Eric wrote in, with a tip about new AmazonBasics tool and parts organizers.
Amazon currently offers a slew of AmazonBasics tools, and we’ve posted about some of them before:
Advertisement
- New AmazonBasics Outdoor Extension Cords
- Has Amazon Made a Good Sharpie-Style Marker?
- Amazon Made Their Own Pliers
He wrote:
Thought you might want to check these out:
AmazonBasics part cases – a little more expensive than HF, but cheaper than Sortimo. I have only tried one version but they have great construction and get good reviews.
Glad I found your site – wish I would have found it before Black Friday.
These new tool and parts cases do look interesting. I was previously a fan of Stanley 25 compartment parts cases, and have seen the Harbor Freight lower cost cases.
I own Sortimo T-Boxx parts organizers, and they are exceptionally good, but the benefits are not proportional to the premium they command.
Advertisement
I’ve tried all kinds of organizers, small, large, inexpensive, pricey, and everything in between.
These AmazonBasics parts organizers look like they were heavily inspired by Stanley’s, and seem to combine several features that can be found across several Stanley tool box and parts organizer product lines.
There are 3 sizes/styles of AmazonBasics tool organizers, and they all stack together:
- Shallow 25 compartment organizer
- Deep 10 compartment organizer
- Medium-depth adjustable compartment organizer
The 25 compartment organizer will likely be ideal for all manner of small parts. Or, take some compartments out to make room for tools – at least that’s what they say you can do.
The 10 compartment organizer will be the better choice for holding an assortment of larger fasteners and components.
The adjustable parts organizer can be used to create custom-shaped compartments.
I don’t recall seeing adjustable organizer partitions like this before. There are double-length dividers, and shorter dividers, with the longer ones featuring “hubs” in the middle that the smaller ones can connect to. The walls have similar connection points.
All of the cases can be stacked together for vertical or horizontal storage. It also looks like the lids have ridges to help keep bins in place, to prevent the smallest parts from wandering into other compartments.
I say help, because at least one user reviews on Amazon complains that it doesn’t do the best job of preventing small parts from migrating.
Additional features include an integrated carrying handle, clear plastic lid, plastic lid locks and connector latches.
Price: $16.49 -$18
Buy Now(25 compartment organizer via Amazon)
Buy Now(10 compartment organizer via Amazon)
Buy Now(adjustable compartment organizer via Amazon)
First Thoughts
Let’s be frank. Who designed these organizers? Who is making them from Amazon?
At these prices, I’m more inclined to go with name brands, and might even give Stanley a second chance. As discussed separately, current Stanley parts organizer quality seems to be lower than in the past, when I was able to very highly recommend them.
The AmazonBasics organizer is less than $1 cheaper than Stanley’s FatMax Shallow Pro organizer. The [compatible?] Dewalt 10 organizer is regularly $20.
At prices of $16.49 for each of the removable bin organizers, and $18 for the adjustable compartment organizer, I’m not heavily compelled to try them out.
Maybe they’re worth a closer look. Let me know what you think, and which of the three you’d want me to investigate.
Thank you to Eric for the heads-up!
Cr8on
Very interesting, might have to pick up the shallow one and see how I like it.
Frank D
“ Funny “ how they have the exact front locking tabs with perforations as at least a dozen of my older stanley cases have, which stanley coincidentally moved away from for solud ones with ridges.
The shallow and deep ones have to be modded versions of the stanleys, to distinguish them.
Gemi
Looking at this purely fiscally or if you have brand preference, Home Depot, Lowes, some Ace Hardware’s, True Value’s and perhaps to some degree even Wallmart’s carry parts organizers. For $16-18, not including tax, you can probably buy something similar at the locations I mentioned. In some cases for much less.
With Amazon, you are going to be taxed and unless you spend $25 or perhaps more for free shipping, you’ll be paying more. To each their own and I am not telling anyone how to spend their money.
Arko Mills, Flambeau, Plano, Stack On, just to name a few have plenty of selection and some of these brands are sold locally.
Flotsam
I’m a big fan of the HF boxes. Can’t beat the coupon price ($5.99 full size thin) and they are real tough. I had a half loaded box fall down a flight of stairs with no damage to the box at all.
I have about 10 now so planning on building these into a cabinet. The only advantage I see is these boxes will stack and attach together, which is not a feature I care about. I’ve looked at the Stanley boxes from time to time at Home Depot and I just can’t see what the extra cost really buys me.
Frank D
For at home storage, the HF ones are fine and can’t be beat on price. I had a couple of each, then went with two dozen Stanleys. Part availability ( no HF near at the time, always sold out on sale ) and part fit & finish of the product. Stronger plastic, squarer cups, tighter lids, better content retention, …
James C
Ha, I went the opposite way. I really like the thin, half-width organizer HF has. I like to swap the bins I need into that one and it’s much easier to fit into a bag and go. But you’re right, Stanley is better quality in every way.
Frank D
I have some of my stanley’s with swapped bins. Picked up a half size slim HF one a couple weeks back to look at it. Still have to open it and see if I can work with them. Might use it in my new cordless nailer box ( as my porter cable nails don’t fire in my new ryobi air power gun )
Randy
I’m with you on this Flotsam. I’ve used more than a few 20% off coupons for these from HF.
Gordon
My only issue with the HF ones is that the internal bins tend to have curved walls, which makes them not sit right when closed.
IUEC medic
The “adjustable parts organizer” with adjustable partitions is identical to organizers sold at Home Depot under the “HDX” branding. The only apparent difference is the latches and dividers of the hdx are orange. It’s almost certainly the same manufacturer. They’re always sold in a pack of 2 for around $10.
I have several, and while they’re not the highest quality organizer, they’re certainly worth the price paid and serve their intended purpose well.
Chuck
Interoperability/compatibility question: Will the Amazon Basics organizers stack with, and interlock to, the Stanley organizers?
I’ve never used the HF organizers so don’t know if they fit with the Stanleys; I do have about 40 of the Stanleys, and have also noticed a decline in quality recently; making wholesale change is financially prohibitive, but if the Amazon ones are compatible they might be viable.
John Hooper
I have 10 with a similar pair of plastic locking clamps which have stood the test of time. My only gripe is the lids don’t have indents to hold the removable dividers.
I dropped my 8mm nut, bolt, machine screw and washer box and the lid held shut but half the dividers popped out. No damage to the box or lid!
I’d go for the box with compartment organisers if I buy again.
Tim D.
I’m in agreement with Stuart, they’re not cheap enough to sway me away from another brand name. I can buy the Dewalt organizer with metal latches for $14-15 at HD (normally $20ish, but has gone on sale regularly this past year), why pay more for one with plastic latches from Amazon?
If these were on par price wise with the HF models, they might have something.
These would have to be outstanding quality to sway me for that price.
ktash
I had gone to the Milwaukee organizers after starting with Harbor Freight and Stanley, they were . More expensive at $20, but much more solid with excellent latches. I store the heaviest fasteners in some of these. I wonder if they may be replacing them with the Packout organizers, which are way too pricey. Home Depot still lists them online, though their price has gone up to $25.
Alexey
Stanley has the same price or cheaper if you’re buying on Zoro with 20% discount.
Stanley boxes also have better compartments – just a 5-wall boxes, thick plastic , no fancy edge (take out/put back experience should be worse thanks to the construction – and it made in purpose of hardening the compartments as I understand). Handle looks flimsy – just imagine you have a box full of steel fasteners and need to carry one.
HF-ish for the price of Stanley, really, Amazon?
Framer joe
Tried HF boxes, terrible ..jumped to sortimo got 10, thanks to Stewart…then found Stanley clear lid parts organizer. Really good for 1/5 the cost of sortimo (although no where near sortimo quality) .
Milwaukee shallow packout are to pricey for what you get..good for jobsites…. Stanley is the best option for my shop….
Amazon basics ,no thanks
Jim Felt
Stanley’s seem to have declined slightly starting a few years ago but I believe they’re still “Made in Israel” which most likely means Keter. And honestly I like “softer” plastic bin boxes. Sortimo and Bosch just feel brittle and unforgiving of abuse. Have I dropped any of them. Only the Stanley’s by assstants at work. But they were the older versions of the bigger Stanley’s.
I’m looking to upgrade my dozen or so Plano/Flambeau smaller threaded (fly fishing?) cases/boxes as they are pretty brittle and obviously I’m having a quandary.
And I want to clearly see through them.
Help.
fred
Stanley’s are probably made in Israel by a Stanley owned company called Zag Industries
fred
The old classic fly boxes were aluminum – like those made by Perrine.
Orvis still has a nice selection of boxes – and I guess folks like Cabelas and Bass Pro Shops probably sell fly-specific boxes too
Scott K
I’m curious as to how sturdy the adjustable dividers are. I wonder if you could use this to hold a drmeel and then create partitions for various attachments.
ToolOfTheTrade
There’s a very simple solution to questionable quality concerns about this product as well as all parts organizers and tool boxes similar to this type of product and there would be no need to compare which brand is more durable. That very simple solution is if they made these entirely out of aluminum or magnesium there would be no more pointless comparisons like discussed here and it would eliminate quality concerns. Powder coated sheet metal or stainless would work as well. The only thing that should be plastic is the lid. If Amazon had enough sense to do that instead of being another non innovative pointless brand that pointlessly manufactures the same industry standard POS that everyone else makes and they took advantage of the fact that nobody else makes lightweight metal small parts organizers, then they could have gained a considerable advantage over everyone else that’s producing the same industry standard shit that’s mentioned in this post. It served no purpose whatsoever for them to put absolutely no thought into making this product that completely lacks innovation and has absolutely nothing to offer other than it’s pointless existence. So why mention it?
Paul K
The one “innovation” I see here is on the bins. The tops are rounded over which gives them more strength/stability. I might have gone with these for the half-height boxes I wanted, but My Milwaukee bins are like this. My Stanley are not. Doesn’t seem like you can hang them on anything though, Milwaukee’s have the ability to be hung from a thin lipped edge.
And just cause I’m in the mood to share….
I have a pair of the Milwaukee Organizers (not the Packout version) and a pair of the half-height Stanley. The Milwaukee ones are FANTASTIC. Great bins, lid, latches, and a moisture seal. It’s a shame they don’t have a half-height one. The Stanley ones are ok, but fine for my needs. I have a couple of the HF half-height half-width for our insane amount of tiny kids toys parts (Looking at you Playmobil). One think I’ll say about the HF ones is that the lids are a softer plastic that’s more flexible which might be an issue with larger ones if you’re loading them up heavy.