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Giving the gift of tools for the holidays can be a great way to bring a smile to your favorite DIY enthusiast or home improvement weekend warrior, but quality tools can be expensive. However, you can still give a nice gift to someone who wants to do their own home maintenance or build their own shelves—you just have to know what to look for. Here are some of the best tools you can give for under $100, from someone who personally loves to wield a power drill.
Best cordless tools under $100
Cordless tools can be some of the most expensive for a home tool set because they need batteries and chargers in addition to the tool. Having batteries that work with multiple tools can be a big advantage because then you don’t necessarily need to have a different battery for each tool. Here are a few good deals on quality cordless tools that have battery platforms that work with hundreds of other tools and are durable as well.
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The Ryobi 18-volt driver set is $55.94 at Home Depot right now. The drill comes with a 1.5-amp-hour battery, a charger, and a 30-piece bit set, so it’s a good gift from someone starting a DIY tool kit because it has everything you need to start using it right out of the box. The Ryobi 18-volt battery platform includes over 300 cordless tools, so beginning with this battery set allows you to expand your kit in many directions.
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The Dremel 12-volt cordless multitool starter set is a good gift for a DIYer who is interested in metal smithing, wood carving, or even trimming a dog’s nails, and it’s $99 right now at Home Depot. The cordless feature makes a Dremel more portable, and easier to control because you don’t need to worry about dragging an extension cord around behind you. The starter set comes with a battery, a charger, and a small set of accessories, so it’s a good set as a gift because it’s ready to use right out of the box.
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The Ryobi 18-volt cordless brad nailer is a good gift for someone who is interested in installing trim or making woodworking projects like a birdhouse, and you can get it for $99 right now at Home Depot. It has a depth control and a built-in LED light that makes it more convenient in my experience when you’re working in tight spaces. While battery operated nailers used to be a little underpowered, improvements in battery technology and engineering have made them more functional in the last few years. This is a good gift for someone who already has an 18-volt Ryobi battery set or if you plan to buy batteries separately because it doesn’t come with a battery or a charger.
Best tool sets under $100
Quality hand tools like wrenches and pliers are an essential part of a home DIY set, and you might not even realize how important they are until you’re partway through taking your kitchen sink apart and you realize you don’t have the right wrench. Hand tools are a good gift for a DIYer because in my experience, you can never have too many. Here are a few quality tool sets you can give your favorite DIY home improvement expert for under $100.
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A set of Craftsman slip-joint pliers is a good gift for anyone who does vehicle maintenance, DIY appliance repair, or any DIY projects with mechanical parts, and you can get it on Amazon for $22.48 right now. I’ve used my slipjaw pliers on sink repair and also to fix wheels on rolling chairs. This set comes with one pair of 10-inch and one pair of eight-inch slip-jaw pliers with rubber handle grips for a more comfortable grip.
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The Klein 9-piece screwdriver set is a good quality starter set of drivers and a good gift to give someone interested in any type of DIY, and it’s $66.99 right now on Amazon. Klein screwdrivers are known for their durability, and are a popular choice for construction trades because they’re made with good quality steel and durable components. This set comes with eight flathead and Phillips head drivers in a range of lengths and a magnetizer/demagnetizer tool to allow you to magnetize your screw tip to hold hardware, or demagnetize it for work around sensitive electronic parts.
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The Craftsman 20-piece ratcheting wrench set is a good gift for anyone who works with mechanical parts, nut and bolts, auto-repair, or appliance repair. These wrenches are especially handy because they can fit in a much narrower place than a socket wrench would, so they can be indispensable for fitting into tight spaces. They’re $66.99 on Amazon right now, and the set includes ten SAE and ten metric wrenches in various sizes.
Best bits and accessories under $100
Bits, blades, and accessories for a tool set are sometimes the difference between being able to finish a project or not, but they can be more expensive than you might expect. If you’re shopping for someone with DIY dreams, bits and other accessories are almost always a useful choice because these things tend to be expendable, as they can wear out over time. I’ve never been sad to have extra bits in my tool kit. Here are a few of the best bits and accessories gifts under $100.
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The Bosch 15-piece router bit set is a good gift for a woodworker who likes to shape their own trim with a router. These bits are good quality, and made by one of the most popular router manufacturers around. They can be used for edge-trimming as well as cutting a molding profile or adding a decorative edge to shelves or cabinet doors. You can get this set for $94.99 on Amazon, and it comes with a wrench for swapping out the adapters and a carrying case.
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The Milwaukee 120-piece impact bit set is a good gift for anyone who uses a drill or impact driver for home repair or DIY projects, and it’s $29.88 at Home Depot right now. This set comes with a variety of driver bits as well as some drill bits and an extension bit holder. These bits will work with either an impact driver or a drill, so they’re versatile and interchangeable for convenient use. I like to use this type of bit because they tend to be more shatter resistant when you’re driving fasteners into tough material like the 110-year-old plaster walls in my house.
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The Milwaukee 23-piece impact compatible drill bit set is a good gift for anyone who installs shelving, builds home woodworking projects, or wants to hang storage in their home. It comes with drill bits that are cross compatible with a drill or impact driver in a variety of sizes, and you can get it for $29.97 at Home Depot right now. These bits are stranger than your average drill bit to accommodate the extra force that an impact driver exerts, and I find that they tend to be durable for woodworking projects.