Tool Reviews & Buying Guides by Trade

If you want to read articles and reviews that are trade-specific, try our Tool Reviews by Trade section. This organizes our site into topics suited particularly for a specific trade such as plumbing, electrical, framing, roofing & siding, concrete/masonry, and carpentry.
Tool Reviews by Trade Craft
Roofing and siding pros will find pneumatic roofing nailers as well as tools like cap staplers and hammer tackers. Tile & Flooring Pros will gain easy access to our tile saws, flooring staplers, and floor scrapers. As a painting professional, reviews of airless sprayers and cordless sprayers may interest you the most. You can count on one thing: whatever your craft, you need good tools. Our tool reviews by trade will help you drill down to quickly find the information you need. If you want to avoid anything that sits outside of your trade, this way helps you do it. If you can’t find a tool here, let us know.

Ryobi Tek4 RP4030 Professional Infrared Thermometer Review

Ryobi RP4030 Infrared Thermometer Review

The Tek4 4V Professional Infrared Thermometer delivers a constant readout of temperatures ranging from below 0 to over twice the boiling point of water. We found that this tool is most accurate when you are less than 2 meter from your target, but the tool can also measure from quite a distance away. The key to using it correctly is to understand that it has a 10:1 spot-to-distance ratio, so the closer you are, the smaller your measurement sample and the less it will be affected by the surrounding air temperature. This is an incredibly handy tool, especially for air mechanical inspectors and installers.

TWI International Flaring Tool Set

TWI Flaring Tool Set

TWI International is a Taiwan-based company that produces lots of forged products, some of which end up at places like Lowe’s. TWI’s Flaring Tool Set is a solid, durable product that will easily flare copper piping. The tool’s folding bar is made with heat treated alloy steel and it has a drop forged carbon steel yoke and wing nuts. The tool can be used to flare 3/16″, 1/4″, 5/16″, 3/8″, 7/16″, and 5/8″ OD copper tubing. We used it for a gas line and it was the perfect solution. At just over $10 at our local home improvement warehouse it was something we decided to try out and it really paid off in it’s performance.

A.W. Sperry CS550A Circuit Breaker Finder

AW Sperry CS550A Circuit Breaker Finder

When it comes to identifying circuit breakers in an existing home, using a circuit breaker finder may be the easiest way to make a difficult and tedious project as simple as possible. By using a transmitter and receiver, a circuit breaker finder like the A.W. Sperry CS550A quickly and easily identifies individual branch circuits at the panel box without interrupting power. It is quite simply the easiest, if not best way to accurately locate circuit breakers. The system is compact in size and extremely easy to use and locates both AC Breakers and Fuses.

Mastech MS8229 Auto-Range 5-in-1 Digital Multimeter

Mastech MS8229 Auto-Range 5-in-1 Digital Multimeter

Sometimes it’s nice to have a tool that simply does it all… The newly released Mastech MS8229 Digital Multimeter (DMM) is an improved and modified version of the Mastech MS8209 and does it all. It combines a multimeter, a sound level meter, thermometer, luxmeter, and humidity meter all in a single box. The unit has some very handy features. It provides temperature & humidity display and has an audible + LED warning for correct connection of the probes. The back-lit LCD Screen makes for a very easy to read screen, in dark or light rooms.

Ideal Suretest Digital Analyzer 61-165

Ideal Suretest Digital Analyzer 61-165

The IDEAL SureTest Circuit Analyzer 61-165 has two functions. First, it can test the physical structure of the branch circuit. The SureTest Circuit Analyzer calculates Voltage Drop and Percent of Voltage drop at 12, 15, and 20 amp loads in a matter of seconds. With its patented technology, it can perform this test even if there are loads on the circuit, and without tripping a breaker or interrupting the load. The Available Short Circuit Current, and the resistance of each conductor Hot, Neutral, and Ground are also measured and displayed. The second function is that it can test the performance of AFCI/GFCI protection from different points on the branch circuit.

Triplett 9610 Plug-Bug GFCI Receptacle Tester Review

Triplett PlugBug 2 GFCI Receptacle Tester Review

For use on 110~125VAC receptacles, the Triplett 9610 Plug-Bug Receptacle Tester detects common wiring problems in standard and GFCI outlets. There’s not much to say about this product. To test, you simply plug it into any standard 110V-125V AC 15 or 20-amp receptacle and observe the light pattern. Once you rule out any wiring faults, you just push the yellow button to test proper operation of ground fault (GFCI) receptacles.

PermaFlow PF-07001 Never Clog Drain

PermaFlow Never Clog Drain PF-07001

The PermaFLOW Never Clog Drain is a unique device that prevents clogs by allowing the homeowner to twist a dial to move the clog through the pipes. It’s designed to help easily remove the drain buildup before it becomes a problem and removes the need for plungers, drain cleaners, and of course disassembly of the drain. The shape of the PermaFLOW Self Cleaning Drain is designed to increases turbulence which helps reduce the continuous and typical buildup of dirt and debris, preventing blocked drains.