Lowe’s Tool Box Options: Craftsman, Kobalt, WeatherGuard And More
Will you be happy with a tool box Lowe’s will sell you? Possibly. They carry several brands, and cater to everything from the low end of the home market (say, a 12-inch plastic Lowe’s Husky tool box) to the midpoint of the professional market (say, a Lowe’s Craftsman truck tool box). Unless the Lowe’s in your town is very small indeed, they will almost certainly have something in stock that will suit you well. And even then, they have an online shop that will ship to your door.
But which brand and model should you actually choose? That is a more complicated choice. We’ll look at a few Lowe’s tool box brands, and even a few individual tool box products. Then, we’ll ask your indulgence to look at a few DECKED options you won’t ever find at a Lowe’s, but could be just what you need.
There Are Several Brands Of Lowe’s Tool Box - Let’s Look At A Few Of Them In Detail:
Lowe’s Craftsman Tool Box
If you haven’t actually been to a Lowe’s in a while, you might be surprised to see Craftsman tools and tool boxes there. It is true that Craftsman used to be Sears’ house brand, but it is now owned outright by Stanley Black & Decker. They bought the brand from Sears Holdings in 2017. However, Craftsman tools had always been manufactured by outside companies, but little has actually changed. Indeed, Sears bought the brand from Marion-Craftsman tools in 1927.
Craftsman was always a middle-of-the-market brand at Sears, and that is largely true today. A Lowe’s Craftsman tool box won’t be any different than a Craftsman tool box you’d find at Montgomery Ward, Ace Hardware, Menards, or the Army, Air Force, or Navy Exchange stores. Most models will be well-made and should stand up to just about anything a home user could throw at them. They aren’t totally unsuitable to professional use, but they won’t have the durability of a brand like Snap-on or DECKED.
Lowe’s Kobalt Tool Box
The Kobalt brand is owned by Lowe’s itself, and is very much their “own brand” for tools, tool boxes, and tool accessories. For a time, it was also the house brand for the Masters Home Improvement stores in Australia.
The Kobalt line was launched in 1998, as a direct competitor to other stores’ own-brands like Craftsman and Husky. Kobalt products were mostly manufactured by the Danaher Corporation until 2011. Since then, Lowe’s Kobalt tool boxes have been made by JS Products. Great Neck still makes Lowe’s Kobalt screwdrivers, and most Kobalt power tools are made by Chervon. Their miter saws are made by Rexon, in Taiwan.
A Lowe’s Kobalt tool box will be of a budget brand quality, but it isn’t at the bottom of that category by any means. Generally speaking, a Kobalt product will outperform both Project Source and Blue Hawk products, Lowe’s real bottom-of-the-barrel brands.
Load’N’Go Lowe’s Truck Bed Tool Box
Now, you’ll allow us to be a bit opinionated here, as Load’N’Go offers many products that are similar to what DECKED sells.
Load’N’Go Lowe’s truck bed tool box isn’t terrible, but it would not be anyone’s first choice. First off, they sell with a “universal fit” model for pick-up trucks, and today one size definitely does not fit all. The primary construction material is aluminum, and it isn’t particularly thick, either. There is no use putting a diamond plate tread pattern on surfaces that will dent when you step on them. But really, the main issue with a Load’N’Go Lowe’s truck bed tool box is the price. They are asking just under $10,000 for these. Why would you buy that, when you can get a much sturdier and more attractive DECKED Drawer system, designed for your exact make and model of pickup, van or working truck, for less than $1,500? It’s madness.
WeatherGuard Lowe’s Tool Box
Weather Guard tool boxes are also available at most Lowe’s locations, and you could honestly do a lot worse than the Weatherguard tool box Lowe’s can sell you. WeatherGuard has always been a middle to upper tier brand aimed at professionals, and you don’t get to that point without putting out a decent quality product.
Though your typical WeatherGuard Lowe’s truck tool box will be made of aluminum (a material with inherent weaknesses in a professional tool box), it is at least reasonably thick and strong aluminum. You can expect it to be properly welded, as well. Your typical WeatherGuard truck box also features steel cross-supports, which removes a lot of the flex that plagues all-aluminum models. You can also stand safely in the lid. That diamond plate isn’t just for looks. The locks are of good quality, and sit flush with the body of the tool box when locked.
Again, you don’t get quite the quality you’d get with a top-of-the-line brand like DECKED, but it is a solid mid to upper mid-tier product.
Better Built Lowe’s Tool Box
We’ve talked about Better Built products here before, and particularly about their Better Built truck boxes, a budget line that serves many of the same purposes as our DECKED Tool Box. Better Built is a WernerCo brand, and has been in the truck box business for some 30 years. Werner makes mostly aluminum ladders, and their chief production facilities are in Illinois.
A Better Built Lowe’s tool box does offer value for money, but mainly because they are dirt cheap. Most come in bright, shiny diamond plate aluminum, but the metal is incredibly thin. It dents very easily, and even if the diamond plate is on a horizontal surface, you should never actually step on it. Be careful if you opt to order a Better Built Lowe’s tool box for delivery, as many customer reviews complain of the products arriving dented. It is possible that this just represents mishandling by the couriers, but in all likelihood it is a statement about the strength and durability of a Better Built truck box.
MaxxHaul Lowe’s Tool Box
MaxxHaul is best known for their A-frame trailer tongue tool boxes. They also make a range of headache racks, cargo gates, and ladder racks for working trucks. MaxxHaul is based in Shanghai, and the products are actually made in both Shanghai and Qingdao, China.
As to quality, MaxxHaul is definitely a budget brand. Their truck tool boxes are made of an extremely thin and soft aluminum alloy, and even the positive reviews of these products stress how very thin and soft the metal is.
So, if it is that thin and weak, who has so many positive reviews at all? Simply put, MaxxHaul products are really, deeply inexpensive. When something costs maybe a quarter of what the next better brand costs, few people think they are buying quality. They get what they pay for, and they really didn’t pay much at all.
A Detailed Look At A Few Lowe’s Tool Box Products
Kobalt 42-Inch 13-Drawer Combination Cabinet
The 13-drawer Lowe’s Kobalt tool box is a decent choice for home mechanics, weekend tinkerers, and anyone who needs to organize a growing tool collection in a non-professional atmosphere. It is a decent, lower-end tool box, and good value for money.
Each drawer is rated for 100 pounds of tools or equipment. It has a single integrated power strip offering 4 AC outlets and 2 USB ports. The 5-inch by 2-inch casters are adequate, and built to withstand a total weight of 1,200 pounds. So, maybe don’t put the full 100 pounds in all of the 13 drawers.
The upper hatch opens on gas-filled struts, and drawer liners are included. The build quality is good. If the steel is a touch thin compared to a Snap-on or another top brand, at least it is well-welded. As you can typically pick these up at Lowe’s or the Lowe’s website for less than $600, it's not going to break the bank, either.
Craftsman 2000 Series 5-Drawer Rolling Cabinet
This 26½-inch wide Lowe’s Craftsman tool box offers 5 solidly made steel drawers, each rated for a full 100 pounds of tools or equipment. The casters are of the quality you’d expect from the Craftsman brand, and can hold 650 pounds in total – plenty to support the cart and its contents with a little to spare.
It has a stout little lock, to protect just over 8,000 cubic inches of your tools. After assembly, the entire piece is only 26.5 inches wide by 18 inches deep and 34 inches tall. A top mat is included in the box.
This example of the Lowe’s Craftsman tool box is built in Missouri, bit from global materials. Really, though, that’s about as “made in America” as you can ask these days.
63-Inch Better Built Lowe’s Truck Tool Box
The Better Built branded Lowe’s truck tool box is a bargain line, as we mentioned. That having been said, their 63-inch aluminum crossover truck tool box isn’t terrible if you’re careful with it. It is not professional grade by any means, but it is a fine place to keep a small set of truck tools and maybe some camping gear.
The main construction material is diamond plate aluminum, but the paddle latches are stainless steel. It should be all but immune to corrosion in normal conditions. The lid is self-lifting on gas-filled shocks. In order to give strength to this all-aluminum crossover box, the tub is bent from a single sheet of metal, with smaller, separate compartments that fit over the truckbed rails.
The lid is reinforced along the perimeter to keep the weather seal in place, but it isn’t a safe step. Note that this product typically ships without a mounting kit, which you may have to purchase separately.
The DECKED Crossbox – Definitely Not A Lowe’s Tool Box
The DECKED Crossbox is a well-made little plastic tool box . Its primary construction material is a revolutionary high impact polymer resin which is both light and extremely durable. It is also very easy and economical to recycle, and indeed already contains a high proportion of recycled materials.
The DECKED Crossbox is the perfect tool box to keep in the closet for home improvement or DIY projects, but it will be equally at home behind the seat of your truck. However, it was designed to be a part of the DECKED Tool Box or DECKED Drawer System tool storage and transport ecosystem.
The DECKED D-Box Plastic Tool Box
The DECKED D-Box is light, waterproof, easy to use, and extremely versatile. It offers a single large internal space that can be easily divided into 2 or 3 compartments with removable bulkheads. It is made of the same plastic resin formula that our other fine products are, ensuring that it is light and impact-resistant, and proof against cracking or fading even after years of harsh sunlight. Just like the DECKED Crossbox we looked at above, it is fully compatible with both the DECKED Tool Box and the DECKED Drawer System.
The DECKED Tool Box – Better Than Any Lowe’s Truck Tool Box
The DECKED Tool Box is truly professional grade, putting it in the same class as the WeatherGuard and Craftsman truck tool boxes Lowe’s offers, but outperforming them in virtually every way. The DECKED Tool Box is made right here in the USA, of the same revolutionary plastic resin as most of our other products. However, it also features aluminum and steel reinforcing to provide both durability and strength.
The DECKED Tool Box can even be ordered with an optional folding ladder. This makes your tools or other gear easy to access without actually climbing into the cab, no matter how tall your truck bed is.
This is the perfect way to get your tools and equipment to the worksite, to keep your sporting gear dry and organized, or to add a little secure cargo space to the back of your pickup. The locking mechanism is armored in steel, so the only way to access the contents of a DECKED Tool Box without the key is power tools. Don’t worry, though. We do sell replacement keys.
So, is a Lowe’s tool box any good? Some are, and some aren’t. A DECKED Tool Box, however, always offers both quality and price.
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