I wrote about a new line of Tekton customizable tool carts the other day, and a couple of readers made comparisons to Milwaukee’s Packout system.
So, let’s compare the two storage options and how they differ from each other.
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Tekton Tool Carts
To start off, the Tekton tool carts have a 31″ wide x 21″ deep foot print, and with 33″ or 37″ height.
You get 2 shelves at the least – top and bottom compartments – and can add up to 3 full-extension drawers.
The casters are on the small side, and if they’re anything like other tool cart casters, they’re designed for rolling around an indoors workshop.
Tool carts are generally designed for automotive maintenance garages, and are used in a similar manner by other types of users. You might see them in all kinds of indoors workshops – machine shops, hobbyists spaces, commercial sites, and so forth.
You can place larger tools or bulk supplies on the bottom shelf, and the drawers and top compartment are sized for hand tools. Smaller power tools can fit in many tool cart drawers, but it depends on the size and type of tool.
Milwaukee Packout Tool Boxes
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Milwaukee Packout is a system of modular tool boxes.
There are drawer units, a rolling dolly, different sizes of tool boxes, organizers, crates, a rolling tool box, tool bags, and more.
Focusing on their large tool box, its exterior dimensions are 22.1″ wide x 16.2″ deep x 11.1″ tall. This means that a Milwaukee Packout tool box tower has about half the footprint of Tekton’s tool cart.
You can buy Packout-equipped tool carts from some industrial suppliers, but you’ll get better pricing if you source everything individually.
Still, the storage structure is very different.
The Milwaukee Packout system expands regularly with new tool box, organizer, and accessory options, and now there are also powered accessory integrations such as a vacuum and LED lighting product.
All Packout mobility configurations – the customizable cart is not an official Milwaukee product – are designed with versatility and portability in mind.
A fully-loaded Packout tower doesn’t move very easily on its 4-wheel dolly, but that dolly can go across varied flat terrain with greater ease than a tool cart would. If you need to transverse rocky or uneven ground, the rolling cart or 2-wheel hand cart are better options.
Neither are “Better”
Honestly, it’s not a competition, and not because one is clearly better than the other.
Tekton’s tool cart and Milwaukee’s Packout system are two completely different solutions aimed at very different user needs.
While the argument that Milwaukee Packout is less expensive than Tekton’s new tool carts is accurate, it’s more of a subjective take on things. To hold the same amount of tools, how would you configure a Milwaukee Packout configuration. You might need a pair of of 4-wheel dollies, each stacked with a crate on the bottom, a 3-drawer tool box, a crate on top, and a flat work surface to top it all off. All that would be a chore to work out of compared to a traditionally configured tool cart.
Milwaukee Packout can be mounted in a work van. The Tekton tool cart can hold 100 lbs per drawer. Milwaukee’s Packout 3-drawer tool box has a total weight capacity of 50 pounds, but you can pick up and move the Packout 3-drawer tool box and place it on a (properly rated) shelf.
Tekton’s tool cart will be more convenient to work out of. Milwaukee’s Packout has better options for storing a circular saw.
Tekton’s tool cart is largely made from metal. Packout tool boxes are made from impact-resistant plastic with metal reinforcement and components where needed.
For most users, the tool cart will be more useful if they’re working in an established space, and the Packout modular tool box system if they’re taking their tools and supplies into the field. A tool cart can be wheeled down a hallway, but you’re not going to load it into a work van to be taken to a jobsite.
Some users, such as MRO (maintenance, repair, operations) professionals, might be able to go either way. But generally, tool carts are for indoors use and Packout tool boxes for field use.
I use a lot of Milwaukee Packout products in a workshop setting, and I also have a tool cart and other forms of stationary storage. Sometimes they can be interchangeable, but usually only in small ways.
It might seem silly to compare the two very different product systems against each other, but while distinctly different there are some areas of overlapping function and convenience.
It’s also worth pointing out that Festool has different drawer and docking accessories for their Systainer modular tool boxes.
Milwaukee does too – they have shelves, individual shelves, and a wall mount that can be attached to vertical or horizontal surfaces.
And, I recently showed readers a brief example of Facom’s mobile tool box and ToughSystem tool box integration. Here, there’s a typical automotive or aviation industry rolling tool box with portable modular tool box storage bolted to its side.
The line between workshop and mobile storage has been blurred, and deeper expansion into modular tool storage products by Milwaukee Tool and others are erasing the traditional boundary even further.
A portable tool box used to be a singular plastic or metal hand box that fit a jumble of different hand tools, power tools, and supplies. Tool carts are essentially smaller mobile tool cabinets with a mix of bulk and shallow storage compartments.
Modular tool box systems, especially Milwaukee Packout, have introduced new workshop and field use storage options, but they’re still fundamentally different from mobile tool carts.
What remains clear is that both types of products definitely serve very different types of users.
Unless Milwaukee introduces some very big Packout surprises, at this time any comparison between modular tool boxes and tool carts are going to be matters of opinion. There’s no even ground for objective comparison, at least not yet.
Summary
I figure that even if an objective comparison isn’t possible, it might still be helpful to look at each system’s general pros and cons.
Tekton Tool Cart Pros
- Larger footprint – holds more
- Greater focus on hand tool storage
- Primarily constructed from metal
- Higher weight capacity
- Open bottom shelf for bulk storage
Tekton Tool Cart Cons
- Not designed for use outdoors
- Small wheels
Milwaukee Packout Tool Box System Pros
- Different tool and parts storage options- tool bags, organizers, boxes, crates
- Tool boxes can be reconfigured
- Can be separated for carrying
- Impact-resistant
- Weather-resistant (most products)
- Different mobility options for varied terrain
- Wall and vehicle mounting options
Milwaukee Packout Tool Box System Cons
- Limited storage volume
- Slower access in a workshop setting
- Tool boxes in a stack are inaccessible (except for top box or drawer units)
- Lower drawer weight capacity (50 lbs per drawer box)
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Julian Tracy
You might as well be comparing sawhorses vs Festool MFT’s. Cost considerations aside, the two have completely different uses and thusly requirements.
No mechanic or technician would gather up a few stacks of Packouts to use and no builder, plumber or carpenter would gather up a few tool carts to transport cordless tools and supplies.
I suppose the only time the two products might pass in the night is maybe for an installed van storage solution, but that’s a stretch in utility for the tool carts IMO.
Aaron
Weird article… Apples and oranges…
Stuart
A couple of readers made the comparison and it seemed silly to me, but I can’t dismiss readers’ opinions without giving it some thought.
In doing so, I realized some readers might simply not be aware of different systems’ pros and cons.
Someone who points to Packout when we’re talking about metal tool carts might not be aware of the benefits or notable differences. And if this is true for one comment or, it is bound to be true for other readers and visitors as well.
Aaron
Fair point
Dirck Van Lieu
Stuart made it clear (to some, at any rate) that ” …even if an objective comparison isn’t possible, it might still be helpful to look at each system’s general pros and cons.” He assumed no equivalency.
Kent
” but you’ll get better pricing if you [missed a word] everything individually.”
If I was a maintenance guy who worked in a building or complex, or if I worked from a van or box truck, I’d go full Packout.
For staying in the same building, I’d use a rolling tool cart (in fact, I do).
Plain grainy
Missing a word is an old publishing trick to see if people are reading the text.
Stuart
Maybe, but not one I do on purpose.
Although, I once mixed in a statement to suggest I am of extraterrestrial birth. The last time I checked, nobody caught it.
Yadda
Maybe because no one doubted it.
Yadda
We do find you to be quite honest.
Mroldfart
That’s funny though!
Stuart
That was of course absolutely a clever publishing trick to see if anyone was paying attention.
(*fixed*, thank you!)
Plain grainy
It’s a battle to keep everything organized. It’s great that there are many choices to assist us in our needs. Many times it takes a combination of systems to make things work fluently. As every situation is different. Side note: Rockler has some new doweling jigs ($18 each, three sizes available). They remind you of the Kreg pocket screw jigs somewhat.
Plain grainy
Available at Acme tools: An enclosure kit for Rubbermaid & Uline rolling carts. It’s made by Knack, has one large door. It closes in the lower part of cart. Price is in the $80-90 range. Steel construction.
Stuart
I’ve seen those. They’re in my topics queue, but are a bit too industrial-oriented and outside most readers’ interest.
They’re more for security than utility, but that’s not usually needed in most commercial or industrial spaces where these are used.
fred
Some of what you decide on as being your tool storage and mobility solutions may come about because of personal preferences, your experiences and company/group culture. Starting with a plumbing business we had one set of ideas – but those changed as we expanded (organically and by acquisition) and saw some different approaches While some of the crews still held fast to using 5-gallon pails and milk crates in the vans for store and carry solutions – cross pollination started to show the advantages of up-fitted trucks with more organized storage. tool and parts transport.
When we first acquired the GC business – lots of Knaack boxes were in use – mostly at larger jobsites. As that business morphed into more and more remodeling with smaller commercial and residential work – that changed our styles again – especially as plastic then cloth tool carriers were replacing metal tool boxes and metal/wooden totes.
In both businesses – we decided to build additional workout centers beyond the home-bases – which presented better options beyond lots of on-truck storage and clutter.
Then with the merging with a cabinet/woodworking shop we were introduced to Vidmar storage solutions. Finally – when the plumbing business acquired the pipe/metal fabrication shop – we learned about what Lista cabinets were like.
The MRO and toolroom requirement of the fabrication shop were more aligned with your Tekton cart example. While the remodeling crews might have liked some of the Packout stuff. Many of our plumbers, however, seemed to be happy staying with more rough and tumble approaches- and I’n not sure but suspect that milk crates and 5-gal pails might still be seen in their trucks.
Plain grainy
Nothing wrong with milk crates & 5 gallon buckets if they work for you. I knew older people who still had a black & white TV set . They said they didn’t see any difference between that & a colored set. If your happy with it, and it works perfectly for you then great. Why spend the money. I have looked at others using products that made absolutely no sense to me. It was only after actually using those products that i could see the real value in them.
fred
In business – we’d like to try to make our tools/parts storage and transport systems efficient commensurate with cost/benefit. That not to say that jobsite tool transport had to look like some advertisement for Kaizen Foam. But it is not good at all if it takes too long to locate a tool or part in the truck. Not being able to tell that something was missing, at the end of the day when packing up, was also not a desirable thing. Nor was sending a message to our clients that we were disorganized and unprofessional.
The same philosophy was applied to our trucks, tools and mobile equipment where we had a process in place to keep them well maintained and clean – trading them in as needed. I have a personal distrust (perhaps bordering on illogical) for “contractors” who arrive on jobsites in beat-up rusted out vans. I know all the adage about not judging a book by its cover but I don’t think it sends a positive message about the likely professionalism of the owner and expected quality of work. But maybe some of those folks want to send a message that they do their work at a bargain price – and don’t “need a fancy truck or tools” to get the job done.
Kent
Just looked at the Rockler dowel jig, because I’m in the market for one. I can’t believe they made 3 different models, rather than a set of swappable drill guides. The cost is $60 to get all the sizes, so I might as well buy a different model.
Other than that, it looks good.
Plain grainy
I think i’ll pick up one, see how well i like it. Depending on shipping costs, I might end up with the set to save on shipping.
Plain grainy
You have to remember that your getting 3 drill bits with stops. Other dowel jigs don’t come with bits. Kreg pocket hole jig drill bits run $10-12 each with stop. They are probably very high quality drill bits.
Plain grainy
One use for a Packout that i use for mechanical work, storing parts(bolts,ect) as i”m disassembling equipment. All the parts are still there when you return to it a few days later. And you can slap a padlock on it to keep it secure.
Jon98
Not a bad thought, I’m a diesel mechanic and I use my pack out for all things electric. Most of diagnostic tools multimeter, power probe and other things in a large organizer and fuses and wire connectors in 2 compact ones
Wayne R.
Are any of these things suitable for shipping tools & equipment as a Pelican replacement?
In my last gig I used a Pelican 1650 (loaded to 70#) and a 1560 (45#) for seven years, daily work and weekly trips through airports, . Pelican replaced a few parts here and there, busted latches and some conveyor-worn wheels, but no major surgery required. Pelican is hard to beat, but I’m wondering about competition there.
Tom D
I use some of the Milwaukee Packout with foam inserts for shipping laptops around.
They seem as capable as the pelicans and you can stack them together.
Amusingly FedEx won’t ship them until you put the whole Packout in a box but they seem to be fine shipping Pelicans.
Jim Felt
Perhaps because they’ve (FedEx) determined through actual shipping “tests” that the Pelicans don’t catch on other packages? Or even opened if not fully gaffer taped down?
The Packouts are after all a bit lumpy and uneven. Plus maybe the transparent tops have shattered in their tender “handling”?
Thoughts? Stuart maybe?
fred
Hey – I used to travel with Haliburton cases – and an airline somehow managed to punch a hole clear through one side into the contents.
Stuart
I have no idea.
I wouldn’t think a Pelican case would be acceptable with any common carrier – at least at UPS they’d require it be placed in a box.
TonyT
You most certainly can ship Pelican cases straight, with no outer box, via UPS (well, at least using UPS International).
We get some delicate optical equipment straight from France, shipped using bare Pelican iM3075 cases shipped via UPS. The cases seem to survive fine, although they had to improve the interior packaging to prevent some minor damage to the equipment. BTW, in the past they used steel boxes of about the same size.
I don’t know if we’re going to ship them back for re-use; they’ve very nice boxes, and cost about $400 on Amazon.
Stuart
Hmm, maybe it depend on the individual store? My local UPS store won’t ship anything unless it’s in a non-retail carboard box, meaning they won’t accept product boxes unless they’re within an outer box that doesn’t show or describe the contents.
If a Pelican case qualifies as a transit case, that probably works, but personally there’s a good chance my store would reject it unless it was first secured in an outer box.
TonyT
My guess is that it’s because it’s a company sending, probably under a different category (such as international air freight) versus going to a UPS store. We’ve shipped some large (say 200 cu ft 300 lb) boxes via UPS air. I’m not involved with shipping so I don’t know more.
Stuart
Could be.
I receive tools in retail cardboard packaging covered in plastic shrink wrap, but there’s no way I’d be able to ship them back like that.
X Lu
This is a very nice compare and contrast. Very useful and informative.
Plain grainy
The Tekton is built in Canada it looks like. I buy Canadian products if they fit my needs. I live in a farm area, and Canada had been buying a lot of US corn ethanol (40% of all exports at one time). Not sure what’s happening now after the US/ Canada/ Mexico trade deal.
Plain grainy
I like my Packout tool boxes. But in the future i will be buying the Dewalt tough system cases. These new US built cases look very nice.
Plain grainy
Only some of Dewalt cases are US made.
JoeM
Let’s call the Tekton/Roussau Tool Carts what they are, for the genius innovation they fit into: A Build-to-Spec Rolling Cart. That’s all it is. A Rolling Cart.
But, then again, it doesn’t take much innovation on simple products, to completely revolutionize the product line itself. One can think Stiletto Hammers with Nail Starters, Martinez Tools’ completely custom Hammer systems, and even the introduction of Anti-Vibration Hammers to the market of the simple Hammer. Some people will complain that the prices and value of getting one of the more feature-enhanced generation of hammers is not worth the jump from metal hammer head, on a wooden handle old-school hammer.
A tool cart, to this point, has most often been sold as a pre-set unit. You pick one, you buy it, you bring it home, it never changes. Much like the newer designs of hammers, especially pointing to the Martinez offerings, the Tekton/Rousseau tool carts stop the process at the point of you picking one. You’re no longer picking a tool cart, you’re asking yourself what do I need in a Tool Cart? and from the list of options they give you, picking the features of the cart, rather than the whole cart… When you’re done picking, you buy it, and it will either come to you assembled already, or in a box of parts like IKEA furniture. Either way… You get control from beginning to end, how it goes together. And should you every outgrow it, the format doesn’t have to change, you just order new parts for the same cart and build them onboard. Yes, this can mean buying a new cart configuration entirely, but the fact that you can go from a 2-drawer setup with plain sides one day, to a 3 (potentially 4, or maybe even 6-drawer?) setup, with peg board sides, a year or two down the line. Never losing any time with the cart, and potentially never having to so much as reorganize the parts in the drawers if you don’t choose to.
That’s the interest, and revolution, behind these carts. They’re a part of shop infrastructure that changes to suit your needs, instead of a static pre-set device that augments your shop infrastructure.
This isn’t the Packout, ToughSystem, or TSTAK system. All of whom have their merits for on-site use. At the same time, containers are not Shop Infrastructure. They’re no replacement for huge, metal drawer systems. These Tool carts belong along side the giant metal drawers, either as a kind of pseudo-shopping-cart, for the tools you need for a given project, or as the permanent rolling necessities cart around the Shop.
Mike
If you’re a mechanic tekton if you’re a carpenter,electrician and plumber Milwaukee
Dians
Why didn’t he review the Milwaukee tool cart. I saw it in the store but I couldn’t stop and look closely at the time. Then maybe it would have been a real comparison.
Stuart
Because this is the comparison readers were making. It seemed unusual to me too, but with a couple of people making the comparison, it seemed worth looking into.
Compared to which Milwaukee cart, this one? – https://toolguyd.com/milwaukee-tool-cart/ The two are aimed at very different audiences, but since you’re interested I’ll add this to my queue.
Peter
I have built up a few packout stacks using a 3-drawer box above a 2-drawer box with the medium box (48-22-8424) on top. It is a great setup to keep on a long-term jobsite since it avoids the headache of unstacking to get to the lower box. Also the locking bars are great for keeping honest folks out of your tools.
One thing that I have noticed though, and this is true for the whole packout system in general, is that due to a bunch of design decisions on Milwaukee’s part (i.e the design of the thick interlocking system, minimum draft angle requirements for injection molding, drafted boxes within drafted boxes, tall stiffener ribs, etc) the boxes are actually incredibly volumetrically inefficient compared to a normal metal toolbox with thin vertical walls. I have not done the math but I often think about how much of these boxes is unusable. For this reason I have been keen to see someone come out with a modular metal box system – this looks quite interesting and is something I will check out. Stay tuned… I might need to design what I am imagining myself if this does not meet my standard!