Harbor freight, drill bit city, banzai effects?

[Zben3129]

Hey all,

Has anybody ever dealt with these 3 places?

I recently ordered from harbor (2.99 DMM and 5.99 dremel...!!!), and drill bit city (#60-#69 10 piece set, 7ish) and was just wondering what to expect.

The main thing I am wondering about is shipping time, does anybody have a rough estimate to the us?

Also, reguarding the 2 harbor products, has anyone ever used these?


Finally, I see many interesting things on Banzai effects and am considering placing an order, any experience?

Thanks

[John Lyons]

Drill bit city was fast and their resharpened carbide bits last a very long time. So long that I have never had one go dull before I broke it.
It only takes a small bump or jump in your board while drilling and bye bye bit. Carbide is very hard and brittle...sure drills like a chanmp though.

No experience with the others.

A little late to ask your questions Zach having already ordered!!

John

[BubbaKahuna]

Don't expect laboratory grade stuff from HF. Some of it is great but you have to know what you're buying to sort it all out. I have one of the $3 DMMs and it's a steal at that price. It's as accurate as my $50 DMM, runs forever on batteries and fits in my shirt pocket. I haven't tried the Dremel clones from them, but I'd expect it to work fine for a while and eventually die if you use it for more than very fine work. HF power tools aren't usually heavy duty unless you get the better ones, and I wouldn't think a $5 Dremel is among those. I use a lot of HF air tools and they work just fine. I also use some of the heavier shop equipment and it's very nice, killer for the price. If you can visit a HF store in person, it's a lot easier to figure out what's decent grade and what's 'fleamarket'. I've had great luck with plenty of their stuff, but I mostly go to the store and get my hands on things before I get my wallet out.

Never dealt with the other 2.

[mnordbye]

I've used Banzai a couple of times, great shop! And they got EVERYTHING you need, except germanium stuff.

Magnus N

[JimRayden]

Don't place too large of an order with Banzai, they tend to get confused and send some wrong items. The last magic trick they did was to switch a stereo pot to a regular one. Well at least they got the value right.

Otherwise they're great. Biggest diy pedal parts supplier in Europe, to my knowledge.

---------
Jimbo

[axg20202]

I had a terrible first (and last) experience with Banzai. To cut a long story short, they misled me about stock availability (one item was on backorder - fair enough - but meanwhile they sold several other items in my order, which were confirmed as in stock when I placed it, to other customers, leading to more items on backorder). They obviously messed up, but they completely ignored my e-mails once everything started to go wrong, other than an initial e-mail that was obviously BS. I eventually received my complete order, in dribs and drabs, well over a month after ordering with not a word from them other than automated shipping notice e-mails. They are expensive too IMO. Could be a one off problem that affected my order, but that doesn't excuse the lies, inability to allocate stock and a complete lack of customer service. I only ordered from them because they had a specialist part that wasn't available anywhere else. I wont be going back. Their site shouts about superb customer service. Easy to claim, harder to deliver.


SmallBear is your friend - good prices, great service, no hassle.

[Zben3129]

Thanks alot, guys


And are there HF stores located in US or Europe?

[Plinky]

Wouldn't know if HF is in Europe, but they're all over the US.

Drill Bit City - never used them.

Banzai - Wow. A lot of switcher pedals. Do you really need that many?

Like it was said earlier, HF is bang for the buck if you know what you're looking for. If it's something I'll use a lot, I usually buy a quality brand. If it's of "weekend warrior" status, I'll buy from HF. When I was still an automotive technician, I bought their $7-8 screwdriver sets all the time. No sense in buying that $50-100 set of Snap On screwdrivers that you'll lose within a year when the cheapies will do the same job minus the huge void in your wallet after the purchase.