How Accurate Are Harbor Freight Torque Wrenches? (According To Users)

Harbor Freight owns the brand names that emblazon the torque wrenches sold in its stores. The top brand, Icon, has honors as Harbor Freight's most expensive ($399.99) and highest rated torque wrench manufacturer on the budget tool retailer's website. It also bolsters the largest number of torque wrench models with 10. The Quinn brand's eight models occupy the middle ground with its highest priced torque wrench selling for $179.99. Pittsburg and Pittsburg Pro combine to produce four models with the highest priced model selling for $79.99. 

All three Harbor Freight torque wrench brands offer ½-inch drive torque wrenches, arguably the most popular size used by DIY and professional mechanics. Sean, a Harbor Freight "Verified Buyer," says the $139.99 Icon ½-drive Professional Split Beam Torque Wrench is a "great torque wrench," and praises its accuracy and price. Willy gave the Harbor Freight ½-inch drive Icon Professional Click Torque Wrench, also $139.99, a 5-star rating, calling the torque wrench "accurate, reliable, [and] well made."

In a YouTube video, Real Tool Reviews pitted Harbor Freight's ½-inch drive Icon Professional Click Torque Wrench against the $490.00 Snap-on model QDR3R250A torque wrench in a head-to-head test. The Icon torque wrench met its advertised +/- 4% clockwise and +/- 6% counterclockwise accuracy and outperformed the Snap-on model. During the test, Harbor Freight's Icon delivered higher accuracy for torque settings across its range and more consistent readings when set to 75 lb-ft of torque. In addition, the majority of Harbor Freight torque wrench brands offer a lifetime warranty.

While Icon torque wrenches are very accurate according to users, Harbor Freight's top brand is priced out of some budgets. With that in mind, if you needed a torque wrench for tasks like properly torquing your lug nuts or torquing the drain plug as one of the steps to changing the oil in your car yourself, would Harbor Freight's $21.99 ½-inch drive torque wrench by Pittsburgh be accurate enough?

Users largely agree that the inexpensive Pittsburgh torque wrench is accurate enough for most DIY torquing tasks. On the r/harborfreight subreddit, SierraHotel058 says "The Pittsburgh torque wrench ($9.99 on sale) is perfectly adequate for most [DIY tasks]." Harbor Freight customers agree, giving the Pittsburgh torque wrench a 4.6-star (out of 5) rating. Several Harbor Freight customers, including Francisco, found the wrench to be "accurate enough," especially for the price, but a small percentage of reviewers disagreed.

The Tools Tested YouTube channel put the Pittsburgh ½-inch drive torque wrench through its paces. The channel's tests ultimately put over 1,000 cycles on six different wrenches purchased from different Harbor Freight locations over several years. The collected test data shows that all six Pittsburgh torque wrenches met or exceeded Harbor Freight's advertised +/- 4% accuracy before and after 1,000 clicks.

On the other hand, Asbjorn, a Rocky Mountain Extreme forum user from Colorado, says that while they'd trust Harbor Freight torque wrenches "for other jobs (e.g. lug nuts, beadlock bolts) [they] probably wouldn't [trust them] for something as critical as an engine build." That sentiment is echoed in the Tools Tested video, at least for the Pittsburgh model.

We turned to Harbor Freight customer reviews and the opinions of users on online forums to see what they thought of the accuracy of Harbor Freight's torque wrench lineup. To back up those opinions with data, we looked at what users with access to torque measuring devices were posting on YouTube.

It's obvious that the Harbor Freight Icon torque wrenches are the most accurate torque wrenches the company has to offer, even besting Snap-on in the battle for torque wrench supremacy. While there are no long-term tests pitting the two brands against each other, the Icon's bargain price makes it an appealing option, at least for the occasional user with room in their tool budget.

Torque wrench buyers on a tighter budget will be pleased with the accuracy of Harbor Freight's less expensive models. Even the company's most affordable torque wrench delivers its advertised +/- 4% accuracy.