What Does $100 Buy From Milwaukee Vs. Harbor Freight?

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

There are quite a few options out there if we find ourselves with an extra $100 to invest in tools or some handy gadget, including products from Milwaukee and Harbor Freight. While $100 doesn't provide access to the full catalog from either brand, it goes much further at the latter. That's not surprising given Harbor Freight's reputation as a discount tool outlet.

Milwaukee products are available online and in-store through a network of popular retailers, although it's worth noting that you won't find Milwaukee tools at Lowe's. Harbor Freight's products, on the other hand, are typically only available through Harbor Freight, either online or at one of its many retail locations.

While the Milwaukee website only lists Milwaukee-branded tools, storage solutions, and apparel, Harbor Freight owns several of the brands that it sells, like Bauer, Icon, and Pittsburgh, to name a few. In general, Milwaukee's products are often considered higher-quality than the offerings from Harbor Freight. However, Milwaukee's quality and expansive retailer network come at a higher price than similar items at Harbor Freight. Since we can't spend our money with Milwaukee directly, let's peruse the shelves of our favorite Milwaukee retailers, then head to Harbor Freight for some comparable products.

While Milwaukee Tool still has roots in Wisconsin, the manufacturing of much of its tool catalog has moved to other countries. However, some Milwaukee hand tools are still made in the USA. Milwaukee pliers are among them, with their country of origin proudly cast into their frames.

Home Depot often sells a set of three Milwaukee pliers with "Comfort Grip" for $99.97 that includes a 9-inch Linesman Plier, an 8-inch Long Nose Plier, and a 6-inch Diagonal Plier. The pliers hold a 4.8-star rating at Home Depot, although some reviews are for pliers sold individually or as parts of other sets. Some owners have claimed that they don't cut mule tape cleanly, but those experiences are the exception rather than the norm.

Harbor Freight sells a similar set of pliers. The 3-Piece Quinn High-Voltage Electricians Pliers set is priced at $27.99. To spend the rest of our $100 without leaving the plier aisle, we could pick up a 4-piece set of Icon 5-inch Precision Snap Ring Pliers in a storage case for $44.99, a 3-piece set of Pittsburgh locking pliers for $9.99 (on sale), and a 4-piece set of Pittsburgh tongue-and-groove-joint pliers for $16.99. While these plier sets are rated 4.4 stars or higher by Harbor Freight customers, none of them are made in the U.S.

A pry bar is one of the tools that'll come in handy when replacing shocks and struts on a vehicle. While we can spend our entire $100 on a single Milwaukee 36-inch Pry Bar online at Acme Tools, Harbor Freight is often a good choice for buying simple tools like pry bars.

If we're looking for a large pry bar with good ratings, we can also blow our $100 bill on a single Icon 58-inch Professional Curved Tip Pry Bar. However, if we don't need the extra length, we can get a variety of pry bars at Harbor Freight for the same amount.

We'd start with the Pittsburgh Pro 32.75-inch Jumbo Pry Bar for $16.99 since it's similar to the Milwaukee pry bar we are considering. Then we can add a pry bar with more features to our kit, like the Quinn 33-inch Extendable Indexing Pry Bar for $59.99. The extendable Quinn pry bar adjusts from 20.75 to 33.5 inches and has an indexing head that rotates 180 degrees and locks into 14 positions via a push button. With the cash left over, we could grab a 30-inch Alignment Pry Bar for $11.99 and a 3-Piece Pittsburgh Pry Bar Set for $9.99 to create a nice set of pry bars ranging from 8 to 33 inches to cover a variety of needs.

If you want to run electrical, communication, or speaker wires through a wall cavity without tearing down the sheetrock, you'll want to use a fish tape. Home Depot sells Milwaukee's ¼-inch by 100-foot Steel Fish Tape for $99.97, where it enjoys a 4.4-star rating. However, the same fish tape has a 1-star rating based on nine reviews on Milwaukee's product page where words like "garbage" and "terrible" are used to describe it.

Harbor Freight has a 100-foot Cen-Tech Fish Tape for $14.99, which has a 4.5-star rating from 449 reviews. While 28 of those reviewers left a 1-star rating, no one described it as "garbage." In fact, the Cen-Tech Fish Tape has 321 5-star reviews and 92% of customers recommend it to others.

As usual, we have some cash left over, so we can get a pair of Doyle 9.5-inch High-Leverage Linesman Pliers with a built-in fish tape puller for $21.99 to make our new fish tape easier to use without damaging it. Harbor Freight also has new Icon 9-inch Long-Nose Wire Stripper, Cutter, and Crimper pliers for $32.99, and even if we get those, we'll still have enough money to get the Doyle Heavy-Duty Wire Stripper and Cutter for $23.99 to add some variety to our wire-stripping tool selection.

Milwaukee's M18 Top-Off can power electronics on the go with up to 175 watts of output when attached to a Milwaukee M18 battery pack (sold separately). While technically it's priced at just over $100, it's easy to find on sale, and a free sign-up to Ace Rewards brings the price to $99.00 at Ace Hardware.

The M18 Top-Off provides power in three ways: a standard 120-volt outlet, a USB-A port, and a 45-watt USB-C PD port. The Top-Off can deliver a combined maximum of 175 watts, making it ideal for recharging electronics such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops or powering a small television or fan while off-grid. However, it's not suited for use with power tools, electric heat, refrigerators, coffee makers, or microwaves.

Harbor Freight's Bauer 20V 190 Watt Power Source provides similar functionality for $49.99 when connected to a Bauer 20V battery pack. While it provides up to 190 watts of total output, its 120-volt outlet is limited to 150 watts, and the USB-C port to 30 watts. The Bauer Power Source has an additional USB-A port compared to the Top-Off. Other differences include the Bauer's integrated task light that doubles as an emergency beacon when set to blink mode, and the lack of the rafter hook found on the Top-Off.

We could add a $34.99 Bauer 20V 2-amp-hour Battery to our cart, but its low capacity won't serve us very well. A better option would be to put our money toward the $67.99 Bauer 5-Ah High-Capacity Battery. However, we're now over budget and would still need a charger if we're not already part of the Bauer 20V family.