9 Cool Ace Hardware Gadgets Under $25 That Deserve A Spot In Your Garage

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The urge to accumulate new gear for your workshop or garage is something that afflicts seemingly all DIYers. It can sometimes lead to odd splurges that add a notable strain to the bank account, but it doesn't have to. Plenty of great gadget and gear finds can come with low price tags. 

Ace Hardware is a natural place to take your search when browsing for new equipment. It's a hardware store that elevates local business operators rather than a corporate superstructure, giving buyers a great source of essential gear while keeping things in the community. This makes it a solid option for those looking for gift ideas for the gearhead in their life, or for DIYers after an impactful new gadget.

Plenty of stuff you'll find on the store shelves in an Ace Hardware is reasonably priced. These nine pieces of equipment can add a new dimension to the tasks you handle in the garage or elsewhere. They're all priced at $25 or less and deliver great support to help improve your workflow through countless workshop maintenance and repair tasks that your garage space will often serve as a base of operations to tackle. I'm a frequent DIYer who gets dragged into new projects on a regular basis, and I have hands-on experience with some of these items. The rest have received great reviews from a bulk of Ace Hardware buyers, and shoppers at other outlets, too.

Irwin is among the pinnacle of hand tool brands. The toolmaker offers a critical blend of high quality and low price that's great for both novice tool users and professionals. Its catalog offers a wide variety of important tools and accessory gear you might consider bringing into your collection. One of the more visible options within the Irwin ecosystem is its range of woodworking clamps and other versatile work holding solutions. One of the best options doers of all sorts have at their disposal is the pipe clamp. 

The Irwin Quick-Grip ½-Inch Pipe Clamp arrives in your workspace as two ends with unlimited potential. In order to use the tool you'll need to supply a ½-inch pipe, yourself. But this can be any length you deem necessary, allowing the tool to provide extensive clamping capability or small scale grabbing power with consistent adjustability as a natural by product.

A set of clamping ends, meaning one complete pipe clamp tool (without the pipe), is available from Ace Hardware for $20. Some users might consider investing in a pair of clamps, but if you are a routine viewer of home improvement and woodworking YouTube channels, You'll probably be aware that a single clamp is actually all that's necessary to bookmatch or otherwise end glue two boards or handle numerous other gripping tasks. On another note, this is a solution I have in my own collection and use frequently.

The Craftsman 6¼-Inch Telescoping Magnetic Pick-Up Tool is another solution I've used numerous times before. This isn't a tool I own personally, but my dad has one and it certainly comes in handy when dropping screws into frustrating recesses or losing other metallic parts during a job working under the hood. The pickup tool can be found at Ace Hardware for $10 and it provides a simple yet immensely functional task that really shouldn't go unanswered in any garage toolkit.

This gizmo looks like it belongs in an '80s style pocket protector, featuring a magnetic ball end sits on a telescoping barrel that can achieve 2 pounds of magnetic pull force and extends out to a maximum of 24 inches. In its collapsed format, the tool offers a soft grip handle with a pen clip attachment on the end to easily stick in a pocket or clip to a work bag. This isn't a solution you might call on frequently, but when you need it, few other alternatives can perform the delicate retrieval function that this piece of gear offers. It's an essential item for anyone working in a garage setting.

The Stanley brand has a historic backstory, but today it's part of the conglomerate tool manufacturer Stanley Black & Decker, which owns numerous other toolmakers that everyone working with garage equipment will be familiar with, including DeWalt, Irwin, and many more. Stanley remains one of the higher profile brands in the conglomerate's catalog, producing a huge variety of tools, gear, and gadgets.

A solution many home improvers and home mechanics may not have considered before is Stanley's The Quick Flip 24-ounce Double Wall Vacuum Bottle. It can be found at Ace Hardware for $25 even, placing it right in line with the price ceiling imposed upon this exercise. 

This isn't a tool, to be sure, but the quick flip water bottle nevertheless features some impressive technology and fits right at home in a workshop or garage. The double-walled vacuum insulation promises to keep drinks cold for up to 12 hours and when ice is involved it can maintain its temperature for up to 40 hours. And, perhaps best of all, the bottle is dishwasher safe, making it incredibly easy to clean after you've pelted it with sawdust or grease from a day of hard work.

The proper way to use a stud finder is largely the same, regardless of the brand you invest in or the specifics of its build and usage parameters. The C.H. Hanson Magnetic Stud Finder is among the simplest options on the market, and it can be found at Ace Hardware for just $15. It doesn't require batteries or other electronic support, instead relying on powerful rare earth magnets to identify embedded metal components like nails, screws, or steel studs with a scanning depth of up to 2 inches. Users give this tool great reviews, indicating that it's not just a simple take on a classic home improvement accessory.

All you have to do is move the magnetic gadget across the face of your wall and it will naturally cling to the surface when it arrives at a stud. The ergonomic shape makes it comfortable to hold and use, and when you find your studs, letting go of the tool allows it to dangle and act as a plumb bob, showing off both the location of your mounting support behind the wall and a true vertical line on the spot to kick start your measurement tasks. This is something of a low-tech piece of gear, but it still comes with a guarantee of no false positives and offers and intuitive usage that makes the item a highly valuable piece of gear to add to your garage.

The Craftsman Metric and SAE Fold-Up Hex Key Set is two-piece kit listed at Ace Hardware for $24.99, allowing it to slip right in underneath the $25 price target. Allen keys aren't particularly exciting pieces of gear, but when you find a unique take on the classic turning tool it's always worth considering making the addition. These hex wrenches are housed within tool bodies that operate a little like a Swiss army knife. Instead of being removed from a carrying case, users simply have to flip out the Allen key they want to use and then leverage the handle itself to create pivoting force.

Users offer plenty of great reviews for this tool, and coming from Craftsman it's easy to see why. The brand still offers a lifetime warranty on hand tools, providing an extra layer of support to keep this piece of equipment going strong long into the future. This pair of hex keys feature both standard units of measurement, and the two sets fold down to create a pair of mobile turning solutions that can easily be stuck in a tool belt or bag. These make for a great option for someone looking to build an on-the-go mechanic set to handle breakdowns and other issues while out on the road, and they can be equally valuable as a frontline option for use in the garage at home.

The Craftsman 32-Blade Feeler Gauge Set is far more helpful than it might first appear. This is a set of thin metal strips contained within a compact design meant to be slid into a tool bag or pocket for use on the move, whenever the need arises. This solution is available from Ace Hardware for $16, and it can be found elsewhere, too. Wherever you come into contact with the tool, however, you'll notice that buyer feedback is frequently at a high threshold.

The set comes in a durable, stainless steel build that promises to offer a long lasting lifespan, and it features a slim profile that's a pleasure to work with. I've used a Craftsman model before, although I don't currently have one in my collection. It's easy to operate and offers immediate feedback on the material you're working with. The idea here is that the gauges provide miniscule readings on the gap between two workpieces or materials. This set features measurements ranging from 0.015 inches to 0.035 inches. The solution might not feel like it's critically important, but once you use it the first time, it easily becomes a mainstay in the toolkit.

Most renovators and other tool users will be familiar with the classic Stanley utility knife. Many other options are modeled on the basic framework of the Stanley model, and others utilize the same blades but go a different route to provide enhanced versatility or additional functional inclusions for a different kind of premium experience. Regardless of the utility knife you use, you'll almost certainly be reliant on the classic disposable blades that underpin the vast majority of tools in this category. Therefore, having a piece of gear in your garage that allows you to safely store blades and grab one quickly and easily when the need arises is a great time saver and workshop enhancer.

The Stanley Heavy Duty Steel Blade Dispenser with Blades can be found at Ace Hardware for $16 and it features an abundance of high praise front buyers. The knife blade holding solution can be hung on a wall with the help of its mounting holes and it offers a neat housing to keep your blades accessible but not out in the open. The gadget comes with 50 blades included, allowing you to make this a singular purchase to add key storage capability and replenish your stocks at the same time.

Craftsman's catalog runs deep, and it features a wide range of unique and helpful gadgets that go beyond the standard hand tool solution. The Craftsman 120 PSI Inflator is a great example, featuring plenty of high quality reviews from Ace Hardware buyers and at other outlets, too. At Ace, you'll find it for $24, making it a cost effective option to throw in your mobile toolkit or keep in the garage to handle car and other tire inflation requirements in a flash.

The inflator has the ability to bleed excess air without disconnecting the hose, allowing you to hit the right pressure rating without worrying about over-inflation. The tool can measure tire pressure ranging from 20 PSI to 120 PSI and utilizes a poly hybrid inflation hose that's equally capable in cold weather for versatile inflation without losing function in challenging conditions. The ¼-inch NPT inlet allows it to connect directly to most air hoses for robust compatibility to support just about any kind of inflation need you might experience in a garage setting.

Most pieces of equipment in Milwaukee's catalog operate on its 12 or 18 volt battery platforms, but the Milwaukee TrueView 100 Lumen LED Pen Light draws power from two AAA batteries, making it easily compatible with your existing household battery stock. The result is a much slimmer work light than most users might expect from Milwaukee. Most buyers are also particularly happy with their purchase, giving it high praise at a range of outlets that stock the item. It can be found at Ace Hardware for $20, making it cheaper to buy here than in other stores, too, adding an important additional selling point for Ace shoppers.

The flashlight offers a 100 lumen output with a 30-meter beam distance. It also features IP67 ingress protection for use in the most demanding work environments without fail. The back end of the light also features a bite zone made of protective rubber, giving you a chunk of the gadget's frame to easily hold with your teeth without having to worry about biting down on a hard metal frame. This allows it to be easily used without hands for better access to the thing you're working on in the dark.

All of these tools and gadgets offer nice upgrade or expansion opportunities for needs inside the garage and in tackling jobs around the house and yard. I have direct experience with some of them, the rest have at least 50 reviews and a 4 star rating or better.