craftsman toolboxes at lowe’s

[HDtechtyler]

i looked at them the other night, have to say i’m disappointed. thoughts?

 

[Aaron_W]

Why, what did you not like about them?

I was in a Lowe's last week and I took a passing glance at them. I'm not shopping for a tool box so it was just a quick tire kick out of curiosity. They seemed typical for boxes in that price range.

 

[brokeboater]

I go to Lowe's quite a bit. I've looked a good bit at the Kobalt tool boxes. I've seen the new Craftsman boxes beginning to fill up the spaces and haven't even given them the slightest peek. I guess I've read too much negative on here. Before I stumbled in here I'd probably taken a close look. Of course before I stumbled in here I'd have never considered a tool box from the freight place. I just ended up snagging a Williams box from Amazon. I hope I'm not disappointed.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Why, what did you not like about them?

I think he's just trying to start another Craftsman bashing thread. We haven't had one of those for a few hours now.

 

[nehog]

i looked at them the other night, have to say i’m disappointed. thoughts?

The other day we went to Harbor Freight and checked out tool boxes. Then drove across the street and checked out the Craftsman boxes as well. The Harbor Freight boxes were smoother, bigger, and more solid.

 

[HDtechtyler]

crapsman is junk and all their products are junk. if you have usa crapsman and it breaks be prepared to get china made garbage. better off with wal mart tools.

 

[GMCGarage]

crapsman is junk and all their products are junk. if you have usa crapsman and it breaks be prepared to get china made garbage. better off with wal mart tools.

Hey do you know how to ignore a user?

 

[pattenp]

I was in Lowe's today and saw they now have a large stock of Craftsman toolboxes and tools. The quality looks typical for the price. I don't agree that all their products are junk.

 

[Pathfinders]

Well Sears is closing 60 some odd stores. They need too place the leftovers.

 

[paramud]

My lowes has tons of craftman is there "main walkway" I looked them and will keep buying HF for toolboxes.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

crapsman is junk and all their products are junk. if you have usa crapsman and it breaks be prepared to get china made garbage. better off with wal mart tools.

Walmart sells Craftsman...

Tommy

 

[IBuiltWhat]

The remaining Kobalt tool boxes the Lowes near me seem better built than the Craftsman boxes. The Kobalt cost more. The price point of the CM seems to be fair for what you get if you know what it is going into it. The CM are probably fine for the average user.

 

[ItsNemo]

i looked at them the other night, have to say i’m disappointed. thoughts?

You should probably go somewhere else to buy a toolbox then.

 

[OzarkMan]

Interesting enough is that the Craftsman boxes they had at my Lowe's were USA made. Thought they were all imported. Ace sells craftsman tools and such by us.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I thought they looked okay for the price. Paint/powercoat was decent, drawers seemed like they need a bit of mass in them to get a smooth roll, but my KRL was like that on the widest drawers. It's a sub-$1000 tool box, with a decent homeowner style layout. Didn't seem any better or worse than the HF offerings, but I much preferred lifting the trim to unlock rather than the HF single lever on the right. Obviously the cheap ones are much more terrible, vs. the more expensive ones. Those little $75 3 drawer boxes are pretty poor.

I did see a $300 one at lowes, forget what brand. I could open the drawer, and flex the shell by wiggling it, maybe 1/2 of play in those slides. THAT was a sorry tool box. But hey, for someone that needs to store some super basic stuff, it would likely work twice a year when they used it.

 

[IBuiltWhat]

For what it is worth one of the CM tool boxes, the soft close mechanism was broken on two of the drawers. They wouldn't close all the way. I didn't see any visible damage on the box so it either came like that from the factory with poor QC or broke being out on display and manhandled. Not a good sign either way. None of the other CM boxes that were out had a drawer broken.

 

[340wedge]

i looked at them the other night, have to say i’m disappointed. thoughts?

I took a look, they had the work bench and cabinet in red and black that I bought from Sears 5 years ago. The bench looked identical, the edging trim on the doors on the large cabinet was larger and it seemed more sturdy over all. I am not sure if it was the lights in Lowes as the red seemed more bright, not as deep a red but more orange red.

 

[Aaron_W]

I think he's just trying to start another Craftsman bashing thread. We haven't had one of those for a few hours now.

Based on the follow up post I suspect you are correct. Had the OP referred to them as Crapsman right upfront I could have saved myself the trouble of posting.

 

[blair683]

Please excuse my ignorance but what’s the back story with Lowe’s now selling Craftsman? Is Kobalt going bye bye or are they going to sell both? Do they plan to stock a large quantity of Craftsman hand tools and do a warranty exchange just like Sears used to? I was shocked the other day when I seen Craftsman boxes beside the Kobalt ones. My local Lowe’s does not have any Craftsman hand tools, just toolboxes and storage cabinets. I am sure these questions have been answered a million times on here but I must have missed it.

 

[southpier]

I like my Kobalt drawers.

 

[RWorth]

Based on the follow up post I suspect you are correct. Had the OP referred to them as Crapsman right upfront I could have saved myself the trouble of posting.

Hey, I call them Crapsman and I like their tools. There boxes were never top of the line, but I have a few of them that I've had for years that work just fine. Looking around lately at anything, most of what you find when you look for cheap is coming out of China, and most of it looks like **** to me, why would tool boxes be any different.

 

[Citation]

crapsman is junk and all their products are junk. if you have usa crapsman and it breaks be prepared to get china made garbage. better off with wal mart tools.

Thanks. You made the world just a bit stupider today.

 

[Jeepster04]

These threads are absolutely awesome.

 

[Hohn]

You should probably go somewhere else to buy a toolbox then.

/thread.

 

[pattenp]

Please excuse my ignorance but what’s the back story with Lowe’s now selling Craftsman? Is Kobalt going bye bye or are they going to sell both? Do they plan to stock a large quantity of Craftsman hand tools and do a warranty exchange just like Sears used to? I was shocked the other day when I seen Craftsman boxes beside the Kobalt ones. My local Lowe’s does not have any Craftsman hand tools, just toolboxes and storage cabinets. I am sure these questions have been answered a million times on here but I must have missed it.

When I was in Lowe's I asked what the deal was and was told that Stanley Black and Decker has picked Lowe's to be the primary retailer to sell the Craftsman brand. They will sill be selling Kobalt because it's Lowe's brand and is a little lower price point. Supposedly Craftsman brand is now going to be a major item Lowe's sells, power tools included, even lawn equipment.

 

[maxpat82]

Craftsman was in their own while under sears.

Now they are from Stanley/Dewalt(Who bought Craftsman from Sears), so they are the same tools, with a new red color instead of yellow.

Comparable for the price range.

 

[yeldogt]

Would be interesting to know where they are coming from. SBD paid $900M for the craftsman brand ... not for the tools. Tools was only 1/3 of Craftsman sales -- SBD wants to add things they don't have like garage items (openers/ cabinets) and outdoor equipment.

 

[yeldogt]

I have always found "Branding" to be very interesting. It's very important in the USA .... like sticking GE on a water heater. GE has never made a WH -- but Home Depo did surveys showed people viewed GE as making a great WH .. they would buy one. The fact that they did not make them ??? -- so let's slap a GE label on someone else unit. GE gets a fee for every one -- plus the GE service number is on them.

The did the same with Rigid -- my memory was they had a dispute with Shop Vac or Emerson ... and they went to Rigid -- who did not even make them at the time!

 

[Falcon67]

I have several Craftsman boxes. Mine are older, around late 1999. I noticed that as time has gone on that the Cman boxes have gotten where they feel "thinner" and somewhat less robust. But - most all boxes are imported and all seem to suffer in quality somewhere. Now that Cman is out from under Eddie Lambert, maybe they will improve some. My 40" box is not anything super duper but has held up very well with a lot of weight in it.

 

[Aaron_W]

Hey, I call them Crapsman and I like their tools. There boxes were never top of the line, but I have a few of them that I've had for years that work just fine. Looking around lately at anything, most of what you find when you look for cheap is coming out of China, and most of it looks like **** to me, why would tool boxes be any different.

That is a little different. I know plenty of people who embrace the slurs against their favorite brand. My Grandfather owned several Fords, and was always telling people what Ford meant (alternated between Found on the road dead and Fix or repair daily). He obviously liked the cars as he bought a few over the years.


Starting a thread that says hey I looked at these but didn't think much, what do others think (implying that maybe I was hasty in forming an opinion).

Following up with a wild screed against the brand with no substance shows there was a complete lack of candor in the first post, it was nothing more than a troll post.

 

[pattenp]

For the curious here's a list of brands under Stanley Black&Decker....

Black&Decker
Stanley
Irwin
Dewalt
Porter Cable
Lista
MAC Tools
Bostitch
Craftsman
Proto
InnerSpace
Vidmar
AeroScout
Facom

 

[K13]

The craftsman boxes they brought in here are junky and overpriced. They were quit a bit more expensive than the identical Kobalt junky boxes (their Black ones) they had sitting right beside them and more than the equivelant Husky boxes Home Depot stocks. Nowhere near the same quality as the stainless Kobalt boxes and only slightly cheaper. It seems like they are trying to pawn them off as a middle price point choice but the construction quality is no better than the cheap Kobalt so I am guessing its going to fail here. Either that or because they are U.S. made we have to pay more to get them into Canada due to the exchange but whatever the case there are lots of choices of the same build quality that are less expensive.

They are also selling Craftsman tools at Rona here in Canada which is a hardware chain that Lowe's bought out a few years ago.

 

[pattenp]

I took a real hard look at the Craftsman boxes today and also the Kobalt. Went over to Harbor Freight and compared the General boxes. I'd definitely go with the General boxes over the others. The Craftsman box say made in USA, but has caveat "using global components".

 

[Mpower5266]

I took a real hard look at the Craftsman boxes today and also the Kobalt. Went over to Harbor Freight and compared the General boxes. I'd definitely go with the General boxes over the others. The Craftsman box say made in USA, but has caveat "using global components".

I agree. I felt like the drawer slides were a little sticky too. They certainly felt cheaper than the harbor freight boxes.

 

[Professional Tool User]

If the Craftsman boxes the OP are referring to are just rebranded lower end Waterloo boxes, then yeah, they are going to be garbage.