Pittsburgh Vs. Icon Wrenches: Which Harbor Freight Brand Is Best (According To Users)

Grabbing a quality set of wrenches is an important part of any home toolkit, and Harbor Freight has quite a few to choose from. The major players here are Pittsburgh and Icon, a pair of names Harbor Freight shoppers should be familiar with. What's difficult for shoppers is knowing which brand is better, and if there even is a clear winner. Right off the bat, both brands look to be solid picks as you can easily find wrenches on Harbor Freight's website with high user scores, which speaks to their quality. 

With both brands being highly rated, there are other factors you'll have to think about before pulling the trigger. Harbor Freight targets budget-conscious buyers, and the deals get even better with a Harbor Freight membership. It's also not uncommon to see deals on Icon and Pittsburgh tools; however, even though both companies make well-received wrenches, one brand is far cheaper than the other.

Taking a look at ratcheting combination wrenches as an example, Pittsburgh is the budget pick here as all 12 of its options are available for under $30. Every selection has high user scores, and if you're a simple DIYer, Pittsburgh is a good way to keep your next DIY project cheap. Moving quickly up the price range we see Icon populate the more expensive tiers. A big reason for this is that Icon brands its tools for professional use, so they're often overkill for a DIYer.

Looking strictly at price tags, you can make the assumption that Icon is simply better than Pittsburgh. Going back to the ratcheting combination wrenches, the regular 7-piece set from Pittsburgh costs $28.99, while Icon's costs $129.99. The Pittsburgh set has a 4.7 out of 5 user score based on more than 2,500 reviews, while the Icon set has a 4.8 out of 5 rating with a little more than 300 reviews at the time of writing. The disparity in reviews likely comes down to the price difference, but both user scores paint these sets in a positive light. 

Although a lot of it comes down to needs and budget, there are fans of both tool brands. A Reddit user looking for wrench recommendations from Harbor Freight asked owners what they like to go with, and they got a wide range of replies. User Outlawns said they "highly recommend Icon wrenches," but Pittsburgh is a good choice too if you're using them sparingly. Fdrowell, another Reddit user says, "Pittsburgh wrenches have been totally fine with me for moderate home use." A third reply from Hojo10 says the Icon ratcheting combination wrenches are "the ones I reach for" when they need something done. If you want to try and save some cash, the Pittsburgh wrenches can punch a little above their weight, depending on the use.

With Icon wrenches being more tailored toward professionals, where does that leave people looking to work on their car who want to save some cash? While the Pittsburgh wrenches come in much cheaper, it doesn't mean they'll break after one use. In fact, there are people who are surprised by how well they hold up. In a forum post on The Garage Journal dating back to 2013, a professional mechanic said they bought the Pittsburgh wrenches as a cheap option, but they now "use them every day" and "have no intention of replacing them."

The place where Pittsburgh wrenches and other budget Harbor Freight tools can shine is in on-the-go toolboxes. Another Garage Journal user said they "use cheap HF tools in the Jeep and truck boxes because they are cheap enough that if I lose them, get rusty, etc. it's not really a big deal."

Ultimately, you need to be aware of what Pittsburgh can handle as a budget brand. Owners have shown that Pittsburgh wrenches are good for basic everyday use, and while some people say they use the tools heavily, that's an area where brands like Icon would typically pull ahead. If you are willing to stretch your budget, Icon ratcheting combination wrench sets are one of the best hand tools from the brand, so it's worth picking one up if you need something tough and reliable.