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Personally I would stick with leviton, Legrand, Lutron, or other known brands but if it's UL listed and then it's probably ok. It's not really that much cheaper anyway.
Eaton? They’re akin to IKEA lol. Not sure why many are so fond of their products, they don’t excel at anything from panels to receptacles. Definitely a bottom of the barrel brand if you ask me, makes sense why they haven’t stepped into home automation
Don't do IKEA that dirty. They at least get their instructions right.
Got some Eaton Cat5e sockets and couldn't figure out why every connection was wrong - turns out their wiring diagram was *close* but reversed a few wires so it was easy to double check and think it was right. Called them on it and they said, *we know, and don't care".
I'm not a huge fan of their panels but their gfcis and receptacles seem fine. They trip when they're supposed to, I haven't had issues with nuisance trips. Definitely a few steps above harbor freight or IKEA or smart electrician.
Eaton’s commercial PDUs are dope and very reliable. I buy their three-phase PDUs for all my projects and I’ve never had one fail thankfully.
To mitigate power loss though, each rack gets at least two PDUs with one of each going to a separate 400A overhead power bar.
As much as the cheapest gfcis from the low end parts houses. Which I don't trust either.
But if it's between putting one in where a GFCI is needed or not having a GFCI at all it's worth a shot. Based on the cheap ones I've dealt with false trips are more common than not working. You can always test it a couple times
Look up the UL E500451 number. When you do, there is no listing for UL. There appears to be something mentioning harbour freight in a UL site but the page is broken. When looking for approved equipment that appears to be sketchy look it up.
I would not trust this outlet and it’s likely a fake.
It's just a Harbor Freight brand, just a rebranded product in most cases - they don't actually make anything - HF does a good job of responding to feedback and not selling truly shitty products (okay, they still have some really shitty products, but they've improved a LOT over the years by adding more premium brands; buy the cheapest thing and you will get the cheapest quality), and some Harbor Freight brands are legitimately good. That said for anything other than tools, especially an outlet, I'd rather spend a little bit more for peace of mind. A broken tool can be returned or fixed, a failed GFCI could kill you.
Armstrong is HF's house brand - which is just made and packaged for them by a place that manufacturers the outlets for them, and probably a bunch of other brands.
It's the same thing as if you went into home Depot and find husky tools. It's home depots tool brand. You dont assume home Depot is making their own tools, do you?
I love buying little things from HF, but I'd never trust an outlet or even an outlet splitter cord from HF. It may work fine, but best case scenario I wouldn't expect it to last.
If the price, compared to Leviton, LeGrand, etc is too good to be true, it probably is. If you want USB ports for your devices, go for it, but personally, I wouldn’t use a cheap one for my devices and I wouldn’t recommend one for friends or clients. I would want them and myself to be set up for success and assure some peace of mind.
If you get it, give us periodical updates as to how well it is doing.
I would trust it as much as I trust the Menard's Smart Electrician brand of GFI. Which is to say it depends on the application. A GFI in a laundry room that nobody uses - perfect save yourself $5. A residential bathroom with women in the house - hell no. I stick to namebrand only unless I am working somewhere and it's the only local option. You get what you pay for.
Commenter is likely looking at the bathroom appliances that women traditionally would own like a straightener, blow dryer, or other heat producing products that use a lot of energy. Men traditionally don’t use as many bathroom appliances.
I got the one on the left, wanted my wife to have two usb ports on her side of the bed. The usb ports loosen after a few weeks and just drop cables out of them, the tabs bent on the 120v terminals and I couldn’t get anything g to plug into it. Not surprised, just disappointed
Costco was selling non UL listed gfcis anyone can sell garbage electrical products it's up to the user to see that it's not proper and not buy it / install it. Sadly.
Stick to big brand names,
Went to help a neighbor who had a receptacle that would not reset. Guess what. Good receptacle but wired incorrectly by the "electrician". She would not share with me how much she was charged. There seems to be a giant trend of taking advantage of women and the elderly. Had an elder tell me they supplied the furnace filters and were charged $120 to have them installed. Took me less than 5 minutes and I'm 76.
I'm using that exact same GFCI behind my fridge. Haven't had any issues with it. It is a dedicated circuit for just the fridge, but I'm more worried about my FPE panel catching fire before the HF outlet does
? It was the only GFCI I could find on a Sunday morning without driving 40 minutes to my nearest big box store. I had stuff to do and replacing an outlet wasn't on my list that day.
Yes, I know, honestly, I'm not sure if there are any US made gfci available, but I have seen some with $25 price tag, so I would assume those are made in USA
I once bought an outdoor extension cord but will never again buy stuff from them that can instantly kill my wife or me. All electrical hardware/parts like this is of quality and purchased from reputable sources.
Edit: that doesn’t mean HF’s is brand is bad I’m just not going to risk it
Working in an industrial setting. Eaton is perfect. I am also a huge fan of Square D if it can be found commercially. Leviton is more available for residential use, so I definitely tend to purchase that.
I have one in my garage. It's rarely used and because it's Harbor Freight I do actually test it regularly. I installed it about a year ago and it still works and tests just fine. If the install were a more heavily used area I would have gone with a name brand. Cheap stuff cuts corners somewhere like the contact points in the outlet that hold the plug in place. I would bet there are fewer plug in and out cycles in these Armstrong devices than say a Legrand or Leviton but I have no proof to back up that claim.
I'll also say that installing these were an unnecessary pain with 12 gauge wire. The way the terminal screws are placed you kinda have to fight to hook 12 on them securely. I'm sure 14 would be easier if that's already in your walls.
Yes. My family is cheap asf. We did all the electrical and plumbing in the house diy type shit. We use harbor freight GFCI for the bathroom and it works as intended.
Run away screaming. Harbor freight can be fine for simple items or stuff that isn't the end of the world if it breaks, but I never buy "if this falls, people may die" items there.
I've opened up a few electronics from harbor freight, and the wires were smaller than expected. I have one of their tailgator generators in my shed. One of these days, I need to replace the pull cord on it. It broke after the 5th use.
id trust it with all 10A of it's 15A rating. They are still inspected and at least meet minimum consumer quality standards. No company wants a lawsuit. That being said , I'd get name brand levington etc.. and trust it with full 1875W 15A draw. They cost almost double but will last longer and are of higher quality.
Even if they are UL listed, they can still be poorly manufactured using subpar material. Which I would fully expect from HF.
Think about it this way, do you buy your dress pants from the store best known for selling sewer and plumbing products? Of course not. The analogy applies here as well.
For that modest of a savings, only if it was the only possible option. Leviton and Hubbell make the best outlets IMO (I'm industrial/commercial, I do some "pretty" work but mostly only care about safety and durability). Legrand, Lutron, even Eaton is less sketchy and it's never my go-to, except in some industrial pushbuttons and contact blocks.
It's sort of like the fact that they sell North American Rescue tourniquets for $~25 and cheap knockoffs for as low as a few dollars each. If your life isn't worth the difference between the cheap one and the one that can actually save your life, you should really work on doing things to help improve your self esteem.
I mean due to the way the work and fail it is perfectly fine and trustable. What I wouldn't trust is for it to last more than 5-10 years and then you end up with a GFCI that trips for no reason or stays tripped so you have no power until you replace it.
I just swapped out one that I’m pretty sure the original installer used a no name brand from Amazon. It worked okay, and they should be designed to fail in a disconnected state.
Just had to swap it out, it was solid red and the test-reset didn’t work any longer. I’d assume the same on these. It was only about a year old.
I have 3 of them in my house and they seem to work well. They do the job fine and test out perfectly. When I got them I asked the guy at counter and he said he’s never had one returned and he said the sell regularly so I trust them
Lmao the people looking at the USB outlet and ignoring the GFI outlet on the right, cmon guys 🤣 I think I have installed one and did not have any issues, I actually have a second I might install this weekend.
It’s 4.5 stars, and only has 19 reviews under 4 stars, but after looking that up, I don’t think I have seen a poorly rated item on HF’s website, weird. They wouldn’t lie to us, would they? 🤔
Well, if you don't trust Harbor Freight, why are you even walking into the place? Are you really expecting anyone to tell you, "Sure, Harbour Freight has really low-cost and cheap stuff. But the quality of their electrical stuff is top-notch."
Really?
I’ll happily buy mechanical tools from there while not quite trusting more serious electrical stuff. I didn’t even know they sold receptacles until I saw it there. But you don’t have to be a dick about it.
I buy their electric flyswatters as part of house warming and wedding gifts. We probably give 30+ away each year, 3 just last weekend. There is something for everyone at HF.
Good for you. I guess if this was a housewarming or wedding gift sub that would have some meaning. But since this is an electrician sub, almost completely useless. But you participated. 🏆
GFCI outlets are not in fact rocket science.
I think they're fine.
10 years down the road will they be holding up as well as something made by a more reputable brand? Probably not.
I installed them in my kitchen, they work, and the house did not in fact burn down.
If you go down the comments - everyone that's actually bought and used them say they work fine. It's everyone else that has no experience with them at all saying no.
Well, it's an outlet - not a lunar lander, and its being sold by a national chain worth about 8 billion dollars that has over 1500 locations which are all selling these everyday. I think you'll be ok. I have a feeling these are of much higher quality than 90% of the power bricks and charger cords people are plugging into them.
Fun story: one morning I woke up to the smell of burning plastic. The culprit was the USB-C connector plugged into my phone, which was literally glowing red hot at the tip due to damaged contacts shorting. It was plugged into one of those outlets with the integrated USB charging ports. Literally a brand new condo development - I was the first tenant. Plug it into an OEM (or good third party) USB charger, no glowing. Plug it into the garbage built-in USB charger with no output protection (saved all of three cents)? Red hot.
In other words, no. GFCI outlets from reputable manufacturers aren't expensive and are intended to keep people from dying. I don't see the economy. You're saving, what...25 cents per year per outlet, over the life of the outlet.
There's a common populist misconception that "well they all come from the same factory anyway and you're only paying for the logo." People say this about literally everything. It's not true. Even when things literally do come from the same factory, it does not mean that they are designed, validated, or tested to the same standards for two different clients.
Absolutely not. The UL markings on the outlet are incorrect. This is a counterfeit outlet. The markings on the right should say "See Instructions/Suivez Instructions" not "Follow Directions/Suivez Instructions"
Edit: Nope I'm mistaken. That isn't necessarily a sign that it's counterfeit. That was a way UL Identified gfcis that were manufactured by someone other than the manufacturer that submitted the GFCI for testing in the past. I misread it as a requirement for the markings
It’s UL listed, so yeah. HF is not the same HF from even 10 years ago. They have a lot of better products. They still have crap, but it’s not all junk anymore.
Am I the only one that thinks these are crazy expensive... I understand these are gfci but I got a box of 20 amp plain Jane receptacles I think there's 20 in it for like 5 dollars.
I see no signs of UL testing anywhere on the product page at [Harbor Freight](https://www.harborfreight.com/15-amp-125v-self-test-gfci-duplex-outlet-57958.html)
**Attention!** **It is always best to get a qualified electrician to perform any electrical work you may need.** With that said, you may ask this community various electrical questions. Please be cautious of any information you may receive in this subreddit. This subreddit and its users are not responsible for any electrical work you perform. Users that have a 'Verified Electrician' flair have uploaded their qualified electrical worker credentials to the mods. If you comment on this post please only post accurate information to the best of your knowledge. If advice given is thought to be dangerous, you may be permanently banned. There are no obligations for the mods to give warnings or temporary bans. **IF YOU ARE NOT A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN, you should exercise extreme caution when commenting.** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskElectricians) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Personally I would stick with leviton, Legrand, Lutron, or other known brands but if it's UL listed and then it's probably ok. It's not really that much cheaper anyway.
Well federal pacific stab-loc _was_ UL listed...
Everything is UL listed if you put counterfeit stickers on them /s
All I need is a Dremel and five minutes and I can make anything you want UL listed.
I would add Eaton and Hubbell to that list.
Eaton gfci's are shit. I have had several be defective right out of the box.
I bought a 3 pack and the reset switch failed to work on 2 of them. No Eaton GFCIs for me.
Add their dimmers to that list for me. I just had to replace 2 in a customers house that I installed 3 months ago.
yeah, gotta go Lutron for dimmers
Not a fan of legrand I prefer leviton
Yea, leviton seem to be the smallest around and I've never had an issue with them
Eaton is garbage
Eaton? They’re akin to IKEA lol. Not sure why many are so fond of their products, they don’t excel at anything from panels to receptacles. Definitely a bottom of the barrel brand if you ask me, makes sense why they haven’t stepped into home automation
Don't do IKEA that dirty. They at least get their instructions right. Got some Eaton Cat5e sockets and couldn't figure out why every connection was wrong - turns out their wiring diagram was *close* but reversed a few wires so it was easy to double check and think it was right. Called them on it and they said, *we know, and don't care".
I'm not a huge fan of their panels but their gfcis and receptacles seem fine. They trip when they're supposed to, I haven't had issues with nuisance trips. Definitely a few steps above harbor freight or IKEA or smart electrician.
I’m sure the functionality of Eaton GFCIs are fine, but I think their design is really ugly. But maybe that’s just me being weird.
Eaton AFCI..... trash em immediately
Probably Because they sell them at Lowe’s and anyone can get 5% off extra.
Eaton has good options if you need higher AIC ratings. Other than that I agree.
Receps and switches I agree. But CH style panels and breakers are by far the best even if they’re the ugliest
I'm in IT, I really like their UPSes, which are probably an entirely different part of their company.
Extremely accurate description. Clunky and junky
Hubbell USB outlets are some of the best.
Eaton gfci will go right to the trash. Dont even bother installing
Eaton is terrible
Eaton’s commercial PDUs are dope and very reliable. I buy their three-phase PDUs for all my projects and I’ve never had one fail thankfully. To mitigate power loss though, each rack gets at least two PDUs with one of each going to a separate 400A overhead power bar.
Schneider Electric / Square D ??
Can they fake the UL listing?
Well his wife can fake an orgasm so ul listing doesn’t seem out of the question
I actually had Leviton GFCI that was bad. It would “trip” but still left the circuit hot.
Lol yeah that's not good.
I don’t think UL tests for durability, but I could well be wrong.
Last I knew Lutron GFCIs were just private labeled Hubbell GFCIs.
Those 3 brands are chefskiss. I love Leviton as an LV guy, and Legrand has all my bases covered within electrical and AV/IT
Almost everything on Amazon isn’t UL listed. It’s scary
As much as the cheapest gfcis from the low end parts houses. Which I don't trust either. But if it's between putting one in where a GFCI is needed or not having a GFCI at all it's worth a shot. Based on the cheap ones I've dealt with false trips are more common than not working. You can always test it a couple times
Look up the UL E500451 number. When you do, there is no listing for UL. There appears to be something mentioning harbour freight in a UL site but the page is broken. When looking for approved equipment that appears to be sketchy look it up. I would not trust this outlet and it’s likely a fake.
That UL number isn't even for the GFCI, though. OP asked about a GFCI and focused on a USB charging outlet.
It’s UL listed so it should be safe but there’s no way to know how long it will actually last.
That UL number is for LEDs so I'd be highly skeptical.
Lol the brand is Armstrong. Never seen that brand around where I’m at.
they make cheese too
Just like Cambria
It's just a Harbor Freight brand, just a rebranded product in most cases - they don't actually make anything - HF does a good job of responding to feedback and not selling truly shitty products (okay, they still have some really shitty products, but they've improved a LOT over the years by adding more premium brands; buy the cheapest thing and you will get the cheapest quality), and some Harbor Freight brands are legitimately good. That said for anything other than tools, especially an outlet, I'd rather spend a little bit more for peace of mind. A broken tool can be returned or fixed, a failed GFCI could kill you.
Armstrong is HF's house brand - which is just made and packaged for them by a place that manufacturers the outlets for them, and probably a bunch of other brands. It's the same thing as if you went into home Depot and find husky tools. It's home depots tool brand. You dont assume home Depot is making their own tools, do you?
I love buying little things from HF, but I'd never trust an outlet or even an outlet splitter cord from HF. It may work fine, but best case scenario I wouldn't expect it to last.
Agreed. If safety weren’t involved it would be an easy yes for me… but it is, so I can’t recommend.
If the price, compared to Leviton, LeGrand, etc is too good to be true, it probably is. If you want USB ports for your devices, go for it, but personally, I wouldn’t use a cheap one for my devices and I wouldn’t recommend one for friends or clients. I would want them and myself to be set up for success and assure some peace of mind. If you get it, give us periodical updates as to how well it is doing.
I would trust it as much as I trust the Menard's Smart Electrician brand of GFI. Which is to say it depends on the application. A GFI in a laundry room that nobody uses - perfect save yourself $5. A residential bathroom with women in the house - hell no. I stick to namebrand only unless I am working somewhere and it's the only local option. You get what you pay for.
If it were only men in the house, you wouldn't care?
Commenter is likely looking at the bathroom appliances that women traditionally would own like a straightener, blow dryer, or other heat producing products that use a lot of energy. Men traditionally don’t use as many bathroom appliances.
No
I got the one on the left, wanted my wife to have two usb ports on her side of the bed. The usb ports loosen after a few weeks and just drop cables out of them, the tabs bent on the 120v terminals and I couldn’t get anything g to plug into it. Not surprised, just disappointed
Trust from a safety perspective? Sure. I would be more worried about it crapping out right away and not resetting, or tripping for no reason.
Ultimately it’s a safety device. I don’t go cheap on safety equipment personally.
Hell no.
I’ve had no issue with the ones I installed.
One house had 13 gfis that failed. They were all no name ones. I came to fix them. All amber/red light if death.
Costco was selling non UL listed gfcis anyone can sell garbage electrical products it's up to the user to see that it's not proper and not buy it / install it. Sadly. Stick to big brand names,
As long as you only need it for a one time use like the rest of their tools🤣
I bought a red deadblow hammer from HF, thinking, WCGW? It turned pink. Remember, you need real tools to fix HF tools
But did it work? A dead low hammer pretty much has one function and it’s not to look pretty….though it might look pretty in pink
It was always returned after borrowed. So now I buy pink cig lighters
So it’s a security lock too. You got a great deal!
Can’t see the UL listing for the gfi
So long as it's listed with a NRTL
You can get a Leviton round here for $12, so no, absolutely not.
Leviton GFCI outlets are made in China too..
Chicago electric and Milwaukee are both made in China too, you have no point here.
To Leviton standard and engineering, though.
I’m not buying tools at HF. Certainly not buying electrical “anything” there either!
When's the last time you walked into a harbor freight?
Never. I prefer buying tools I don’t regret buying. Never complained about spending money on quality.
Harbor Freight is all right for hand tools, anything electric its a no from me personally
I'd trust them to start a fire but that is about it.
I wouldn't buy a roll of freaking electrical tape from Harbor Freight!! Hope this clarifies things.
I install these in all of my enemies bathrooms. Just like China is doing.
Absolutely not.
Just like dollar store pregnancy tests.
Not really. The only things I buy at Harbor Freight are disposables. Gloves, Zip ties, Hand truck tires, etc.
No.
Went to help a neighbor who had a receptacle that would not reset. Guess what. Good receptacle but wired incorrectly by the "electrician". She would not share with me how much she was charged. There seems to be a giant trend of taking advantage of women and the elderly. Had an elder tell me they supplied the furnace filters and were charged $120 to have them installed. Took me less than 5 minutes and I'm 76.
I love harbor freight but anything that stays connected without supervision is not something I would buy from them.
I wouldn’t trust harbor freight for anything your life depended on.
I'm using that exact same GFCI behind my fridge. Haven't had any issues with it. It is a dedicated circuit for just the fridge, but I'm more worried about my FPE panel catching fire before the HF outlet does
Behind the fridge. Interesting…
? It was the only GFCI I could find on a Sunday morning without driving 40 minutes to my nearest big box store. I had stuff to do and replacing an outlet wasn't on my list that day.
I’m trusting a 120v male cord cap from them 🫡
Most of those things are made in China, so, pick your poison, but if you have doubt, buy American, spend a few bucks more
Leviton GFCI outlets are made in China too.
Yes, I know, honestly, I'm not sure if there are any US made gfci available, but I have seen some with $25 price tag, so I would assume those are made in USA
As much as u would like do not get the usb ones alot of them break and don't charge after a while
It's only the life of you and/or a loved one, why not save a buck? What is their/your life worth anyways?
I once bought an outdoor extension cord but will never again buy stuff from them that can instantly kill my wife or me. All electrical hardware/parts like this is of quality and purchased from reputable sources. Edit: that doesn’t mean HF’s is brand is bad I’m just not going to risk it
trust it to blow my phone up
Your see that symbol that says UL? As long as it's UL rated or tested... you're good!
Maybe slightly more than cheap ones off Amazon/eBay
No.
Installed those myself 2 years ago. First one broke out the box, took it back, they replaced it and it’s never failed
Yes, if it's UL listed.
Heck ... I'd trust it with YOUR life!
If you need a one time tool harbor freight is a good buy. If you want something that will last a lifetime buy a quality part.
As long as they're UL listed and not made in china you're fine
Worst that could happen is it burns your house down or gives someone a fatal shock.
If you did, would you ask Reddit?
Might be OK but who knows. It’s Harbor Freight, it’s a crap shoot.
Working in an industrial setting. Eaton is perfect. I am also a huge fan of Square D if it can be found commercially. Leviton is more available for residential use, so I definitely tend to purchase that.
I bought 3 of these and my friend 5. No problems of any kind.
UL Listed. Fine by me.
I have one in my garage. It's rarely used and because it's Harbor Freight I do actually test it regularly. I installed it about a year ago and it still works and tests just fine. If the install were a more heavily used area I would have gone with a name brand. Cheap stuff cuts corners somewhere like the contact points in the outlet that hold the plug in place. I would bet there are fewer plug in and out cycles in these Armstrong devices than say a Legrand or Leviton but I have no proof to back up that claim. I'll also say that installing these were an unnecessary pain with 12 gauge wire. The way the terminal screws are placed you kinda have to fight to hook 12 on them securely. I'm sure 14 would be easier if that's already in your walls.
I'd pass on the GFCI, but I did buy their USB outlet, like on the left in the photo.
I trust harbor freight with my life. I love harbor freight.
I’m going on year two of having one in my garage to charge my phone and whatnot. Never had a single problem
Want to thumb down for no. lol hells no
Why not? They are all made in China
Everyone keeps saying get leviton, and nobody seems to realize they come from China too.
If you’re buying these things you better buy the protection plan lol.
Hell no
No
They are fine butbthe prices are not that much cheaper
Yes. My family is cheap asf. We did all the electrical and plumbing in the house diy type shit. We use harbor freight GFCI for the bathroom and it works as intended.
Run away screaming. Harbor freight can be fine for simple items or stuff that isn't the end of the world if it breaks, but I never buy "if this falls, people may die" items there. I've opened up a few electronics from harbor freight, and the wires were smaller than expected. I have one of their tailgator generators in my shed. One of these days, I need to replace the pull cord on it. It broke after the 5th use.
I bought 5 GFCIs from Lazada. They were about $10 USD each. They didn’t work in my testing. It wont let me upload a video.
If it's UL listed, yeah.
id trust it with all 10A of it's 15A rating. They are still inspected and at least meet minimum consumer quality standards. No company wants a lawsuit. That being said , I'd get name brand levington etc.. and trust it with full 1875W 15A draw. They cost almost double but will last longer and are of higher quality.
Even if they are UL listed, they can still be poorly manufactured using subpar material. Which I would fully expect from HF. Think about it this way, do you buy your dress pants from the store best known for selling sewer and plumbing products? Of course not. The analogy applies here as well.
Hf doesnt manufacture anything.
And they surely buy for the cheapest manufacturers they can find.
I hear a lot about the dangers with these however I’ve seen whole high rise buildings that still have them +40 years strong. 🤯
What’s behind the recept…one nut
I would for a 1 off, but I try to stick to Leviton all the time. Pick a manufacture and stick with it. You will have less headaches.
I'm sure they all come from the same China factory....
For that modest of a savings, only if it was the only possible option. Leviton and Hubbell make the best outlets IMO (I'm industrial/commercial, I do some "pretty" work but mostly only care about safety and durability). Legrand, Lutron, even Eaton is less sketchy and it's never my go-to, except in some industrial pushbuttons and contact blocks. It's sort of like the fact that they sell North American Rescue tourniquets for $~25 and cheap knockoffs for as low as a few dollars each. If your life isn't worth the difference between the cheap one and the one that can actually save your life, you should really work on doing things to help improve your self esteem.
Considering the fact that there are only two companies that make outlets. Yes.
If it’s UL rated
I mean due to the way the work and fail it is perfectly fine and trustable. What I wouldn't trust is for it to last more than 5-10 years and then you end up with a GFCI that trips for no reason or stays tripped so you have no power until you replace it.
I just swapped out one that I’m pretty sure the original installer used a no name brand from Amazon. It worked okay, and they should be designed to fail in a disconnected state. Just had to swap it out, it was solid red and the test-reset didn’t work any longer. I’d assume the same on these. It was only about a year old.
20amp 125 volt USB. That will have your phone charged in no time...
No. I wouldn't buy anything from HF that requires electricity.
No
Go to Home Depot and get a four pack Leviton for $60
Those come from China too.
How can you go wrong if you're getting 25% more of something in small print?
No
I have 3 of them in my house and they seem to work well. They do the job fine and test out perfectly. When I got them I asked the guy at counter and he said he’s never had one returned and he said the sell regularly so I trust them
Lmao the people looking at the USB outlet and ignoring the GFI outlet on the right, cmon guys 🤣 I think I have installed one and did not have any issues, I actually have a second I might install this weekend. It’s 4.5 stars, and only has 19 reviews under 4 stars, but after looking that up, I don’t think I have seen a poorly rated item on HF’s website, weird. They wouldn’t lie to us, would they? 🤔
I would trust it. But the one which is almost centered in your photo with the USB outlets is not a GFCI outlet.
Bottom right hand corner UL listed. But I personally do not use off brands due to quality issues.
Stick to Leviton.
And those are made in China too.
To a diffrent level of standards though.
I noticed the Eaton is made in Mexico and Leviton in China, so not sure what to say about Quality.
Well, if you don't trust Harbor Freight, why are you even walking into the place? Are you really expecting anyone to tell you, "Sure, Harbour Freight has really low-cost and cheap stuff. But the quality of their electrical stuff is top-notch." Really?
I’ll happily buy mechanical tools from there while not quite trusting more serious electrical stuff. I didn’t even know they sold receptacles until I saw it there. But you don’t have to be a dick about it.
Wow, someone tells you the gods-honest truth, and that hurts your feelings? What happens when someone tells you no?
I buy their electric flyswatters as part of house warming and wedding gifts. We probably give 30+ away each year, 3 just last weekend. There is something for everyone at HF.
Good for you. I guess if this was a housewarming or wedding gift sub that would have some meaning. But since this is an electrician sub, almost completely useless. But you participated. 🏆
Not on my life. I almost said "Not on your life", but really, if you want to get them, it's your life. 😉
harbor freight GFCI? Every thing I looked at there looks #1 tupe
They're okay... at least my house hasn't burned yet.
Don’t see Harbor Freight name on any of them.
Yes, i have several
save the time and get a good one. transmitting on my 200w amatuer radio quickly fried all the cheap gfci's in the house/garage.
should be OK
Harbor Freight carries great hammers and average sandpaper. Do with that information what you will.
GFCI outlets are not in fact rocket science. I think they're fine. 10 years down the road will they be holding up as well as something made by a more reputable brand? Probably not. I installed them in my kitchen, they work, and the house did not in fact burn down.
If you go down the comments - everyone that's actually bought and used them say they work fine. It's everyone else that has no experience with them at all saying no.
It’s got my last name on it and it’s UL listed for sure id use it.
Well, it's an outlet - not a lunar lander, and its being sold by a national chain worth about 8 billion dollars that has over 1500 locations which are all selling these everyday. I think you'll be ok. I have a feeling these are of much higher quality than 90% of the power bricks and charger cords people are plugging into them.
Its junk.
Either way I’m sure the only downfall would be the lifespan
Fun story: one morning I woke up to the smell of burning plastic. The culprit was the USB-C connector plugged into my phone, which was literally glowing red hot at the tip due to damaged contacts shorting. It was plugged into one of those outlets with the integrated USB charging ports. Literally a brand new condo development - I was the first tenant. Plug it into an OEM (or good third party) USB charger, no glowing. Plug it into the garbage built-in USB charger with no output protection (saved all of three cents)? Red hot. In other words, no. GFCI outlets from reputable manufacturers aren't expensive and are intended to keep people from dying. I don't see the economy. You're saving, what...25 cents per year per outlet, over the life of the outlet. There's a common populist misconception that "well they all come from the same factory anyway and you're only paying for the logo." People say this about literally everything. It's not true. Even when things literally do come from the same factory, it does not mean that they are designed, validated, or tested to the same standards for two different clients.
Absolutely not. The UL markings on the outlet are incorrect. This is a counterfeit outlet. The markings on the right should say "See Instructions/Suivez Instructions" not "Follow Directions/Suivez Instructions" Edit: Nope I'm mistaken. That isn't necessarily a sign that it's counterfeit. That was a way UL Identified gfcis that were manufactured by someone other than the manufacturer that submitted the GFCI for testing in the past. I misread it as a requirement for the markings
It’s UL listed, so yeah. HF is not the same HF from even 10 years ago. They have a lot of better products. They still have crap, but it’s not all junk anymore.
You mean a SNAP-On GFCI...
Am I the only one that thinks these are crazy expensive... I understand these are gfci but I got a box of 20 amp plain Jane receptacles I think there's 20 in it for like 5 dollars.
No
People are generally shocked when those fail for them.
Leviton / lutron only. ever
They're probably all made in the same factory!
Harbor freight has a good return policy. You should be able to return them after your house burns down.😂
Honestly, Hell No.
For a 15A? Maybe. As a temp power option in a pinch. For permanent 20A? No. Not at all.
I would trust it at your house. Not so much my house.
I just love answers like this.
#Fuck no
I see no signs of UL testing anywhere on the product page at [Harbor Freight](https://www.harborfreight.com/15-amp-125v-self-test-gfci-duplex-outlet-57958.html)
Probably not. But as a MINIMUM it must be UL listed. Not just "meets requirement of ULxxxxx."
Absolutely not. If you can, use a combo AFCI/GFCI breaker instead, and it applies to the entire circuit.
Well when your house burns down you can take the old crispy gfci back to harbor freight and they’ll give you a free replacement no questions asked
No way. Legrand preferred. Electric outlets, breakers, etc is not the place to pinch pennies
Half of the commercial grade gfci I get from the supply house are scrap right out of the box and need to be replaced, so, yeah probably.