I love going to HF.
Fun store to buy some little doodads her and there. Fortunately, with their prices, you won't have to spend too much to have fun!
Kind of like a treasure hunt to find the hidden gems.
Yeah, but a lot of little doo dads can still send you into bankruptcy.
There are some darn good deals at HF. There are also some
real losers. However, they are excellent about returns and giving you your money back.
I have an 18volt HF drill. It is over 10 years old. Still on the original battery and working fine. It cost me $15.oo. A battery for any of my other drills is $40.oo or more.
Their wood lathes do not take normal chucks and other accessories. On the other hand I am impressed with how well their approximately $80 wood turning tool set works. They can be sharpened as well as expensive tools. They stay sharp much longer than (Heck, I forgot the name of it---and I used to have one. Oh yes, ShopSmith) tools. They are a good weight. The handles are not fancy but they work well.
Do Not Get Me Wrong, I also have 7 turning tools that cost in the $100+ each range. However, if I want to try a different shape cutting edge, I am not going to grind an expensive tool to see if I like it. I do have HF tools that I have reshaped and that are handy when I turn. I really have no desire to dump my HF turning tools. I readily gave my ShopSmith and some other brand turning tools away.
I have several HF pliers. They work fine. However, I would not want to leave them outside over night in our, almost, nightly dew.
I have HF casters that have been terribly over loaded for many years. They still work like new. My $100 twelve-inch disk sander has been in use for over 5 years. It works every bit as well as the #300+ machines. Etc. Etc.
However, to me my Penn State dust collector is vastly superior to HF. It has 2 HP, 1 (that is ONE) micron filtration, two remotes (which I love). Glenn has a Grizzly DC unit that is better than my Penn State, however it cost more. My Penn State keeps my 17" BS clean as a whistle. It also keeps my model 735 thickness planer clean. Sanding on the lathe or the disc is handled very well.Turning a 5" bowl with dry wood is fine on the lathe---Turning larger things or wet wood is a whole different story however.
Gads, it sounds like I own HF stock. I don't.
Enjoy because blabber mouth Bradley is going to shut up now.
JimB