New Beta Portable and Mobile Tool Trolley

Beta has come out with a new collapsible tool trolley (BC27S), which is not unlike the Hazet Assistent that I previously wrote about. Every now and then I think about how much the Hazet Assistent might save me time and effort when carting tools around for certain projects, but… it’s soooo expensive.

Even if you order the Hazet Assistent from overseas for less, it’s still costs a pretty penny, and with longer distances there’s greater risk of shipping damage.

The Beta C27S “folding tool trolley” is less expensive than the Hazet version, but it’s also differently designed. You can go back to my Hazet Assistent preview post if you want to see all the differences.

What’s a trolley? It’s a tool cart. But not really. So to avoid confusing anybody by calling it a cart, I’m going to use Beta’s designation and continue calling it a tool trolley.

Tool trolleys, from what I’ve seen, are very European in design. So many European tool storage products are centered around efficiency, and tool trolleys are no different. In the past few years, it has become clearer and clearer to me how differently the tool storage preferences are around the world. I don’t think that there is any right or wrong way to do things. While fitting for an Italian company, I would be deeply surprised if I ever saw something like this from an American tool brand.

Even so, I don’t think that this would be out of place at industrial workplaces or on-site job locations. Seems like it would be a nice MRO tool cart, or a go-to box for auto and aviation mechanics and techs.

Why?

I consider these types of tool trolleys as an extension of cantilever tool boxes. Some brands do offer cantilever dog boxes, like these Snap-on ones, but they’re low to the ground and hard to work out of. I can work out of a small cantilever tool box just fine, but don’t think I would want a jumbo sized version.

With this, you can take your tools with you, or at least a great deal of tools and hopefully all of the ones you think you might need on the go and for certain tasks, and you can work out of the box.

Raise the shelves, and all of your tools are easily accessible and quickly reachable. Or at least that’s how it looks to me.

Hey Beta Tools… *nudge nudge* wouldn’t it be great if I could evaluate one of these hands-on? Wishful thinking?

At First Glance

This is what you get:

Large rear wheels and 2 locking swivels at the front. While I might be wanting for 4 swivel wheels, this configuration should make the tool trolley more stable and easy to move, especially when loaded. The product description says that “one with brake,” but in all of the images, I see 2 braking swivel casters.

There are cut-aways for the smaller casters. Could this simply be a consequence of using smaller front wheels and larger rear wheels, or is it to help lower the center of mass for greater stability? Or am I over-thinking things?

There is a top shelf, with small parts compartments and a mid-section tool rest area. Below, there are 2 sliding drawers. Checking on the product specs, they’ve got ball bearing slides, and 2-way operation. That seems to be a pretty substantial feature, being able to slide a drawer out from either side.

There is also a bottom compartment for bulkier storage needs. In the product photo there are a couple of cans – a spray can of some kind, an oil/lube/etc. applicator can, and something else, and they’re off to the side. Since the drawers have 2-way openings, you can pull or push that bottom drawer out of the way to get what you need.

In the photos above, it looks like there are cart mechanisms in the bottom compartment, limiting storage space, but in the video below it looks like it’s clear and flat-bottomed. So what you see in the photo above are probably just some tools.

There are also two handles on opposite sides of the cart. You can grab one of these, or possibly the shelf risers, to move the cart around.

As for lifting the Beta tool trolley for loading into a vehicle… I guess that’s done via shaped hand grip areas near the bottom of the sides.

Lastly, there’s a centralized lock that keeps things secure.

When empty, the tool trolley weighs 20 kg (~44 lbs). I asked myself whether I would find the Beta tool trolley to be more appealing if it had a third sliding drawer, but keep in mind that this is designed to be portable. Sure, you can keep it in your workshop, but you could also collapse it down and load it into an SUV or truck. I don’t know if a sedan’s trunk would be accommodating enough, height-wise.

The drawers are about 23.15″ wide and 10.9″ deep. Height-wise, your guess is as good as mine. I’d say it’s maybe 36-inches tall at full extension? That’s a guess, but it’s the height I would like to work out of. According to a dealer’s product specs, it’s 27″ long, 15″ wide, and less than 24″ tall when fully closed.

The top shelf can support up to 1200 kg (~2645 lbs) of weight, and the ball bearing drawers can each support up to 20 kg (~44 lbs).

Buy Now(via Amazon)
Buy Now(via Pegasus) – Free Shipping!
More Info(via Beta)

Price: $700

If you order through Beta Tools-North America on Amazon, there’s $200 in shipping fees. It is my understanding that Beta Tools-North America is the national distributor. But this is orderable through other Beta dealers, such as Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies. At the time of this posting, Pegasus’ page shows the C27S tool trolley in stock and with free shipping.

I’ve never ordered through Pegasus, but I do know they’re an authorized Beta supplier.

Here’s a Beta promo video that shows how it works:

First Thoughts

At first glance, Beta’s C27S tool trolley is a pretty impressive tool cart. There are some downsides, such as how the drawers don’t look to be full-extension. In the video, you can see that they extend halfway. Maybe that’s done to keep them stable and reduce the chance of a tip-over, or it could be related to how the drawers can be opened from either side.

Based on the dimensions – 23.15″ wide and 10.9″ for the drawers, 27″ x 15″ on the outside, and less than 24″ tall when closed, the tool trolley is about the size of a shallow ball bearing tool chest, at least when closed.

I think it would be pretty handy to have on around. Would I buy one? Probably not, but that’s because my tool storage needs mainly call for stationary products. For mobile needs, I’ve got a Pelican 0450 chest that I bought with accumulated gift cards a while back. The downside about that Pelican is that it’s much more focused on rough and tough storage than actual use. Something like this Beta tool trolley seems a lot more practical.

I like the built-in dividers of Hazet’s Assistent (sorry, I did say I wasn’t going to compare), but the Beta looks to be more stable. My contact at the USA Beta importer/distributor drew my attention to how the Beta tool trolley has “double pole handle for better steering,” and I can’t help but see his point. Price-wise, you could buy the Beta tool trolley and load it up with quality tools, and still have some money to spend compared to the Hazet, which is now $1600 at Amazon. What’s crazy is that the Hazet Assistent is ~$700 USD at Amazon.uk, but I believe “DIY and Tools” items cannot be shipped to the USA.

If I had $700 to spend on tool storage, there are many different products I would consider. But if I had $700 to spend and needed a portable box that I could very quickly work out of, this would make it to my shortlist.

I own a 7-drawer Beta tool cabinet that I bought from Amazon nearly 5 years ago – this one – and love it. It seriously outshines even the heavy duty Craftsman Griplatch cabinet and chest that I bought (yea, yea, I know – that’s not hard to do, right?). Beta has since come out with new models, but I can’t vouch for them as the updated design is quite different. I also own a bunch of Beta tools that I bought back when Amazon sold them directly, and have been testing a couple of different things Beta’s USA distributor sent out a while back. The quality is great, and based on what I’ve seen, I would expect for the trolley to be extremely sturdy and well made.