10 Worst Tools to buy at Home Depot! (2020) 

as a HD employee, I can say that anything you buy from us and you don't like it... return it. There is a time limit, but not on tools from what I've learned. This video is spot on

What I like is this wasn't just a crap on HD, or a particular brand. The majority of the alternatives are either the same brand/also at HD.

Liked this style... Don’t, get this instead. You’ve done the research... Thanks!

“MiG is the hot glue gun of welding”, “you don’t HAVE to go brushless”, “Lincoln-esque”, enlightening, empowering and unique. you ARE a tool prophet!

Great video! Wish craftsman was still old school dad and grandpas craftsman available at Sears! Tools weren’t price driven but they lacked fluff back then and they lasted forever!

Use it...Delta fencing sucks. Get the rack & pinion table saw from Dewalt. Did major research & bought it and I love it!

I am a Ryobi person. I have beat up those little tools and they laugh at me as if to say-- "Is that all you got?" They last a long time. I have the 18 volt tools.

I have that Lincoln 140 and for the size that thing packs a punch and is powerful enough for almost everything I have to weld her on the farm.

I have pretty much given up on Dremel style rotary tools. Got the HF hanging motor and flex shaft (like a Foredom) and for less money it has given me much more control and better results.

I personally have that exact Pittsburg 3 ton low profile floor jack and I can tell you that it works excellent after adding a rubber jack pad, Hydraulic oil, and some Esco jack stands. Definitely a great buy from HF. I would recommend it to any knowledgeable DIY-er.

I have the WEN benchtop belt/spindle sander and it is a beast. It appears it is going to last. I just has a motor and a switch. No speeds. Nothing much to break. I bought it at Home Depot online. It arrived in a couple of days, Buy a set of spindles and belts of assorted grits at the same time.

I got the same Husky set and been using it over 10yrs and no issues zero even the chrome is intact.I agree its far superior buy although I recall paying 49 dollars now almost 80 I guess inflation...

I got my delta contractors saw in 1984. I put a new DELTA 36-T30 T2 30-Inch Fence on it. Love that saw.

Careful, I’ve been through 3 of those corded Rigid sanders within 1.5 years. When it works, it sands great and hooks up perfectly with the 1 1/4” hose on a Rigid Vacuum, but something breaks where it spins out of control. Cut my belly a few times because of it.

Have you seen the Dewalt 192 piece mechanics tool set (8063438)? All sockets are six point, only fluff is hex keys. Very impressed for $150.

Husky use to have the contract to make " Craftsman " ; I have a basic tool kit from the 1970's by Husky - just keep them clean/day. Have Milwaukee 1/2 Drill & 11 Amp Orbital Sawzall - Electric which I keep. Have 20 yr old Bosch 19 Amp - Need new batteries. Have compact Rigid 3/8 inch Drill & Light. Battery Died - Replaced with newer Ion Batteries. Good. Thank you for the review.

Definitely like the style of "not this, try this instead" here. Nice! ✊😎

Agree with the comment on battery-powered tools that it makes sense to go with brushless. Many tools at a very low price are really problematic such as the floor jacks as too much skimping to get to a low price point. Really watch yourself on these floor jacks especially and have seen numerous problems of quality with the lower-price units.

Want a CHEAP Cordless Sander that doesn't go through a bunch of batteries , --- a block of wood & a sheet of sandpaper ! Lol .

For the jack go to Walmart. I got a 2 ton low profile for 50 bucks. Wide base lifts high has a solid pad. Had this thing for 7 years. Still works great. Only "damage" is if you leave the car on the jack for an hour or so you'll notice it slowly dropping. But that's why you use jackstands

My old portercable I got when my dewalt tools got stolen. The porter cable was alright but for commercial use they don't last. I had the set for 8 months and had to replace impact, drill, and osilating tool.

Have the Delta saw. Its pretty good. Made me lots of money.

Tekton is my new go to for hand tools

regarding the floor jacks, I have the 3-ton low-profile floor jack. I've used it to lift everything from honda accords to chevy suburbans and it has performed wonderfully. harbor freight isn't great for everything, but there are some things where your just wasting money if your getting them anywhere other than HF

Great vid. Agree Milwaukee Whiffed the hand tools pretty hard. Always lived by Miller in the Shop, Lincoln in the field.

@The Den of Tools. Thanks Red for putting together this useful list. I like how you provide alternatives and explain your choices. Hope you, Jeff, and your families stay safe and well.

it was very easy for Dewalt to move into hand tools since Stanley owned them

In defense of the cordless ROS, I have the DeWalt cordless ROS and used it to do some deep deep sanding on an 11 foot wide kitchen countertop to take a finish off, and I only used one 3ah battery and one 2ah battery that wasn’t dead when I finished sanding. And it was plenty strong to do heavy sanding with 60 grit paper. I think the cordless is perfectly acceptable if you have at least a few batteries on hand.

My old welding teacher said he use to work as part of the pit crew in nascar he said that all they used were Pittsburgh jacks

Grizzly tools are actually available from other retailers, including Amazon and Home Depot. I have the Ridgid Oscillating/Edge sander, and it is great.

Good review!!! This was information and made good points. I get tired of reviews that make harbor freight look like super tools.

I'm more partial to 6 point sockets and wrenches. !2 point sockets and wrenches have a tendency to round off the corners on nuts.

Great post! The only thing I wish you had reviewed was the Dewalt 4000 psi pressure washer. I think they must be the worst one the market. Don’t get me wrong the Honda engine is awesome but the Tripple AAA pump is no good! I personally purchased 4 of them and all failed within 10 days. I talked to the repair tect at Home Depot and he said the same thing. While there with my 3rd one he showed a line of them in the shop to be repaired under warranty. All had pump problems. I finally gave up and went with the 4400 PSI unit and so far it has worked well. Come on Dewalt where is the once quality in your product that you have always been known for?

Another Husky tool to avoid? The 33 gallon air compressor. MIne broke after a few months of occasional use; took 6 months tg o get back from the shop (under warranty). The pressure control knob is 1)very difficult to turn and the detent when you are turning the pressure to zero is essentially non-existent so the knobs comes off in your hand and the spring flies out. It's one tool that I will not miss: when it breaks I'll go with another brand.

I have that Ridgid ROS. Can confirm, it just chews through batteries. They say you get about 40 minutes out of a 4aH battery, which seems about right. On the plus side, their 4aH battery only takes about 30 minutes to fully charge from fully dead and I have 2 of those. I bought it because I needed one, was already into the Ridgid system, it was pretty cheap, and if I never have to drag a power cord around again it'll be too soon.

Sears used to fluff up the mechanics tool set with hacksaw blades and allen wrenches.

About the welders, I owned a Century (I believe 85 amp) flux machine back in the 1990s. It was fine for what it was. Now, let me get a dig in on the Lincoln fans. Buy your welder from Eastwood Co. instead! The Eastwood MIG 135 is ALWAYS on sale for around $300-350. The MIG 175, which I've had for several years comes with a spool gun for around $500 or so. Both of the Eastwood machines have infinitely adjustable wire speed and output amp controls. Lincoln only has infinite wire speed. The output amps have "notches". As for the floor jacks, I've had the gray Pittsburgh 3 ton for years and it's great. Lately though, I've been eyeing the Daytona long reach low profile 3 ton. When I buy one, I'll still use my Pittsburgh but the Daytona will make a nice shopmate for it!

I made the mistake of buying that Milwaukee M12 non-Fuel hackzall. Thankfully I found someone to pawn it off on. I was fortunate though when I replaced my old Dewalt set about year and half ago (sold all my 18v) some guy in store told me what the benefit was in the XR versions and I went with that.

I love my ridgid tool set. Multi-tool. I got the whole set. and use it all the time.

I have a Pittsburg jack. Not the low profile but it's a beast and jacked up the k1500 no problem.

You are by far the best Bear! Ty for your honesty and sincerity. Always appropriate every video you do

You don't damage the bolts with the tooth ends, yeah you may scratch them a bit but you won't ruin them. They definitely work and come in handy. I wouldn't pay that asking price but you can buy a carlye set with no skips non ratcheting max bites for about $200 and it goes up to 32mm with the metric.

I never thought I'd like anything from Ryobi at one time but I bought one of their D/A sanders and it was one of the best corded sanders I ever had. Up until that point I stuck to Milwaukee and DeWalt, you just don't know until you try one.

I've used most major brands at the theme parks working with different crews. My rigid is nice. But doesn't have as much uhmph for say metal working. Dewalts are decent, but Milwaukees have survived being submerged for enough hours to develop rust and still come on right after drying. Mad impressed with that. Not saying others can't do it, but I saw that with my own eyes.

That Milwaukee Fuel Hacksaw is ONLY 12 volts. I used it yesterday on wood and although a little unwieldy, it did a decent job. I doubt it will be that great on anything heavier than 1/4 inch steel, but that's not what it's for. Would you use a 16-ounce ball pein hammer to drive in Landscape Stakes into Landscape Ties?

I have the ridged corded sander and I love it. You're right its great. One of my best tool investments.

Everybody's watching just to see how many of the worst tools they already have.

Correction: you want to avoid the milwaukee ratcheting wrenches unless they are on sale also, when was the last time you used a 9mm (wrench) and 11mm

A couple of details Haven't seen PorterCable Cordless tools at HD (pretty much all they carry are Airpower by P-C) , they are beasically a Lowes house brand (their version of Ridgid) Second, yes if I want a garage floor jack I'd want a larger one .... BUT that small Husky (I use same size HFs) as carry along car jacks, instead of fumbling with the OEM jacks that come with vehicle ... so don't knock it, depends on intended purpose Other than that , no disagreements

Really appreciate that you offer alternatives to the "avoid" tools.

17:32 I purchased that Delta Saw at Lowes (wanted the DeWalt but they were out of stock) so it was a second choice. Glad I ended up with this saw over the DeWalt. It is heavier but that's good. Solid cast iron table (as opposed to aluminum) and a great fence. Testing showed it has dead on accuracy. A lot of saw for $600.00. I am self employed and have no affiliation with Lowes or Delta.

When my dremel went tango uniform I replaced it with a B&D head and have never looked back. It uses all the dremel accessories, costs less, has better power and actually LASTS.

Anything marked Roybi. Never had one that lasted more than a year with light use. And when I worked at Home Depot the ones we had to use in the back were all junk. Saws all that could not hold a blade. Circular saws that sounded like they were about to smoke the motor. Etc.....

Yeah random orbit sanders one of the few tools where I'd actually prefer it corded since my Ryobi one devoured batteries.

Might be an unpopular opinion. But I bought my Milwaukee wrenches on sale. I work industrial field 90% of the time. I have to wear bulky gloves daily and that little palm swell just gives me the extra grip I need with my gloves on. I've used tons and tons of brands and own the tekton. Also personally I do not like swivel heads on my wrenches. They have their place but in the field I work I've busted my knuckles way to much by them moving on me. I prefer fixed ends. Might be unpopular but for the 79.99 8 bought my set for they are 100% worth the price and my favorite pair. Use them daily and yet to have any issues.

I'll say in my opinion if you know what your doing, that little husky is a great trunk Jack for when a tire goes and to keep you from being stranded on the side of the road especially with a jack stand. But this thing isn't it for a real day in and day out type Jack.

You will have to do one Lowes tools. to. I have to replace my 18 V Bosch drill driver, it finally bit the dust. I have Bosch and Milwaukee drill drivers and impact drivers, I also have a ridgid palm impact driver, it was too cool not to buy! 12V. works very well, good for tight places. Anyways, i need some advice Bear, let me know what you think. thank you G. Sporer

I have no idea where you're at but I'm in Houston Texas and that husky 3 ton floor jack is 89.97 down here because I have it and it's a really good Jack

The milwaukee m12 hacksaw fuel also comes with a much larger battery. Do a lowes video of what you buy, that'd be good to go along with the home depot one

sorry I 100% DISAGREE about the Ridgid orbital sander. That thing rocks and is solid. yes if you use the cheaper version batteries they run out pretty quickly. But if you use OCTANE batteries it goes for quite a while. if you only have one battery then buy at least one other. I'm not actually sure if mine is brushless or not?

I just bought the Milwaukee M12 FUEL Hackzall, and I couldn't be more pleased. Paired with Diablo blades, this tool is a beast.

That 20 piece GEARWRENCH ratcheting set is coming up as $79. at HD not $38.98?

Woohoo! I have zero. I almost bought that battery orbital sander. But I went with the Black and Decker corded one. No regrets!

The Milwaukee M12 Fuel Hackzall also has an ingenious counterbalance system that smooths out the power delivery. I've had both the brush and the Fuel, and the Fuel is sooo much smoother!

I know this is kind of old, saying that are CAD or USD prices? Those MKE tool only prices seem crazy, even today where stuff is more expensive. You can get the brushless kit with a 2amp battery and charger for $89. Or the Fuel for $140.

That Ridgid sander looks like it's the only one with the rail channel so that could be a plus but what do you think about that vs something like the Porter-Cable PCB420SA? Something like that looks way more useful and durable.

Two or three times now the "Pro" or "Industrial" level tool, purchased at one of the big boxes, prematurely failed, whereas the same tool, which appeared to be identical, but purchased from a contractor supply store, for a substantially higher price , Works to this day. I'm looking at you Milwaukee.

They make a nice gearwrench set all sockets for 99$ and those millwaukees are actually pretty nice

It sucks about porter cable. My son and I have complete sets and love them. They do just as good as any other brand I have owned.

Home Depot also was selling a cheap Titanium drill bit set that was so bad half the bits weren't even sharp or straight. Nothing like drilling a hole 3 times bigger than the bit.

If you look deeper into the listing/labeling/rating of some of the cheaper welding machines they are actually listed and tested as a power converter and not a welding machine.

Great work to sort this all out. I have a lot of Ryobi tools and have looked at that multi-tool but not yet bought it -- did not know about the Ridgid head interchangeability, but that makes it a must-buy. Thanks. Speaking of Ryobi, its orbital sander also eats batteries -- and I never put less than a 4ah in it.

My local HD is probably one of the most sparse in this city (Phoenix AZ), so many things I need to go to other stores for, but they've had a lot of the same employees for years & some recognized me after moving out of state/traveling for about seven years straight and they go above and beyond for me constantly so I buy there whenever I can... Anyway most of that was pointless, just meant to say that my super-sparse local THD has that ridgid belt/spindle sander in stock for 260 I think (as of probably last week), and it's in stock virtually every time I walk by it for years. It's behind me when I'm looking at rotohammer accessories, corded circ saws & blades, sanding belts/pads, and some other corded tools, situated right between dewalt's and evolution's* 14" MM chops; though your mileage _will_ vary. They've got 2-4 in stock pretty much always. They sell pretty well too it seems, perhaps kinda like one of that store's staples and saving grace. Perhaps if it's never in stock at your local home depot, your city/town/area may have another store that pretty much always has it in stock? The knockoffs are obviously the same thing essentially but imo I'd pay the extra $40 or whatever vs. Harbor Freight and such for the 3yr/LSA warranty, and I guess for the bigger table too but I haven't personally seen any benefit from that I don't think, but it's not an oft used item for me anyway (I'm not a woodworker). *In the off chance anyone reads this far and has experience with that evolution 14", better yet their 7¼ or any smaller than 14" they may make, I'd really love to hear your impression. Idk anything about the brand at all but that 7¼ chop looks mighty handy & affordable (particularly blade-wise as long as the tool lasts and/or has a decent warranty) for as much smaller copper pipe and steel conduit I have to cut 90° square, and that vice head looks nice for centering pipe. The bigger stuff I cut rarely enough that I can always just borrow a buddy's makita 14" chop, and/or grab the bigger evolution too if it doesn't suck 'cause it's only a hair more than dewalt's, the vice sounds convenient, and it appears to come with a decent $80 multimaterial blade instead of a cheap abrasive disc or nothing.

Highly disagree on the Milwaukee wrenches. I've had them for 3 years and they are every bit as good as snap-on wrenches. I've gripped on bolts with the Milwaukees that a snap-on flank drive wrench kept slipping off of. I will say the skip set isn't ideal tho, get the full set.

hopefully if you get the Milwaukee wrenches you don't need to put sway bar end links on a Ford Ranger (done one yesterday and it is 16mm lol)

Of all the tools you've mentioned here, I have only the Rigid table saw. And I just gotta say--in my case, it's not the saw, it's the woodworker. ;) Seriously though, I'm constantly readjusting the fence on it.

I've been thinking of upgrading my table saw lately, thanks for the delta suggestion. My fence is absolute garbage and the way the throat plate is made,making a zero clearance is next to impossible. I use my sled 9 times out of 10.

I gotta disagree with the bear on the Rigid table saw and I’ve used them all. Mine is smooth (coin on edge stunt) and accurate. It’s 10 years old. I have a Delta too.

Got a new Ryobi trim tool with two batteries lasted about 5 times of using it acts like the trigger is going out

My understanding is Home Depot buys names from famous makers, in some cases, has them manufactured cheaply and stamps the name on them. I don't know whether this is actually true or not. I have a small 3/8" drive Husky metric socket set I bought from Montgomery Ward's over 40 years ago and, except for a couple of lost sockets I've replaced, it's still going strong.

I don't think I've ever used a 9mm wrench or socket and I've worked on Japanese vehicles since 1968. Only bought a 7mm for the throttle limit screw lock nut ion 1974 Honda. 11mm is also pretty rare useage. Kei-Hin use 3/8" instead of 11mm in 1970's.

FYI: Grizzly does have a real store in Bellingham, WA. & Springfield, MO. There might be clarification in other comments.

Hey how do you guys feel about texton tools. Ive been looking at buying the socket rail sets and i would like to know if u guys have any experience with it and how they fit on nuts and bolts

I have a battery Dremel and I love it.

111K subscribers! When it comes to tool channels, you are not only the one. You are the one one one!

I have a cordless Makita and Ryobi orbital sanders and they work fine

I use Do-It Center a lot. More like Ace than a big box and my home store River Ridge Hdwr in Spokane is great. Rentals, advise, tool loans - yes some free, and lot of small and old house parts. BUT their house branded hand tools are a noxgo

Dont forget the lumber ..

Yah, I've got the Ryobi JobMax with lots of heads. Use the oscillating, and reciprocating heads the most, with 4 more, and it's a great.

Can you take a look at Performax at some point? It's a brand that pops up every time I look up a power tool and almost always at the lowest price point. My local Menards has it. I tried a mini circular saw and a bit set. Both performed as expected at the price point, philips bits broke after 3 screws each and the mini saw had a short at the trigger after 2 cuts of a 4ft ply wood. I know a lot of people will look at the price tag and be tempted to see if they can get the job done and save a few dollars. Maybe my experience was just bad luck, I would love to hear your thoughts on the brand.

THE PRO-SENSOR STUD FINDER BEST ONE EVER MADE!!!! NEVER MISS ANOTHER STUD BOTH EDGES VISIBLE AT ALL TIMES!!!

Up here in canada hey, you can get lifetime guaranteed tools at Canadian time usually on sale at fractions of some of these prices. Every bi5 as good as snap on.

I got that Harvor Freight at the end of the year. They had a big sale on specifically Bauer tools. I ended up getting it for $190. If anyone’s in the market for that sander and can wait until the end of the year, it’s worth the savings!

Mr Bear, what universal socket set do you recommend, please?

I've got the M12 Milwaukee Hackzall, and for light work it's fine. I even cut a 55 gallon drum in half with it before but I wouldn't do stuff like that all day with it. It's my least used tool so maybe if I used it more my opinion may be different, but I think it's decent. Also, I've been eyeing that Bauer sander at HF.

Skip ryobi 40volt lawn tools! The batteries fail! I don't make a habit of leaving my tools out but sometimes outdoor power equipment gets wet. Everytime I've had my 40 volt ryobi batteries get wet, they soon after die. At 100 clams, they should have a bit better waterproofing. My .02$ pass!

I'll stick with brushes when it comes to drills. My DeWalt has more torque than any other drill I've used, by far (granted, its corded too), and has lasted a long time so far. The only bad thing about it is that it can be difficult to get the chuck tight enough when I use round drill bits instead of the ones with the hex at the base.

I did walk in and buy that Grizzly sander, but it was at the Grizzly store in Springfield MO, was on sale for under $200.

Good tips here... much appreciated. Went to chuck some stuff in my cart and...What!? Why on EARTH is the GearWrench set 80 frikkin dollars here in CT ?!? More than 2x the price and this vid is only 2 weeks old !? Just wow. I need to relocate. smh

@TheDenOfTools I was already in the Porter Cable system from before Craftsman showed up at SBD. At your advice I was looking for what my next battery platform not committing on anything yet, when I walked into my local Lowe’s for some lumber and they had all of their Porter Cable tools on clearance all $40 or below. So, already owning batteries and chargers I filled out my set. So, when they die I will change battery platforms. Leaning Makita for the type of wood working I want to do. Thoughts?