I find Harbor Freight an interesting mix of quality. Somethings are iffy on quality. On the other hand, they have ratchets, sockets, extension drives, box and open wrenches all made out of Chrome-Vanadium, with Chrome-Moly stress portions. Sears, Matco, and SnapOn still do not use Chrome-Vanadium in their hand tools – only in their impact wrench tools (Pep-Boys also has a Chrome-Vanadium hand tool line). I would rather have Chrome-Vanadium than a ‘warranty’. Chrome-Vanadium is much tougher, stronger, rust resistant than tool steel. NOTE: The frame of the Model-T Ford was made from Chrome-Vanadium. That is why the bodies of many Model-T Fords would rust away.. but the frame would still be left.
I have also noticed that they do offer a true dual-stage compressor (much more efficient and quicker for pressures above 80 PSI). While Sears are one stage, two cylinder designs. On two stage, one cylinder feeds into a second cylinder with a much smaller diameter (generally about 1/3 to 1/2 the diameter of the primary compression cylinder)
NOTE: There is a way to extract a tap out of a blind hole fairly easily, but you have to make a tool to do it (looks like a 3-D fork). You should also be using bottoming taps when dealing with blind holes instead of standard taps.
