5 Gadgets Sold At Home Depot That Any DIYer Would Consider A Must-Have

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It's easy to find items that expert DIYers can use at Home Depot. The big-box retailer carries everything from saws and hammers to lumber and bags of cement for building projects. There's also a selection of windows, doors, and paint to finish it. While there are a plethora of Home Depot tools under $50 that are worth the money, not everything at Home Depot qualifies as a DIYer must-have gadget.

To be considered a must-have DIY gadget, the item should be useful for projects in a variety of situations or essential to the safe completion of specific projects. While a hammer is a useful DIY tool and a must-have for any carpentry project, it's not much of a gadget.

To fulfill our DIYer must-have list of gadgets, we looked through Home Depot's massive catalog to find items that we'd add to our tool kits right off the bat if we needed to start from scratch. Some are more "gadgety" than others, but they're all indispensable for anyone performing common DIY tasks.

As one of the tool and supply brands owned by Home Depot, it's no surprise that at least one Husky product made our list. As far as must-have DIYer gadgets, a work light is indispensable, whether the task involves working on a car, painting in a dark room, or performing detailed tasks at a workbench.

The Husky 2000 Lumens Rechargeable LED Work Light is competitively priced among similar work light brands at $29.97. The rechargeable light provides cordless operation with four modes (flash, low, medium, and high) and up to 12 hours of bright white light output with a color rendering index of 80 or three hours of 2,000-lumen output on high.

The integrated handle folds out to create a stable stand that allows the light to swivel 360 degrees. It's also magnetic to provide additional mounting options for various projects. For projects that require holding the light higher, it attaches to the Husky Universal Telescoping Tripod, another handy gadget from Home Depot.

The Gerber Suspension NXT Multi-Tool is another handy gadget sold at Home Depot that is a must-have for any DIYer. While it won't replace every tool in your tool chest, it is among the most useful mini tools to have around the home. The best thing about the Gerber multi-tool isn't that it's superior to other screwdrivers or the best knife, pliers, scissors, file, or bottle opener we could buy. What makes it a DIYer must-have is that it allows us to carry 15 tools with us at all times in one convenient package.

The Suspension NXT design makes tools like the partially serrated blade, screwdriver tips, file, ruler, and can opener accessible without opening the pliers. The butterfly design of the pliers' handles means that once deployed, the extra tools are inside the frame, presenting a smoother handle for gripping the pliers.

Special features include the locking mechanisms that keep the tools in place before and after they're deployed, spring-loaded needle nose pliers, and a sturdy pocket clip. It's made of 420 stainless steel and available in two colors, silver or black, although the Home Depot price varies by color.

While Stanley ranks at the top of measuring tape brands, a tape measure, although a DIYer must-have, doesn't necessarily achieve gadget status on its own. However, the carpenter pencil sharpener, included with the 25-foot FATMAX Magnetic Tape Measure and Carpenter Pencils with Original Sharpener Combo, makes it a must-have DIY gadget.

Ultimately, every component of this combo is essential to any DIYer's tool kit. The 25-foot FATMAX Magnetic Tape Measure provides up to 14 feet of reach without buckling. It has a 3-rivet Tru-Zero end hook that's magnetic to enhance its hold on metal wall studs and electrical boxes. The cushion grip case is comfortable and slip-resistant, and the easily accessible blade-lock mechanism makes locking and unlocking the blade simple.

The combo kit includes a 10-pack of carpenter pencils. If you've never used a carpenter pencil, they are not round like the pencils you probably used in school. Instead, they're flat. The wide, flat sides keep them in place wherever you lay them down, so you don't have to chase them because they rolled away. The pencil "lead" is also wider than a standard pencil, which makes it less likely to break. While you can sharpen them with a knife blade, the included carpenter pencil sharpener makes it easy to get the perfect point without the risk of cutting yourself.

If you're well-versed in their operation, having a multimeter for use around the home and garage is handy. However, for many DIYers, multimeters have a few complicated features that, if used incorrectly, could leave the user exposed to some dangers.

Performing DIY electrical projects can be dangerous. So if you're not sure of your skills, it's best to leave them to professionals until you can receive the proper training. Using a quality tool to test for voltage and common wiring problems makes it safe and easy to diagnose issues and provide the information to an electrician or tackle the problem on your own if you're skilled enough.

Our next must-have DIYer gadget is the Klein Tools Electrical Test Kit with Voltage and Receptacle Tester. The two-piece kit contains an ET45 voltage tester with two probes attached to 9-inch-long leads that identify the presence of alternating current (AC) voltages from 24V to 240V and direct current (DC) voltages from 32V to 330V with a series of four lights.

The other piece, an RT210 receptacle tester, is used to detect voltage in standard 110/125V 3-wire household outlets and check the operation of GFI outlets. Through a series of LED lights, the RT210 can indicate common wiring problems such as open ground, reverse polarity, open hot, open neutral, and hot/ground reversed.

One gadget from Home Depot that might not be on every DIYer's radar but should be is a digital caliper for precision measuring. While machinists and woodworkers often add these tools to their collections, digital calipers have a range of uses outside the need for measuring to the thousandth of an inch.

You could attempt to measure the diameter of a wire, bolt, or drill bit, or the size of a hex wrench with a tape measure, but getting an accurate measurement is difficult. Wen Electronic Digital Calipers make it easy with the measurement displayed on the LCD readout down to 0.0005-inch, 0.01-mm, or in fractions to 1/128-inch.

Another perk is that swapping between units of measurement is as easy as pushing a button, making the digital caliper useful as an electronic conversion tool when needed. However, the caliper's back cover features a chart for converting fractions down to 64ths to their decimal equivalent.

Along with the Wen caliper's stainless steel construction, the included storage case protects it during storage and transport. The caliper is IP54 rated with oil and dust resistance and protection from water splashes. The kit comes with the required 3V CR2032 battery and a two-year warranty from Wen.

To make our list of DIYer must-have Home Depot gadgets, the items we considered had to be useful, versatile, and provide a level of gadgetry to propel them beyond the mundane without being gimmicky. We perused forum posts where gadgets were recommended and product pages where they were reviewed.

The gadgets we've highlighted here represent examples of tools that should be included in every DIYer's tool kit. While you might have or select a different version of the gadgets on our list, and can undoubtedly think of items we've neglected to mention, at least this submission should get the conversation started about the best DIYer gadgets for your tool kit.