Agreed. I needed a reciprocating pneumatic saw and bought two from
Harbor Freight. That's when I discovered that the blade travel was
about 1/8". Useless junk.
There are now 3 or 4 varieties of Eneloop batteries. Five if you
include Chinese fakes. There was a web page showing how to identify
the various varieties, but I can't seem to find it.
I buy quite a few eBay cell phone batteries. My guess(tm) is that
I've bought and used about 200 batteries from random vendors. Many of
them get tested with my West Mtn Radio CBA II for capacity. I have
had some obvious lemons, but they were simply dead, as in no output.
Tested capacity is varies somewhat from LiIon cell to cell. The
switchover from explosive LiPo batteries to safer varieties seems to
have resulted (i.e. not sure) in about a 10% decrease in capacity.
However, the battery label remains the same as with the LiPo including
the rated capacity.
Neither do I. So, I measure it. Some typical results:
<
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb...-Battery-Performance-An-Intro-to-Ragone-Plots>
<
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?278063-AA-Ragone-Plot&highlight=Ragone>
<
http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?298090-The-AA-NiMH-Performance-Test-Thread>
etc. My results for specific battery follow these tests almost
exactly.
Thanks everyone for the great info on the batteries! I'll have to go
back through all the links, but I appreciate the input!
On Harbor Freight, my experience with them is that if you buy carefully,
you can get what you need at a very good price. I've always had very
broad interests (my downfall, some have suggested... ;-) and I
personally own well over 20 grand worth of tools of all kinds which I
have amassed over the years, from a tiny Swiss watchmaker's lathe to a
full size PowerMatic cabinet saw and 8" jointer (woodworking is my real
passion). I also have a complete set of professional grade automotive
tools (mostly 30+ year old Craftsman & Snap-on). I do know good tools.
I would not buy something requiring a high degree of precision, such
as a jointer, from HF, but I have quite a few pneumatic nailers, impact
tools, and even a compressor of theirs which have all served me quite
well for years. I also have a very nice 3/4 HP drill press of theirs,
as well as one of their tool chest side cabinets. All very servicable.
Is everything they sell the best of its kind? No, of course not. But
for the price (particularly if you combine a sale with one of their
ubiquitous 20% off coupons) I have had no complaints overall, especially
for tools I only use on occasion. And they're very easy with returns, if
you do have a problem. I also have an HF clamp on multimeter which just
yesterday I was using to measure the current drawn by a heater. Out of
curiosity, I checked its readings against an inline measurement using a
Fluke I also own. Dead on.
Dan