What Does $500 Buy You At Snap-On Vs. Harbor Freight?

As DIYers and gear heads, we're always on the prowl for good deals on tools to add to our collections. Whether you're just getting started building your tool kit, or a lifelong mechanic, everyone wants the best bang for their buck. If you're a DIYer that can't afford Snap-On and chooses highly-rated Harbor Freight alternatives, you're not alone. There are plenty of Harbor Freight Icon-branded tools that are worth buying, as well as some to avoid. In general, Icon hand tools compare favorably with those from Snap-On while offering much more budget-friendly pricing.

It's not up to us to say if Snap-On tools are really worth their higher price. They are typically of the highest quality, guaranteed for life, and offer personalized service to skilled-trades professionals. If you have unlimited funds, you can't go wrong buying just about anything from Snap-On. For comparison's sake, let's pretend we just received a gift of $500 that we can spend to expand, or start, our tool collection. We'll look at what $500 can get us in a few key areas from Snap-On and Harbor Freight. Then you can decide which stack of tools you'd rather spend your money on.

If you're just getting started building out your tool kit, or you need more tool storage space, a tool box is a worthwhile investment. While $500 is a good down payment on any of the expensive tool boxes you can buy from Snap-On, there aren't many Snap-On tool boxes that fall under our price cap.

You could start with the Williams 21-inch Flat Top 3-drawer Tool Box from Snap-On, priced at $196.91. It will fit comfortably on a workbench or almost any rolling tool storage cabinet that you already own. You'll even have enough money left over to buy an eight-piece set of Instinct Hard Grip Screwdrivers that includes three Phillips tip and five flat tip screwdrivers for $219.50 and a set of extra-long L-Shaped Hex Key wrenches for $82.50. The Snap-On grand total is $498.91 leaving enough left over for the stamp on a thank you card to the giver of the $500 gift, but you're on the hook for any taxes.

At Harbor Freight, you can buy a U.S. General 7-drawer rolling tool cabinet for $399.99. It's 22 inches wide, stands 27 inches high, rolls on four casters (two of them locking), and it's available in a variety of colors. Adding the $49.99 Icon Professional Mechanics 8-piece Screwdriver Set and Icon L-Shape Ball End Hex Key Set for $21.99 brings the sub-total to $471.97, almost enough left over to cover the sales tax.

The next basic tool set you're likely to need is combination wrenches. Snap-On wrenches are well known for the quality they provide, but Harbor Freight's Icon wrenches compare favorably to those from Snap-On, for a lot less money. If you're shopping for combination wrenches in Harbor Freight with $500 in your pocket you can buy a complete set of metric and SAE sizes. Start with the Icon Anti-Slip Grip Professional 14-Piece Metric Combination Wrench Set for $129.99. You'll also want to buy the Icon SAE Wrench Set for an additional $129.99.

Some jobs will require larger wrenches, so you'll want to pick up an Icon Professional 4-Piece Large SAE Combination Wrench Set for $89.99 and a 5-Piece Icon Large Metric Combination Wrench Set for $79.99. That leaves enough room under our $500 spending limit to pick up the Icon Professional 4-Piece Scraper and Removal Tools for $27.99 and an Icon Drop Point Knife with Ceramic Bearings for $39.99.

We could put the knife back to cover the sales tax. That still leaves us with the scraper set, SAE combination wrenches from ¼-inch to 1-¼-inch, and metric sizes from 6mm to 24mm with no skips.

At the Snap-On truck we'll have to focus on metric or SAE. The 7-Piece Snap-on Metric Flank Drive Plus Combination Wrench Set includes 10mm to 17mm sizes, but skips 16mm, for $336.00. We could pick up individual metric Snap-On combination wrenches to fill out the set. Starting small, the 8mm Snap-On combination wrench is $41.00, the 9mm wrench, $42.00, and the skipped 16mm wrench, $55.75, bringing our Snap-On 8mm to 17mm combination wrench set price to $474.75 plus tax.

It's no secret that Snap-On socket set prices are mind blowing. So we're not surprised that buying a complete socket wrench set, similar to Harbor Freight's Icon 54-Piece ⅜-inch drive SAE and Metric Set, from Snap-On for $500 isn't possible. Instead, we pieced together a functional set by choosing pieces à la carte.

To build our Snap-On socket set we chose the 12 pc 3/8" Drive 6-Point Metric Flank Drive® Shallow Socket Set (8-19 mm) priced at $268.00 and paired that with the 3/8" Drive Dual 80® Technology Standard Handle Quick-Release Ratchet for another $158.00. To provide extra reach we added a $35.00 3/8" Drive 3" Knurled Friction Ball Extension and a 3/8" Drive 6" Knurled Friction Ball Extension priced at $43.00 for a sub-total of $504.00. We're waiting to hear back from our local Snap-On dealer on whether they'll take the $500 in cash that we got for our birthday and call it even.

The 54-piece Icon ⅜-drive socket set we mentioned above lists for $159.99 and comes with everything we selected from Snap-On. The Icon set also contains SAE socket sizes from ¼-inch to ⅞-inch, additional deep sockets in the same metric and SAE sizes, a ⅜-inch universal joint socket adapter, ⅜-inch drive to ¼-inch drive adapters, a storage case with removable metal hinges and 3-piece foam organizer. In addition, the Icon ratchet has 90 teeth as opposed to the 80-tooth Snap-On ratchet. We could buy the Icon socket set, both metric and SAE 14-Piece Icon Combination Wrench Sets, and the Icon knife with $500 after paying sales tax, depending on the tax rate.

If you're seeing a trend, you won't be shocked to find out that even Snap-On cordless power tools are crazy expensive. Snap-On's 14.4-Volt ⅜-Inch Drive MicroLithium Cordless Ratchet is no exception. It'll set you back $447.95 and includes one 2.5 amp-hour lithium battery but no charger. If you don't already have a compatible charger you'll have to pony up some more cash for Snap-On's $75.95 14.4V MicroLithium Battery Charger.

Snap-On's cordless ⅜-inch drive ratchet's variable-speed trigger provides up to 175 rpm with no load attached and up to 70 pound-feet of torque. An integrated LED light makes it easier to see what you're doing and a manual knob selects clockwise or counter-clockwise rotation. Harbor Freight carries cordless ratchets made by Hercules and Bauer. While Hercules tools are often held in higher regard, we'll turn to Bauer cordless ratchets for their higher average user ratings and better selection.

The Bauer 20V Cordless ⅜-Inch Drive Ratchet sells at Harbor Freight without a battery or charger for $59.99. We could add the $34.99 Bauer 20V 2Ah battery to have a kit similar to Snap-On's for less than $100, although its 40 lb-ft of torque is underpowered by comparison. Instead of just buying the battery, we'll add the Bauer 20V 6-Tool Combo Kit to our cart for $249.99. It comes with a drill, impact driver, circular saw, leaf blower, oscillating multi-tool, LED work light, 1.5 and 3Ah batteries, and a charger. We'll also grab the Bauer 20V Brushless ½-inch Impact Wrench Kit, which includes a 5 Ah battery and charger for $159.99, bringing our pre-tax sub-total to $469.97.

Our $500 won't buy any of Snap-On's floor jacks, but if we're committed to the brand we still have options. Although, we'll have to settle for using a bottle jack instead of a floor jack for our car-lifting needs. Not that a bottle jack isn't a handy tool to have around the garage, it's just not ideal for all situations, but neither is a floor jack.

At Snap-On, we can get the OmegaLift 12-Ton Bottle Jack for $174.50. It features automatic bypass to prevent overloading, a heat-treated extension screw, and a two-piece handle. For safety, we'll add a pair of Snap-On 4-Ton Jack Stands for $312.00 to bring our sub-total to $486.50.

Shopping for jacks at Harbor Freight provides more options. To spend our $500 we'll start with Daytona 12-Ton Bottle Jack priced at $69.99 and add the $79.99 Daytona 6-ton Jack Stands. Since we have about $350 left, we'll add the Daytona 3-ton Low-Profile Superduty Floor Jack in Metallic Green for $289.99. If you don't like the Metallic Green, it also comes in yellow and other Metallic colors, like Purple, Candy Apple Red, and Sunburst Orange. We could also grab the handy Pittsburgh 2-Ton Trolley Jack for $49.99 to use when we need a second, or more portable, floor jack, and still come in under budget, except for sales tax of course.