Over at Sears, this Craftsman 26″ 4-drawer Griplatch ball bearing rolling storage cabinet is on sale for $185. No, it’s not on clearance and it’s not a special edition in limited stock, it’s a regularly stocked item that’s part of this week’s Craftsman Club sale.
Note: Deal expires 7/13/13.
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This is one of Craftsman’s latest ball bearing storage products and features DynaGlide drawer slides with 75 lb ratings, and upgraded “stylized” casters.
It looks like the drawer pulls have also been upgraded, compared to a recent lower-spec’d red Griplatch cabinet.
Buy Now(via Sears)
Update: I ordered one for in-store pickup. The deal is just too good to pass up.
The matching 4-drawer 12″ Griplatch chest is priced at $135. Personally, I would prefer a bigger and deeper 6-drawer 16″ ball bearing chest, but don’t know which ones to recommend at the moment.
If you’re not a fan of the all-red look, there’s a red and black rolling cabinet, also with the new increased drawer rating and stylized casters but without the Griplatch drawer retention system, for about $20 more.
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In-store pickup is free, home delivery is $70. Coupons cannot stack on top of the special pricing. You must be a Craftsman Club/Sears Shop Your Way member (signup is free) to get the special pricing.
P.S. At under $200 each I myself am highly tempted to buy two of these. One for my own use, one for my father. The new DynaGlide slides are incredibly smooth, and I have always been fond of Griplatch drawer slides. I’m not sure I would consider these great buys at $300+, but under $200 is an incredible bargain. You normally don’t see heavy duty ball bearing rolling cabinets priced under $200 unless they’re on clearance.
John S
I have not done my research on rolling storage cabinets… What is the price point at which you get affordability and quality? Is this about right for a bigger four drawer bottom setup and top unit with shorter drawers? I am toying with the idea of something along these lines and want quality without paying snap on prices… Will I feel like these are high enough quality or are these quite nice?
Stuart
Craftsman’s ball bearing storage products vary from eh and so-so to premium units fit for industrial and heavy everyday use.
I think that this cabinet offers a nice balance between features, quality, and price. Under $200 for something like this is almost unheard of.
Personally, I think their 12″ 6-drawer units, like the one discussed here is a better choice than a 4-drawer model, or 6-drawer units that have three 1/3-width drawers and three full-length drawers.
Right now there aren’t many 26″ DynaGlide options, but I hope that changes in coming months. Ideally I would want to see 16″ deep 6-drawer chests with Griplatch latches and DynaGlide 75lb-drawer ratings, but who knows if that will happen.
With ball bearing tool storage, the more you spend, the more you get. Generally, I wouldn’t buy a Craftsman 26″ ball bearing rolling cabinet unless it has and “I-frame” design as shown above. The less rugged and cheaper rolling cabinets have flat sides.
You can cram a lot of tools into the deep drawers of this cabinet, so 75 lb drawer ratings are preferred. 50 lbs per drawer is doable, but might wear the bearings out quicker.
The best way to do initial research is to shop around locally, placing a bunch of tools in a drawer and seeing how well it moves. Larger hammers or clamshelled tool sets might work well for this. Make note of the different features tied in to different price points and you should be able to understand the differences between products shown on Craftsman and Sears’ websites.
Stuart
Correction: Some of the new flat-sided Craftsman ball bearing cabinets are made by International – these should be decent. The inexpensive flat-sided ones are the ones I would avoid.
Steven B
Why not Husky? Home Depot has been offering Husky cabinets for cheaper. They looked pretty nice to me, but I am inexperienced in the matter. Was there something I was missing? I am not trolling, just have been considering buying one myself.
However, I am also ambivalent because as a hobbyist woodworker, it would be better to make the drawers myself for practice sake.
Stuart
Every so often I check out the ball bearing tool storage products at Lowes and Home Depot. I have never really been impressed by the comparative quality of Husky’s offerings, but Kobalt’s seem to be quite decent. Between Craftsman and Kobalt, I always end up choosing Craftsman.
For tool storage, the best thing to do is head in store and play around with the different models.
I started with Craftsman Quiet Glide, then basic ball bearing, then moved to heavier duty ball bearing. It’s really subjective, but for use a few times a week I would suggest going above Craftsman’s “basic” line.