This first one isn’t necessarily a tool, but I think it enhances the garage experience anyway. Over my nearly four decades, I’ve learned that work tends to go faster with music, so a good Bluetooth speaker is a worthy pickup for your garage. There are a ton of options these days, so your work is cut out for you when it comes to selection. However, given that garages are loud places, you probably don’t need the most Hi-Fi option in the world. For the purposes of this list, I think the JBL Charge 6 is a good choice.

There’s a lot to like about this Bluetooth speaker. It’s built for outdoor use, and can handle water and dust thanks to its IP68 rating. JBL also packs in 28 hours of battery life (volume dependent), so it can jam tunes as long as you’re in the garage, and then you can charge it overnight via its USB port. The Charge 6 also comes in 10 colors, which is nice to have. I listen to music in my garage all the time, and while I don’t own the JBL Charge 6, my JBL Charge 4 is still working well despite being a few years old. 

Ryobi has as many USB-powered tools as any other tool brand, so we could’ve easily made this whole list a Ryobi list. The large selection means there are some pretty good tool combo kits available from the brand, including the Ryobi USB Lithium Project Kit. The tools included are an electric screwdriver, glue gun, inspection light, and rotary tool. Admittedly, the screwdriver probably won’t replace your full-powered cordless drill, but it is usable for smaller tasks around the garage. The glue gun, light, and rotary tool are the big winners in this combo kit because they are useful tools that you’d likely pay more to buy separately. 

The glue gun works as all glue guns do. You put in a stick of glue, and the gun melts it so you can use it to repair things. The inspection light is also pretty self-explanatory and comes with a magnetic base for use in tight spaces with lots of metal. The best tool in the kit is arguably the rotary tool, which is similar to a Dremel. The kit comes with lots of bits for carving, sharpening, sanding, cutting, and other uses, and you can buy more. All of these are powered by USB-rechargeable batteries.

One of the worst parts of working on something is not being able to see what’s going on or what you need to do. Something like the Kinpathy Endoscope Camera can help with that. The idea is pretty simple. It’s a long tube with a camera at the end of it. You can snake it into the tight space where you can’t see. The camera shows you what’s going on. There are a ton of these on Amazon, and most of the inexpensive ones have the same quality and also work the same way. They connect to your phone’s USB port and use your phone’s screen as a viewfinder. Yes, people use this as a tool in their garage as well.

The inexpensive ones are good enough for DIY work and have other uses as well. My neighbor has a 50-foot version with its own screen that I’ve used to check my driveway drains a few times. The video isn’t the highest quality, but it’s more than good enough for drains, engine bays, and other tight spaces where humans can’t readily go. They’re almost all powered by USB in some way, either as a rechargeable power source or a direct connection to a phone or computer.

A headlamp is a layup pick for this type of list. There are tons on the market, but if you want something a little above average, the Fenix HM70R Headlamp is a good choice. It can shine up to 1,600 lumens, which is way brighter than you would think it is, and it’s rechargeable via USB. Each one comes with a headband that has a reflective strap to make it easy to find in the dark, and it can run for 20 hours on a single charge. It also has IP67 dust- and water-resistance, making it good for garage work.

The utility of a headlamp is self-explanatory. Strap one of these to your head, and you have light that follows your head movements, leaving both of your hands and the space around you free to hold tools and perform the work. The one I use isn’t nearly as nice as the Fenix, but it’s serviceable, and I’ve used it several times when working on my plumbing under my kitchen sink. Headlamps are available that take regular batteries, but a USB-rechargeable one makes the most sense since you don’t have to worry about swapping batteries and you can keep it charged when not using it.

Soldering irons make for good USB-powered gadgets for your garage. Most soldering irons plug directly into the wall, and that’s perfectly fine, depending on your usage. People who solder a lot should definitely get one that plugs into the wall for that very reason. However, if you only solder once in a blue moon and don’t need something that’ll stay hot and solder for hours upon hours, a USB-powered soldering iron is a good way to round out your tool kit without losing another wall outlet. 

There are several options on the market, but the iFixit FixHub Smart Soldering Iron is what I’d go for. It uses USB-C as its main power source, which delivers more power than a standard USB port. It can easily reach 350 degrees Celsius, which is enough for small tasks like soldering two wires together. The power is adjustable through the brand’s Android app or web interface, and iFixit also sells two additional solder tips for additional versatility. You’ll need to make sure your USB power source supports up to 100 watts, but otherwise, this is strong enough for basic tasks without committing to a whole soldering iron setup. 

Generally, I keep a pretty heavy-duty pair of scissors in my garage for basic cutting needs, but I have considered getting a power cutter before. The Ryobi USB Lithium Power Cutter is where I’d start. This little guy uses power to cut through things, and it can be generally helpful if you have to cut a lot. Its main use is for things like carpet, cardboard, leather, and things like that. However, by and large, most people tend to use it to open the annoying plastic clamshell packaging that many things come in. Regardless of use case, it’s a lot easier on your hands than scissors, and that’s its main benefit. 

This is one of those items that can cover multiple manual tools. It’s not great for opening packages, but it does work for breaking down shipping containers and opening other types of packaging. In my experience, about 90% of my scissor and box cutter use is for those two things, and so I could probably get a power cutter and keep the manual tools put away for emergencies. It won’t change your life, but it makes for a good quality-of-life tool that can save some hand cramps on busy days. 

One of the products I saw during my research that most often used USB power was lighting. Lights can shine pretty brightly for quite a long time over a USB-rechargeable battery, making them good for garage use. The Milwaukee RedLithium USB Stick Light is about as typical of a USB-powered garage light as any that I found. It comes with a magnetic base that lets you stick to anything from workbenches to engine bay framing, giving you solid light in places where holding your phone’s camera flash simply won’t work. 

Add to that a tilting and rotating head, and you have something that you can use in almost any scenario. Milwaukee’s light also has four modes, with the highest power outputting 550 lumens. This mode lasts for two hours on a single charge, so you’ll probably want to use one of the middle settings for longevity. It also has an IP54 rating, which isn’t the best, but it will still keep it safe from some dust and moisture. If Milwaukee’s option isn’t doing it for you, DeWalt and Ryobi both have similar task lights with similar utility, battery life, and designs. You can really get whichever one suits your fancy, as they all work pretty well.

Air compressors are valuable tools that can do all sorts of different work, and there are a ton on the market to choose from. I most recently used mine to clean my home’s three tower fans by blowing the dust out of them. However, not all garages need a full-sized air compressor. They’re loud, they take up a lot of space, and sometimes, you only need a small spurt of air here and there. For that, the Ryobi USB Lithium Cordless Bike and Ball Pump Inflator is a good thing to have around. It’s basically a miniature air compressor that recharges over USB, and the kit comes with two valves.

You won’t be able to pump up a flat car tire with this, but its main use case is perfect if you have a lot of bikes and balls in your garage. It’s also nice for the occasional short burst of air if you need to clear some dust or debris from a dirty engine part. It’s small enough to fit into enclosed spaces, which also helps it reach places traditional air compressors can’t reach unless you have a longer hose. 

There are some benefits to using an electric staple gun over a manual or pneumatic one. Electric staple guns have more power than their manual counterparts, and while pneumatic ones are the most powerful, they are also very loud. The Bielmeier Electric Staple Gun sits in a cozy middle ground where it’s easier to use but also powerful enough for most tasks. It can house upwards of 1,200 staples into its bottom-loading magazine, and it also comes with support for nails, giving you some two-in-one utility here. It recharges over USB, which is how it should be used. The maker warns not to use this while it’s charging, as it could cause performance issues.

I own a manual staple gun that I have used exactly four times ever, so dropping a large amount of money on a quality pneumatic one isn’t really in my best interest. The Bielmeier costs $30, recharges over USB-C so it’s compatible with my existing charging bricks, and is easier to use than my manual staple gun, which I’ve never been a big fan of anyway. The next time I need a staple gun, there’s a good chance I’ll buy one of these.

The Ryobi USB Lithium Clamp Fan isn’t going to make your garage twice as efficient as it once was, but it will make it much more comfortable. I keep a tower fan in my garage that hits most parts of it, and that fan comes in handy on warm, humid days when I’m out fixing things. A clamp fan does the same thing, but since it clamps onto stuff, you can take it with you and clamp it wherever you are to get some fresh air on your face and body as you work. 

Small fans like this are nice because they’re small enough to carry around with you. A giant box fan does the same job, but requires a plug, and they’re rather unwieldy to carry around the garage while you work on different things. A clamp fan can be easily turned off, moved, clamped, and turned back on. Ryobi’s model works for seven hours on a single charge and moves 135 CFM. That equates to a gentle breeze and is about twice as strong as a high-powered PC fan.

Flashlights are always helpful in a garage environment, and the Olight iMini 2 is about as small a flashlight as you can get. This little guy can be held in your fingertips and disappears entirely in the palm of your hand. It outputs 50 lumens of light, which is enough for small, enclosed spaces, and has a magnetic base for sticking it somewhere. The charging base is also magnetic and plugs into any USB-A port to charge. The charging base also lets you attach it to a keyring, giving you another option for carrying it.

It’s no secret that most shop lights are pretty big. They’re much brighter, but their size limits where you can realistically use them, and that’s where the Olight shines, pun intended. This little guy can fit almost anywhere, including tight engine bays and in small holes, which adds some versatility to your lighting setup. It’s not quite as rugged as something made for the shop, but it is made of metal, so it should be able to handle a knock or two. That USB charger is exposed, though, so be careful with that end of it if you plan on carrying it around. 

Speaking from experience, a repair or project that requires heavy use of a screwdriver can get fatiguing very quickly. I’ve done some repairs around my home where my hand was sore for days afterward, and I type for a living, which compounds the issue. Enter the DeWalt FlexDrive ¼-inch Cordless Screwdriver. This handy little guy can do the grunt work for you, and it’s powered by a rechargeable battery that plugs into a USB. Any power tool owner knows how one of these works already. Slide the bit into the screw, press a button, and it does the rest of the work. 

The big benefit is that it’s smaller than a cordless drill, so it fits into more spaces, and relieves the user of having to use a manual screwdriver. DeWalt’s screwdriver has up to 44 in-lbs of torque, so it won’t work for heavy-duty applications, but that’s more than enough power for your typical screw. The battery life is also pretty good, with up to 680 individual screws per charge, depending on your use. It’ll be especially useful in tight, awkward spaces where twisting a screwdriver by hand would be very annoying. Of all the tools on the list, this is my favorite USB-powered tool, and one I’m definitely buying someday. 

Most USB-powered tools aren’t going to beat their full-size counterparts, and that was something that was heavily taken into consideration when researching this article. For example, IKEA sells the Trixig power drill that is USB rechargeable and comes with a snazzy carrying case. However, in a garage, a regular cordless power drill is probably already present, and they’re usually at least 18 volts, whereas the Trixig is only 12 volts. That isn’t congruent with the message of the article, so things like that were immediately discarded from consideration. 

Instead, the focus was on tools and items that could fit between the cracks. Something like an endoscopy camera is useful, enhances your experience, but isn’t a smaller, less powerful variant of something you might already have in your garage. The same goes for the Olight iMini 2 and the DeWalt Electric Screwdriver, which are likely augmenting something you already have or helping in ways that traditional power tools and hand tools simply don’t. After that, every tool had to either be directly powered by USB or at least be USB rechargeable. Once all the filters were applied, the list above popped out.