’t turn to Harbor Freight. Yes, you can get these things super cheap there — a whole set of drill bits might cost you the same as one or two bits made by Milwaukee or Makita or Dewalt. In my experience, they break or don’t stay sharp for very long. In the end, it’s not money well spent.
4. Power Tools
Some people swear by the Hercules brand, which is the chain’s higher-end series. I would argue here, as I did with regard to hand tools, that once you get to this price point, you’re in the same ballpark as Dewalt, Milwaukee, and Makita.
Speaking of pro-quality power tools with the best reputations, I think it’s worth also mentioning Ryobi here. This is a brand that offers a huge range of tools and is widely available (sold at Home Depot). Their niche is affordable, pro-featured tools.
5. Name-Brand Items
I’ve found certain name-brand items to be more expensive at Harbor Freight. Take Gorilla Glue, for example. At Harbor Freight, I found it for $7.99; at Menard’s, it was less than $5. For supplies of this sort, I wouldn’t count on our haven for discount tools to be cheaper.
More Guidance
For more guidance, be sure to check out the comments section under the corresponding YouTube video about Harbor Freight. This gold mine of information from viewers can further help you make informed decisions about purchases for your DIY projects.
Home Depot: Cracking the Clearance Code
For a related article about how to find deals on tools and home improvement items, check out our article on how to crack the code of Home Depot clearance price tags. Learn how you can get items for a penny!
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