Is Icon by harbor freight really a good tool brand?

R

R18Civic

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Jan 14, 2017
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I'm curious. I've seen posts in my FB mechanic group where some guys have claimed Icon is better than Snap On (which I seriously doubt) but I'm seeing reviews which say that the Icon tools have a lot of built in slop. Particularly the wrenches.

I just replaced one of my Stanley professional ratchets with a 120 tooth craftsman today but Im wondering if it would be worth a drive to Harbor Freight for some Icon tools.
 
They look well made. Supposed to be for the professional. When shopping @HF look for stuff made in Taiwan( they may have several suppliers for the same product).

HF impact sockets can't be beat. My go to ratchet is the plastic coated fine tooth HF one.
 
Hemispheres said:
I'm curious. I've seen posts in my FB mechanic group where some guys have claimed Icon is better than Snap On (which I seriously doubt) but I'm seeing reviews which say that the Icon tools have a lot of built in slop. Particularly the wrenches.

I just replaced one of my Stanley professional ratchets with a 120 tooth craftsman today but Im wondering if it would be worth a drive to Harbor Freight for some Icon tools.
Click to expand...

Don't get caught up with tooth count, another important criteria is backlash and drawback pressure, it does no good to have 120 teeth but takes an inch backward to catch another set of teeth or as the bolt loosens it is tight enough to turn the bolt or nut without engaging the ratchet mechanism.
What sort of ratchet are you looking for eg pear head, round head, fine tooth, flex, comfort grip, etc.

Icon tools are way overpriced for what they are, there are some superior USA made tools for less money. If they don't make a rebuild kit or replacement grips it shows it is a disposable tool and of no interest to me.
The argument that they replace the whole tool is a bogus one, if the one you own was made by company x and good quality but they replace it with a newer model made by Y it may be garbage (this is what happened to Crapsman), you would be better of putting a kit in the old one.
Craftsman are garbage.
 
I don't own any Icon tools. But I have an opinion on ratchets...
For something you will use a bazillion times, a tool that will be your best friend, I am willing to spend the $$.
Full transparancy; I inherited most of these. I love quality.
snapon ratchets.jpg
 
My friend had some of their sockets he cracked the 13mm on a Jeep rear wiper blade he took it got it warrantied then sold the set on eBay for $10 less than he paid for it. I think he just got a bad one. For being better than Snap-on no I don’t think so I have seen the same posts in the group. I personally like the Pittsburgh brand for sockets and their ratchets are decent and I get the Earthquake impacts but I’m not big on the Icon but that’s just me.
 
I have an Icon torque wrench that I had calibrated to be sure, and it came back just 1 lb-ft off. I bought it as a replacement to my Snap-On torque wrench that was 6 lbs off when I bought it, and had to keep recalibrating it as it kept reading lower and lower. That Snap-On unit sits in the "old tools" drawer and never used. We'll see how well the Icon unit holds up over time and use.

About 40% of my tools are old Craftsman tools from the 70s-90s which I inherited from my father when he passed away. Another 40% are Matco or Snap-On. The last 20% is a mix of HF stuff and other off-brands from parts stores and Walmart.
 
RDY4WAR said:
I have an Icon torque wrench that I had calibrated to be sure, and it came back just 1 lb-ft off. I bought it as a replacement to my Snap-On torque wrench that was 6 lbs off when I bought it, and had to keep recalibrating it as it kept reading lower and lower. That Snap-On unit sits in the "old tools" drawer and never used. We'll see how well the Icon unit holds up over time and use.

About 40% of my tools are old Craftsman tools from the 70s-90s which I inherited from my father when he passed away. Another 40% are Matco or Snap-On. The last 20% is a mix of HF stuff and other off-brands from parts stores and Walmart.
Click to expand...

My old huskey torque wrench was off by 16 lb ft after 10 years and dropping it numerous times.
 
I am planning to purchase some of their wrenches. I act have been using some of the Quinn 1/4” sockets for a couple years now both on ratchets and electric drivers and they have been great. My flex head Pittsburgh ratchet is my go-to 3/8 ratchet.
 
RDY4WAR said:
I have an Icon torque wrench that I had calibrated to be sure, and it came back just 1 lb-ft off. I bought it as a replacement to my Snap-On torque wrench that was 6 lbs off when I bought it, and had to keep recalibrating it as it kept reading lower and lower. That Snap-On unit sits in the "old tools" drawer and never used. We'll see how well the Icon unit holds up over time and use.

About 40% of my tools are old Craftsman tools from the 70s-90s which I inherited from my father when he passed away. Another 40% are Matco or Snap-On. The last 20% is a mix of HF stuff and other off-brands from parts stores and Walmart.
Click to expand...

No offense but why anyone would buy an Icon torque wrench when this is available for under $30 more. World class quality, every part replaceable and available and dead on accurate.

A Couple of Nice Torque Wrenches

With more and more engines being made from all aluminum a good lower value and accurate torque wrench is almost a must have tool. We read about all the Icon and other brands that are in the $100 range, these tools have no replacement parts or service available for them. The first one here is a...
bobistheoilguy.com
 
Almost a year ago, my brother and I were separating four Cat 3516 engines from the generators and radiators so they could be craned out of a 22 story building . While there, someone stole his 1/2 inch drive Snap On deep sockets . He ran to HF and got a set of Icons . He told me if they fail, he;ll get more Snap Ons.
So far, we finished that job, put them back together, and he uses them almost daily . So far, so good .
 
I’m sure they’re totally fine for >99% of the population.

I have a set of the Husky 144-tooth full polish ratchets and could not be any happier with them. $70 for a set of 3. Good mid-range option in my opinion. What nice about Home Depot is they have a NO RECIEPT lifetime warranty like Sears/Craftsman did (does?). I think HF always requires a reciept, plus I’d be more confident HomeDepot will still exist in 20 years vs. HF.

And I’m not ripping on HF. I have a set of 1/2” drive impact sockets from them that I bet will last the rest of my life.
 

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I've got a short 3/8 impact metric set of Icon tools I bought when I realized I don't have enough 3/8 impact sockets to play nice with my then new M12 3/8 stubby impact

I was afraid of the impact shattering a chrome socket

For the price I paid, I find them more than satisfactory

They play nice with all my ratchets (mostly HF composite and flex head)

Only thing I've noticed is you've really gotta line up the detent pin with the ball on the drive of whatever tool your using, especially an impact

Otherwise they kinda wobble and fall off
 
HF was good for cheap hand tools I used for my painting business, EG a cheap hammer to re-nail drywall, or screw drivers to remove switch plates and hardware. I have Snap On, SK tools, etc. which will never see a jobsite. With inexpensive tools like Capri, Tekton, and even Sunex, Harbor Freight is pricing themselves out of my business. They were OK for some items with a 20% off coupon and a free flashlight, or screwdriver set. Those coupons are slowly disappearing, and their prices rising, so I pretty much stopped going to HF. Tekton has a pretty nice program with free shipping and a 10% discount if you become a free member. They're getting some business HF lost from me. I see no value in Icon tools at all. Opinions vary.
 
I have been wanting to try some of the tools... I do agree with demarpaint, good point, but I do think there is room for them to have a couple lines of tools. The Icon being the high end. They do need to be careful and not get too high end/priced. I very much like to buy name brand tools used on ebay, garage sales, wherever they come up. A name brand tool always seems to hold value if I ever need to sell.

Overall, I think the Icon brand is as good as any other "weekend warrior" tools you will find.
 
I buy American, Canadian or first world (Germany, Austria, UK, France...etc) tools when possible, as I try to avoid sending money and supporting outsourcing to China. Most of my tools are Snap-On but I have some SK, Wright, Armstrong, Craftsman (US), Gray and my main set of wrenches is Gedore, made in Germany.

I do have the odd Canadian Tire tool, but most of those were gifts or emergency weekend single-use purchases. They tend to be similar to what you'd find at Home Depot or Lowes.
 
I have a couple of the Icon ratchets: a bog standard 3/8” drive with comfort grip, a swivel head 3/8”, and a swivel 1/2” drive. These complement my existing ratchets (Teng, one old US made Craftsman, some cheap but durable Pittsburgh Pro, and my favorite black locking flex head Husky 1/2”).

I thought about it, and asked which ratchets do I reach for automatically... it would be my Teng fiber ratchets (1/4, 3/8, and 1/2), then the Icons, and the Husky. And now, I have a new 18” MasterForce 3/8” non locking flex head I grabbed at Menards the other day that I find myself using more when I need that leverage. I used to use an old Pittsburgh Pro flex head for that, but it’s shorter so not as much leverage with that one.

I do not have the Icon sockets; I have chrome Williams and Teng sockets duplicated in shallow and deep so I can’t speak for their quality.

I am considering the long box end wrenches with no skips from Icon. Just because sometimes you need that extra reach and leverage with a box end wrench where a ratchet, even with one of my low profile Sunex impact sockets, won’t fit. 😎
 
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