I see that harbor freight has a sale going on, are their DA's ok or should I avoid them?

Can Do

 

Back yard mechanic so needless to say not an authority. IMHO, want to make sure compressor can stay up with the sander. The HF sander is about the cheapest I have seen, requires around 8 cfm @ 90-120, and the second cheapest I have seen is made by Astro, runs around $50 and requires 5 cfm @90-120. They can go as high as $400-$500, so imagine increase in price comes quality with close tolerances, stainless steel parts, etc. I have a small shop compressor, which has a heck of a time keeping up with air tools in general, especially sanders, so limited to air tools requiring the least cfm. They do make electric DA sanders but they are expensive. If the compressor is an issue, I see where HF also has corded randum/orbital sander, I purchased a Porter Cable sander and find it does a good job job, whether suited for final finish, as a novice, I could not say.

 

Ok, to answer your question buy it! I have a DA from harbor freight and I love it. I have had no problems with mine so far. I have quite a few different tools from there and have had no problems with anything!

 

I have had pretty good luck with their low priced air tools, central pneumatic or whatever the brand is. I have a high dollar da, since for me, it gets pretty constant regular use, so can't help you with that, but have a cheap small angle grinder,die grinder, cut off wheel,air saw and touchup gun from HF. Used almost daily, They have been holding up so far, but the touchup gun, which likes to break the small cast trigger. But on the other hand, Some guys that did work some years back for the company I was at, bought several electric grinders from hf, and they wouldn't last more then a few days doing production work before they were burnt up.
Like already mentioned, though check the air requirements. I had an old craftsmen da (when they tended to have american heavier duty tools) that finally bought the farm after around 20 years with a seized bearing. Borrowed one (ignersal rand) till I could pick a new one up from the guy whos car I was working on at the time. I have a decent sized compressor, but noticed it was running often having a little harder time keeping up. Looked up the air requirements on that da, and it was a whopping 13 cfm, whereas my craftsmen was something like 4, and wouldn't say the ir was any better then my craftsmen.