4 Harbor Freight Finds That Outshine Lowe's In Price And Quality

Harbor Freight is well known for its selection of affordable tools. So, it's no surprise that you won't find the same deals at Lowe's. However, when relying on the performance of your tools to enhance the quality, safety, and enjoyment of your DIY projects, choosing a tool simply because it's the cheapest option isn't always the best practice.

Like Harbor Freight, Lowe's has some in-house tool brands, Kobalt being among the most familiar. Lowe's also carries other popular name-brand products, and Harbor Freight has a few brands on its shelves that it doesn't own. However, it's unlikely you'll ever find any brands that cross over between Lowe's and Harbor Freight.

While the best tool for the job isn't always the cheapest, it's always nice when the stars align, and we can buy quality products at affordable prices. With Lowe's and Harbor Freight, there's plenty of overlap between products to compare, so let's explore a few items we found at Harbor Freight that outshine comparable Lowe's products in price and quality.

Some of the highest-rated tool sets at Lowe's are from the Craftsman brand. Among the most complete and affordable DIY mechanics' tool sets at Lowe's is the Craftsman 298-piece tool set, priced at $389.00. A comparable set of tools from Harbor Freight is the $199.99 Pittsburgh Mechanics Tool Set with 301 pieces, a savings of $189.

Both sets feature standard-depth and deep socket and wrench sets to fit common-size bolts and fasteners, ¼-, ⅜, and ½-inch drive ratchets, extension bars, swivel and drive adapters, a variety of specialty bits, and lifetime warranties. The Craftsman set features ratcheting wrenches, while the Pittsburgh kit contains screwdrivers, pliers, and a storage case. Ultimately, you'll need to add some tools to either kit to personalize them, but the Pittsburgh kit is the better-equipped starter set.

Reddit user Kixtand99 says Pittsburgh tools are comparable to baseline Craftsman tools, but likes the V-Series Craftsman more. However, since Craftsman ditched its V-Series tools, it's harder to find them.

Another Harbor Freight alternative to the Craftsman tool set is from its mid-tier Quinn brand. The 428-piece Quinn Master Technicians Tool Set, priced at $429.99, does everything the Craftsman set can do and more with an average price-per-tool of $1.00. The Craftsman 298-piece set from Lowe's per-tool cost comes to around $1.30 on average.

When we ranked major tape measure brands in 2025, the Kobalt tape measure from Lowe's fell into the bottom end of the group. Harbor Freight brands didn't do much better, only managing to fill the spot just above Kobalt.

For this comparison, we'll focus on tape measures with 16-foot lengths, although there are longer and shorter versions to fit your needs. The Kobalt Compact 16-foot Tape Measure is $18.98 at Lowe's, compared to the Bauer 16-foot Tape Measure from Harbor Freight priced at $8.99.

Both tape measures feature rugged exteriors, belt clips, and locking blades. The Kobalt tape features a 1.25-inch blade width, making it stiff enough to achieve a 12-foot standout distance, while the Bauer blade is 0.75 inches, allowing it to fit into tighter spaces and bend more easily.

Harbor Freight customers give the Bauer tape measure a 4.8-star rating, with 100% of those responding recommending it to others. Of the 76 total reviews, all are at least 4-star ratings. The Kobalt tape measure has a 4.3-star rating with a 79% reviewer recommendation. The most helpful review on the Lowe's product page, titled "Disappointing," comes from Dirk. Dirk believes the Kobalt's metal blade is too thin, "resulting in rolling and kinks."

Impact drivers are among the most popular cordless tools you can buy. In our ranking of major impact driver brands, we found Harbor Freight's Hercules superior to the Kobalt brand from Lowe's. YouTuber Mastering Mayhem tested the two impact drivers side-by-side by driving 8-inch lag screws into a cedar beam. In multiple tests, the 20V Hercules impact driver consistently outperformed the 24V Kobalt.

There isn't a huge price difference between the two if you can catch the Kobalt on sale, but even then, the Hercules impact driver from Harbor Freight is slightly less expensive. Lowe's lists the normal price of its Kobalt 24-volt Brushless Cordless Impact Driver with a 2-amp-hour battery and charger at $149.00, but it could be on sale for $99.00 if you're lucky. The Hercules 20V Brushless Cordless Impact Driver, also with a 2-amp-hour battery and charger, is priced at $97.99 at Harbor Freight.

Both impact drivers feature 3-speed settings, multiple operation modes, variable-speed triggers, and integrated work lights. The Kobalt impact driver delivers 2,000 inch-pounds of torque with 3,800 impacts-per-minute and up to 3,100 RPM. The Hercules impact driver provides up to 2,200 in-lbs of torque, 4,400 impacts-per-minute, and a maximum of 3,600 RPM.

Harbor Freight customers give the Hercules unit a 4.9-star rating with 99% of the 1,078 reviewers recommending its purchase. The Kobalt impact driver has 237 reviews with a 4.6-star average and 89% recommendation rate. Overall, both impact drivers perform well for bargain-priced tools, but the Hercules is stronger, faster, and less expensive than the Kobalt model.

There are a number of great products at Lowe's and Harbor Freight from which to choose. We zeroed in on these four Harbor Freight products because their features were comparable to similar products found at Lowe's. From there, we consulted past SlashGear research, expert reviews, YouTube comparisons, and public opinion from users posted on forums like Reddit, The Garage Journal, and Bob is the Oil Guy to find consensus on which products were better.