Harbor Freight rotary review

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imported_BMW TUNING

New member
Hey all I have heard many conflicting reviews of the HF rotary and thought Id give my .02. I am an experienced detailer but fresh to rotary. I got my rotary for $26, ive heard they go down to $20 around Xmas, but usual retail is 49-59. I have heard from many they bog down and break after an hour, however my experience was a complete opposite. I found it would only bog if extreme pressure was forced on it, as I have always been told to let the machine do the work, I never put anywhere near enough pressure to have a problem. I also used it for three hours straight with an hour break then another 2.5 hours after that and it was having no problems at all. The one draw back I found was the trigger is not a variable speed type, but the speed control is right by your thumb making it easy enough to control. I used it w/ P&S products starting w/ a yellow foam pad, then when I wasn't getting the aggresiveness I wanted I went to a wool pad then finished with blue foam. I was extremely happy with the results. Sorry for the book but just wanted others out there contimplating the first purchase of a rotary that there is a less expensive route that can give you a good idea if this is something you want to do. GL
 
I love mine, I would rather have 5 new ones of those than buy a name brand that does the same job...... I've never had a single problem from mine in two years either, and even if I did, 26 or 46ish for a new one is unbeatable.
 
From what I can tell, there are good HF rotaries, and bad ones. I think it comes down to quality control. I used one once, and it scared me to death. I could be polishing at 1000rpm, and without warning, it would jump to 3000rpm. I have spoken with others that have experienced similar things.



I have a Makita and a Hitachi. The Makita is rock solid. I haven't had the Hitachi long enough to make a judgement yet. I guess if I only occasionally used a rotary (once a year), I could live with the HF (assuming I could find one that wouldn't change speeds on me), but I don't think it is as solid of a machine as the Makita. Granted, any machine can break, but I would venture a guess that the HF rotaries probably have way more issues than the Makita...and again, my guess is this goes back to quality control.
 
If you are detailing as a hobby then the HF is probably sufficient. That is if you are ok with it stranding your detail 1/2 way through the job.



If you are running a business then you need to have 2-3 of these. I wouldn't even be comfortable with just one as a backup having gone through two of these with similiar problems.



I got my 9227C for $100 locally off Craigslist. That's 3-4 HF rotaries. I'd put money down that my 9227C would outlast 10 of those HF rotaries if not more.
 
Id heard about the speed jumping up and down also, but have not experienced anything like this. I broke my brushes in real easy aswell, and it even came w/ an extra set of brushes. I would agree if you hada business I would probably by a dewalt or similar, but for hobbiest I think u cant go wrong w/ HF, hell if it busts take it back and start again. I think a brush break in cant hurt, its highly recommended on r//c car motor which are just a small version of whats in all rotarys.
 
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