Husky 52" tool box/chest combo - $598

[imdavids]

If I am the only one that had problems I was probably just getting clumsy since it was 30 degrees and they were the last casters I put on. I loaded 90% of my tools in it and it is very smooth. The drawers are better now that they have some weight in them. The only drawer that I really have some weight in it is the bigger bottom drawer which probably has right at about 90lbs in it and it seems to handle it just fine.
Spydergiant here is a comparison of new box vs old
http://i.imgur.com/xVUhz0V.jpg

 

[NY98M3]

Just picked up one of these on clearance!

Originally $598, on clearance for $475! Volly FF discount and I got it for $420!

I have 2 HF 44" boxes, this one is way better!

 

[stage20]

Just picked up one of these on clearance!

Originally $598, on clearance for $475! Volly FF discount and I got it for $420!

I have 2 HF 44" boxes, this one is way better!

How is it better?

 

[elronin]

How is it better?

Oh oh here we go again. He probably ment better space. I wonder if they are going to discontinue it like the 40 inch 10 drawer cabinet. They are going on clearance from what it looks like, wonder if they are coming out with a new one.

 

[CatSplat]

They've completely pulled it off the Canadian website, hopefully they come out with a replacement as my father was waiting for them to come back in stock to pick one up.

 

[stage20]

it is bigger, but the top drawer is one slide, and not as deep as other makes. ill say for around 400 bucks youcant buy a better box at new prices. and its black. i like that. wish it was an 8 drawer top, it would be tempting for me to buy one and sell the bottom. i need a top but really need a 10/11 drawer setup.

 

[imdavids]

For those people that are getting them on sale, are they marked down in the stores? Or do you ask someone to check the price? Scratch and dent? I would get another for $475 in a heartbeat.

 

[Zippercat]

HD in Matthews, NC had them stacked up by the Pro desk with hand printed "Clearance" sign for $475. Sold the 4 or 5 in the stack in less than a day.

 

[NY98M3]

My store had 2 left and they were tucked in the corner by the storage bins. Yes it had the clearance tag handwritten.

 

[Brownsfan]

Just picked up one of these on clearance!

Originally $598, on clearance for $475! Volly FF discount and I got it for $420!

I have 2 HF 44" boxes, this one is way better!

No way it is. You do know the HF 44" box is made by the hand of God himself and there is NO box better. You would be a fool to buy a box other than the HF. The Husky is great value for the price.

 

[elronin]

it is bigger, but the top drawer is one slide, and not as deep as other makes. ill say for around 400 bucks youcant buy a better box at new prices. and its black. i like that. wish it was an 8 drawer top, it would be tempting for me to buy one and sell the bottom. i need a top but really need a 10/11 drawer setup.

LOL there was someone in south Florida on craiglist selling the top for 300 about a month ago. But I think he was asking to much.

 

[elronin]

Maybe they are replacing them with this

 

[stage20]

Maybe they are replacing them with this

Can't win. Top drawer layout looks awesome but not enough drawer on bottom. Bleh

 

[77Ford]

Can't win. Top drawer layout looks awesome but not enough drawer on bottom. Bleh

So you buy 2 or 3 of them...

 

[archirelic]

interesting...wondering why some locations are marking this down so low. at both my locations, when the associates look the box up on their FIRST phones, they still show as an active sku in the system so wondering if this is more of a district / region type thing. I would love to pick one up if it went below 500 bucks.

 

[cheechi]

Saw these new 52 and 40-whatever boxes. Both of them are drastically better than how husky boxes had been in recent years. They had the two bigger ones next to the 'project center' with the wood top, they compare very favorably to that and the 26" they currently sell.

I wouldn't buy one while the HF is an option. But they are much nicer than the previous generation.

 

[pcrjunkyamd]

had mine for 2 years no issues yet

 

[2StepsAhead]

My store had 2 left and they were tucked in the corner by the storage bins. Yes it had the clearance tag handwritten.

Location?

 

[Amphicar770]

Just picked one up for $475 at the West Norriton, PA store (near Oaks). They have about 4 others in stock.

I have an HF lower unit and, for home use, it is great. For home use I also think this will also be an excellent choice. My box moves about once every 5 years, if that.

As someone else said, these are not SnapOn quality but they are not junk either. The right answer is to buy what is appropriate for your situation and your budget.

 

[tlmartin84]

There are two versions of this box sold at Depot under the same SKU. Because they have the same SKU you can not tell which one your store has in stock via the internet, or their in store lookup. You have to look at the box. The older version was made in China and the newer version is made in Vietnam. There is a post on GJ where most people prefered the newer Vietnamese version, but I had both side by side in my garage and prefer the Chinese version. They are almost exactly the same and both are decent boxes, not junk, not Snap On.

Chinese Version

Vietnamese Version

Here are the differences I noted:

Chinese version has rubber grommets at both corners to allow wires to pass into the top box. Vietnamese version has a knock out that is not knocked out on the left side.

Chinese version has a lip around the perimeter of the bottom box to center the top box. The Vietnamese version has no lip, but uses a small piece of angle iron at the back corners to hold the top box to the bottom.

Chinese version does not have any advertising stickers on the box, Vietnamese version has red stickers with promotional information on the drawer fronts. (Easy to remove)

The Chinese drawer liners are a smooth, thin foam. The Vietnamese liners seemed nicer and have more gloss and a macro texture.

The Chinese drawer slides **** the drawer all the way in when you get it almost all the way closed. When you open it, it takes a little extra force to pull past the latching mechanism. The Vietnamese version just has increased friction at the end of travel. You have to push against the friction when closing and pull against it when opening. I liked the Chinese slides better so I searched for Chinese boxes.

The Chinese version is listed as having an 1800 lb capacity (100 lb per drawer) and the Vietnamese version is listed as 1400 lb.

The country of origin is written on the side of the cardboard box for the lower unit by the SKU. If you do go searching for one country of origin or another, in all the boxes I saw the Chinese ones always had white banding around the cardboard and the Vietnamese always had yellow banding. YMMV, but I looked at several boxes at about 6 different Depots.

I ended up picking up 4 of these... I searched several Home Depots for Chinese version and ended up finding a Depot that had the box on clearance and they price matched all the boxes to their clearance price. Out the door with 6% MI sales tax and 5% off for using a Home Depot card they were $542 each.

Here are 3 set up, 4th is still in the box and I am debating need as I transfer tools from my old boxes to these.

I measured the drawer thickness with a micrometer today, and it was 0.038 for both the Chinese version and the Vietnamese version I measured at Depot with rolled edges. I assume that is 20 gauge steel (0.036) + paint.

I did not take a drawer out of the Depot Display model, but the Chinese one I had has 1 3/8" drawer slides with 10 bearing pairs. Cabinet uses qty 6 5"x2" casters. The two deep drawers have two slides per drawer.

You can compare that to the ones Mister Moose reviewed previously and it is not the best, but not paper thin garbage. I also stopped by a Sears today and almost all of their drawers were 0.038" thick with the exception of their homeowner line, and workbenches with drawers underneath which were 0.025" thick. The Craftsman drawer slides ranged from 1 1/16" to 1 3/8" tall.

My "LOCAL" store was stocked full of these. I have been debating between the HF and HUSKY. After comparing them here are my thoughts.

The areas that fail in a typical home shop are the slides, and drawers. Typically casters are not an issue as the boxes stay pretty much stationary.

The ONLY difference was the HUSKY boxes not having a lip, the slides even looked Identical. Without the lip they were somewhat flimsier than the HF model. The HUSKY had smaller rivets as well. Enough to matter to me.... I'm still undecided.

Your gauges above do not match the HF nor the HUSKY I measured.

I am getting 19 gauge on both brands - paint/powder. (NOTE: I did measure it with my cheapo HF caliper so it may be off 2-3 Thousandths).

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[2slow]

I took my measurements with a good micrometer, being careful to put the anvils in an area that did not include the very edge as there was some deformation from the shearing process that bent it slightly.

I did not take the measurements in the table, I grabbed those from someone else's post.

I prefered the slides on the Chinese version of the Husky. If you find one of those, you may be happy. (look for white banding straps on the package)

 

[Mike_lsk]

Anyone have a picture of their reciept at the $475 price? Local store has several at the normal $598 price and I think they would price match to move a unit.

 

[Trihle98]

My Home Depot has them on sale for 389 in Huntsville,AL

 

[akcooper9]

My Home Depot has them on sale for 389 in Huntsville,AL

Pic of it?

 

[QtrHorse13]

My Home Depot has them on sale for 389 in Huntsville,AL

The smaller one is $389.

 

[Amphicar770]

Anyone have a picture of their reciept at the $475 price? Local store has several at the normal $598 price and I think they would price match to move a unit.

I do not have the receipt handy but here are pics from store in West Norriton, PA

 

[RegalX]

At $475 this is very tempting

 

[archirelic]

damn...I really want to know if the boxes will be dropping in price at my locations. I've talked with some guys I know at each store and they haven't heard anything coming down the pipeline about price drops on the boxes.

 

[99_xc600]

Just picked up my 52" today. It was still listed at $598 in the Enfield CT HD. For whatever reason, the box is no longer listed on the HD site. Only the 41" is listed. However there is a new stainless version of the 41" on the site.

Before I bought this, I had the HF 5 Drawer Service Cart along with 2 Craftsman 5 and 4 drawer chests with friction slides. Everything was full and I wanted to consolidate into a single box and the Husky was the most logical thing to do. I debated over the HF 44" top and bottom and the Husky. The Husky won mainly because of the bigger size, price and looks. I knew if I went with the 44" I would be out of room.

My overall impressions of the Husky is that it's a very good homeowners box. Is it great? No, but I didn't expect something great within this price point. However for my needs, it's going to more than meet my needs and demands. I don't beat on my stuff and I expect it too last a while.

Overall, the actions of the drawers feel solid and rigid. They all open smoothly with no feelings of binding. All of the slides are riveted into the body as well as the drawers themselves. Very little side to side action on the normal sized drawers. The wide drawer has some movement as expected.

A couple of things I noticed with the box.

1. The knockout in the hood does not make a clean hole when removed. It leaves 2 small tangs that need to be hit with a rotary tool to clean it up. Also there was no grommet supplied. Also there is only one knockout and it's on the left hand side. These issues are specific to the Vietnam version. The Chinese version is not affected.

2. The "Detents" on the drawer slides are annoying. Some require more effort to close than others. The drawers with the double slides are particularly stiff. I'm going to remove the rubber bump stops from the ends of the slide as another member suggested.

3. Fit and Finish is an 8 out of 10. My box had a couple of paint defects on one drawer. There was either dirt or something when the drawer was painted. It resembles a dried up zit. The rest of the drawers have an accumulation of paint on the lower corners of the drawer front. Almost like a paint run, but it's nice and smooth.

4. The handle can only mount on the right hand side of the box. For my setup, this didn't work since it's right against my bench. It would have been nice if they offered a left hand side option. But since, I'm never going to move it around, it really doesn't matter.

Overall, I like the box a lot. I think it looks great and it has a lot of storage for the price..

 

[Aarontrieu]

Saw the box at 464 this weekend. Was tempted, but it was not well reviewed when I ran a quick search. I could see the slides easily failing or coming separated from the drawers. The size seems great though. Wished there was a way to mod them with better slides.

 

[99_xc600]

Not sure how the slides would fall out. They are riveted into the body and the drawers.

 

[Aarontrieu]

The 26" drawer unit uses the same slide and the floor unit had a slide that was damaged. Was kind of a turn off. I was about to pick up the 52" chest. Still a good buy for home use.

 

[mrvm]

The 26" drawer unit uses the same slide and the floor unit had a slide that was damaged. Was kind of a turn off. I was about to pick up the 52" chest. Still a good buy for home use.

Display tool boxes endure plenty of abuse from shopping carts, kids, neglect and aggressive tool box testers. Seen plenty of amazing damage to rather stout metal tool boxes no matter the brand simply because metal bends when dropped or abused. IMO Huskys offer great value for the DIYer and are slowly making better tool boxes

 

[99_xc600]

Display tool boxes endure plenty of abuse from shopping carts, kids, neglect and aggressive tool box testers. Seen plenty of amazing damage to rather stout metal tool boxes no matter the brand simply because metal bends when dropped or abused. IMO Huskys offer great value for the DIYer and are slowly making better tool boxes

Completely agree. When I was checking out the HF 44" I noticed that one of the drawers was opening at an angle as it came out of the cabinet. Amazingly, some dingus managed to bend the slides and still have the drawer be able to open.

It was so bad, it reminded me of a sinking curve ball. lol

 

[Trey T]

$398 now

*edit: 41" box not 52"

 

[aroncornell]

Trey, that's the 41 inch box, not 52

 

[99_xc600]

Must be a regional thing. The 41" is still listed at $498 on the site and the 52" has returned as well.

Even at $398 for the 41", that's a great price.

 

[99_xc600]

Tonight I spent some time pulling all the drawers out and spraying the slides down with some graphite based "Dry Lube" This has all but fixed the stiff detent issue. The wide bottom drawer is still too stiff. I'm going to pull that one over the weekend and remove some of the rubber stops from one of the sets of sliders and see what the effect is.

 

[stage20]

The 26" drawer unit uses the same slide and the floor unit had a slide that was damaged. Was kind of a turn off. I was about to pick up the 52" chest. Still a good buy for home use.

They are different slides.

 

[macgee]

I measured the drawer thickness with a micrometer today, and it was 0.038 for both the Chinese version and the Vietnamese version I measured at Depot with rolled edges. I assume that is 20 gauge steel (0.036) + paint.

I did not take a drawer out of the Depot Display model, but the Chinese one I had has 1 3/8" drawer slides with 10 bearing pairs. Cabinet uses qty 6 5"x2" casters. The two deep drawers have two slides per drawer.

You can compare that to the ones Mister Moose reviewed previously and it is not the best, but not paper thin garbage. I also stopped by a Sears today and almost all of their drawers were 0.038" thick with the exception of their homeowner line, and workbenches with drawers underneath which were 0.025" thick. The Craftsman drawer slides ranged from 1 1/16" to 1 3/8" tall.

Very nice review, well done and it's a bit of fresh air getting cold hard facts.