3 Home Depot Finds That Outshine Lowe’s In Price And Quality

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When it’s time to shop for items to complete our DIY projects, we often compare prices and availability between Lowe’s and Home Depot to see which store offers the best deal. Since we can generally find at least one competitively-priced version of what we need at either store, sometimes the difference comes down to which store is more convenient. Both Lowe’s and Home Depot offer online shopping and expansive stores with knowledgeable retail associates to help you select DIY products, Pro Desk services to streamline your business, and rental counters that provide access to the tools and equipment you need on occasion but don’t want to purchase.

The big-box home improvement stores each sell a number of popular name brands and some that are unique to each. Home Depot has its own private label brands, Husky is one example, while Lowe’s carries its Kobalt brand tools. Some name brands only appear at one or the other, like Lowe’s sells Craftsman tools but not Milwaukee, while that situation is reversed at Home Depot. Other than the particular brands found at Lowe’s and Home Depot, another difference is the number of physical locations they offer. Home Depot’s website boasts “more than 2,300 stores across North America,” while Lowe’s claims it “operates over 1,700 home improvement stores.”

Lowe’s and Home Depot are just two of the stores that offer tool rental services. I have personal experience with Home Depot’s rental counter because it was the closest place available to rent a mini excavator on a sub-zero New Year’s Eve morning to repair a waterline break at my house. However, I haven’t used Lowe’s rental services.

On that day, there was a Lowe’s that might have been closer, but it didn’t have a rental department, which is one of the things that makes Home Depot’s rental service better: it’s available in more locations. For example, while there are several Lowe’s stores within 50 miles of northeast Oklahoma, the nearest Lowe’s with a rental department is in Farmington, Missouri, over 300 miles away, according to the Lowe’s store finder.

Both stores offer a wide variety of tools and equipment for construction, lawn care, portable power, painting, and floor care. While we didn’t compare prices and specs of every rental product, many of the items were of similar quality with nearly identical prices and terms. One specific equipment rental category where Home Depot outshines Lowe’s is skid steers.

Lowe’s lists a single model, a John Deere Wheeled Skid Steer 318G, on its website. It comes on a trailer and has a combined weight of 8,842 pounds, requiring a ¾-ton or larger pickup equipped with a 2-5/16-inch trailer hitch ball to tow it. Lowe’s rental fees range from $284 for four hours to $379 for 24 hours and $1,137 for a full week. Home Depot rents a similar machine for a few dollars less, but really outshines Lowe’s with its selection of seven skid steer classes offering both wheeled and tracked versions, plus two more mini skid steer options.

A pipe wrench is a must-have tool to have on hand before starting a plumbing project. Pipe wrenches can also serve as a heavy-duty wrench to loosen stubborn nuts and bolts, as long as you don’t care what they look like when you’re finished.

Home Depot and Lowe’s both sell pipe wrenches, of course. You will find Husky and Kobalt pipe wrenches featuring aluminum and cast iron construction in a variety of lengths at their respective stores. A common pipe wrench selection with a variety of DIY applications is the 14-inch cast iron version. That specific pipe wrench from the Lowe’s Kobalt brand lists for $26.36, whereas the Husky 14-inch Cast Iron Pipe Wrench from Home Depot is a couple of bucks less at $23.97.

Both pipe wrenches have a 2-inch maximum jaw opening designed to work best on pipes up to 1.5 inches in diameter. However, the Kobalt pipe wrench lists its minimum pipe diameter at ½-inch compared to Husky’s ⅛-inch. They also each have a lifetime warranty.

While the Husky 14-inch cast iron pipe wrench from Home Depot beats the Lowe’s Kobalt pipe wrench on price, it’s also better quality, according to a video review posted to the Catus Maximus YouTube channel. Maximus reports that both pipe wrenches are less expensive and lighter than premium brands, while the Husky is a little lighter than the Kobalt.

The Husky 14-inch pipe wrench really outshines the Kobalt with its superior movable jaw. While pipe wrench movable jaws always have some play, the Kobalt design has an excessive amount that makes it less efficient to operate. Maximus demonstrates that Kobalt uses a movable jaw that’s thinner than Husky’s, resulting in a larger gap between the jaw and the frame and allowing for more side-to-side movement.

Whether it’s time to replace your old power tools or you’re just starting your collection, choosing a brand you can grow with is important. One reason is that whichever brand you go with will use batteries with proprietary designs. That means you’ll want to choose from a selection of power tools designed for that battery system going forward.

Home Depot carries Ryobi power tools, a popular entry-level DIYer budget-friendly option, and part of my personal tool kit. If you’re just starting to dip your toes into the proverbial power tool pool, Ryobi is a great brand with several tool options, but you won’t find them at Lowe’s.

Ryobi also has one of the least expensive options to get started. Home Depot lists a Ryobi 2-Tool Combo Kit for $99.00. The kit includes a ⅛-inch capacity drill/driver, an impact driver with a ¼-inch quick-connect collet, a 1.5 amp-hour lithium-ion 18-volt battery, and a battery charger. The 2-speed drill/driver provides up to 515 inch-pounds of torque and speeds up to 450 rpm in low range or 1,750 rpm in high. The impact driver delivers 3,450 impacts per minute (IPM) and up to 1,800 in-lbs of torque. Both tools have integrated LED work lights.

The least expensive comparable power tool kit from Lowe’s is the Black+Decker Drill Impact 2 Kit at $119.00. Lowe’s doesn’t provide detailed specs for the drill provided with the kit, but the impact driver generates up to 1,375 in-lbs of torque with 3,900 IPM. Generally, reviews comparing Ryobi power tools to Black+Decker find the Ryobi brand superior.

The process of choosing Home Depot finds that outshine those from Lowe’s in quality and price involved the author’s personal experience and a lot of combing through offerings from each home improvement store to compare prices and online reviews to ensure superior levels of quality.

As always, prices and availability can vary in different parts of the country. Sale prices can also create instances where Lowe’s products beat those from Home Depot. In general, manufacturers of name-brand products, tools, and appliances control pricing, so the cost of those items is largely the same at both stores.