Hercules cordless

M

MattPersman

Joined
Sep 13, 2003
Messages
953
Location
Noblesville, IN
This line has me somewhat intrigued by cost and performance

Anyone using it for at least a few months daily for auto, fleet, farm or industrial work?

HF has come along way from just importing the lowest cost crap and throwing it on the shelves to actually having a US based marketing and development purchasing team

They are on their way to become a brick and mortar Matco at this point.

I’m a huge SO hand tool fan. Cordless I like Milwaukee and dewalt primarily. Milwaukee’s warranty is significantly better and easier than dewalts. With Hercules tools allegedly having a similar warranty as Milwaukee but I believe being able to go in the store and get a new unit that’s nearly better

Anyone comments, concerns, opinions?
 
I have looked at them and cant see anything cheaply made, they seem like decent quality and the price/performance is very good.
I am going to buy the 1/4" impact and use it hard before getting further into the line up. I use mostly Makita but things change, if the Hercules proves to be a good tool I am in. The over the counter 5 year warranty and 3 year on the battery put me over the edge. LOL
 
Harbor Freight tools remains questionable. The tests I've seen do sometimes show that some of the Hurcules tools have more power than the competition and some fall short. The issue I have is not the HP, but rather, the battery quality and availability. I would be beyond surprised if, when opening up any Harbor Freight tool battery, we find the specific high cycle capable Sanyo 18650's/2170's, like you do with Dewalt or Milwaukee. Dewalt sells you 10 year cells. Many others do not.

 
The main thing is where you are in your tool cycle. Most mature folk don't want to add a new battery platform. I bet the new top end HF cordless tools would be great for the occasional homeowner who has no other tools.

I can be a HF junkie. I have a bunch of stuff from them. Two generators. I like their new clamps, for example. Don't like their tool stands. That said their warranties seem to have lots of fine print.

DeWalt's warranty is super easy. Not sure why it gets a bad rap. I've dealt with them twice in 15+ years. Easy. Replaced no question. Oddly the one time I had a Milwaukee drill fail, they shined me on.
 
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Cujet said:
Harbor Freight tools remains questionable. The tests I've seen do sometimes show that some of the Hurcules tools have more power than the competition and some fall short. The issue I have is not the HP, but rather, the battery quality and availability. I would be beyond surprised if, when opening up any Harbor Freight tool battery, we find the specific high cycle capable Sanyo 18650's/2170's, like you do with Dewalt or Milwaukee. Dewalt sells you 10 year cells. Many others do not.

Click to expand...

I have to disagree, the only bad batteries I have had are the 12v from Milwaukee, they outright sucked and they did not honor the warranty.
Check this out.

 
Anecdotes and the warranty support probably matter here. Also, continued rising costs further box in people's options.

YT Watch Wes Work has had his ratchet doing heavy automotive/farm work for about a year and he likes it. I would say that alone would give somewhat of an endorsement.

I just glanced over their tool lineup and the ratchet, cut off wheel, "compact impact", drill, 2x batteries, charger, would be what I would purchase, however I'm already over $300 in my online cart. That gives me pause because I could find similar Milwaukee tools that are better. Hercules doesnt make a stubby impact and that really matters to auto technicians.

Now that i've thought about this a little, it seems to me that aside from the really good ratchet they have, it seems like Hercules competes with Ryobi, not the bigger dewalt/milwaukee lines.

I have the HF discount membership and will keep it maintained. I also love certain HF tools myself but scrutinize them heavily before buying. You might find a golden tool here and there. My Chicago Electric powered cut off wheel, and corded aluminum drill are still going after 10~ years. All that said personally I'm invested already in Milwaukee/Dewalt, but always keep my options open for upgrading when technology advances. Things have moved rapidly the past 15 years.
 
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cptbarkey said:
Anecdotes and the warranty support probably matter here. Also, continued rising costs further box in people's options.

YT Watch Wes Work has had his ratchet doing heavy automotive/farm work for about a year and he likes it. I would say that alone would give somewhat of an endorsement.

I just glanced over their tool lineup and the ratchet, cut off wheel, "compact impact", drill, 2x batteries, charger, would be what I would purchase, however I'm already over $300 in my online cart. That gives me pause because I could find similar Milwaukee tools that are better. Hercules doesnt make a stubby impact and that really matters to auto technicians.

Now that i've thought about this a little, it seems to me that aside from the really good ratchet they have, it seems like Hercucles competes with Ryobi, not the bigger dewalt/milwaukee lines.

I have the HF discount membership and will keep it maintained. I also love certain HF tools myself but scrutinize them heavily before buying. You might find a golden tool here and there. My Chicago Electric powered cut off wheel, and corded aluminum drill are still going after 10~ years. All that said personally I'm invested already in Milwaukee/Dewalt, but always keep my options open for upgrading when technology advances. Things have moved rapidly the past 15 years.
Click to expand...
I don't see anything Ryobi out performing a Milwaukee branded tool even though both are made by the same company.
I get it, no one want to admit their Milwaukee tools are having their hats handed to them by a lowly HF tool but it is what it is.
Times change, things change and if HF is contracting out to a higher end Taiwan company IMO they are worth looking at.
 
I haven’t used it for months or anything but have used my coworkers stuff on occasion and I have to admit it feels nicely in the hand. I know not enough to say if it’s better or anything. It’s pretty powerful too. I do own the Earthquake line at home which is awesome and it’s their top line so I’m sure this stuff is decent too. Normally I’m a Milwaukee guy but this stuff doesn’t seem bad. I haven’t really kept up with the development but not opposed to trying it. I’ve had Milwaukee batteries fail but no warranty issues at Home Depot they just replaced it.
 
Let me say that for the previous last 10 years, I've used the Milwaukee Fuel line of tools. There's nothing wrong with them.
However, in the past six months I've purchased a few Hercules cordless tools. Here's my opinion:
First, I only buy the cordless tools that have a five year warranty. As a rule, the cordless BRUSHLESS Hercules tools have a five year warranty, their other models with brushes have 90 days. You have to be careful about your warranty when buy from Harbor Freight.
I've bought the big Hercules 1/2" drive impact, the smaller Hercules driver impact and the battery-powered brushless Skil-Saw. (Yea, I know that's a brand name that's not HF. It's just when a co-worker talks about a saw, he says "Skil-Saw")
I initially bought the products for buying convenience. I have a HF store that's about 30 minutes from where I live. I also only purchase the tools that have the 5-year warranty on the product and 3-year warranty on the batteries and chargers.
My opinions on the products so far have been great. My co-worker was a DeWalt man and the DeWalt products now stay in the truck. I will say for the past 4 months, we've used the Hercules cordless saw HARD and it's been a real champ, including the blade that came with it that we still use. I will also say that we've used this saw for ripping lots of lumber and that really tests both the saw and the batteries. In my battery collection, I have a 2ah, a 5ah, and an 8ah battery. They've all been good. I will say that I had one 8ah battery fail, but HF replaced it without me bringing in a receipt. They simply looked up my receipt and told me to get a new one off the rack. Before there are any "cheap battery" comments, we used this battery when temps were in the upper 90s-lower 100s and we used it hard. Yes, I've had several Milwaukee batteries fail on me when I used that brand. Again, the HF battery was replaced immediately, with no receipt and I didn't have to include a check like some other brand is now doing when you send it in for warranty work.
As of right now, I have absolutely no complaints on the HF Hercules brushless line.
 
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Kruse said:
Let me say that for the last 10 years, I've used the Milwaukee Fuel line of tools. There's nothing wrong with them.
However, in the past six months I've purchased a few Hercules cordless tools. Here's my opinion:
First, I only buy the cordless tools that have a five year warranty. As a rule, the cordless BRUSHLESS Hercules tools have a five year warranty, their other models with brushes have 90 days. You have to be careful about your warranty when buy from Harbor Freight.
I've bought the big Hercules 1/2" drive impact, the smaller Hercules driver impact and the battery-powered brushless Skil-Saw. (Yea, I know that's a brand name that's not HF. It's just when a co-worker talks about a saw, he says "Skil-Saw")
I initially bought the products for buying convenience. I have a HF store that's about 30 minutes from where I live. I also only purchase the tools that have the 5-year warranty on the product and 3-year warranty on the batteries and chargers.
My opinions on the products so far have been great. My co-worker was a DeWalt man and the DeWalt products now stay in the truck. I will say for the past 4 months, we've used the Hercules cordless saw HARD and it's been a real champ, including the blade that came with it that we still use. I will also say that we've used this saw for ripping lots of lumber and that really tests both the saw and the batteries. In my battery collection, I have a 2ah, a 5ah, and an 8ah battery. They've all been good. I will say that I had one 8ah battery fail, but HF replaced it without me bring in a receipt. They simply looked up my receipt and told me to get a new one off the rack. Before there are any "cheap battery" comments, we used this battery when temps were in the upper 90s-lower 100s and we used it hard. Yes, I've had several Milwaukee batteries fail on me when I used that brand. Again, the HF battery was replaced immediately, with no receipt and I didn't have to include a check like some other brand is now doing when you send it in for warranty work.
As of right now, I have absolutely no complaints on the HF Hercules brushless line.
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Good for you. Unfortunately
I never do the warranty thing.
Never have but lately tool batteries are the issue here. I need to start keeping track and using the warranties.
 
Zee09 said:
Good for you. Unfortunately
I never do the warranty thing.
Never have but lately tool batteries are the issue here. I need to start keeping track and using the warranties.
Click to expand...
One good thing about the new Hercules cordless line is that they've been out on the market for under 3 years.
So...any tool, battery or charger fail will immediately tell you that it's good to be warrantied.
When I walked in with my 8ah battery that failed, I had the receipt in my pocket. I was ready for the cashier to say: "We need your receipt for warranty work" and then I was ready to argue with them. Instead, she just told me to grab a new one off the shelf.
 
Pablo said:
Were the batteries exposed to well below zero or something?
Click to expand...
No all stored indoors and I don't leave batteries on the chargers..I really think it is an Amazon thing... May be old stock. Most all items came from them.
I have batteries and tools from cheap Black and Decker tools for years with no issues.
 
I'm a Milwaukee guy but enjoy seeing them get beat in credible reviews. Doesn't hurt my snow flake feelings.....competition is good for the consumer.

Depth of product line is important to me, too --- since I'm just not excited about multiple platforms/chargers/batteries.

It's gonna be awhile before Hercules has string trimmers, blowers, nibbler, heat gun, rivet gun, metal cutting circular, mag drill, 7" angle grinder, multiple portabands, caulk gun etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

In the meantime I'm willing to accept performance that doesn't top every review in every category to have everything on the same platform (technically M12 and M18 but the chargers are one)
 
D60 said:
I'm a Milwaukee guy but enjoy seeing them get beat in credible reviews. Doesn't hurt my snow flake feelings.....competition is good for the consumer.

Depth of product line is important to me, too --- since I'm just not excited about multiple platforms/chargers/batteries.

It's gonna be awhile before Hercules has string trimmers, blowers, nibbler, heat gun, rivet gun, metal cutting circular, mag drill, 7" angle grinder, multiple portabands, caulk gun etc etc etc etc etc etc etc

In the meantime I'm willing to accept performance that doesn't top every review in every category to have everything on the same platform (technically M12 and M18 but the chargers are one)
Click to expand...
I get that, I have mostly Makita but some Bosch and Hilti also, it doesnt bother me having multiple platforms. I am not a fan of anything Milwaukee if it is not old and made in the USA, otherwise they are just another Chicom tool carrying a bought once good name. If they labeled the TTI or anything else I would have no problem with that and judge them on their merits. When I go to the HD and look at Milwaukee tools I get PO'd, its like they are whizzing on my shoes and telling me its raining.
HF will possibly expand that line of tools but I have no problem with another platform for the few tools I can use from them.

JM2C
 
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