Is Harbor Freight's 24K Gold Plated Ratchet Worth It? (And Is It Real Gold?)
If you've been to a Harbor Freight lately and lurked around the socket sets and wrenches, you've likely seen the gold-plated ICON-branded ratchets sitting on the shelf and immediately had dozens of questions. "Why?" being the foremost, followed by "Is that real gold?" and "What is the purpose of such a tool?"
An impulse buy
As I have poor impulse control, I bought the 3/8-inch ratchet, hung it on the wall of my home office in Maryland, and promptly forgot about it. Well over a year later, I moved to Pennsylvania and came across it again, like a long-lost relic. For the purposes of this investigation and to answer questions regarding its existence and utility, I broke the golden ratchet free from its plastic prison and started working on my car.
A significant price premium
At its heart, the gold-plated ratchet is an Icon brand 3/8th-inch ratchet that retails for $59.99 (it also comes in a 1/4 inch option), a significant premium over the non-gold ratchet's price tag of $39.99. Icon is Harbor Freight's in-house brand that's aiming for a little bit of a higher market than occasional driveway mechanics. I personally use a socket and ratchet set from Milwaukee and a few old Snap-On tools as my daily tools when wrenching, but I would never say no to more tools. That said, the gold ratchet attached to silver-colored sockets looks a little odd.
Still the budget brand
Harbor Freight touts the Icon brand as being a direct competitor to Snap-On, but it's more than likely an analog to brands like Husky, newer Craftsman, and Kobalt in terms of quality. Icon tools are great for the price and ideal for a DIYer like me, but if you are a professional mechanic, you might want to invest in higher-end tools. Most Snap-On tools are made in the United States and offer a better warranty and support network than tools from big box stores. Snap-On, of course, is also known for being really expensive.
Against the gold standard
Stylistically, the head of the ratchet looks a lot more Snap-On-like than my equivalent Milwaukee, and that's likely more than intentional as Harbor Freight often compares the Icon line to Snap-On in advertising. The 24k gold plating is certainly striking and gives the tool more of the appearance of a special weapon in a video game than a tool you would use to swap out the brake pads on your mom's Subaru. The gold plating is really well done and it doesn't look or feel cheap. Admittedly, it's pretty sharp looking.
All that glitters
The box is emblazoned with a sticker that reads "Genuine 24k Gold Plated" and I'm inclined to believe it's real gold, only in a very thin layer. The handle of the tool is also stamped with "24K GOLD PLATED," meaning that it is, in fact, pure gold plating.
Alex Hevesy/SlashGear
Before you rush to Harbor Freight to start melting down ratchets to turn a profit, remember that edible gold leaf, also often made of 24k pure gold, is available on Amazon for just a few dollars. There's probably more gold by weight in the smartphone, tablet, or computer you are reading this on than this Harbor Freight ratchet.
Does the job
As far as actually using this tool, it's like any other 3/8th-inch ratchet. It's infinitely useful when working on cars, lawnmowers, or whatever other application you can come up with. It has 90 teeth in the ratcheting mechanism meaning that it's pretty smooth to operate and only needs four degrees of swing to drive any particular nut or bolt. The gold doesn't help it in any particular way over a standard chrome-colored ratchet unless you count style points (and some shops do).
Surface-level beauty
In fact, the gold might be a slight hindrance, there's a warning on the back of the box that says "Please Handle With Care. Genuine 24k Gold Scratches Easily."
Alex Hevesy/SlashGear
I found that out the hard way. To test out the tool and to see if the gold had any benefit, I worked on the rear hatch of my car and a little bit in the engine bay. That requires the ratchet to scrape up against other bits of metal and the gold plating didn't come off or start flaking, but it did get pretty scratched up after just a few minutes.
Don't be too hard on it
As my other tools and beat-up hands can attest, working on a car can be dirty and at least mildly hazardous. It's not a place for anything you want to keep clean. Dents, dings, scuffs, and the like will show up on your tools, and that's just a fact of life. But as long as you keep the gold ratchet clean and don't abuse it too hard, the plating probably won't pose much of an issue.
One ratchet to rule them all?
All told the "Icon Professional Ratchet Special Edition 90 Tooth Low Profile 3/8" Drive" (its full name) is more of a gimmick than anything wildly better than your run-of-the-mill ratchet. It's a well-executed and genuinely useful gimmick if you can find it on sale or you get it as a gift, but a gimmick nonetheless. I don't regret buying it at all, as I have actually gotten some decent use out of it. Plus, it looks nice in my tool kit. If aesthetics are your thing, then it might be worth it to you.