so, i saw an awesome tool box at costco and saw an ever better price. for once, a box that doesnt cost as much as a car. did some searching on the web and here. people love the box who bought them and others think they are crap. from another thread somewhere ( dont know if it was here or another site) some pointed me in the direction of hammerhead.bz exact same boxes but at around $3000 (damn, there are soooo many moving parts and technology in these freakin tool boxes i totally understand why they cost more than tractors. ) anyways, i emailed hammerhead about the bozes and got....
Hello,

The boxes sold through Costco are cheap knockoffs of ours.

me again...ok, so the costco box it made by CSPS (which is actually made in taiwan, but you know...they are out of Cali)

funny, hammerheads website states that CSPS warrants them, thus makes them. CSPSMETALS.com has info and specs on their boxes...wow, EXACT same as hammerhead. so i emailed CSPS...they make boxes, people buy them and slap their name on it......CSPS only sells directly to costco and sams club only (but they are differnt boxes)

so, is a logo worth $2500?? is a snap on box worth a F150? EVIL tool industry!! Costco kicks ****!

 

I bought mine from Costco 1 year ago and use it everyday at work. No problems and it is holding up fine. I paid $600 for complete set and have found the craftsmanship to be excellent high quality work. Get a lot of compliments about them. Also the address is cspsmetal.com No S on metal.

 

Wow... the 41" model does look like a good deal.

Along the line of "inexpensive" boxes, has anyone bought the 41" cabinet from Harbor Freight? The local outlet was selling it for $399. I fondled it for awhile... it looks 'ok' as a box... not as nice as the $800 Craftsman box... but also less than 1/2 the price...

 

The tool boxes from H.F.T. are beyond crap. Stay clear of them! Not only are the cases and drawer made from super thin steel and painted to feel thicker, the bearings in the slides (on the models that actually have drawer slides) are made from mild steel(???). I've bought a bunch of stuff from H.F.T. and have been pleased with most of it, but take my word for it, the tool chests from them are junk with a capital F!

 

WOW!! you just saved me $1,000.00! (that sounded like a certain car insurance commercial). I was planning on buying 2 of those HF models. I guess they aren't on sale, since I saw a price of $499.00 each. Thanks for the info.

Bob

 

Thanks! I'll admit I was leaning away from them as there was something that didn't feel quite "right" about the drawer operation, but I couldn't put my finger on it.... like the whole box was made of "thin steel"... LOL! All of the drawers are bearing slides (2 on each side of the larger ones), but didn't feel very smooth... I'm definitely glad I went to look at it before ordering... I'll have to make do with the box I have until I can afford a mid-model Craftsman, I guess.

 

Well I've been looking at the Craftsman 40" with the ball bearing slides and Griplatch, the price seems a little too rich, especially when you wiggle the drawer while opening it. I looked at the (previously mentioned above) stainless steel box at Costco but didn't care for the large drawer it had. It seems to be made to store a 7 1/4" circular saw in it. I did find the same brand at Sams Club, but without the large drawer, and immediatly went home for the checkbook! I've got to say, for an overseas brand the fit and finish is pretty darn nice...AND half the price of the Craftsman box I was drooling over.

Thanks to all for the info.
Bob

 

Yeah.. .the whole "Grip-latch" thing seems a little too 'gimicky' for my tastes... I've been on an anti-do-dad kick for a few years now... I'd rather they did away with it and knocked $100 off the price...

I've looked at the Sam's Club boxes, but I don't care for the stainless steel look and the bearing slides didn't feel as smooth as the Craftsman's to me. Still, it's good to know somebody has bought the Sam's Club box... I'll have to go take a look at it again.

 

My Wife gets alot of good stuff at Costco!

 

thinkthe best boxes are Matco. Seem thicker, a little more sturdy. I bought a Clark HD from Menards few months ago for 750, top and bottom. It's ok but they made the drawers smaller that the box! wierd.

 

ive had all snap-on untill i had to upgrade again about 3yrs ago so i got a used matco and i cant stand it its complete crap and some of the other people at my job have crapsmen boxes and the arent any good either i cant wait to trade this in for another snap-on,theres have a stainless attachment on the top of the rollaways that makes them as strong as any work bench i just think you should buy it once and be done with it







my .02

 

My neighbor got one of the Costco stainless boxes a while back. Boy is it sharp. It seems to be a real nice box. I don't personally care for the stainless look since all my stuff is standard red, but it's still nice. I have seen the rediculus price on them at that other website mentioned above. Costco usually has great prices on most of the stuff they sell but you have to watch out because some of the stuff they sell appears to be manufacturing 'seconds', with small imperfections. Most of the time it's not a problem, but sometimes it is disappointing.

I have 5 Craftsman boxes, one Proto, and now a Husky. The Proto is my favorite, but the others are nice too.

I needed a bigger 40" chest to top my wide Craftsman roll-away and I really liked the way the Husky chest top opens up flat with the top storage area so I can see what's up there, since my stack of boxes is rather high. Previously I had to stand on a riser and look up into a mirror hanging on the cieling to see what was in the top storage area of my other box.

This new box is great, nice quality for a home-use box and the price was excellent. Home Depot was closing it out. I had been looking at it for a long time at the regular $350 price, then they raised the price to $400 and I was kicking myself for not buying it sooner, then when I saw one on sale for, I think it was $300, I asked about it, found that it had a small dent on it and they lowerd the price by 20 bucks, so I bought it . I like it alot. The Craftsman 40" roll-away it's on top of is the one with the 6 full-width drawers, and let me tell ya, those full-width drawers are nice. I really like the wide open room and being able to put long stuff in there without a hassle is great. I didn't think I would like them, but they definitely grew on me. I have enough small drawers on the other boxes so I'm glad I have room for the bigger tools inside the box now.

I agree about the Craftsman grip latch thingee. I don't like it. I'm happy I got all my Craftsman stuff long before they came out with that feature. I would like to add another add-on box in the future, but I'm hoping they get rid of the grip latch by then.

Craftsman boxes are made by Waterloo. Waterloo also sells them under their own name for alot more money and under other companies' names as well. Grainger used to sell them too. They are good boxes if you get the ball bearing models. The wheels could stand to be better, but it's fine with me since I don't wheel my boxes around unless I'm rearranging the garage or moving...

 

I got one of the Costco/Hammer Head boxes when they first came out for $750.00 top and bottom. I looked at SnapOn, Craftsman, HomeDepot and the rest. While the SnapOn was really nice I thought it was too expensive. The Craftsman and Husky were about the same but pretty thin sheet metal. I ended up with the SS Hammer Head and have been very happy with it. Costco later came out with a look alike but was thinner SS and smaller in size than the Hammer Head. I think they were going for $500.00. Glad I got mine when I did;-)

 

There's a lot of stuff cheaper at Costco but you need to watch the prices as some items are actually cheaper elsewhere.

 

Two years ago the wife bought me a Craftsman top and bottom set of roll aways for xmas. Over $600!! I took them back. I keep my tools mostly on the wall/pegboard and don't need that much storage. Instead I bought a craftman 4-drawer on sale for $60 and mounted it on a 3-level rolling cart from HFT. It holds my air tools, electrical supplies, extra screw drivers/ punches and specialty wrenches. All for less than $100 John