Hot take: I thought the $80 knee kicker from Harbor Freight was just cheap junk until I had to use it on a tight stair job in a Cincinnati bungalow last month.

The way it gripped that tricky nosing without slipping once completely changed my mind about budget tools, so has anyone else found a surprisingly good deal on something they initially doubted?

4 comments

4 Comments

iris9273mo ago

Yeah, that cheap orange pry bar set is the same deal. Thought the handles would snap first time I leaned on them, but they've held up pulling subframes for two years now. Sometimes the metal is just good enough.

bennett.evan3mo ago

But are you really trusting that thing on a daily driver?

kelly.charlie1mo ago

Two years pulling subframes on those cheap orange pry bars? Man that's wild. I had a set of those same ones from the auto parts store and the tip curled on the first control arm I tried. Maybe I got a bad batch or yours are just built different but I'm genuinely surprised they held up that long under real load.

mason_fisher3mo ago

Bet the heat treat is surprisingly decent on those.