Samantha Reed

Last updated: If you have ever tried to drill a perfectly straight hole through a 2×4 with a handheld drill, you already know why a real drill press is one of the first big upgrades home garage owners make. I spent the last three months running eight of the most popular benchtop and floor drill … Read more

We’ve spent years turning wrenches and chasing check engine lights, so we know the frustration of paying $120 just to have a shop plug in a code reader for 30 seconds. That’s exactly why the best OBD2 scanners deserve a spot in your glove box. The right tool tells you whether that glowing light means … Read more

When I first picked up a standard OBD2 code reader, I thought I had everything I needed to diagnose my cars. Then I tried to test whether my fuel pump was actually working without ripping out the back seat, and realized I was stuck. That frustration sent me down the rabbit hole of finding the … Read more

I plugged eight different wireless OBD2 scanners into my 2017 Ford F-150 and a 2012 Honda Civic over the course of a month, driving both cars daily to test connection stability, app responsiveness, and how each one handled real diagnostic work. The best wireless OBD2 scanners today are Bluetooth adapters that talk to your phone … Read more

I’ve spent years clamping workpieces in garages, basements, and professional shops, and I’ll tell you right now: a good bench vise is the single most underrated tool in any workshop. Whether you’re filing down a stubborn bolt, dovetailing drawer fronts, or straightening bent steel, having one of the best bench vises bolted to your workbench … Read more

When our team started testing cordless band saws three months ago, we did not expect to find such a wide gap between models. We cut through hundreds of feet of EMT conduit, 1-5/8″ unistrut, copper pipe, and threaded rod. We measured weight, balance, cuts per charge, and how each saw felt after a full day … Read more

I spent the last two months living out of my garage workshop testing the best cordless rotary tools on the market right now. I cut metal, sanded 3D prints, sharpened mower blades, polished jewelry blanks, and engraved signs. I ran each tool until the battery died, then timed how long it took to recharge. After … Read more

If your fuel-injected engine cranks but refuses to start, the culprit often hides in the wiring between the ECU and the fuel injectors. I learned this the hard way on a 1998 Cherokee that spent three weeks in my driveway before I bought my first noid light kit. After that single purchase, the same diagnosis … Read more

I’ve spent the last three months pulling spark plugs, dropping probes into oil pans, and crawling under dashboards with eight different borescopes in my garage. What started as a simple search for the best borescopes for engines turned into a full-blown side-by-side test session, because not every “mechanic-grade” inspection camera lives up to the box … Read more

I learned this the hard way when my boat battery died in the middle of a lake last summer. After watching my regular car charger nearly ruin my deep cycle battery, I realized these batteries need something different. Deep cycle batteries are built to deliver steady power over long periods, and that means they need … Read more