Top 3 Workshop Tools of the Year: The Ones Worth Actually Using

Introduction

The best tools of the year are not necessarily the flashiest ones. The three picks here earned their places through a simpler test: they got used far more than expected, and they kept proving their worth on real jobs, from oil changes and tire rotations to ball joint replacements and suspension work. One makes lifting vehicles almost effortless, one is a bargain that has saved serious money, and one is a power tool line punching well above its price point.

Roadtech Battery-Powered Jack

The Roadtech electric battery-powered jack is the kind of product that makes you wonder why the big brands have not done it yet. On paper it sounds like a nice-to-have, but in practice it has become a go-to jack for oil changes, tire rotations, and especially lifting an RV, where the low-profile jack arm can slide flat under the axles and raise the vehicle effortlessly with the press of a button.

The control is excellent. The jack lifts and lowers smoothly and precisely, so getting to exactly the height you want is easy, whether you are working under a car on a creeper or getting under a trailer. It is also a safer, less physically demanding way to jack up a vehicle, and testing apparently extended to real tire shops around the US before release, which adds some confidence in its durability.

There are a few trade-offs. It is expensive, though it stays under $1,000, and it does not accept batteries from Milwaukee, Makita, or DeWalt. The included batteries and chargers are decent but not top-tier quality, and extras are sold separately. The biggest practical quirk: the jack has a real on/off switch, and leaving it on drains the battery in a week or less even when idle, so you need to switch it off after every use rather than treating it like a trigger-activated power tool.

OMT Ball Joint Separator Set

The Orion Motor Tech (OMT) ball joint separator set is the value pick of the year, sitting at roughly $40. It is a puller and separator set for ball joints, tie rod ends, and jobs like the idler arm on a GMC, and it is the rare budget set where every piece in the kit has actually seen use.

For anyone doing their own suspension work, this set has saved well over a thousand dollars in labor by making it practical to handle stuck, rusted components at home. It has been pressed into service across multiple trucks, including a Tacoma project and several Ram trucks, with nothing bending or breaking. It also costs notably less than comparable sets sold elsewhere.

The technique matters: an impact works fine on components that are not seized, but for anything badly stuck, a ratchet taken slowly is the safer approach to avoid damaging the tools. For the price, though, this is one of the easiest recommendations in automotive hand tools, especially for anyone starting to do more of their own repairs.

Hercules 18V Power Tools

The Hercules 18V power tool line, sold through Harbor Freight, is the surprise pick. The headline tool is the Ultra Torque impact wrench, which delivers seriously strong performance at a price that undercuts Milwaukee, Makita, and DeWalt easily. For heavy-duty jobs like suspension work, it is compelling enough on its own to justify investing in the Hercules battery platform, and a mid-torque version has already been announced for early 2026.

The line extends beyond impact tools. The battery-powered vacuum, which closely resembles a DeWalt design, improves on it with locking accessory fittings and a smoother battery connection, at roughly half the price of the DeWalt equivalent. The standard impact driver is solid for the price, and there are now 12V options such as die grinders, plus a larger 18V die grinder for small fabrication tasks.

Hercules does not have the best of everything, and it is not a full platform replacement for every need, but the tools that exist are well made and come with a five-year warranty on the tools and a multi-year warranty on the batteries. The combination of performance, build quality, and warranty coverage makes the 18V line one of the most impressive value stories in power tools right now.

Buying Advice

Each of these tools earns its place differently. If you regularly lift vehicles, especially low-clearance ones like RVs and trailers, the Roadtech jack removes most of the effort and adds precise control, just budget for its own battery ecosystem and remember to power it off. If you wrench on your own vehicles at all, the OMT separator set is a near-automatic buy at its price, and it pays for itself on the first job. If you are building out a cordless tool collection and want maximum performance per dollar, the Hercules 18V line, anchored by the Ultra Torque, is worth serious consideration.

Conclusion

Usefulness, not novelty, defined these three picks. A powered jack that makes lifting effortless, a $40 separator set that has already paid for itself many times over, and an 18V tool line that competes with premium brands at a fraction of the price. Together they show that the most valuable tools of the year are the ones that quietly become the first thing you reach for.