there is no northern tools around here - i seen outside of store once while driving by on a trip - no time to stop and look. i did get northern tool catalog long time ago but stopped getting them. Right now as a handyman - i have slowly stopped going to harbor freight and started buying home depot tools. for the stuff i do i need more specailized tools that harbor freight dont have and i already have alot of harbor freight stuff so i am probably saturated with hf non electrical tools. i have few power tools left from harbor freight and if it dies i get home depot stuff. for the reliability,ruggedness home depot and Milwaukee just beats harbor freight like night and day. Now home depot is carrying more and more milwaukee hand tools i started to switch over to them, but worry about leaving it behind at customers house or having it stolen. i just cant win in this dept., Back in the day, Northern Tool came onto the scene with a few stores, a killer catalog, and lots of good stuff for good prices. Then Harbor Freight started to appear - first on the web, then more and more stores and lots of catalogs. So, who do you buy from more, and why?, Harbor Freight tools thread. Discussion in ' Off-Topic Discussion ' started by Markcal, Nov 24, 2016..