The Good, The Bad and Ugly from Harbor Freight

[blime81]

While we all dream of a shop full of Snap On or Mac tools for many of us that simply isn't in the budget so we go to Harbor Freight (especially for that not used so often or need it right now tool).

I thought we could all post up what items we had picked up at Harbor Freight that were worth having and what to stay away from.

Here's a few that come to mind:

The Good
Bench Grinder (had mine for years and it's never missed a beat)
Heat Gun
Heat Shrink Tube (it's like $2 on sale for lots of it)
Solding Iron w/light (the case is cheesy but it works great for $10)
Multimeter (have a name brand for my box but these are cheap enough for every vehicle)
6 ton Jackstands
Vacuum gauge
Pickle fork (how can you mess this up?)
Digital Calipers (no kidding, these are as accurate as my Starret dial set and cost $10)
Spring loaded center punch


The Bad
Drill bits (soft or break way to easy)
Drill bit sharpener (won't sharpen even the above mentioned soft ones)
Grinding wheels (for a buck more you can buy dewalts that last)
Cut off wheels
Saw blades
All cordless tools (I've never bought, but a buddy picked up a few and battery life is laughable)
Most of their air tools are pretty weak (though I have a ratchet that isn't too bad)
Hand tools wrenches, screwdrivers etc (I've gotten these for free from their flyer coupons and figured hey it's free perfect for the truck box but the metal is just too soft for them to be useful)
Grinder

The Ugly
Pittman arm puller (shattered without my pittman arm moving at all)
Hole saws (useless unless you need a 2" hole in warm butter AND the blowmolded case broke the second time I opened it)


Probably a few more in all categories that I can't think of now.
There is probably another post out there that covers this but I couldn't find it.