Playa Essentials at Harbor Freight & Tools.

[Clar-i-ty]

I just went in to get gloves, but saw that they have a lot of Playa essentials on sale. Headlamps for just 2.99, spring clips for 1.29, multipacks of zipties for super cheap, goggles, gloves, you name it! The price tags said the sale goes through 7/29 (at least in my area). Worth checking out.

[Mister Jellyfish Mister]

I've purchased my share there at HF. Sometimes the good bargains are seductive to the point that you stop asking yourself things line "Yeah, but will it bear my weight and that of who I hugging at the time?". Most of their stuff has a pretty short half life with regular use.

[xhoosier]

They know me by name but it is good for BM stuff- that reminds me, I need another tarp and rope! :)

[Clar-i-ty]

Most of their stuff has a pretty short half life with regular use.

Which is why I go there for stuff like headlamps and zip ties...essentially the things I know I'm gonna lose or have to replace after a burn or two anyhow.

[AntiM]

There are coupons in my Sunday paper/coupon inserts. The 45 watt set of solar panels for $139 and $159. Depends on which coupon you have. I can send mine if anyone needs one.

Also, free LED flashlights, we've been stocking up.

[xhoosier]

i would appreciate it if you could send coupons. Every penny counts when i comes to burning man. :)

[gyre]

They have cheap soldering irons and often a meter for $2 or $3.
Recently the one with the backlight was ringing up for $3.

I wouldn't buy a $3 headlamp though.

Cabela's has the Princeton Aurora on sale for $15.
Discontinued I think.
Not sure how good a deal, but freaking tiny.
AAAs.
3 brightness settings and two flash modes.
And very wide angle with a spot.
There are two contradictory specs on these.
A bit blue in color.
I'm keeping mine for the blink function, but they told me I could return it.

I think I saw colored lenses for it somewhere.

It won't replace my 9 watt headlamp though.

[gyre]

i would appreciate it if you could send coupons. Every penny counts when i comes to burning man.

Get on their mailing list.
And I think they give away coupons at the door.

[oneeyeddick]

Those harbor frieght headlights ar "OK" in my book.
They work just as well as any of the exact type/different brand for less than 1/2 the price, and they last for years .

They are a little heavier than most LED type, but at least you don't have to push the button 4 fucking times to get it to turn off, that really gets annoying after a while.

[Orchid]

I went to Harbor Freight yesterday and found 50 feet of glow-in-the-dark rope for $4. We tested it out yesterday and I think it will glow long enough and bright enough to catch the eye at night and hopefully prevent people from clotheslining themselves on our tent & shade guy lines.

Got some other odds & ends too, all for less than $20.

[gyre]

Those harbor frieght headlights ar "OK" in my book.
They work just as well as any of the exact type/different brand for less than 1/2 the price, and they last for years .

They are a little heavier than most LED type, but at least you don't have to push the button 4 fucking times to get it to turn off, that really gets annoying after a while.

The Princeton has a good system.

Soft switch, but works.
Once set, next click is off.
Five clicks to get to all settings, but once on, pause, next click is off.

[oneeyeddick]

Stand there and wait till you can turn it off ?

Barely a good trade off for a switch that actually just works.

[gyre]

You lost me.

Click once for off.

[oneeyeddick]

and how many clicks till you get to the light you actaully want ?

[gyre]

1. Full power
2. Medium
3. Low
4. Slow flash
5. Fast flash

Once it's set, one click is off.

[Boijoy]

Harbor Freight is AWESOME. duct tap, tarps, ties, gloves, lights, etc. can't beat them really. except I always have to go with a list. I have no impulse control.

[gyre]

Look carefully at what you're getting.

I bought a set of their steel stamps.
Very good price on sale, but so poorly made that they are very hard to use.

Looked at their hitch parts and RAN to northern tools to buy their usable parts.
Same for some flarenut crowfoot wrenches.

Quality varies a lot.

[gidget]

Best price on tarps! Plus no shipping (and no sales tax in OR )

[Jackass]

They also have those grommet kits for dirt cheap so can make your own tarps or trick out the ones you already have!

[justfred]

Thing about Harbor Freight is, it all comes from China. So not only is it cheap junk (as discussed above), but it's putting Americans out of jobs.

But they do have a lot of cool LED blinkies and stuff. They also have killer prices on earplugs and other safety equipment. Their plastic tarps are horrible loud plastic flapflapflap crap, I go to a surplus place for quiet canvas tarps instead.

[oneeyeddick]

All of the products that we have discussed here are all made in China no matter where you go to buy them.

[gyre]

The Princeton Tec is made in the usa with usa and foreign parts.
You'd have to ask to find out what that means.

Santronics produces in the usa, an anomaly.
They have a dandy DC and AC voltage detector.
If you have an art car, you either need that....or will.

I can find most high quality steel tools made in the usa.
Except for wrenches which are often outlandishly priced (see snapon) just as cheap.

Dremel is usa.

PS, I have a 7.2 V portable dremel I paid $26 for.
Thought it was silly.
Liked it so much, I used it once and immediately went out and got the multi-speed model above it.
About $45 at walmart.
If anyone wants it, I'll be putting it on cl.

[oneeyeddick]

Even the stuff made at Dremel is produced overseas, and then pieced together here.
The same is true with all those other companies you named also, prolly.

and nobody was talking about wrenches...

[gyre]

The chinese store sells a lot of wrenches and sockets.
Some decent, some crap.

[oneeyeddick]

It only makes sense that they have a lot of good metric tools there.

[gyre]

HF buy from everywhere.

Northern has a single standard and a warranty they actually back up, unlike hf.
Most of northern's stuff is from taiwan and much higher quality.
Still reasonable.
Their specialty is larger stuff.

Anyone have any idea why hf tool sets often are missing primary metric sizes?

[Token]

HF tools make bronze age tools look good.

It seems every steel tool they make is from recycled low grade rebar that no one else wanted.

For those thinking "how can they screw up zip ties"? Trust me, they figured out a way.

[FIGJAM]

I like hf for some things, but I wont buy any power tools there and Id rather pay $10 for a good socket than to bust my hand when one of thiers splits.

[Clar-i-ty]

My 15 year old says HF has everything you could possibly need...if you're a serial killer.

Yeah, he's twisted.

[theCryptofishist]

My 15 year old says HF has everything you could possibly need...if you're a serial killer.

Yeah, he's twisted.

Simply another piece of evidence that burningman is satanic and its attendees cannot productively contribute to society.