a few weeks ago, I bought a packout "starter" set at Home Depot. it was on sale for 199$, and they had a big sign, but no stock. one of the sales guys, who actually knows his stuff, told me that he had been searching for them for a week. 13 were in stock according to his hand-held, but none were to be found.
I was wondering through the store for a while, and on my way out, he waved me over, and pointed to some unremarkable boxes on the top level of some random aisle. asked me if I wanted one. I had asked, and he had found, so sure, why not.
I played with it a bit, it seemed reasonable. I have found that my "mobile" needs were served by a small bag, with things like a multi-head screw driver, for small quick jobs, and a large bag with a complete set of screw drivers, as an example, because bigger jobs are a pain when you need to swap bits all the time. other things, like power tools, I carried around in one (or two) old laundry baskets.
recently, we took a near lightening hit, and I found myself digging through to find things for network repair. it was all there, but not in a useful collection.
looking through the packout stuff, I noticed that they had three tool bags, and a 'tech bag". I decided that the small (10") and medium (15") tool bags seemed reasonable, and a few of the small parts organizers would be helpful for organizing and bringing along things that were floating around loose in the bottom of the existing bags, like wire nuts and wire staples. so I bought one of each bags, and some "half size" organizers.
after I got those, I was pretty happy. but the mission had grown, as it often does. I had a bag full of networking stuff, and a bunch of boxes with fittings (like rj45 heads and keystone jacks, and various faceplates and boxes to put them in). oh, and a bunch of specialized tools, like a pair scanner, and crimping pliers, and, well, you get the point.
I went back and forth about getting the tech bag. the issue was that there was no one local who stocked it (or any of the bags, actually), and I wanted to look it over before I committed 120$. but eventually I found someone selling it on ebay for 109$, rather than the 119$ everyone else was selling it for, and when the last 15% coupon hit, I bought it for about 94$, no tax or shipping.
the tech bag arrived a few days ago, and it is *huge*. a lot bigger than I expected. ya see, the images you get online dont include a reference so you can see how big it is.
so, as a PSA, here are some images for you to get an idea about how big the 10" packout tool bag is, and how much bigger the 15" and tech bag are.
first, the 10" with a soda can next to it:
second, the 10" and the 15" together (no can):
third, the 15" and the tech bag:
and all of them together:
as you can see, the 15" is both longer than the 10", but also taller, which was unexpected. the tech bag is taller than the handle on the 15" bag, and is huge inside, along with zippered enclosures attached to the outside. none of this is obvious looking at them online, since I was not able to find images of them all together to compare sizes.
the tech and 15" bags came with shoulder straps. the 10" didn't.
while not cheap (like anything Milwaukee really is), these appear to be well thought out and well made. I am pretty far into it now, and still collecting the stuff that needs to so into the organizers and bags, but I am pretty satisfied.
the larger boxes are well suited for bringing along things like power tools, which wont be stored in them long term, so lack of inserts are not really a big deal.
. I just saw Ebay dropped the price on the set to match Amazon so I think I will wait for an Ebay coupon and pick them up. The TSC set looks decent and I will keep it in mind. Thanks!
takes a loooong time