I know I must have left something out, but hopefully not. Here’s the lineup for this Misc. Tool News post:
- Husky 100-Position Ratchets
- Sign up for our Newsletter!
- Craftsman Tool Cabinet Differences (or Lack Thereof)
- Tools in Action Tool Awards Shout Out
- Ridgid Power Tool Price Drops!
- Fun Adafruit Favorite Tools Video
- Giveaway Reminder
- What Did You Treat Yourself to This Holiday Season?
- Gift Idea: Bosch Bluetooth Power Box 360
- Milwaukee IR Thermometer Deal
Husky 100-Position Ratchets
I’m still working on the separate post, but wanted to point out that Husky recently came out with a new line of 100-position ratchets, and socket sets featuring these ratchets. You can of course buy the ratchets separately.
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The gimbal ratchet is quite nice, and there’s also a locking flex-head ratchet. Woo!
ToolGuyd Newsletter!
You should totally sign up for our free newsletter!
It’s been a while since I sent out a special newsletter. Automatic updates go out every day there are posts, but to be honest there still aren’t enough subscribers for me to handcraft a custom newsletter each week. I keep meaning to do it every now and then, but it falls to the bottom of my to-do list.
Subscribe to the newsletter, and maybe it’ll light a fire under me to start sending out new newsletters again. I’m thinking that a special newsletter might have some news about what we’re currently working on, and maybe some minor tool news that isn’t big enough for an individual post or misc tool news post, and also a link to an older review or two.
While you’re at it, shows us some love on ToolGuyd’s Twitter and Facebook pages. As soon as my schedule clears up, I’ll be uploading some new ToolGuyd videos to YouTube! It’ll probably be after the New Year.
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Can You Spot Any Differences Between These 2 Craftsman Ball Bearing Cabinets?
There are two Craftsman ball bearing tool storage cabinets at Sears that I want you to look at:
Can you tell the difference? The only difference I can tell is that Craftsman Cabinet 2 comes with free shipping, a higher list price, and an overall higher price. Cabinet 1 has a lower price, even when you take home delivery fee into account!
I’m hoping that maybe I’m missing something.
Tools in Action 2015 Tool Awards
Our buddies at Tools in Action put together their 2015 tool awards, check it out here!
Ridgid Power Tool Price Drops!
Thanks to everyone that sent these in!
Ridgid’s 18V Gen5X Brushless hammer drill and circular saw combo dropped in price to $179.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Their Stealth Force quiet impact driver is now available for purchase.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Ridgid’s $99 impact driver kit has dropped in price to $79.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
This Ridgid inspection camera deal is back, but only at Home Depot and not Amazon. It’s a decent entry-level inspection camera, and a great buy at $79.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Adafruit Becky’s Favorite Tools Video
It’s short, but amusing.
Giveaway Reminder!
You entered our Amazon $50 gift card giveaway, right?
What Did You Gift Yourself for the Holidays?
I just bought myself a book – Art of Electronics 3rd Edition. It’s been on my wishlist for a while, and seems like it might be a good read, or at least a good reference.
Other than that, it’s been a very selfless holiday season for me.
I also bought myself a set of PB Swiss ball-end hex keys from Amazon when Count On Tools was offering a 10% Black Friday discount in their Amazon store, but I’m starting to wish I bought the shorter set. Both are reduced-count sets, with sizes 1.5 mm to 5 mm, and the longer version isn’t as advantageous as when it includes larger sizes.
Holiday Promo Reminder
Amazon’s holiday tool discounts are ending soon, and the same is true for Acme Tools’ holiday discounts and other retailers offering similar $x or $y deals on certain tool brand purchases.
Gift Idea: Bosch Bluetooth PowerBox Radio + Charger
While I haven’t yet finished my review of the new Bosch Bluetooth Power Box 360, I think it’s a pretty darned awesome radio. Even better than the original!
It’s a little pricey at $200, but it’s damn near indestructible. It also has every feature readers have asked for in a jobsite radio or speaker – Bluetooth connectivity, aux inputs, a radio tuner, power outlets, and battery charging functionality.
It sounds as good – or better – than any other jobsite radio or speaker I can remember even listening to. Its subwoofer isn’t huge or impressively boomy, but I think it does improve the sound at least a little bit.
The finer details aren’t lost on me either. It might seem minor, but I greatly appreciate little things, such as the spring-action outlet covers.
If you haven’t yet asked for anything big this holiday season, maybe this should be it.
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Milwaukee IR Thermometer Deal
Over at Tool Nut, they have a Milwaukee IR thermometer on sale for just $35. Shipping is free on $40+ orders.
This is an older model – check out our review of the Milwaukee 2267-20 if you want to see what the new one is like. Although, to be fair, it looks like the 2268-20 might be the closer direct replacement for this model. There’s also the 2269-20, which has a much higher distance-to-spot ratio, but similar K-Type thermocouple input.
Anyway, this Milwaukee IR thermometer is selling for $90 and up elsewhere, except on Amazon where there’s $50-70 pricing and a couple of negative reviews.
$35 is a great price, but I can’t tell you how good or not-so-good this IR thermometer is. Some reviews I’ve seen online are good, others are bad. It’s hard to tell which can be trusted.
If I were in the market for an inexpensive IR thermometer, I might consider this one, at least over no-name import models. Compared to the Fluke I talked about the other day, I’d buy the Fluke.
Buy Now(via Tool Nut)
Compare(The Same Model via Acme Tools)
Compare(Newer Model via Acme Tools)
Jim D
There is no difference in the tool boxes. The difference in the items is that the part number is indicating different shipping deals which make them about the same price. Believe it or not, the sears website is not omnipotent and do make mistakes.
Radios? Where is the love for the new DeWalt tough box system radio? It is literally the best sounding and best built Bluetooth radio I have ever hear. That’s right, not just the best jobsite radio, but the best Bluetooth radio as well. I will be buying Milwaukee tools when I get a good set but I still bought this radio because it is so good.
Time for a review!
pencil neck
Or to look at it another way, Sears/Craftsman asked for our advice and have ignored it.
Jim D
Well, there is a reason we do not sell craftsman at my work and it is not because it is a Sears exclusive.
Stuart
I am optimistic about the Dewalt ToughSystem radio, but despite my best efforts I have yet to be able to get my hands on one.
The prototype I saw looked good and sounded okay, but that’s not enough to go by.
Andy
The tough system radio sounds amazing, very full and clear sound even at insane volume levels. My buddy has a Bosch radio, and sound quality is defiantly well above par but as he listens to Mexican polka all day can’t vouch for the Bosch’s Subwoofer.
Jimmy D
Lol, polka is not good for bass! I got my hands on the DeWalt and like Andy said at FULL volume it sounds amazing. It is not one of those radios where you turn it 2 or 3 notches below the top. You can crank it all the way. Bosch’s was the best in my opinion but doesn’t even hold a flame to the DeWalt.
My rep said that when he saw the prototype he noticed a huge change in the usability, volume, and sound quality to the final product.
SteveW
Well, not really your best efforts. You could just buy one, everything can’t be free.
Stuart
I’ve got no problem buying tools I want or need.
The ToughSystem music player is way down on the list of tools I’d spend money on.
Our current Amazon gift card giveaway will be paid for out of my pocket ( https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/toolguyd-holiday-amazon-giftaway-2015/%3C/a%3E ). Wouldn’t you agree that the money is better spent that way, or would you rather I spent it on a radio?
Fran tark
My antiquated understanding of subwoofers is that they need something to bounce the bass off of in order to be very effective. Bass tones are very omnidirectional so they have to be “focused” out of a porthole and onto a solid surface in order to really bring the thump. It’s why subs work so well in cars…. Lots of glass to bounce off of…. I’m not sure any freestanding “all in one” speaker systems ( like the ones in job site radios) are really capable of proper bass tone production.
When I listen to them, I don’t expect much in that regard. Just like the old “ghetto boxes” we used to listen to. Anybody else remember ghetto boxes? Are we allowed to say that anymore? ?
Mike
Ghetto blaster?
I think those were responsible for more D cell battery sales than anything in history. 8 batteries bought you 90 minutes of play time. Or 30 minutes of watching a tiny B&W TV if yours had one. Sometimes I miss the ’80s, then I remember stuff like that (and my hair) and… NOPE, nostalgia gone.
Jim D
That is exactly why the sound in the DeWalt is so great. The sub faces down, and when attached to a lower tough box unit, you get the sound reverberation but off the ground and closer to your ears.
adam
The Ridgid brushless Hammer drill & circular saw are $149 in store at HD, so don’t buy online if you are thinking about them. At that price it is hard to pass up. Very positive reviews so far, even though I’m sure they really haven’t been ran thru the ringer yet
Jason
That is a great deal. It’s a lot of tool for the money.
BikerDad
A good deal I stumbled on to this week:
Easy Wood Tools are 20% off at Craft Supplies USA, aka “woodturnerscatalog.com”, through the end of the year. These are the tools that started the carbide tipped turning tool movement.
pete
That husky ratchet set looks pretty cool and a useful kinda complete set. That $120 mr beams promo is a little ridiculous lol if you don’t buy the new networking lights for $100 for 3 you would have to buy a BUNCH of lights. I didn’t get the new networking lights because you could drain ALL the batteries pretty quickly by stuff just blowing in front of the sensor so why pay for the tech when i have no intention of using the tech? I did buy 2 new dual emitter flood lights and 2 path lights for $60 or 70? My first get mr beams is still in action and works great and i’m still on the same set of batteries when i bought it 3 years ago.
Toolfreak
The difference in the Craftsman tool boxes is obvious – the one with free shipping is “temporarily unavailable” (that’s Sears speak for out-of-stock-and-never-coming-back-in-stock), and the other is $549 and probably only available at larger stores that have it in stock, unless you want to pay freight charges on something that big.
This isn’t anything new for Sears. There are TONS of “temporarily unavailable” items on their site, many of which have long been replaced with the same or similar newer version of the item, at a higher price.
I guess they don’t pay their IT people enough to make it so those items don’t actually appear on the website anymore, or maybe they just like having more items on there for the heck of it, even if they can’t actually be purchased and it litters all the search results of customers who actually are trying to buy something.
Hang Fire
Sears’ website has actually improved in usability over the past 2 years. The product database behind it, though, is still a train wreck.
Seth
It’s actually a bit more complex – their site pulls availability info on a per-item basis, so it isn’t until you see the item page that it determines that the item isn’t available in your area. The listing still remains searchable for those DDCs (zip codes) where inventory is still available to help actually sell those units, at the cost of you still seeing the listing in the search results when it isn’t available around you.
I’m sure somebody out there is trying to find a balance between hiding unavailable products and having searches return nearly nothing, but I’d bet dollars to donuts that the query as it stands now is based on in-store and DDC inventory, which is NEVER a correct or good count.