Sears Craftsman has come out with a new 65″ 13-drawer mobile workstation.
They also recently came out with a Stainless Steel version of their Smart Lock Pro series tool storage combo, but after Ben’s not so good initial review experience, and no Android updates to their Smart Lock feature, I didn’t want to give the new chest or rolling cabinet their own post.
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There are some interesting and useful features, such as pegboard on at least one side, soft-close ball bearing drawer slides with 100 lb load ratings, a power tool drawer with built-in power strip, a 4-outlet power strip with 2 USB ports, 6-inch casters, and a solid wood worktop.
It’s 65″ wide and 18″ deep, with a height of 42.5″. The wood worksurface is 1″ thick.
Price: $800 “on sale”
Buy Now(via Sears)
First Thoughts
Personally, I think 18″ is a little shallow, given recent Milwaukee and Husky workbenches. A solid worktop is good, and the pegboard on the side seems handy.
There’s a privacy drawer, and a power tool drawer seems like it could be convenient. Personally, I like chargers to sit outside of a drawer.
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The top drawer looks a little too deep for my liking, but on the other hand a deep top drawer might work well for power tools and other bulkier gear.
The workstation was added to Sears’ website on 8/28/2017, and today, 8/29/2017 it’s already “on sale” at $799.99, “savings” of $400 from the “regular price” of $1199.99. I just saw now that Sears defines “regular price” on their product pages, taking 132 words to do it.
They’re offering a “regular price” offer where you “choose the price you want to pay.” You can pay $799.99, or $1199.99 and receive a gift card for 10% more than you would have saved. So you can buy it for $800, or $1200 for the workstation and a $440 gift card.
(Would any of you opt for the higher price to get $40 extra on a gift card?)
Oh, and if you do opt for the higher price and extra value gift card, you have to place your order and then email Sears, and “allow up to 30 days for processing.”
After a particularly bad recent experience with Sears, I simply don’t trust their customer service to do anything right. They finally sent over a return shipping label but never arranged the return pickup, and I had to eventually catch a UPS driver myself. They wanted to give me “points” instead of a credit card refund, and then when they finally credited my credit card, it was a partial credit – they left out the sales tax. I had to contact them again to get the rest of the owed refund. They STILL owe me tax that they promised would be refunded. They never refunded the points I used on the order either.
Sorry for the digression. The workstation isn’t available to ship yet, and it looks like it might be an okay design if its layout, features, and dimensions suit your needs.
Bill
The new Sears Craftsman junk is all made in China……do not buy anything from Sears anymore. Sears has changed the warranty on a lot of the Craftsman stuff to 1 year & no longer the lifetime warranty.
Tim
I see every Sears Craftsman product post as “too little too late.”
Whiskey and wood
Yep
Lynyrd
Lack of depth makes this a non-starter. I would like to see the 60″ Husky and Milwaukee workbenches add a pull out Power Tool Drawer in place of the “cabinet.” And/Or offer a retrofit for their current cabinet.
In regards to Sears, they do not accept returns past 30 Days (with receipt). 30 days. Barely enough time to fully use some tools. As a Craftsman Made In USA collector, now that Pliers and Screwdrivers are no longer sourced from Western Forge, (now sourced through Apex overseas), you can’t even replace your Made In USA tool with the same.
Off point but here’s what I would buy from Sears if you’re in the Military or a Veteran; on this next Veteran’s Day (Memorial and Presidents Days are included too), your everyday 20% off reg price discount is doubled. If in stock, Sears offers about ten models of Knipex Pliers. That’s 40% off Knipex Pliers!
Finally,, keep in mind, this coming January, Sears (and Kmart unless sold to Tesco or others), will be in Bankruptcy, and probably closing its doors. In February Sears/Eddie Lampert (SHC CEO) must repay the Pension Fund 1.5 Billion. No way they will earn this, even with the Craftsman sale and if they sell Kenmore and their Auto Centers by then. Most of their valued Real Estate has been sold off to Eddie’s Seritage company or or others.
Mizzourob
The 72″ Masterforce from Menard’s is the way to go, though a bit prices but it has a better drawer layout for wrenches
mla
I bought the Husy 60″ for $598 earlier this year. Why in the world would you go with this one for $200 more?
DC
I don’t shop at Sears and haven’t for the last 10 years after they screwed me on a Craftsman box I almost bought from them. My wife and I don’t trust Sears and their unfriendly and incompetent sales people are the reasons why.
Mike
Sears recently sold the Craftsman brand to Stanley/Black and Decker out of Baltimore for $900 million. Sears/KMart retained rights to sell brand in their stores for the next 90 years. Personally I would only give them five more years, but they had a good run. We bought everything from Sears when I was a kid and will always have a soft spot for them
Gary
Sears retained the right to sell its existing Craftsman-branded products indefinitely … however, it can do so royalty-free for only 15 years. When SBD rolls out its own Craftsman line in mid-2018, Sears Craftsman sales are likely to plummet.
Statler
Sears has been developing new products? That’s, uh, kind of optimistic of them, don’t you think?
KL
18″ way too shallow for this size and price point.
Toolfreak
I really don’t like the design of this series of boxes. The sheet metal is thin and gets dented and damaged easily. The flat sides look cheap compared to the I-beam construction of the heavy-duty boxes. The wheels look thin and tall like they were meant for a child’s wagon.
The reverse black box/red handles scheme fits with the Craftsman brand but overall it’s like partial modern and partial retro-ish design meets cheap, flimsy construction and it’s not something I’d even consider buying at half the sale price – or less.
It’s too bad Craftsman did this with the “new” box designs instead of just having Waterloo keep cranking out quality designs with some minor tweaks to make them unique for Craftsman. They could have just done the red drawer pulls on a Premium / Edge series black box, stuck removable pegboard/power strip holders on the sides, put a butcher block/metal wrapped top on and had a better product that would have sold for more money and cost almost nothing over the previous version.
shatch
The new stainless pro series has a different style griplatch, which looks more rugged, the latch handle moves up to a fixed handle. When I checked out the display model it seems very rugged but also not as tweakable to correct wear/issues. I was slightly impressed but echo everyone’s concerns on Sears and the Pro series, two floor models already had slide issues…
Hang Fire
Rant all you like, Stuart. Somebody has to try to get through to Sears… but I doubt anyone still there cares.