7 Harbor Freight Icon Tools That Are Worth Buying (And 3 To Avoid)

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Found only at Harbor Freight, Icon is one of the top tool brands that are sold exclusively at one hardware store. Specifically, Icon is Harbor Freight's most prestigious hand tool brand, and for good reasons. If you take a look at the store's website, you'll find that most Icon products receive excellent user reviews. The brand is so confident in the quality of its work, and in the relatively low price, to invite users to compare its products with premium brands like Snap-On. Icon might be on the more expensive end of consumer tools, but that's because it's trying to be a budget version of top-of-the-line professional products.

Icon invites comparison and picks fights with premium brands because it can always offer a lower price. However, how much do those tools lose when it comes to quality to reach their more affordable price? And how much better is Icon, quality-wise, when compared to cheaper alternatives? One thing the toolmaker has on its side is the excellent Harbor Freight lifetime warranty and its better than average return policy, but the same can be said for all of the hardware store's brands, and many more.

When is it worth to invest in an Icon tool? Which products should you avoid? Let's take a look at some of them.

The 9-Inch Long-Nose Slip-Joint Pliers and 11-Inch Long-Reach Pistol-Grip Needle Nose Pliers by Icon are some of the brand's most popular tools, both having reached an almost perfect score of five stars with over 280 reviews among them. They're a little expensive for what they are, at $27.99 and $19.99, respectively. That's the price that some brands, even many of the best hand tool brands, ask for a whole set of pliers. That's the case of the Craftsman 3 Piece Set Pliers, which is just $21.82. Craftsman even has a lifetime warranty to rival Harbor Freight's Icon, so why should you pick the Icon pliers instead of a set from another brand?

The answer, as is often the case, is found in the product's user reviews. If you compare the nine and 11-inch long nose-pliers to brands like Snap-On or even Klein Tools instead of budget options like Craftsman, they become reasonably cheap. Icon's online store itself suggests you confront the price of its pliers with Snap-On's, promising saves of 61%. We at SlashGear have recommended Craftsman in the past, but there's no doubt that the company excels as offering solid budget alternatives to more expensive tool lines, like with their cheaper alternatives to Mac Tools' hand tools. Icon is a different story, as the 168 positive reviews (nearly all of them) on its "new" nine-inch Long-Nose Slip-Joint Pliers shows.

It's one of the most popular tool sets from Icon, and it's just a bunch of screwdrivers. What's so special about the 8-Piece Professional Mechanics Screwdriver Set, and why does it cost $49.99? According to Icon's users, it's because this set is as resistant as Snap On's $219.50 8-Piece Combination Screwdriver Set. It's no surprise that so many consider a little over $6 per screwdriver to be a great deal. In what is a theme for Icon tools' pages on Harbor Freight's online store, the brand, too, invites the comparison between the two brands right below its products' price.

But what is in this screwdriver set by Icon? This kit contains four slotted drivers (a ³⁄₁₆-inch, a ⁵⁄₁₆-inch, and two ¼-inch drivers, one long and one stubby) and four Philips (No. 1, No. 3, and two No. 2s). As we hinted at before, the devil is in the details. The blades and tips are made of "pecial alloy steel" with chrome finish, while the grip is made to be comfortable and ergonomic while being sturdy. The Philips heads have anti-camout ribs, which, according to some suppliers, can reduce cam out by up to 30%. This can make a job easier, but it can also protect the screw's head from being stripped.

Another highly rated tool set by Icon, the Five-Piece Professional S-Shaped SAE Wrench Set is, you guessed it, shaped like an S. Their unique structure makes it easier to reach fasteners hidden in a corner. According to some users, those might even allow you to generate more torque in small working areas. That said, those same users note that their use is extremely situational. At $49.99, the S-shaped wrench set is not too expensive either, at least for Icon's standards. Most other manufacturers would price a set like this much lower, but not a premium brand like Snap-On. The brand's five-piece set will set you back $371.00.

If you want to save some money on a set you might not use very much, you could take a look at Pittsburgh's Five-Piece S-Type SAE Obstruction Wrench Set. That one is just $19.99 and comes with the same lifetime warranty as any Icon hand tool, since they're both backed by Harbor Freight. Whichever brand you go with, you'll find the store carries a Metric version of those set as well, so why would you pick the more expensive Icon over the alternatives?

For one, they seem to be more resistant to oxidation and corrosion as well as impacts, being made of polished chrome vanadium steel. Then there are the user reviews: out of 116, only one mentions a slightly warped wrench, with the remaining 115 being positive.

Unique, well-liked, and expensive; that's the ½ Inch Drive 40 to 250 ft-lb Professional Split Beam Torque Wrench. There's a reason why Harbor Freight's torque wrenches are so expensive. This split beam torque wrench uses a simple principle to allow you to dial in the torque you need to apply before connecting the tool to the bolt or nut. Torque on this machine is expressed in ft-lb, but a conversion table printed on the handle lets you easily translate it into newton-meters. $139.99 is a lot for a tool of this kind, but Icon's product page promises to deliver "consistent torque and long lasting accuracy." It also says that this tool doesn't need to be reset after each use, making it easier and faster than some of the competition.

How does a torque wrench work? To put it simply, two metal bars are placed along the length of the tool. The first is used to apply force, running all the way to the handle, while the second is attached to the head and to a switch of sorts near the middle. When you rotate the tool, force is only applied to the longer beam, while the second remains straight. When the bent of the first is enough to activate the switch, you'll hear a click, which tells you that the bolt has been tightened to the desired tension. 

A semi-complete set of long ratcheting wrenches for $199.99, the 10 Piece Extra Long Professional Metric Double Box Ratcheting Wrench has a near-perfect score, is actively recommended to others by its users, and was in our list of users' favorite Icon hand tools at Harbor Freight. Of course we can't ignore that $199.99 is a lot for a set like this. Usually, when you buy a set, you're trying to save some money, but it's hard to call $20 for a single ratcheting wrench cheap, or even affordable. It's way more affordable than Snap-On's $46.75 per similar ratcheting wrench, but it's twice as much as the Harbor Freight brand Quinn's closest equivalent.

What does the Icon set offer that the others don't? For one, this is a combination ratcheting/non-ratcheting wrench set, with each tool offering both options on each of their head. As some users point out, ratcheting wrenches are often more useful, but there are times you wish you had a regular wrench, like when putting on a particularly difficult fastener. They're also quite long, the smallest being 10 inches and the biggest 15 inches. Plus, they're made of chrome-vanadium steel, an advantage common to Icon tools. The same set is available in Metric and SAE sizes, and if you want to save a few dollars, both are available in stubby sets of ratcheting wrenches.

Icon didn't rank too well in our list of the best major socket set brands. That's not to say that users don't like the brand's kits of ratchets and sockets, they certainly do, but Icon's Impact Swivel Sockets are a whole other story. This item is currently the highest-rated set on Icon's products page, and demonstrates the biggest savings against the company's chosen rival, Snap-On. While $139.99 for a 14-piece set is nothing to scoff at, Snap-On's 12-piece set comes at an eye-watering $1,070.00. Are the two products exactly the same quality? Probably not. According to tests conducted by Torque Test Channel, Snap-On and a few other brands are much more durable and have other advantages.

However, that doesn't make the Icon impact swivel sockets are poor quality. None of their users reported having issues with them. But what makes a swivel socket so special and so expensive? Compared to a regular socket, a swivel or u-joint socket can rotate around the base, making it easier to connect with hard-to-reach bolts. Unlike some cheaper universal sockets, the ones from Icon are able to freely rotate in any direction and can bend up to 30°. If you want a cheaper alternative to swivel sockets, you could go for Icon's swivel joint adapters. Those have great user reviews as well and are just $24.99 for both the 3/8 and 1/4-inch versions.

A locking flex ratchet complete with an extension and 35 bits by Icon at the reasonable price of $39.99? That could be why this item currently has an overwhelmingly positive rating with 1,849 reviews, averaging 4.9 stars out of five. Or maybe it's because this Harbor Freight tool became a meme on Reddit. It's hard to say. Either way, this set comes packed with bits: 11 Torx bits, 13 Hexes, three Pozidrivs, two slotted bits, and three Philips sizes. Included are also an extension and an adapter, both 1/4-inch size, like the locking flex-head ratchet itself. As a plus, the extension can be used as an alternate T-handle by connecting it to the ratchet head, while the bits can be attached to the other side, where the handle would usually go.

The locking flex head ratchet can be used clockwise and counterclockwise, and the flex head allows the head to rotate slightly before locking in place. While the ratchet's body (and presumably the handle) are made of the familiar chrome vanadium steel, the bits are S2 steel, a type of shock-resisting steel that is renowned for strength and durability. Icon doesn't refer to them as impact-rated bits, but they're certainly sturdy. The reviews, as we said, are extremely positive. For what it's worth, we couldn't find any that seemed to be a joke made for the meme.

Is a light a tool? That's a question we won't answer today. If you are looking for a solution, we would advise against the 2100 Lumen LED Rechargeable Magnetic 77-Inch Extendable Underhood Floodlight. There are a lot of great work lights for mechanics that are more popular than this one. This floodlight by Icon promises to brighten your nightly underhood repairs with 2,100 lumens, which are probably enough for occasional car repairs. $89.99 looks like an honest price for it, too. You could get a 2,100 lumens rechargeable headlamp from Amazon for cheaper, but that might not be as comfortable as a fixed, magnetic light with a underhood bar.

It's clear that what makes the bigger price tag worth it for some is the structure that surrounds the light and not the light itself. Icon will sell you an identical 2,100 lumens light without the underhood bar for just $54.99, after all. The problem is that many users don't find the bar useful. Many reviews claim it's too short for most trucks, and even some cars. Others suggest that an underhood lightbar would be more useful. One product they mention is the Braun 2000 Lumen Foldable Underhood Light, another lighting solution you can find at Harbor Freight.

The 77 Inch Underhood Floodlight isn't the only Icon light, and it's not the only one you should avoid, either. The Professional Work Center Light Bar is a floodlight designed to work with certain Icon work centers, and according to its users, it works perfectly well for that function. However, unless you're using it with the (very expensive) Icon Work Center Hutches, it's just a 3,000 Lumens light. At $119.99, it's quite expensive, too. A quick search on Amazon shows no shortage of light bars just as powerful that cost less than half of Icon's option.

We wouldn't recommend those lights either, since they're mostly unbranded and could have issues of their own, but if you're willing to buy a more traditional light you can hang from the ceiling, Home Depot will sell you one for $14.97. The only benefit of the Icon Work Center Light Bar is that it's the right size to fit into the brand's Professional Work Center Hutch. If that's not what you're looking for, you might as well just add a regular shop light, or even just a powerful lamp. You could even use a corded/cordless work light hybrid like the Ryobi One+ 18-Volt Cordless LED Panel Light and save about $40.

$139.99 is a lot of money for a tool that can easily be found below $50. That's not rare for Icon tools, as we've seen many times now, but there's usually something in the materials, the build quality, or the design that justifies the price. What does Icon's Professional Creeper do to justify the cost? The wheels have a different profile than most creepers. Is that good? Maybe. It's hard to tell, and Icon doesn't feel the need to explain that choice in the product's description beyond noting that the "four all-terrain 6 inch casters work on uneven surfaces". Uneven surfaces aren't especially common in garages and repair shops, and users have a whole list of problems with those big wheels, from their enormous size to them sticking out so much from the rest of the tool to be dangerous.

The creeper seems to have a bit of padding in the head and lumbar region, but no adjustable headset. According to some users, the headrest is not comfortable for extensive use — and it's heavy. Sure, it supports a load of 400 pounds, but the tool itself weighs almost 40 pounds. Unless you need that much support, Icon makes a 37-Inch Premium Creeper that is half as heavy, not as bulky, and can sustain up to 400 pounds. It has slightly better user reviews, too.

We selected those tools based on user reviews and discussions, the products' rating on Harbor Freight's store, and comments left by the buyers. We also compared those products to the versions of other brands and similar Icon tools. We considered the value proposition of all to determine if Icon's offer was in line with the competition.