Klein Tools has come out with a new modular tool box system, “Mod Box.”
The new Klein Mod Box system looks to be launching with a small tool box, medium tool box, rolling tool box, half-width tool bag, and a backpack.
The tool boxes and bags look to stack and latch together with a cleat-type connection, similar to Milwaukee Packout.
Advertisement
The Mod Box system will feature side-mounted attachments, such as a parts bin and cup holder.
The cup holder swings as the tool box stack is tilted, presumably to help avoid spilling your coffee or other such open container.
A magnetic holder can also be spotted in Klein’s TikTok announcement video.
A cord wrap and vertical tool holder can also be seen in one of their walk-around videos on social media.
Klein Tools has not shared any information other than what you can see in their TikTok and Instagram videos.
How much will it cost?
Advertisement
Where will it be sold?
The Klein Mod Box system looks to have been heavily inspired by several existing modular tool box systems, such as Milwaukee Packout, Ridgid Pro Gear 2.0, and maybe also Flex Stack Pack. Its side attachment accessory system looks to be unique and well-integrated.
It would be awesome if the Klein Mod Box tool boxes and bags were cross-compatible with Milwaukee Packout, but that seems unlikely given how different the cleat patterns are.
What do you think? If you haven’t yet bought into a modular tool storage system, will Klein’s Mod Box win you over?
Thank you to D3t for the heads-up!
Here is Klein’s announcement via TikTok:
blocky
Thank glob it doesn’t have a grumpy face:
https://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-55473RTB-Clearance-Portable/dp/B07RX8SKN7
Dtréy
Omg can’t unsee it now
Ball_bearing
Aww, who’s a cute little grumpy tool bag? Yes you are, yes you are.
Jim Felt
Someone at Klein is going to to have a lot of ‘splaining to do. Lordie Lordie. Did no one there pay any attention ?
And I’m actually being fairly serious.
Let alone what Sharpies will do to enhance the shadow line. ;-)~
Jared
It looks good. It seems nuts how many different tool box “systems” are on the market now. I’d look at it if I were shopping, but I’m starting to wish there were tool box “adapters” like there are for power tool batteries.
Bonnie
Every brand is trying to build another walled-garden to keep customers inside.
Stuart
Every brand wants a piece of the market now that modular tool box systems are popular with mainstream users.
I have bought and used many different tool storage systems over the years, and they can deliver vastly different user experiences.
At this point, consolidation would be too impractical for existing users.
It looks to me that Klein wanted to go down the Milwaukee Packout-like route, in which case a new cleat system would be the only option.
Klein has steadily been adding new storage accessories for bucket trucks and similar. I didn’t expect to see a tool box system from them, but it seems to be a strategic expansion.
Jeremiah
3d printers have entered the chat.
Matt+the+Hoople
There are several people making tool box adapters allowing mixing of brands. Many are 3D printed and some CNC machined. Here is one site that has a pretty decent offering although I have never used their products so cannot speak to the quality.
https://www.stacksmarter.com/s/shop
Dennis
Seems a bit late to the party at this point.
Their customer is someone with tools who hasn’t bought into Systainer, Bosck/Sortimo L-Boxx, Milwaukee Packout, Dewalt ToughSystem, Dewalt/Craftsman/Stanley Tstak, Ryobi Link, Rigid Pro Gear, Flex Stack, the Husky one, or one of the several others that I’ve missed. Doesn’t leave much of a market. Would have been better off making theirs compatible with one of the established lines, and offering functionality that they don’t.
I’m curious if that is even possible from a legal standpoint, or do patents stand in the way of my utopian vision?
taras
Patents do stand in their way. Licensing agreements? Depends on who would be willing to open up their system.
Bonnie
L-Boxx definitely seems happy to license out. Fein used to use Systainers, but it seems like former licensees (Fein and Makita both switching to proprietary alternatives) has either fled that arrangement or been kicked out by Tanos.
Bonnie
Correcting myself, Fein still seems to use Systainers.
bob
Their customer could be someone with a worn-out mobile toolbox, a new tradesperson, or someone like myself who just changed jobs and my previous employer provided me with a company packout. I need to buy one for my new job since they do not provide tool storage.
I didn’t care much for the Milwaukee packout. The Flex and Klein are what I’m leaning towards.
Mark M.
I love the colors, love Klein. Can’t wait to check it out in person. At the same time, the market over-saturation makes me throw up a little. How many brands of toothpaste—or in this case modular boxes—do we frickin need??? I guess part of my disdain is the apparent lack of innovation. It’s another stacking, rolling box setup. Pin a star on Klein.
John
Almost looks like a Kobalt Casestack.
Jeremiah
Yet it looks 99.8% like Packout.
Robert
I wonder if Klein will differentiate their storage system by somehow doing something special for the electrical trades. Otherwise, why buy into a line just starting out, without the breath of options established lines offer?
blocky
It could double as a non-contact voltage tester.
Mike (the other one)
I’d love to see a deep box with interior vertical pockets, similar to a tool bag. That would be more electrician-friendly than shallow trays.
Pete M
It seems selling plastic boxes at those prices is a very profitable business.
Greg
I read an article at the end of last year stating Milwaukee had hit the billion dollar mark with packout system
Eric
The initial setup to have the molds made is very expensive. But after that I wouldn’t be surprised if the shipping costs was higher than the cost to produce the boxes.
Jeremiah
The thing is, those blow molds don’t have an indefinite life. Eventually they wear out and need to be replaced. I used to be a machinist in a plastics plant and we made most of the molds in house. As a junior man, one of my jobs was to sand the interior walls, by hand. The tool marks need to be removed from the entire surface, and the curves are the hardest.
Diego Chingon
I’m not buying any other brand. I’ve already spent around 3k on packout.
Bart
Wow that’s a lot what’s the ROI on that investment?
Blocky
Um, he’s in the red.
bg100
Lol, nice. For me, the ROI is immediately upon showing off the stacks to my builder buddies. With labels, lots of labels…
Robert
ECON 101: Better to be in the black
Josh R
Whoosh!
Joe
Efficiency and organization always leads to a ROI. I happily threw my Festool systainers, and Dewalt boxes away after investing $1,300 in packouts this last month. And I plan to do same next month.
Bart
The important thing is you believe it’s worth it. Just believe, bro!
Stuart
One day, if you work hard enough, you too might be able to invest in storage solutions and upgrades that provide quality of life types of benefits.
To each their own. Criticizing how others spend their money on tools or equipment – which seems to be a recurring pattern for you – only makes you seem bitter and miserable.
Jim Felt
Stuart. Kinda sounds like the old(?) brand loyalties among photographers too. And I’d imagine in many fields where there are multiple viable brand options. Particularly car and truck brands…
Plain+grainy
The resale I’m guessing will stay very high on Packout. Coupled with recent inflation, if purchased under previous big sale prices you should be good. If kept in good shape, might be surprised how little they will cost over the years. Or have still very usable storage to pass down to family members.
Jim Felt
Especially among the more gentle users! Might even outlast all those steel Craftsmen boxes at every garage sale.
Jeremiah
I just placed 5 steel and plastic rectangular tool boxes on the curb after cleaning out a portion of my shed. I still have a few left with odds and ends in them. Eventually they will be replaced with more Packout and someone else can then enjoy them.
Jeremiah
Ha, you made a funny. “Packoit, bought under big sales.”
William J Rosner
I have spend 3K + also in Milwaukee packout system including the vacuum. Like one of the others said, Klein is about 3 years plus late the to the party.
Jeremiah
$3k? That’s it? Lightweight.
Munklepunk
I hope Klein takes a different look at these boxes and doesn’t just makes clones of everyone else. I actually bought a bunch of the Hart from Walmart because they were the only ones that have removable parts bins, well Bosch LBOXX does but at 4X the price The Hart are not high quality but do what I want. I would prefer the systainer but I don’t want to dig that deep into an orifice.
Jeremiah
Milwaukee has removable parts bins.
Then again, these look 99.999% Like Packout. The only difference I see os their cleat system is marginally different.
Eliot Truelove
Innovation and competition can be good, and I’m all for different systems, but a standardized system would be incredible. Tanos licenses their systainer systems to many companies, I wish Milwaukee would just go ahead and do the same. Tanos for the shop setups, Milwaukee for the movile setups. They’ll profit as well through the licenses, and will always have the advantage of their name being associated with the system. Everyone calls a reciprocating saw a Sawzall because of Milwaukee, and now the imitation packouts are all called some version of “Festools Packout”, “Dewalts Packout”, “Ridgids Packout” etc. If it was standardized it would cause innovation in the sizes, internal components, external components, etc. All the rest of this causes a slew of proprietary parts and add ons, and if youve bought into one system, you feel stuck when someone else comes out with something cool or ingenious and Fear Of Missing Out becomes an influence on you. So far Milwaukee has the best system, and everyone’s playing catchup, but rare specific add ons shouldn’t have to be with trade specific boxes. It would also help greatly to get some different color Packouts to differentiate for those who run multi battery setups.
AttachMount
Eliot makes some good points. If Milwaukee would allow licensing for accessories, like Apple does for phone accessories, there would be a tremendous amount of innovation and would reduce the duplication of boxes and systems. Allot of packout innovation is coming from small time 3D printing folks. Milwaukee has done great on “The Packout System” but is really lacking in options for specific trades or to suit other tool brand users. There are no “good” storage options for circular saws or nail guns for example. No wire spool holders for electricians, no wrench and socket drawers for mechanics, etc. Milwaukee has shaken up the market with packout, like Tesla did to automotive. I see allot more to come in this segment. It’s an exciting time for tool guys like us!
Eliot Truelove
To add to your point, it reminds me of the early days of phone chargers, everyone had their own proprietary pin design thay didn’t help anyone, until the USB series of connectors started taking over. Now the last holdout is Apple with their lightning connector, which yes, they license, but it’s a bit of a ticket to a walled garden really. Standardization can be brilliant. This Klein Tools box does some interesting things with the side rails, but similar things have been done with guys with 3d printers to Milwaukee. Open up the floodgates of innovation Milwaukee, and let us have our Black or blue or teal or green or yellow toolboxes with some novel and trade specific attachments from reputable and big time sellers. Everyone will have your name in their mouth, and you’ll get a chunk of the whole market with it.
Jeremiah
Nope, having separate manufacturers means competition, which means innovation and price wars. I like my motorcycles and pick up trucks different, not all the same.
If you have some fear of missing out, then a tool box isn’t going g to help you, a couch and notepad is where you need to go.
I don’t want some sort of homogenized system, we need selection.
Buster
The more the merrier… Keeps prices in check. I’m probably 20k or so deep into packout and am happy for the most part. Don’t see me changing anytime soon.. lol
Julian Tracy
I bought a large amount of Packout this last deals season and going into a new carpentry position job from being a general contractor for 15 years, set about to create a rolling carpentry kit with Packout. Gave up after a couple days of trying to figure out the setup – Packout is just too bulky, too heavy and not well proportioned for carpentry tools and associated supplies.
Decided to recommit to Systainers as I already own a bunch and they were really just static storage for asst. power tools, some Festool, mostly others. Between the MW1000 portable cart/work table (w/ extension), the Midi vac and the Syscart/dolly when needed, my jobsite organization is near perfect and easily takes up half the bulk of what it would’ve been with Packout.
Most of the Packout I’ve sold off have easily recouped my purchase prices due to the great deals late last year.
The meathead contractors/trades people hate on Systainers, but unless you are actually tossing them off the truck, they have the largest percentage of usable space when considering their exterior dimensions.
Now obviously – they are stupid expensive and no where near worth what they sell for and I wouldn’t be using them at all at retail pricing of $75-85 a pop, but luckily I’ve got a cabinet builder friend that has no use for them and sells them to me brand new from his tool purchases for between $30-42 each. At that price, it’s a no brainer and is working out great going to and from job sites.
fred
I inherited a Kennedy #32 carpenter’s toolbox. It has a spot under the lid to secure a full-length handsaw and a slot in the lid so that a framing square can be laid in the box with its short leg sticking out of the top. There is a canvas sling – presumabably to carry the box and tools with the help of your shoulder. Considering the weight of the thing filled with the tools that one of my great-uncles left me – I’d have to be Paul Bunyon to carry it for much longer than a minute.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/125671778702
Nate
I agree. Systainer is hard to beat for volume, weight, and stackability. I am generally a hobbyist, but have a small business with custom cabinet and/built-ins. If you are not bashing gear on a construction site (said with much respect to my friends in that space), I think Systainer is very useful due to its’ low weight and volume. Since they are rectabgular and have a common footprint, they also pack together very efficiently.
Packout/Toughsystem, etc. certainly are great products where that durability is needed. Systainer is rugged enough for finish work.
Stuart
Systainers are fragile compared to jobsite storage solutions – I’ve had pieces break off of them before. They are also very pricey and painful to buy individually. However, it’s the best system – T-Loc specifically – for moving around interior spaces.
I have slowly been phasing out my use of ToughSystem and Bosch L-Boxx tool boxes, and have been buying more Milwaukee Packout on sale. But, I’m never getting rid of my Sortainers and Systainers.
I’m waiting for a good sale to buy another cantilever tool box – Makita’s is lower priced than Festool’s and seemingly identical. https://toolguyd.com/makita-makpac-modular-tool-boxes-launch-2022/
Nate
Yes. Those MakPaks are pretty nice.
The Systainer Store website sometimes has some deals as well.
https://systainer.store/
Brian
I totally agree with your thoughts on Packout. I have several pieces that I can’t figure out how to utilize like the 2-drawer box, the large box and the rolling box. Glad to hear I am not the only one. I’m open to a different system and have thought about selling my $1000 collection.
Jeremiah
I have been using and having great success as a GC/Carpenter etc. with my Packout. My Milwaukee (and other brands) tools fit nicely, and they all fit perfectly in the rear of the cab of my truck.
To each their own I guess, but the Festool, while nice to look at, are a bit too brittle for daily transport, and are not water proof or dustproof. Great for shop use though.
Noah
The sustainer system is my favorite and has so many box options but it’s hard for me to justify the price. I chose tstak instead which is good but definitely lacking in refinement and storage option.
Noah
I also have tstak. I made gaskets and now they are waterproof. (In England they have the tstak 2.0 boxes which are all IP rated 65 or something and come with gaskets). I bought into the Craftsman Tradestack box system because it’s super durable and the drawer boxes are only $70. Plus the big rolling box comes with a TSTAK/VERSA STACK adapter!! So I can stack all my stuff now, plus I can use any of the 3 systems boxes which is awesome..
Mackenzie
As a rigid box user I’m happy with having wide open spaces that accommodate all of my power tools and pouches of hand tools. As a coffee drinker and accessory fiend I’m drooling at that Klein box.
Joe A
[audible groan]
Jeremiah
Same.
Noah
A new modular box system and the bottom box with wheels and handle ISN’T DRAWERS OR CABINET?? What’s the matter with these companies? Why can’t anyone figure this out? People hate having to unstack everything to get to the stuff under it. Are this point they could have taken over the whole market if only they listened and did research as to what people WANT. Instead they just looked at packout and decided to copy it. Nothing to see here, just another packout copy cat but with way less options. Just like what FLEX did and now their boxes are on CLEARANCE half price at Lowe’s.. good God why do these guys keep doing this? We ALL want WATER PROOF, LOCKABLE cabinet or drawer boxes on the bottom with wheels!!
Julian Tracy
Had I decide to do my setup with my packout I was going to cut the panel off the front of the rolling dolly large box, reinforce the cut and figure out a way to make the front panel removable whilst other Packouts were stacked on top.
If they had a rolling large drawer bottom, or even the open face version, the usability would be 200% better. But don’t try to talk any sense to Packout fanatics – these folks have transitioned into crazier over the top system fans more so than the silly Systainer folks buying $80 boxes for shims or 4pc wrench sets, etc. Packout folks routinely post pictures showing their multiple 8’ towers and it’s hard to look at those pictures and think WTF? Like, how the heck is any of those lower stacks even accessible.
And now MW has introduced all those silly wall mount and garage organizing accessories – These folks are making the Systainer crowd blush with the multi-thousand dollar investments in plastic boxes, etc,
Jeremiah
Believe me, those power towers are only for show. You can’t tilt and wheel them with anything more than 1 large box higher than the top of the handle. Not unless they are all empty, and even then it is hard to do.
The deal is, when you get to the jobsite, you unpack yourr tools and use them. Then at the end of the day, you put them away. If you have smaller tools, you get the drawer set or the cabinet that opens in the front. I carry my nail guns or saws in the large boxes, batteries and chargers in the smaller boxes.
It’s not all that hard and it beats the heck out of individual boxes and bags and making multiple trips to the truck.
Nate
LOL. I bought Festool for the specific tools I needed. Dust extractor, DF500 Domino, TSC-55 Track Saw, Sander, and OF1400 router. They weren’t cheap, but they work well.
Systainers came free with them. I’ve spent about $150.00 on a toolbox and Sortainer that hold just about everything else I need when mobile.
Festool is not cheap, but I haven’t needed to buy into another toolbox setup for my side-hustle small custom woodworking, cabinet, built-in business.
Granted, I am not abusing these on a jobsite. Packout and Systainer are not interchangeable. But I am actually probably close to break-even with Milwaukee tools for the same function and then having to buy Packout…
Jeremiah
Just buy the Packout Dolly and place the drawers on the bottom. Problem solved.
William Adams
Came here to say this.
My next big purchase is a Tanos MW 1000 Mobile Workstation — and I’ve already begun buying into Systainers — I guess I’ll do one Systainer per task/tool type, and adjust the load out based on what I’m doing.
Troy
I’m soo disappointed with my Klein multimeter that the whole brand is tarnished for me. The display is worthless for anyone working outdoors as I can’t see the characters. Even when I turn the auto brightness off it is still too dim. It likely has to do with the negative background. Then there is the poor battery performance, poor on-time automatic shut off , and the slow range finding. What a piece of crap. Should of bought another Fluke.
PedroPub
Ohhh….. Those meters.
I use a high end Keysight meter every day, and I know not everyone needs the best meter. But those Klein meters…. Just why??
Yanly
Welcome to milwuakee 2019.
With added on etsy 3d printed parts.
We present you the klein
Jeremiah
Ha, ha, so on point.
Jeremiah
Holy fake out Batman, looks like Klein cloned the Packout.
Then again, imitation is the best form of flattery. I guess if Hyundai copies every other top selling car conpany, these guys can do it as well.
I wonder where these will be sold, because I don’t see TTI having these next to Packout.
LoneWolf
Doesn’t look so great. I would much rather go with the Flex Stack Pack tool box system. The orange is ugly, the design is pretty ugly too. Have a look at the Flex and compare for yourself. It is far more elegant. Only trouble with the Flex is that I have DeWalt power tools and the system is designed for use with Flex bit cases & batteries.
Gonz
Why can’t more of these box system have drawers, I really hate breaking everything down and spreading the boxes out just to open a lid that the next box has to sit on