5 Tools Harbor Freight Sells That Home Depot Doesn't

When you walk into your nearest hardware store, there's a part of you that assumes they're all going to have the same basic stuff. Sure, each one has its own unique in-house exclusive brand names, but the actual selection? How different can it really be, right? Turns out, the offerings aren't as universal as you'd think. Just look at Harbor Freight's inventory vs. Home Depot's.

While Home Depot no doubt dominates the market for brand-name power tools, contractor-grade building supplies, and sheer number of locations, Harbor Freight has a reputation for selling highly specific, super-niche tools that solve problems some big-box stores never even bother to address. The result: a catalog that has a lot of overlap with other hardware stores like Home Depot but also plenty of space for things you might only be able to find at Harbor Freight.

To demonstrate, we've pinned down five examples of things you can buy at Harbor Freight but not at Home Depot. These aren't just brand exclusives or private-label knockoffs, either. They're items that Home Depot simply doesn't carry.

Yeah, Home Depot sells welders, welding accessories, and even small welding carts, but it stops short of what Harbor Freight can provide: a fully integrated, industrial-style welding workstation. This 500 lb.-capacity heavy-duty welding cabinet goes above and beyond simple carts to be a welder's centralized command station. It can even handle multiple welding systems operating at once.

The cabinet's defining feature is its large, flat top surface, built to support numerous MIG, TIG and plasma cutters while still leaving space for proper ventilation. Its raised backstop helps prevent heavy equipment from shifting during use, while the cabinet below gives you a nice mix of organized drawers and a large locking compartment. The shelving's adjustable, too, so you can customize to fit all your tips, clamps, accessories, and consumables.

It also comes with dedicated hooks to manage hoses and cables and a built-in welding rod organizer to keep your filler material accessible and sorted. To top it all off, you get integrated gas storage with a platform and securing chains for two nine-inch cylinders. Oh, and it's all on wheels, too. You can currently grab one at Harbor Freight for $399.99.

Home Depot rents excavation equipment and sells compact digging attachments, but it doesn't always sell that equipment outright. Harbor Freight, by comparison, lets you buy towable backhoes right there on its site. It's a full-fledged, self-contained digging machine with real earthmoving capability that saves you from having to rent out full-size construction equipment to get the job done.

This particular model from Central Machinery is powered by an 8-horsepower, 301cc gas engine. That makes it more than capable for whatever landscaping or land-management tasks (including trenching, stump removal, or planting large trees). It has a lifting capacity of 660 pounds, a boom travel of four feet, and a maximum digging depth of six feet. Its maximum reach is eight feet and its digging width is 13 inches. In other words, a nice middle ground between handheld trenchers and professional backhoes.

As a note, this is not a highway-capable vehicle and comes with strict shipping and return conditions. Still, its mere existence as a Harbor Freight offering sets the store apart from Home Depot. You can order it for $2,999.99 on their site right now.

Those are two enormous buys, to be sure, but this comparison doesn't just boil down to Harbor Freight selling bigger tools than Home Depot. There are also super tiny items that Harbor Freight has that Home Depot doesn't offer. Just look at these small-scale precision repair tools for watches. While Home Depot carries general-purpose screwdrivers and electronics kits, it doesn't currently sell dedicated watch repair tools made specifically for opening cases, adjusting bands, or handling all those tiny components inside the watch. Harbor Freight does, and it does so in a way that makes entry-level watch repair accessible even to hobbyists.

Harbor Freight's eight-piece watch repair kit bundles all the basic tools you need for the most common repairs: a magnifying glass, multiple sets of tweezers, Phillips and slotted screwdrivers, a watch case opening knife, an adjustable double-prong case opener, and a double-sided strap remover. It's all stored in a portable pouch, too, which is super convenient. Plus, it's only $8.99 on their site. Additionally, Harbor Freight also sells a standalone pin-style watch case opener with interchangeable pin sets for different case designs. That's only $7.99.

Need a portable saw mill with an engine and everything? Home Depot's not the place to look. The hardware giant sells top-rated chainsaws and high-quality lumber, not to mention saw mill parts and accessories, but to get the whole thing in one package? No way. But Harbor Freight has one. Its portable saw mill gives landowners, farmers, and builders everything they need to process their own lumber on-site.

It's powered by a 301cc gas engine and is capable of cutting logs up to 20 inches in diameter and producing flat stock up to 20 inches wide. It uses a long, narrow blade that's 144 inches in length and moves at speeds of over 3,200 feet per minute. The engine runs on standard unleaded gasoline, so there's no need for any special fuel. All in all, it'll run you $2,499.99 on Harbor Freight's site. (Not to mention shipping fees or restocking fees if you decide you don't actually need a saw mill and need to return it.)

You might not consider it a tool (unless it's a tool for generating laughs?), but nevertheless, Harbor Freight is the place to get an old-fashioned "awooga" car horn, and Home Depot's going to do nothing but disappoint you in this regard. Sure, Home Depot has plenty of other car and truck horns for sale for you to choose from, but nothing novelty like what Harbor Freight has to offer with this thing from their Pittsburgh brand.

The horn's powered by a 12-volt system and makes a 109-decibel "awooga" sound whenever you honk your horn. The complete package comes with mounting hardware and a wiring pigtail, so installation should be nice and straightforward. You can put it in your car, or you can save it for something more fun like a go-kart or other custom build. No matter what you prefer to do with this goofy-sounding car horn, it costs $18.99 at Harbor Freight.