Craftsman 52" or a HF 44"

[newman4711]

Right now my local Lowes has a 52" Craftsman box on sale for $399, or would a better buy be the HF 44" for $449. Need another box like a I need a tooth ache, but need the storage space more. thanks

 

[Musicinabottle]

Both sound like good deals but I have no idea but welcome to the forum.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Welcome to our group, I would say go to each store and compare them. Is one deeper then the other one?

 

[BroncoAZ]

Having recently looked at the HF Gen 2 line, I think it feels more substantial than anything built by Craftsman currently in the stores.

 

[doublearon98]

Which craftsman

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[kythri]

I'd definitely want to see/touch them before making a decision, but chances are, the Craftsman box is shallower than the HF, and it's thinner/weaker sheet metal.

Edited to add:

Yeaaah, is it this one:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-...all-bearing-Steel-Tool-Cabinet-Red/1000462565

??

I'd DEFINITELY buy the HF over this one. 18" deep boxes, at least for me, stink.

Additionally, a "feature" of Waterloo-built boxes that continues to turn me off is the drawer layout on bigger boxes. Rarely do you get wider than a 22"-24" drawer, no matter how wide the box goes.

 

[alpinewhite]

I have a hunch that the HF would be beefier.

 

[AmishFury]

i really don't like the drawer layout on the CM boxes at lowes

the HF has an extra 4" of depth and a far superior drawer layout and you can expand it with top box, side cabinet, and side locker later on if you want

 

[yamaha0343]

A Craftsman vs HF comparison? Are you trying to make heads explode here?

The HF will be a better built box. Craftsman did a ton of things right, but their boxes were never a bastion of quality.

 

[Skin]

Might of been a question before HF remodeled the 44. Now I don't think so.

A Craftsman vs HF comparison? Are you trying to make heads explode here?

The HF will be a better built box. Craftsman did a ton of things right, but their boxes were never a bastion of quality.

Their Pro line were excellent. Just priced poorly and didn't last.

 

[L.Cheapo]

Whichever drawer layout works best for you. The Craftsman has significantly more cubic inches, but if you have a bunch of small tools to store, the HF would likely be the better layout.

 

[BDT/NWMN]

The HF is 22" deep vs !8" deep on the Craftsman.
The HF is 291 pounds VS 221 pounds for the Craftsman.
I would prefer the USA product; but the depth and weight of the HF box would outscale My preference

 

[Mr_B]

Out of those 2 I would go HF mainly because of depth, drawer layout and side cabinet expansion possibility in the future .

If not in hurry it likely go 20-30 bucks cheaper than current coupon price .

 

[Moparman390]

Yeah I think Waterloo didn't want to devote more design or production capacity to wider drawers, they just keep using the ones for the 26" boxes all over the place. Quite annoying when you get a wider box but it's really just like putting two 26ers next to each other. SBD needs to make them make wider drawers on wider boxes to stay competitive and a single full length drawer across the top doesn't cut it.

 

[bpjr]

I would go with the one that has the drawer layout you like. It appears the HF is more heavy duty but the layout ***** for me. The long top drawer is a deal breaker and the chest has less storage space. I have several stacks of Cman bb chests with 100lb ratings and they are loaded to the max without problems, so evidently a heavier chest isn't that critical for my home wrenching...so I would do the Cman again if buying.

 

[AmishFury]

Whichever drawer layout works best for you. The Craftsman has significantly more cubic inches, but if you have a bunch of small tools to store, the HF would likely be the better layout.

the "bunch of small tools" point falls apart when the HF has a full width drawer while the CM as someone pointed out is pretty much 2 26" boxes in one cabinet... all the drawers have the same width

plus the extra depth...

CM box drawers will be 16" front to back and probably about 24" wide

HF box drawers are 19 3/8" front to back and the top drawer is substantially wider (i don't have the specs and don't have time for more than a quick minute of googling)

in the end OP should go with whichever works best for their situation