Beyond The Icon Mat: 5 Of Harbor Freight's Best Magnetic Tools (According To Users)

One of Harbor Freight's newest products is the Icon Magnetic Tool Mat, which keeps tools like hex keys and pliers, as well as items like screws and nails, within arm's reach and from falling off your workbench. The 11 x 9 inch surface is made with high-power rare earth magnets that can even hold heavier tools like wrenches and ratchets, and the mat is durable and abrasion-resistant to withstand rougher work environments. Plus, it's flexible enough to conform to curved surfaces and fit in your tool chest.

It's still too early to say if the Icon Magnetic Mat works as well as advertised. To date, not many users have weighed in on the product on Harbor Freight's website, though the few that have seem to universally love the tool. It wouldn't be the first time a magnetic tool from Harbor Freight has won over the retailer's customers. Harbor Freight sells several different kinds of tools and products that use magnets in various ways, such as retrieving ferrous items or adhering to metal surfaces. These tools come from several of Harbor Freight's house brands, including Central Machinery, Pittsburgh, Gordon, and — of course — Icon.

While the verdict is still out on the Icon Magnetic Mat, there are several magnetic tools with very positive feedback from customers. According to user reviews, these are five of Harbor Freight's best magnetic tools. More information about how these products were evaluated can be found at the end of this list.

One of the Harbor Freight tools users say belongs in every garage is the Central Machinery 30-inch Magnetic Sweeper with Wheels, which is also a must-have if you're a metal worker. Brooms can sweep up screws and metal shavings, but a magnetic sweeper will ensure that every last bit of metal is picked up off the ground, so you won't need to worry about stepping on anything sharp when you're not paying attention. Unlike a broom, it'll also remove metal debris from carpets and workmats, or those that have gotten stuck into tiny crevices.

It has an extra-wide sweep head so you can cover a lot of ground in fewer passes. Its 7-inch wheels make it a breeze to push around the workshop. With 50 pounds of magnetic pull, you can pick up a lot in a single pass. When you need to dump the debris, you can easily do so using a very convenient one-pull release. The handle extends from 30 to 44.5 inches for a longer reach, making it comfortable to use no matter how tall you are.

Based on over 1,400 reviews from Harbor Freight customers, the Central Machinery 30-inch Magnetic Sweeper with Wheels has an excellent 4.7 out of 5 overall user rating. When asked, a whopping 98% of customers recommend the tool, with users especially praising its quality, convenience, and value. One user states, "I used this where I had been working and recovered nails and screws etc, it works perfectly on flat surfaces," while another emphasizes its strong magnetic field, saying it "pulls unseen metal to the naked eyes."

The Central Machinery 30-inch Magnetic Sweeper with Wheels sells for just $50 and is available from Harbor Freight.

As one of the handy telescoping tools you can buy at Harbor Freight, the Pittsburgh 15-pound Capacity Telescoping Magnetic Pickup Tool is designed for a simple yet incredibly helpful task — retrieving dropped metal objects in hard-to-reach places. The telescoping shaft extends to give you a longer reach in tight spaces like behind a workbench, under a car, or inside engines and other machinery. The magnet at the tip is rated to hold up to 15 pounds, which is strong enough for loose screws, nails, or sockets, in addition to larger items like wrenches.

Its slim design makes it easy to maneuver, and it telescopes down from 29.5 inches to just 7.5 inches, making it easier to carry around and store in your toolbox. Based on over 3,500 customer reviews, the Pittsburgh 15-pound Capacity Telescoping Magnetic Pickup Tool has a fantastic 4.7 out of 5 overall customer score, with 96% of surveyed customers recommending the product.

Customers have no shortage of things they like about the tool, citing price, ease of use, quality, and great value as positive attributes. Customers also like that it works well in tight spaces. At least one user says they've owned one for years, while another writes, "The cheapest competition costs significantly more and doesn't have the reach that this has ... All telescoping magnets eventually break; you might as well minimize the replacement cost while maximizing utility and get this one."

Harbor Freight sells the Pittsburgh 15-pound Capacity Telescoping Magnetic Pickup Tool for just $5, so you can even pick up multiple ones and keep them in various rooms of your house.

Many of the work lights sold by Harbor Freight are magnetic, which makes them great for easy and convenient placement, whether it's around the workshop or job site or on the hood or underside of your vehicle. The Icon 2100-Lumen LED Rechargeable Magnetic Compact Floodlight is one such option that's highly rated by users — it has a 4.7 out of 5 overall customer score based on over 800 reviews, with 94% of customers recommending it. The word you'll see most often in reviews is "bright," with users mentioning how strong the light is at illuminating dark spaces. Users also love its long battery life and durability.

The product is similar to Harbor Freight's less powerful 750-lumen ultracompact magnetic lights, which come in a variety of colors (the 2,100-lumen model is only available in black). It has a 360-degree rotating head, which, combined with its magnetic base and compact design, makes it very easy to aim toward where you need its 2100-lumen light.

It's no delicate gadget, either, and will work just fine on the jobsite as it's water, dust, and impact resistant. One of its most useful features is that it's rechargeable via USB-C — no bulky batteries that need to be placed or extension cords needed. It can run up to 12 hours on low, and it can also be used as a 5,200 mAh power bank for charging your phone or other devices.

The Icon 2100-Lumen LED Rechargeable Magnetic Compact Floodlight goes for $54.99 at Harbor Freight, though you can currently buy it for $10 off its list price.

The Central Machinery 30-inch Magnetic Sweeper with Wheels is great for clearing large areas of magnetic debris, but bigger isn't always better in some circumstances. The Central Machinery 17-inch Mini Magnetic Sweeper offers a more compact solution that's better for tighter workspaces, easier storage, and more convenient handling when you just need to quickly pick something up, such as a spilled jar of nails. Plus, it's a lot cheaper than the former, costing less than $15.

Based on over 2,550 customer reviews, the Central Machinery 17-inch Mini Magnetic Sweeper has a positive 4.5 out of 5 overall customer score, with 92% of customers recommending it. Users love the price, ease-of-use, value, and the size and weight of the cleaner. As one user puts it, the "magnet works pretty well for the price. It has a good pickup power. The only downside is that it's smaller in size, so the wheels work best on level surfaces."

Another downside pointed out by another customer is that its 40-inch handle, which has a formed PVC grip, is a bit flimsy. It rolls on two 3-inch wheels and has a magnetic pulling force of 4.5 pounds, so it should be strong enough for most metal debris. It's also designed with a hole so you can hang it against the wall when not in use.

The Central Machinery 17-inch Mini Magnetic Sweeper is available for $13.99 from Harbor Freight.

Magnets are often used to retrieve items that would be too hard to grab with your hands, which is why Harbor Freight offers several different tools that all roughly use the same principle. However, the Gordon Magnetic Flexible Pickup Tool with LED Light has one innovative feature that many of its other magnetic pickup tools lack: a built-in light, making it easier to see in dark, deep corners where you may have dropped something in the first place. With this tool, you can search for what you're looking for if you dropped something in engine bays or wheel wells, for example, before using the magnet to then easily retrieve it.

Another useful feature is that it's flexible, similar to a plumbing snake, so you can easily maneuver it into such structures. Plus, it has a 7 in. anodized aluminum handle with a no-slip grip. After all, you wouldn't want to drop it while you're trying to pick something else up — then you'd need another magnetic retrieval tool to retrieve the retrieval tool!

Based on over 500 user reviews, the Gordon Magnetic Flexible Pickup Tool with LED Light has a solid 4.5 out of 5, with 9 out of 10 customers recommending the product. Users love its minimal size and weight as well as its low price, though reviews are a bit mixed when it comes to the brightness of the LED. One customer found another clever use for the tool, using it to hold a component in place as they replaced a car door lock cylinder, saying that "the pick up tool saved me a great deal of time and effort."

Harbor Freight sells the Gordon Magnetic Flexible Pickup Tool with LED Light for just $8.99.

For this list of Harbor Freight magnetic products, only tools that are actively used were considered, as opposed to passive holders like the Icon Magnetic Mat or the wall-mounted U.S. General 18-inch Magnetic Tool Holder (which are also plenty useful). Factors considered when selecting items for this list include the strength of their magnets, the convenience they offer, and how practical they are to use in everyday situations you may come across on the jobsite or in your workshop or garage.

To determine which tools users consider "best," the ratings and reviews posted by Harbor Freight customers on the retailer's website were referenced. The tools included on this list all have overall user scores of 4.5 out of 5 or higher, with a minimum of 90% of customers recommending each particular device. The user scores are all averaged from at least 500 reviews, if not thousands more. With a large pool of customers weighing in on each product, these overall ratings can be considered more accurate, as any outlier reviews made in bad faith won't sway the average much in either direction.