5 Handy Telescoping Tools You Can Get At Harbor Freight

If you're looking to add a few elements to your tool collection but you're on a budget, Harbor Freight is the place to go. It's not as if there aren't any alternatives to Harbor Freight tools that are still budget friendly, but it's hard to find an equivalent online and physical store that is very affordable and carries a selection of original brands and third-party products, especially one that has so many different types of tools readily available. There is a Harbor Freight in proximity to virtually every house and garage in the United States. Running to one for a tool that'll get the job done has practically become a national past time. 

Short of shopping on Amazon, which could be worth it for hand tools, Harbor Freight could be the best place to get the sort of small, inexpensive tool with a twist that's bound to make them much more useful. For this article, we've selected a few of the handy telescoping tools made by Pittsburgh and other Harbor Freight brands that could make your life a little easier. All those tools are affordable, each being available for under $30, and aren't made for specialized jobs nor do they require specific knowledge or training to be useful. Rather, they are the kind of tool that almost everyone could benefit from, like an especially efficient mop or a really weird nut driver.

We at SlashGear love weird DIY tools that are actually useful, and who's going to look at the picture above and see a normal socket driver? Pittsburgh's 1/4-Inch Drive Telescoping Socket Driver is a socket driver with a standard 1/4-inch end cap, compatible with any nut of the same size. While you can use an adapter to fit other sizes, it doesn't come in other standard measures like 1/2 and 3/8 inches, as many other Pittsburgh tools do. The twist, of course, is that the shaft of this tool extends to over 12.5 inches, making it possible to reach certain areas that wouldn't be accessible with a regular driver. This almost makes the Telescoping Socket Driver a multi-tool of sorts, even if it's not in the same category of Harbor Freight's Gordon 20-in-1.

As an added benefit, the Pittsburgh 1/4-Inch Drive Telescoping Socket Driver comes with a slot in the back that fits a ratchet. This allows you to use one of those tools to rotate the screwdriver and exercise a little more strength. That's something that users seem to be especially happy about. It is a curious addition to a tool that already has a weird gimmick to distinguish itself from the competition and didn't really need another, but a welcome one nonetheless. Some users point out that the shaft of the driver doesn't feel too solid when fully extended and tends to wobble a lot, but for the price of $9.99 it seems like it'd be hard to do better, let alone for such a unique tool that has pretty much no direct competition.

It's hard to say what is a good length for a telescoping brush that connects to a rubber hose, but 76 inches seems like it should be enough for most uses. Speaking of which, what is this long brush for? According to Harbor Freight, the Instant On/Off Telescoping Flow-Thru Brush is ideal for cleaning RVs, boats, windows, and anything that's out of the way. The brush head is made of soft PVC bristles that are supposed to be gentle, and shouldn't scratch any surface. Meanwhile, the telescoping body fits the size of regular garden hoses, which allows the Flow-Thru Brush to release water and allows a more efficient cleaning action.

Since the water comes from a garden hose, this tool doesn't need its own power source nor a water tank, making it much lighter and cheaper than any power tool with a similar purpose, like Ryobi's telescoping power scrubber. That said, the telescoping brush comes with an instant on/off switch that quickly stops the flow of water. Without it, you'd have to close the valve that the hose is connected to every time, which would likely lead to a lot of water wasted. In the end, this is likely to save a lot of water if used properly. If this is going to be the kind of tool you use all the time, then you might consider it as a money-saving solution, too. With a price tag of just $21.99, it shouldn't take a lot of use before the water conserved starts paying for itself.

Harbor Freight sells two telescoping magnetic pickup tools, and they're both by Pittsburgh. The most popular of the two — the one you can see in the picture above — is the more expensive and powerful 15-pound Capacity Telescoping Magnetic Pickup Tool. Equipped with a strong magnet (and hopefully an equally strong telescoping body), this product claims to be able to grab onto objects as heavy as 15 pounds. The 18-inch Telescoping Magnet doesn't have a stated weight capacity, but according to its description, it's meant to pick up "small metal parts", so it's probably much weaker, and it has a much smaller head. Both have great reviews, though, and which one is the best one will depend on your needs.

Both telescoping magnetic pickup tools cost less than $10, but price aside, they're quite different. We know they are rated for quite different levels of weight, but opposite to what you might expect, the 15-pound capacity tool can be extended a fair bit more than the other. The smallest of the two extends to 18 inches and seems to take slightly less space when fully folded, while the other goes from a minimum of 7.5 inches to almost 30 inches. The second has a much larger magnetic head as well — which is to be expected, given the stronger grip, but can be an advantage in and of itself. One benefit of the smaller tool is the tiny rotating head, which makes it ideal for recovering a screw or another small component lost in an inaccessible space.

The first thing you'll notice about the Pittsburgh 1/2-Inch Drive Extendable Ratchet is that it costs about as much as the (much more traditional-looking) 1/2-Inch Drive Quick-Release Swivel Head Ratchet. Most Pittsburgh ratchets are priced at around $20 or a little less, and while the one with a telescoping handle doesn't have the fancy one-button socket release or the low-profile swivel head of other tools in the same line, it has a secret weapon of its own. Given that you're midway through an article about telescoping tools, you can probably guess what that is.

That's right, the extendable ratchet by Pittsburgh can extend its shaft of a whole 6 inches, going from 12 to 18 inches. Unlike the telescoping driver we looked at before, this isn't necessarily useful for reaching certain areas, but for exercising more strength on a tough nut, thanks to the longer lever that the extended shaft unlocks. Rotating a handle this big would be hellish if this was a socket wrench instead of a ratchet, but thanks to the ratcheting head you can just crank the tool back and forth and expect to see motion in a single direction. Pittsburgh doesn't offer a minimum swing arc in degrees, which many brands use to indicate how much the tool has to rotate before it delivers movement, meaning it probably isn't an impressive number. That said, people truly love the extendable ratchet, which has over 2,000 reviews with overwhelmingly positive scores.

No one likes a dirty car, but no one likes to pay for a clean car, either. The solution? Cleaning the car yourself. It's not an easy solution, of course. In fact, it's a lot of work. However, it is the kind of work that you can make easier by learning a few of popular car-washing tricks and picking the right gear, which, depending on your car, might include the HFT Telescoping Car Wash Mop. A telescoping car wash mop makes it easier to do the job by yourself, especially if you have an SUV or a large, tall vehicle of any kind, including a camper, boat, or any other recreational vehicle. It's not exactly going to break the bank coming in at $13.99, and it gives you the solution of being able to reach the top of your car. As far as cool car gadgets go, it's not an expensive addition to your automobile arsenal at all. 

Whichever car wash mop you go with, make sure to avoid the soaps and materials that aren't safe for cars, and do no not schedule your wash on a particularly cold or hot day to avoid extreme temperatures in general. If you need a little extra help, HFT, the same company that sells the telescoping car wash mop, offers a telescoping 2-in-1 Squeegee dedicated to the windshield. It declares itself capable of two-in-one functionality because the tool comes with a sponge on one side and a rubber squeegee blade on the other. HFT's squeegee is just $5.99, so it might be worth adding to your cart if you foresee a lot of car cleaning in the future.