What Does $500 Buy You From Milwaukee Vs. Harbor Freight?

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Tools from major brands like Milwaukee command significantly higher prices than their equivalents from Harbor Freight, but it's easy to overlook just how big the price difference between the two is until you compare them. If you're a DIYer on a budget, some of Harbor Freight's most affordable products are no-brainers at their price, but even buyers with more generous budgets might be surprised to find out just how much further their money goes at Harbor Freight compared to buying from Milwaukee.

Keen DIYers or professionals who are new to either brand will likely want to start by picking up some essentials before branching out into more niche, specialist tools. As an example, let's say that you've got a budget of $500, and you'll be purchasing your Milwaukee tools from Home Depot. Let's also assume you're looking for maximum performance, and so are buying from Milwaukee's M18 line rather than its smaller, more portable M12 tool line. If you're buying cordless tools, you'll need a suitable battery and charger before you add to your toolbox, and the most cost-effective way to get them is usually as part of a kit.

If you start by purchasing Milwaukee's M18 ½ inch drill/driver kit, which features both a charger and a pair of 1.5Ah batteries, you'll have all the key components you need. It retails for $199, giving you around $300 to purchase more standalone tools. If you then pick up an M18 Sawzall and an M18 6-½ inch circular saw, you'll have spent $497 without taxes, almost perfectly maximising your budget.

Harbor Freight has a range of in-house brands, but the power tool brand that's arguably its closest comparison to Milwaukee is Hercules. Its power tools are aimed primarily at professionals rather than DIYers, and many of its tools offer similar performance figures to Milwaukee. In the case of Hercules' 20V ½ inch drill/driver kit, the Harbor Freight tool actually offers significantly better performance than its Milwaukee counterpart. It delivers 1,200 in-lb of maximum torque compared to the Milwaukee tool's 500 in-lb. The Hercules is cheaper too, retailing for $97.99, and it comes with a 2Ah battery and a charger.

Add a Hercules 20V reciprocating saw and a 20V 7-¼ inch circular saw to your basket, and you'll only have spent $277.97, despite the latter tool being larger and more powerful than the Milwaukee circular saw from Home Depot. You could even add in a 20V oscillating multi-tool, a ¼-inch compact screwdriver, and a 20V wet/dry vac to clean up after the job, and you'd still have spent a few dollars less than buying the three Milwaukee tools.

If you're looking for corded power tools, you'll still find that Harbor Freight remains comfortably cheaper than Milwaukee. A Hercules 15-amp 7/9-inch angle grinder costs $119, while an equivalent Milwaukee angle grinder costs $299. Likewise, a Hercules 12-amp corded reciprocating saw retails for $99.99, while a corded Milwaukee Sawzall will set you back $149.

Milwaukee's corded and cordless power tools come with a hefty price premium compared to buying from Harbor Freight, and its outdoor tool range is no different. With the same $500 budget, you could purchase a Milwaukee M18 Fuel 24-inch hedge trimmer kit with an 8Ah battery and a charger and only be left with $21 spare. The closest equivalent tool from Harbor Freight is the Atlas 40V 24-inch hedge trimmer, which retails for just $57.99 as a standalone tool. An Atlas 40V 8Ah battery will cost $249, and a dual-voltage charger will cost $39.99, bringing the total up to $346.98. The Atlas tool can cut through branches up to ¾ inch in diameter, while the Milwaukee has a maximum cut capacity of 1-¼ inches, but the difference in price is significant enough to offset the slightly reduced performance.

Buying from Atlas, you could purchase the hedge trimmer, battery, and charger, and still have budget left for a 20-inch pole hedge trimmer and a 10-inch pole saw. Even with those two additional tools, your total would come to $486.94.

Milwaukee has the advantage that all of the cordless tools listed above form part of its M18 line, and so could be run using the same battery packs. Meanwhile, buying from two different Harbor Freight brands would mean buying two sets of battery packs. However, even then, the price difference between them means that it would usually still work out cheaper to buy cordless tools from two different Harbor Freight brands than it would to buy from Milwaukee.