12 Cool Gadgets Any Handyman Can Get Use Out Of

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Handymen are the jack-of-all-trades of blue-collar work. They can fix any number of minor issues, from plumbing to electrical, or even simple things like patching drywall and basic home maintenance. As such, handymen can make use of almost any tool from any trade, and that opens up the possibilities quite a lot for gadgets and tools that a handyman might find useful. 

It's pretty much assumed that a handyman has the basics, like a good set of hand tools, maybe some do-it-all power tools like a cordless drill, and some one-off tools purchased for specific jobs. After that, it's pretty much anyone's guess what any given handyman has in their arsenal, and since handymen do so many things, there's always space for another useful gadget or specialized tool that can make common tasks easier or more efficient. 

Instead of going over the basic tools most handymen already have, the list below focuses on smaller gadgets and accessories that can make certain jobs a little more convenient. So, if you're a handyman looking for some practical additions to your bag, the list below should give you some ideas that you may not have had previously. 

Almost any job can benefit from a distraction of some sort to help the day go by faster. Since handymen often work alone, they lack the ability to talk to coworkers, and so something like a nice pair of earbuds may help pass the time by providing music, audiobooks, or podcasts. There are a ton of options on the market that range in audio quality, battery life, comfort, noise canceling, and arguably the most important metric, how they fit in your ear. The Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds may be on the high end of the price spectrum, but they're good at just about everything. 

They are a set of true wireless earbuds that work on both iPhone and Android devices, while providing good audio quality, decent battery life, and a good fit. They also have some of the best noise canceling in the segment, which may help drown out some of the power tool noise produced while you work. The idea seems simple enough, and plenty of handymen already have something like this, but if you don't, it's worth considering. Just make sure to stay aware of your surroundings to avoid injury or potentially costly mistakes. 

A lot of the work handymen do is repetitive. Replacing light switches, changing ceiling fans, doing the same old plumbing fixes over and over again. It's one of the primary reasons why a good cordless drill with screwdriver bits is so nice, so you don't have to torque a screwdriver all day every day. As it turns out, you can do this with ratchets and sockets as well. Milwaukee makes an M12 Fuel cordless ratchet in three sizes with 1/4-inch, 3/8-inch, and 1/2-inch anvils, so you can buy one that fits your existing socket set. This can help you get nuts and bolts off of things faster and save your shoulder from repetitive stress. 

It should be enough to do most things and can really save a lot of time. The 1/4-inch one is the weakest with 45 lb-ft of torque, while the 1/2-inch one boasts the highest at 80 lb-ft of torque. Any of them should be strong enough to do household stuff like assembling furniture, installing shelves, and dealing with toilet repairs. They're small enough to carry in a tool belt or bag and use the same M12 batteries as Milwaukee's other power tools, which will let them fit right in if you already use Milwaukee tools.

Lighting is always important in any sort of work, and when you work alone, as most handymen do, you may need a light that you don't have to hold. There are loads of good work lights available, but for directionality and true hands-free use, a headlamp is a much better option. You can strap it to your head, it follows your eyes, and it leaves both hands free to do whatever task you need to accomplish. They're a little pricey, but a good brand for this is Black Diamond, and the Storm 500-R headlamp is as good an option as you can find. 

It ticks all the boxes of a good headlamp for work. The light produces up to 500 lumens, which is bright enough for crawl spaces and under sinks, while featuring an IP67 water- and dust-resistance rating to protect it from dust and water. It can run for seven hours on max brightness, and way longer if you decide to turn it down a little bit. The only downside is that it requires a micro-USB cable to charge, which is a little old school, but one is included in the box.

We tried to stray away from hand tools in this article because it can be safely assumed that handymen have plenty of those. However, the Knipex Pliers Wrench is arguably the coolest adjustable wrench ever, so if you don't have one, you should consider getting one. It works in the same spots as any other wrench, and because it's adjustable, you can probably leave your regular wrenches on the work truck for most tasks, opting instead for one of these. Knipex sells them in a few different sizes, so you can choose the one that best suits the tasks you do. 

What makes these nice is that they're adjustable pliers that don't shift or lose their sizing like a crescent wrench might. It uses a button to change the size, and once the button is depressed, it locks into place and you have a wrench at that size until you adjust it again. The button lock keeps the jaws set where you want them, so they don't slip or change size while you're working. Paired with the solid build quality, it's a tool that's easy to rely on for everyday jobs.

Stud finders are an essential tool for a lot of tasks, like mounting handrails to a staircase, hanging pictures on a wall, or mounting shelves. Most of the best ones you see are electronic and work by detecting changes in material density behind the wall. When they detect more density, they beep to let you know that a stud is there. What if you could get one that doesn't need batteries? Such items exist, like the C.H. Hanson Magnetic Stud Finder, which uses magnets to help find studs. 

The premise is pretty simple. Most studs are used to mount drywall, and drywall is mounted with metal screws. The C.H. Hanson model uses strong magnets that will attract those screws, so you know where the center of the stud is located. It's compact, fits easily into a pocket, and doesn't require batteries like most electronic models. Plus, it's really neat to stick one of these to the wall and have it stay there while you perform measurements. Most handymen probably already have an electric stud finder, but this one was too cool not to mention and can work as a backup if the electric one stops working. 

Most types of work make some sort of mess, whether it's drywall dust on the carpet or sawdust from a wood project. Either way, a good cordless, handheld vacuum is something you can put onto your work truck that doesn't take up a lot of room and helps with the cleanup process. There are loads of options from many tool companies, so you should probably get one that matches the batteries you already use. If you don't have power tools, Ryobi sells its One+ Hand Vacuum for under $100, and it comes with its own battery. 

These are nice to have because they clean up just about anything and you don't have to worry about messing up a regular vacuum cleaner with a bunch of sawdust, drywall dust, or other construction materials. Ryobi's model is as good as its competitors, and it's a vacuum, so you already know how it works. Most of them also come with brushes and other attachments to better get stuff up out of carpet and corners. Such vacuums are fairly popular among handymen, since the batteries can be swapped out quickly and have enough power to clean things up.

As with most blue-collar work, handymen spend their days bent over, turning hand tools, and performing all sorts of other motions and movements that, over time, cause stiffness and discomfort. There are loads of ways to deal with this, including using knee pads when appropriate, but a way to help recover from a particularly physical day is a massager of some sort. They won't perform miracles, but they have been known to ease stiffness and soreness to some extent.

The Bob and Brad C2 massage gun comes with five speeds and five different massage heads, so you can choose the type of massage you want. They're marketed to athletes, but handymen also qualify, since they spend all day doing manual labor. They're pretty easy to use as well. Put on the head you want, and then it's point and click at your achy spots. You've only got one body, so anything you can do to take care of it is worth thinking about. Make sure to stay hydrated as well, since that also helps.

Much like headlamps, anything you can use to give yourself a hand is useful in a field where you often work alone. There are loads of parts holders out there, from the humble magnetic tray to magnetic silicone bowls. These are great because you can hold stuff without the need for a massive toolbox, and the magnetism keeps things from falling onto the floor and getting lost. Another solution is something like the MagnoGrip Magnetic Wristband, which puts the magnet directly on your wrist to hold nuts, bolts, screws, and nails. This puts them where you can see them and frees up both hands for work. 

It's also very simple. It's just a strong magnet stitched into a Velcro wristband. You put it on, and then it holds things. The magnets are strong enough for small items, and the fact that it's on your wrist means you don't have to reach away to a parts tray or cup nearby. Their usefulness is situational, as not every job needs a gaggle of nuts and bolts, but for tasks that involve a lot of small hardware, having them right on your wrist can make the job a little easier.

Portable power stations are quickly becoming essential pieces of a construction jobsite. These things are universally useful, especially if you use cordless power tools as you'll need to charge your batteries at some point. The thing is that the full-size power stations are heavy, super expensive, and total overkill for handyman work. The good news is that they make smaller ones for individual use, such as the Predator 350-watt Power Station. It's much less expensive, much easier to carry around by one person, and provides more than enough power for a day's worth of tasks for one person. 

That's really the big thing for this power station. It boasts 350W of continuous power draw and 700W of starting power, so it's probably not the best idea for corded tools since starting wattage tends to be much higher for those. What this will do well is charge cordless tool batteries, your phone, your earbuds, and power any work lights you might need. It can charge from a regular outlet in about two hours and can also draw a passive charge using solar power. Predator also includes a five-year warranty, and since it's not powered by fossil fuels, you can safely use it indoors. 

Hemostats are good for just about everything and are very often an underrated tool. They can be used for all sorts of things across many disciplines and hobbies, and they're good enough that you can recommend them to just about anyone and they'll likely find a use for them. For handymen, they can be used to fish wires out of walls, rings out of sinks, or to handle items too small for human fingers. Plus, once the job is done, you can use the same hemostats in your garden or to fish lures out of a fish's mouth after you catch it. 

Most hemostats are the same, so you can buy whatever you want. The Wajees Forceps Set is a good start. It costs $8 and comes with two pairs of hemostats. One is straight and the other has a curve, both of which are better suited to different circumstances. You can also spend extra for something more professional like the Gearwrench Hemostat Tweezer set for $100. However, in most cases, you probably don't need anything that fancy for what you're doing, even if they're higher quality. Anything that can grab and lock into place will work.

A good multitool can solve a lot of woes. It's great for situations where you maybe don't need a full tool, but you definitely need something, and multitools are great for this since you can carry them on your belt or in your pocket without taking up a ton of space. There are dozens of multitools on the market from many competent brands, but Leatherman is a recognizable brand with good multitools. The Leatherman Wave Plus is a good starting point for multitools, as it sits in the middle of Leatherman's price range while still coming with a bunch of tools. 

The Wave Plus has 18 tools on it, including pliers, knives, cutters, a wire stripper, a ruler, a can opener, a bottle opener, a file, and two individual bit drivers. It also comes with two Phillips bits that you can swap out if need be. These are all perfect for small tasks and lightening your load when carrying tools to and from the jobsite. It's also good for very small tasks that don't require a full tool, and you never know when you'll need a knife, which isn't usually part of a standard toolkit. 

A good pair of calipers can help a lot with smaller measurements. I own one, and I've used it for several things, including measuring my bass guitar strings so I could see what gauge I had on there and replace them. I'm not a handyman, but something that can measure down to a thousandth of an inch accurately is certainly helpful for some handyman tasks, like measuring the internal diameter of a bolt or the outside thickness of a screw. Most digital calipers on Amazon are good enough for handyman work, but if you want a champion in the space, a good Mitutoyo caliper is a good way to go. They come in analog and digital versions, and they can get pretty expensive. 

Mitutoyo is widely considered one of the best brands available, especially for digital calipers. The big reason is because they're very accurate and reliable, which isn't always the case with the less expensive models on Amazon. You can also request a calibration certificate directly from Mitutoyo if you want to see how well yours was calibrated. This is one of those gadgets that you probably won't use terribly often, but you'll be glad you have a reliable one the next time you need it. 

In general, handymen do so many different types of work that it's impossible to know what any individual one does and doesn't have, which made the list a little difficult to start. First, we made some assumptions, like most handymen probably have basic hand tools like screwdrivers and wrenches, along with power tools like a cordless drill and probably some sort of cutting tool. We avoided recommending those because it's reasonable to assume most handymen have them. From there, it was all about finding tools and gadgets that a handyman might find useful, even if they're a bit off the beaten path. 

We also didn't want to suggest only tools, so we thought about other things that might make the day go more easily, like the massage gun for after work and earbuds for listening to music or podcasts. Finally, we took a look at accessories like the magnetic wristband, and the list came together after that. Since the term "gadget" has a very wide definition, basically anything can be classified as a gadget, but we wanted to adhere at least mostly to the classic definition, which defines a gadget as a small mechanical or electronic device or tool, so everything on here is fairly small.