Harbor Freight has launched a new Gordon multi-tool, and it looks to have been very heavily inspired by Leatherman’s iconic Wave design.
In no uncertain terms, this looks to be a Leatherman Wave knock-off.
The new Harbor Freight multi-tool features “20 essential tools to handle almost any task at the jobsite or in the field.”
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Here’s the list of tools and features as included by Harbor Freight on their website:
- Pliers
- Needle-nose pliers
- Hard wire cutter
- 8″ ruler
- Large reversible bit driver
- Can opener
- Bottle opener
- Wire stripper
- Diamond-coated file
- Wood file
- Metal file
- Knife
- Saw
- Gut hook
- Serrated knife
- Window breaker
- Spring action scissors
- Med [screwdriver?]
It’s unclear if Harbor Freight commissioned the Gordon multi-tool as a new design, or if they simply put their name on an existing copy. This isn’t the first Leatherman clone or knock-off, and it won’t be the last.
They even added the curved recess in the pliers head where Leatherman’s name would go, but obviously it doesn’t have the Leatherman brand name.
Even the sheath styling looks very similar.
Price: $40
In my opinion, if you only have $40 to get a multi-tool, there are good entry-level multi-tools from Gerber and others. If you want a Leatherman, save up for it, or choose a less expensive style.
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I have tried various cheap multi-tools over the years, and most were poorly made and provide for a low quality user experience. I don’t have much optimism about this one.
I wonder – did Harbor Freight put any effort into their Gordon multi-tool, or did they hire an overseas factory to simply make as close to a Leatherman lookalike as possible?
Are they proud of this tool? This is something I’ve learned over the years – there’s a far greater chance of a tool providing a good user experience if its designers, engineers, or managers are proud of their work.
So, is this a tool anyone at Harbor Freight is proud of?
With all of the work they’ve put into their Hercules and Icon brands, I thought that Harbor Freight had been evolving into a toolmaker. Product launches like this make me question that.
Harbor Freight also launched a Begg Knives EDC knife knock-off late last year. I purchased a copy, and while it’s actually decent for the price, I ultimately found it distasteful that they stepped on a small knifemaker to launch the heavily inspired design. Interestingly, while Harbor Freight has different “compare to” messaging on their website, their in-store signage says “compare to BEGG” and that you “save $295” by going with the Icon.
There are lots of ways to make less expensive tools. I’m not sure I like the approach Harbor Freight has been taking with their new EDC tools.
Blocky
Lame
James
The wave is an old knife and if anything this is good for the consumer and encourages Leatherman to continue to innovate and stay competitive. A little bad on Harbor Freight? Yeah. But as a consumer I’d be interested to take a look and try.
Gabe
Ready for them to copy the ARC
Joe
Also the Crunch
Leatherman discontinued it for some reason
s
definitely curious about the quality. in the last few years, harbor freight has been making an obvious push to create more and better in-house brands. as youtube personality Nate, of Dirt Lifestyle said in reviewing the harbor freight off road jack:
“there’s a guy at harbor freight, i like to imagine they’re sitting around a big table, and this guy goes ‘ we should start making, like, better stuff’, and the other people at the table say, ‘well, yeah, sure, i guess we could try it this time.’ ”
about 3 months ago, i bought one of their $40 icon foldable knives, one of the last in a local store, that are otherwise unavailable anywhere for the rest of that time period.
https://www.harborfreight.com/drop-point-knife-with-ceramic-bearings-70613.htmle
as with most tool addicts, i’ve got lots of knives. a few spyderco, a few benchmade, even a few leatherman (leathermen?) knives.
many spyderco and benchmade knives are a lot larger/bulkier, which don’t suit my preference, so they end up staying home more than i’d like for the crazy amounts i spent on them. after all, a knife is only useful if it’s with me.
for the past 3 months the icon knife has taken up unobtrusive residence as my weekend EDC knife. and regardless of the price, i’m really happy with it. with the ceramic bearings, the opening action is just as good as most $100+ knives. the locking tab is a little small for my preference. but the steel used in the blade, and it’s overall sharpness is every bit as good for those 3 months as those higher quality knives. but for less than half the price.
i know it’s easy to nitpick an item based on price point, but getting hands on a tool like that will definitely tell the rest of the story. maybe it is terrible. maybe they’ve done something great for much less.
George
The wire cutting blade is not changeable. That is a must. If you can’t change it you can’t fix it and it’s not as hard of a metal.
S
I found one at a local store, my dad dailies a Leatherman wave, so I handed it off to him for an appropriate comparison.
The wire cutting blade in either the Gordon or wave is not replaceable.
Overall, if the labels were all stripped off, there’s really nothing that differentiates them or screams that one is inferior to the other. The weight, grip, texture, and overall action seem to be identical.
The blade and tool layout is identical. The needle nose grooves are overall larger, where the waves grooves are more fine. The wire cutter notch is cast into the tool, mine was not a precise notch. The wave needle nose shape was formed or bead blasted, where the Gordon was smoothly ground down to the profile with some side texturing from the process.
The small screwdriver bits are not interchangeable but the large bits match up identically.
The bit fixing method is different as well. The Gordon uses a magnet to hold the bit on the side of the small screwdriver shaft, and at the very bottom of the large screwdriver. The wave uses a spring steel tab to put pressure to the sides of the shafts, similar to the way the scissors spring works, on both versions of screwdrivers.
The Gordon also has a glass breaking insert and a pocket clip that the wave doesn’t. The pocket clip is irritating to use with the holster.
Other than that, for $40, it seems like a screamjng deal. I’ve never seen a wave under $70.
BigTimeTommy
Did he say anything about the scissors? For $40 I might pick this up to replace the crappy Gerber I leave in my car.
S
The scissors work well out of the box. The spring has a similar action as the Wave, and the joint is tight.
My experience with knockoffs like this is generally that they tend to use a lesser quality metal in the spring steel section that will lose it’s memory faster than the genuine iterations. Though that said, I’ve always had issues with versions like genuine swiss army knife scissors that store the blades in a closed position.
But only time will tell. This version offers an advantage that it stores the scissors halves in an open position that leaves the spring un-stressed except during use, which should help to maximize it’s lifespan.
Pat
I have to say the belt cutter/gut hook is attractive to me. I use that all the time and none of my multi tools have one.
Thom
Neither are the wire cutting blades on the Leatherman Sidekick which I currently own so I guess I should throw it in the trash and go with Harbor Freight’s version?
Ryan
Would buy an ARC copy in a heartbeat. Sorry Leatherman, it’s way too expensive for what it is.
Stuart
The point of the Arc is the magnetic pivot system. I doubt that’s going to be accurately replicated in cheap knock-offs anytime soon.
As mentioned, there are plenty of more affordable multi-tools.
Randy
That happens when you employ American workers. As with most of us, we like to be paid a decent wage, hopeful enough to support our families. That cost does get passed into the cost of the product.
Farmall
I’m a bit of a Leatherman junkie. Tried others from Gerber & SOG, and while better than no name stuff, they just don’t quite measure up to Leatherman quality of design or build.
I honestly wanted to like them, I just can’t.
This may be a lot of bang for the buck, and it wouldn’t hurt near as much to lose, but I’m not on board with their blatant rip-off of what may be the best all-around multi tool.
Tim D.
While I don’t love companies blatantly ripping off products, I’m shocked it’s taken them this long. The patent is expired, and has been for quite a while.
That being said, I love my Leatherman tools, and if I have to use a tool on a regular basis, I’d prefer one that works and feels nice. All the knock offs I’ve handled feel crappy.
Darren
Every Leatherman I’ve had, the tools break, but I like how they fit in my pocket. Of course I’ve not bought any top of the line ones so maybe they would be tougher
Mike
Don’t sleep on the new generation of knock offs. The older ones I’ve bought were crappy but some nice stuff has been coming out in the past few months especially the ones in the $30-40 range. There seems to be a push recently to make a decent quality Wave knock off now that the Wave’s price has gone up.
Alan Frishman
Your review asks questions about quality, but you don’t bother to answer them. You say to buy a Gerber with my 40 bucks. Are you saying that I shouldn’t buy this instead? It would be nice if you gave a recommendation. What’s the point in your review otherwise. Here’s a knife. It has features. Thanks for reading my story. FFS. Do better.
Stuart
In no way did I say or suggest this is a review.
If someone shows you a plate of disgusting gruel, are you going to buy a plate, force it all down, and then call it disgusting? Or are you going to say “yuck” and move on?
I’m not in the market for lazy imitation tools that rip off the hard work of other companies. You’re welcome to share your thoughts – that’s the point of the comments section.
Nate
I would have liked you to have tested out the 40$ knife too.
Stuart
I bought the $40 Icon knife. As mentioned, I find it decent for the price.
I won’t be touching the multi-tool.
If HF is going to dive deeper into EDC knife and multi-tool territory, they should build an in-house team to create unique designs.
David Z
Yputube reviews of this are pretty good.
I think you jumped to gruel too quickly.
Stuart
Is that supposed to change my opinion or stance on lazy knockoff designs?
Mike
Agreed. Random Chinese companies knocking it off are one thing but Harbor Freight is a large company. Doesn’t seem right. Only positive take away I might have is as these knock offs get better either Leatherman will have to drop prices or innovate at a faster pace to stay ahead or both.
Kevin
Wow, seriously?? Do you just enjoy insulting people for working hard and trying to help others stay informed? Clearly this is not a review. Nor should it be a review. If Stuart doesn’t have the tool in his hand I wouldn’t want to a hear a review, because it is just a conclusion from the same information I would have, not from hands on experience. However, Why not invite people respond with their thoughts or their experience with knock-off multi-tools?
Stuart, I appreciate you keeping up with the things going on in the tool world so I don’t have to be doing all the research. I always look forward to seeing new postings. Thank you!
Stuart
I have seen that there are two ways to respond to an opinion one finds disagreeable.
1) I disagree or have a different opinion, here’s why…
Sure, let’s talk about it.
2) You’re WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!
How dare I have an opinion?
Jim Felt
“FFS. Do better”????
Now that’s a truly classy response to a discussion about obvious plagiarism.
Joe E.
“FFS. Do better”.
– Alan Frishman
This needs to be printed on t-shirts and given away as ToolGuyd contest prizes.
Will
This isn’t reddit, go back to reddit.
Ken Morris
I may pay more for a Leatherman but at least I know the quality is there I also keep American workers working.
Jack D
True, but what about my neighbors who work at the Harbor Freight? It’s a tricky road, and I find myself wondering all the time.
MM
I think this analysis is very simple:
If you shop at your local HF you support domestic retail workers and foreign manufacturers. Some of your money stays in the US, some goes overseas. If you were to buy a domestic manufactured brand instead you would be supporting domestic retail workers and domestic manufacturers, and all the money stays stateside.
S
Only in theory. It depends on where their materials, families, and investors are located. There are many wealthy Chinese investors in American companies.
MM
Oh sure, its possible that a domestic company might use some foreign materials, have foreign investors, etc, so it’s not really correct for me to say that “all” the money would necessarily remain stateside. But that still keeps more of the money domestic than when something is built 100% overseas. With HF only the retail labor is domestic. Zero % of the product is. With a domestic brand the retail labor and at least some of the production is domestic. The latter is better than the former because no matter how small that % of domestic labor/materials is, it must be bigger than zero.
frobo
Let’s face it, much of what HF sells (and I admit that I do shop there occasionally) is China-sourced copies of better-known brands. Most of their business model is based on imitation rather than innovation, and this multitool fits that model. And the model works, apparently; it’s enabled a lot of people to have tools that fit their needs and budgets, and it has made their owner a billionaire in the process. But, that model will always force their products to be at the lower end of the quality scale. Even their Icon brand fits the model, they’re just imitating higher-end products there.
A quote from the English writer John Ruskin comes to mind: “There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey.”
MM
This is exactly correct, Harbor Freight is in the business of selling cheap knockoff products. But that said, their products are all over the board–or in other words, price isn’t the only factor. A great many of HF’s products are nowhere near as good as a leading brand but half the price. Sometimes they’re nearly as good and nearly as expensive. Sometimes the product is 90% as good but half the price. Or less. Like you said, price alone shouldn’t be anyone’s deciding factor, it matters what you get for the money.
I remember Stuart posting an article late last year about a HF Icon knife that was a very obvious knockoff of a Begg design. I think it was $40 whereas the real Begg is closer to 10 times that. It bothers me that HF knocked off someone else’s design, but reports seem to be that its a great knife, and it’s probably better value for money than the Begg, assuming you want a functional knife rather than a collector’s piece.
fred
At least some of the newer brand names (like Hercules) that HF has chosen to use – are not so flagrant in trying to obfuscate their origins. I’m thinking back to why they selected “Chicago Electric” or “Pittsburgh” to apply to tools obviously sourced in China and having no USA heritage. More recently they have used a Germanic sounding name “Bauer” . In this case “Gordon” is a name that HF had used before on brittle junk scissors and give-away LED flashlights
ITCD
Ironically, given that among the fan boy arguments the people who shop at HF are commonly called “poors,” one translation of Bauer is peasant.
Stuart
The Begg isn’t 10X more.
I bought the Begg for review, felt it was too ostentations, and returned it. I then bought it again a few years later at 50% off. It remains one of the most balanced and smoothed opening folding knives I’ve ever tested.
They now have a version of it for $79.
The HF at $40 is half the price. Honestly, it’s not a bad imitation quality-wise. But I feel it’s dirty for HF to step on smaller companies to make a few extra bucks. How much would it have cost for them to work with the smaller company on a mass market model?
You do see this in the industry, where some companies will actually PAY designers and smaller companies for their innovative designs and styles. This is especially true in the knife and EDC tool and gear industry.
MikeK
You nailed it! I have a multitude of knives from Henkel, Hen & Rooster, Bulldog and so forth. These are the ones that are no longer made and never used, as they are collectibles to me.
Some people may buy one to use but, I am not shelling out good money for something to be a edc all uses tool.
I personally don’t like most “tactical” knives as they just don’t speak to me.
I usually carry a stockman or whittler style however, I have some Bear and Sons single blade lock back knives I edc.
I have a old Leatherman about 30 years old that I almost never use. I would probably buy the $40 knockoff for a beater tool that goes in the tackle box or something like that. Defiantly not spending $120 on one for general purpose work. I just say to each their own and buy what suits you and it’s overall intended use.
Goodie
I was Army for 22 years and I don’t get the whole “tacticool” thing that’s going on. It’s usually over styled for me and not that useful for 95% of what people and Soldiers do. I daily carried Leathermans (when probability of losing the tool was low) and Gerbers (when higher) on active duty because I wanted something multipurpose.
Julius Rosen
I have been an importer from China for many years and they have had these knockoffs from hundreds of factories.
Actual cost oversees varies from $2 to $5 depending on how many blades you put in the model and whether you put a pouch with it. Definitely that the steel is nowhere near as good as Leatherman but for the average guy to take it on a fishing trip or in his pocket for an occasional use it’s fine.
By the way Walmart has plenty of others from $5 to $10 so if you just need something to carry around occasionally just go to Walmart and buy one or two for your car and your truck and your fishing tackle box
My2cents
I love Leathermans, currently own the Wingman, Surge, Charge+, and the Arc, hope to add more in the future. Also, not to be too technical, but this clone is more like a cross between the Leatherman Wave and the Leatherman Charge since the Charge has the serrated blade with the gut hook. Doesn’t look like this knock off has the replaceable wire cutters either, but I wouldn’t expect that out of a clone. Either way, I know they say imitation is the best form of flattery but I agree with your statement about there being $40 offerings from other better name brands. Don’t get me wrong, I have bought a lot of things from Hebor Freight. I have tool sets from them that I have used and abused for many years. I guess I just wish they would have made more of an effort to come out with a Harbor Freight original multi-tool instead of a blatant knock-off.
mikedt
I love my leatherman tools too, but you can’t deny their prices have exceeded the rate of inflation by a huge margin. In 10 years the price of a Wingman has more than doubled (aka 100% inflation) while the actual accumulated inflation rate was 35%.
I think they need a lot of competition.
MM
I think that Leatherman is encountering a problem of market saturation. Their product has been around for a long time and is very well known. Many people already have one (or more) and they don’t really need another. There’s also tons of competition from other brands. So they have to do something to keep the money coming in. Raising prices is one way of doing this. The other thing we’ve seen them do is branch out into the “limited edition” market with things like the Garage series. That line seems to be designed around generating collector hype and appears to be successful given they usually sell out just a few minutes after going live and then get posted by scalpers for even higher prices on Ebay a few days later.
It’s definitely nice to see more competition on the market, but it would be nice if HF would try and innovate with their own designs instead of making outright copies of others.
Jared
This is tangential, but I wish there were more Skeletool competitors. Your comment about innovating new designs made me think of it.
I thought the SOG Flash MT might be what I wanted, but the reviews are pretty dismal and I never ended up buying one. It sounds like it could be good, but isn’t manufactured with enough precision. I don’t need (or want) and assisted-opening knife anyway.
What I really want is an even lighter Skeletool. 5 oz is still too heavy for me to comfortably EDC. I want something closer to 3.5 oz but it still needs Skeletool-sized pliers and knife (or close to it).
Instead I’m FORCED to carry my 2.1oz Knipex Cobras XS pliers in one pocket and my 1.9oz SOG Altair XR in the other.
BigTimeTommy
Companies are using inflation as an excuse to really wring consumers dry. Of course a the company that owns the most mindshare is going to have the most consumer hostile pricing. None of the big brands are ever going to roll back prices so I’m happy to try some Chinese knockoffs.
Don
Nope, not a chance I will buy one. Don’t care for companies that do this. Have no ideas of their own so they steal others great ideas. Not sure this is even legal. Can’t imagine Leatherman not having patent protection.
ITCD
The Wave originally came out in the 90s, and I believe had patents related to not having to open the tool to access the accessories. That patent is kaput, because it was from the 90s.
The concept of the multi-tool itself as like Leatherman, is from the 80s, when Tim founded the company to make them after nobody wanted to buy in on his idea. That original patent is long long gone.
The Leatherman Tool Group is regularly filing other patents, and it would be a safe assumption that this was designed to not touch anything currently protected, as HF has done a very good job of so far.
Having a good idea once shouldn’t mean having a stranglehold on it in perpetuity, that actually stifles innovation as well as competition. Stifling either is not good for we the consumer.
Rcward
HF A ripoff junk store? When did that happen? Wow I never knew, next thing you know their stores will be located in run down strip malls.
Handyman
Definitely gonna buy one… maybe two at this price. Thank you Harbor freight for helping out when times are tough. 👍
Stuart
lol, that’s going to be awfully convenient for you, seeing as how you WORK at HARBOR FREIGHT.
I hope they’re paying you extra to say things like that.
Mitherial
I understand the negative reactions that Stuart (and many others) have to this imitation product–and for your primary/EDC multi-tool, you really should go with the name-brand Leatherman tool, despite the price difference.
Buf if you want an *extra* multi-tool to throw in the toolkit in the back of your truck, or in your fishing kit, or really, any anything for *occasional* use, it matches the “musle-memory” that you have already developed with the same design, and it could be quite worthwhile *if* HF meets a reasonable quality level (which would be something that would have to be determined by hands-on examination). HF has improved in recent years, and this at least has the *potential* to be better than other no-names.
Mitherial
For instance: in my “primary” toolkit, I keep a set of name-brand Knipex plier-wrenches. But for the back of my truck? Assuming that i’m not completely made of money, I’d much rather use the HF knockoffs (once the relevant patents expire).
ITCD
The relevant patents had expired. The button thing dates back to 1984. The PliersWrench specifically is from 1994, so its patent has been gone a decade now. HF already has a copy, and Klein has their own version that they’ve added onto with the idea of a reversible jaw.
PW
Leatherman’s factory is in my hometown, so I can’t support this out of principle.
That said I’m skeptical the quality is anywhere near the same. I’ve tried various knockoffs before – the tolerances and fit and finish are always disappointing. For me it’s the difference between a usable, but compromised, jack of all trades tool and something that’s not useful.
Paul
Well then, why did they close the only Leatherman store in the USA?
They have dedicated STORES in 89 other countries, but in the USA, they only sell from their website or through other companies stores.
ITCD
Having an entire physical store dedicated to selling just one product and slight variations of that one single product doesn’t seem like a sound money-making venture. That’s probably why it’s closed now.
Jim Felt
Having visited that “company store” in a car centric discount mall setting over many years I found the parking to be horrific.
Might have been sited there because it was the closest mall-like setting to their manufacturing facility?
But like me too many of their actual customers didn’t want to hunt for parking spaces? It’s also one adjacent interstate bridge away from a sales tax state. Hence the IKEA anchored “mall” was too much hassle.
Just my long term observation. ;-)~
PW
I don’t work for Leatherman or know anyone who does. No idea why they closed their store.
Retail stores are a tough, and very different, business from manufacturing. They might have felt it was outside their core competency, and the revenue wasn’t worth it.
I toured their factory once a couple decades ago. I remember expressing interest in a product that they, at the time, only sold to military customers. The guide made some kind of joke about “get 10,000 of your friends together and we’ll make it for you”. I always got the impression they preferred to deal with wholesale level sales.
Joe E.
I feel like these would make great Father’s Day gifts at that price point.
Daniel V.
Maxleveledc got his hands on one and he was pretty impressed there were a few parts worse than Leatherman but there were also some parts he liked better. If your interested in buying one I’d say it’s worth the watch.
S
I’ve got my hands on both a wave and a Gordon. I’m definitely comfortable with it, the fit, finish, and actuation of features feels identical.
Rcward
Of course you just gave HF a free commercial on your site
Stuart
Okay.
Jim Felt
Why not? They’re a tool centric business. No one needs German, Japanese, Swiss or US made tools for everything do they?
BigTimeTommy
I mean it’s ironic because the “free commercial” usually amounts to Stuart complaining about reasonably priced knockoffs.
Bill
I’ve had many Gerber over the years. My favorite being my first the Recoil model. While handy, it wasn’t very stout. After they were discontinued I lot of 5 on ebay, bought them and used them until each broke. Went with a 600 and then a Dual Force which is rather large and heavy. Someday I should break down and buy a Leatherman to see if they’re that much better.
LGonToolGuy'd
I enjoyed Walmart/Ozark Trail’s $45 knockoff for a while. Had it for about 3yr before losing it.
Johnez
I like how HF gets crapped on for ripping off designs, yet if you look at tools in general you’ll find at least 5 copies of any major tool identical to each other-some made by big brands. What is with the hate on HF?
BigTimeTommy
Not expensive enough. Not enough “made in the USA” stickers.
MM
You joke, but the moral angle is important for many. If I remember right, you wrote you’d never consider a Massca product because you were offended by how they are pursuing their patents. Likewise, some people find HF morally offensive: they’d rather give their money to a domestic company instead of buying Eric Smit an even bigger mega-yacht, or they’d rather support an innovator than support a copyist in a race to the bottom as a matter of principle.
Personally, I don’t like the generalization. I think it’s silly to lump all HF products, or their users, in the same boat. Many products are great value for money, others are terrible. Some have misleading names and rip-off designs, some don’t. And of course different people have different needs: A HF wood lathe is great for a beginning hobbyist, it’s a piece of rubbish for a professional. I own numerous automotive service tools from HF. I don’t think they’d last for pro use, but they suit my needs just fine-no way am I going to buy something like OTC or Snap-On for a tool I use once a year. I’m not going to crap on them, but I’d totally understand it if a pro mechanic did.
MM
I can’t speak for everybody, but my gripe is that HF often tends to go for very accurate clones which feel more like a direct ripoff rather than just making a similar product. For example, consider the “pliers wrench” originally by Knipex. Many companies make similar tools now that the patent has expired but they tend to look different, and often have different features added or tweaks made to the design. But the HF version looks like a nearly verbatim copy. Same with this Leatherman, the Icon knife that copied the Begg Mini Glimpse, many of their ratchets are 1:1 copies of Snap-On, etc. Why the total lack of originality? Even a child that’s copying their classmate’s homework understands to change the answers a little so it’s not the same.
Also, I don’t think HF is the only one who gets crapped on for making knockoffs. Look at just the front page on Toolguyd right now. The article below this one, about Northern Tool’s Klutch tools. Toolguyd readers were pretty harsh about those being low-end me-tool tools with design features copied from other brands. A little lower is the article about the Dewalt vacuum attachment: here people complained about it being an obvious copy of the Milwaukee. Farther down in the Viking Arm article users were complaining about the poor performance of Chinese copies.
S
I think there’s a few different detachments going on.
First is the age/wage gap. Some readers are a lot older, and have both a larger disposable income to dedicate to the name brand version, as well as growing up in what I’d call the ‘Sears era’ where everything was available locally, American made, and generally overbuilt.
Younger generations didn’t grow up with most of those things, and have less opportunity to afford the quality brands without reaching for financing options. So now there’s people like myself supporting knockoffs like this because $40 means skipping 2 takeout meals that probably aren’t the wisest thing to pay for anyways, but $70-150 means half a days paycheck, or a week of groceries. I can take some drop in quality for that tradeoff.
The era of accidentally overbuilt tools for the same price is gone as well. With FEA, many brands are using exactly the amount of the material needed for the forces they designed the tool to be subjected to, which tends to lead many people to believe that the older or name brand tools are better, simply because the additional cost bought more or better material to allow it to be subjected to more force outside the original design.
And American made stuff has gone away for a large part as well because the worker wages, protections, and overall costs are far too expensive to compete in the global market place. We’re now in a global economy, where the yen is specifically maintained at a significant advantage to the dollar.
Historically, we as humans have always relied on impoverished and under-paid help to build the bulk of what each society needs, from the pyramids to our current China/India/Korean dependence.
What made American tooling possible in the ’20’s-60’s that many look back favorably at was a growing and low wage middle class, with low expenses, and cheap local materials. Now, with the expansion beyond our borders to trade with other countries, their materials and wages are currently lower because they’re following the same pattern, but are at least 50-100 years behind us on the same cycle. China is closest and is starting to show signs of the same problem with this, where the wage disparity is becoming less and less, which is why many products are shifting production to India and Korea instead.
There’s also the tradesmen/hobbyist gap. Many here are in different trades, and review a tool on the basis that it can perform at a ’11/10ths’ level, where reliability, accuracy, and repeatability are critical.
But many hobbyists are also here that need the same tool but don’t need the same level of reliability, accuracy, or repeatability. That means that they’re plenty happy paying half the genuine version that does a similar task, just with sloppier tolerances.
And then there’s the tool quality disparity. It seems anymore it can be easily $300 or more for the genuine version of something, but the knockoffs cut every corner in quality and are $20. There’s a huge middle ground being missed where one wants a little quality that isn’t up to perfect levels, but it’s still built better than the typical every-corner-cut knockoff.
I think a lot of people are missing that harbor freight has been migrating from the lowest end of that spectrum to that previously-barren middle ground. No, their tools will never be up to the level of snap on, but the majority of their customers don’t need that level of quality either. If they do, snap on still exists.
My issue with the DeWalt clone of the vac attachments is mostly surprise– they don’t offer anything new. It’s a different color ‘me too’ accessory. They didn’t cut costs, or alter the styling to perform any task better, they just made a similar version to compete in what I believe to be an already limited marketplace. My frustration there is mostly because they didn’t even appear to care enough to try to offer any improvement, they just got offended that their user base could end up using ‘red’ instead of ‘yellow’.
For me, any tool that exists, should exist to benefit somewhere. The HF ratchets exist because they’re cheaper, with similar snap on styling, and performance(not to be confused with quality). But I fully believe it’s intentional on HF’s part to visually copy proven designs. It’s an easy way to build a facade of quality while building things cheaper behind the scenes. In fact, it’s one of the major strengths of the Chinese. To copy at a cheaper end cost
The viking arm clones, I think have a cost cutting expectation issue. They’re cheaper, and less reliable, but many people seem to expect the same performance from them as the name brand. Leading to dissatisfaction from buyers.
Northern tool drills, are like any other in-house brand. They come and go, and I can’t really get excited about it. It’s a temporary tool at best, no different than a dozen others on Amazon, just more local.
James
Great comment.
MM
I think you covered why some people buy “knockoffs” and other people don’t very well, and it even explains why someone might choose knockoffs for some applications and name brands for others. But that’s really beside Johnez’s question.
Johnez seems to be asking why HF gets hate specifically, not just knockoffs in general. So it’s not so much a question of Knockoff vs. Made-In-USA, it’s a question of HF vs. other knockoffs. For example, someone might ask why do people complain about when HF knocks off a Pliers Wrench but not when Irwin does it? In my opinion one of the reasons why HF attracts more hate is–as you said–because the copying seems deliberately designed to create a facade. Compare HF with Grizzly, for example. Both are in the business of importing less costly foreign copies of machinery and tools. HF often tries to obfuscate this by copying designs nearly exactly and also by misleading brand names: Chicago Pneumatic tools are not made in Chicago. Bauer clamps are not from Germany. Windsor Design chisels have nothing to do with England, etc. Grizzly doesn’t seem to care about this, in fact a lot of their adcopy is very open about their products coming from Asian factories and being designed/built to a budget. Like HF some of Grizzly’s products are great and some are rubbish, but I think they have a better reputation because they don’t really try and obfuscate the nature of their products. Any time a product is copied there will be people upset about it, especially when that’s a lower end product. But on top of that HF also has some skeezy marketing behavior.
It rubs me the wrong way, it doesn’t stop me from shopping there but I will call it out in discussion if the topic comes up.
Stuart
The problem with lookalike knockoffs isn’t that companies took shortcuts, but that they took shortcuts without fully understanding the product they’re selling.
It seems the goal was simply to leverage other brands’ hard-earned popularity.
What’s the difference between the HF Gordon and a hypothetical “LeatherGent” you might see at counterfeit shops?
They could have put a little more time into making a distinct $40 tool that still competes against Leatherman and the like.
ITCD
I’ve never felt like the name of the brand should be an indicator of where it’s from. Klein is a German surname and the founder was German, but the company is based in USA with a lot of USA products, but they also have foreign products mixed in like Mexican slip-joints and Taiwanese precision drivers. Freud sounds German but the company is Italian, and makes stuff in Italy and Switzerland. Diablo sounds distinctly Spanish especially with that devil logo on the side and red coloring to tell you exactly what they mean, but it isn’t Spanish.
Many tool companies in Japan use an English name. Top, Lobster, Engineer, Vessel, Supertool, Hit, Merry, Victor, Three Peaks… but on the packaging it’ll tell you where it’s from. And on the tool also, usually.
Or Wiha, short for Willie Hahn. German-made screwdrivers, great! Vietnamese pliers. Oh.
That’s to say nothing of companies that offshored either of their own volition or otherwise. Black and Decker. Stanley. Milwaukee. DeWalt. Porter-Cable. Crescent. The list goes on and on and on. Milwaukee at one time meant made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now it means made overseas for most items in their catalog, owned by TTI of Hong Kong, but headquartered in Milwaukee. Vermont American isn’t made in Vermont or even America, anymore.
Where I’ll make an exception to this is for companies that like to staple USA onto their name. Oftentimes it’s actually done for the sake of differentiating specific subsidiaries, like there’s Nintendo in Japan then there is Nintendo of America which denotes their American subsidiary. But it seems to lead to a lot of confusion also, usually borne of assumptions.
But what I have noticed is the HF cloning seems to be a sort of litmus test for how much “fan boy culture” surrounds a name brand. Release a PliersWrench clone? Here comes the Knipex folks to slam chairs around and flip their lid about it. How about those Bondhus clone keys using the exactly identical color code scheme of weird “industrial pastel” colors when they could have picked literally anything? Crickets.
MM
@ITCD
That’s exactly it, the brand name isn’t a reliable indication of where a product is from., and that makes it all the more strange why HF seems to desperately want to convince its customers that certain products come from certain places. I’d rather companies simply tell me what the product is rather than waste time trying to create false associations that ultimately don’t mean anything anyway. “Value priced HSS turning chisel set” or “Grizzly 8-pc HSS turning set” tells me what I’m getting. “Windsor Design chisel set” feels like they want to lie to me about something which isn’t relevant anyway–I can tell by where I’m shopping and the price that those are not fine chisels from Sheffield. It feels totally different from companies like Milwaukee, Klein, or Wera because those names were never invented with the intent of misleading a customer. Those names happened to change relevance over the years, but there is no deliberate misleading going on. Names like “Chicago Pneumatic” or “Pittsburgh” were never accurate and were entirely contrived with questionable intent.
Personally I don’t care what brands they choose to rip off, I am opposed to lookalike ripoffs as a matter of principle. I have a negative opinion of Leatherman yet here I am calling out HF for knocking them off. I think the Begg Mini Glimpse is an incredibly ugly knife but I still think it’s ridiculous that HF shamelessly copied its design without credit. HF can make products well enough that they don’t need to rely on this sort of skeezy marketing so it feels strange when they they do it.
Ct451
I’m all for it. No one complains about combination wrenches or supermarket brand colas or generic pills. Patents expire and free market takes over. They are not misleading anyone.
Stuart
That’s not at all the same.
Ct451
Just give the market a chance. They will get better with each iteration.
https://www.amazon.com/BIBURY-Multi-Pliers-Screwdriver-Sleeve-Wire-Cutters-Spring-Action/dp/B08QVP4QY6
was $23 a few months back now it’s $36.
Stuart
$36 with 20% coupon. So, $29. A lot of misc tool gear like that fluctuate in price. It’s also listed at $9.99 on their website, with free shipping on $30.
That doesn’t change that it’s nothing like supermarket brand colas or generic pharmaceuticals.
What makes you think knock-offs will “get better with each iteration”?
Was Harbor Freight’s intent to:
a) design an affordable multi-tool?
b) imitate the looks of Leatherman’s most popular design?
Do you think HF said “make sure the blade is sharp and can hold an edge?” “Make sure the pliers are strong?” “Make sure the tools open and close smoothly?” Or was it “Let’s copy Leatherman’s looks as closely as possible?”
Jason
And it breaks the first time you use it… As expected.
https://www.reddit.com/r/harborfreight/s/rLlsuHFlmq
Mike
I came here to post that exact same thing.
SteveP
The only Leatherman I ever bought was the discontinued Crunch with the locking jaws (I actually bought 3 ). Still have them but as part of various travel tool kits. I’ve never been a big fan of Leathermans, since the number of times I need pliers is about 100 times less often than I need scissors, a reamer or a corkscrew. So I carry Victorinox Swiss Army Knives. They changed the scissors spring design, BTW
To me, the Leatherman is a pair of pliers with some added tools. The SAK is a pocketknife with some added tools, and I much prefer that form factor
NoDak Farming
To ITCD’s comments that regard product names, I’d like to say “well said” and I agree. Another example might be Thorsen tools. They were a good US based company that made quality tools. Some are still being used. Some are in collections. Thorsen was founded in 1929 by Edward A. “Ned” Boyd, Sherm Haskins, and Pete Mortensen. “Thorsen” was chosen as the name because it was a Swedish sounding name. And Swedish steel at the time, was regarded as being of the highest quality. It was just marketing. Nothing new then. Nothing new now.
I also want to agree with Ct451, above. I had some of your same examples on my mind. Including the generic pills. Well said.