Dewalt TSTAX

I purchased a cart and 6' stak of cases/drawers for each of my installers and theyre very much happy with the portability and quality of the product....
 
They are OK, but the pins that lock the drawers are undersized plastic and easily broken.  I have some with drawers that no longer stay locked and fly open easily.  I called DeWalt and they offered very little in the way of support.

However, systainers do sit nicely on the tstak carts even if they don't lock in place.
 
Lots of people like the Tstaks. I went a different cheaper as in half price route and went with Ridgid. No extra cost for a cart. The other option is the Makita System. Of course Systainers are awesome!
 
I have DeWalt's Toughboxes.  I don't see them as much anymore; although,  I really like them.  I haven't tried the Tstacks yet.  I also have a bunch of systainers and Lboxxes.  I wouldn't argue that one system is better than the other.  Each has its own merits.  The one thing that is very similar between all three is the ability to stack the boxes on a mobile base and roll them around.  I LOVE this feature.  In my basement/workshop this has proved to be the optimal storage solution.  One thing that I like about the Toughbox system is the durability of the cases.  This is one thing I worry more about with my systainers and Lboxxes.  I would think the Tstack may also be less than desired for a rough jobsite.
 
luke duke said:
Peter_C said:
Of course Systainers are awesome!

It's hard for me to justify a container that costs as much as the tool inside of it.

Agreed.  All of my systainers were purchased with a tool inside.  I invested in Bosch Lboxxes and DeWalt tough boxes as separate purchases to store other woodworking tools, fasteners, etc.

As I said one system isn't better than the other. Each has it's pluses and minuses.

I find systainers to be the most elegant and clean.  They certainly get noticed by the uninformed by comments like "wow...those are cool.  They are also ridiculously expensive.  The DeWalt tough boxes are the most durable. They actually have a weather seeling.  If I wanted to be sure that a tool will be safe, I'd go with them.  Their down side is that they are not as modular.  The Bosch Lboxxes are a nice combination of mobility, protection, and price.

 
Ajax said:
One thing that I like about the Toughbox system is the durability of the cases.  This is one thing I worry more about with my systainers and Lboxxes.  I would think the Tstack may also be less than desired for a rough jobsite.
That is one thing that the Ridgid's have going for them is they are about as thick as a Pelican case, but I surely wouldn't say as strong. The bottom Ridgid box with the wheels does not have the strongest axle, but having the built in cart sure is nice, and makes them more cost effective. I have a folding Magna cart for when I move my Systainers around.

luke duke said:
It's hard for me to justify a container that costs as much as the tool inside of it.
Understood and that is why, like so many others with lots of Festools packed into Systainers, my other branded tools are in a different brand of boxes. I actually have a ton of $6.95 bins holding tools and equipment. It is nice to see what is inside the bins since they are opaque. I once counted bins around my home and have 55 of them. We use them inside for organization.
 
I have about a half a dozen Sortimo (Bosch) LBoxxes. I like the LBoxx 3-D because it has a container on top for drills then an iboxx 72 for small parts and a sliding draw for more hand tools. I use a black Clorox shelf liner to keep the tools from scratching up the bottom.  The l boxxes are less money then Systainers, you can put your cr[member=6524]PPY[/member] Milwaukee drills in them and around Christmas time Amazon and online retailers discount them if you spend $150 or $200 plus on an order? I think all told the discount was $50. So I placed two orders and spent about $300 in total. They are slightly larger then the systainers (tanos) which for non branded festools are nice since nothing is engineered to fit in a given location. 

I found the dewalt boxes to be heavy, especially the sliding draw one. They are very heavy duty, but after purchasing them from rockler woodwork I returned them two days later. It just didn't fit my needs and I thought the organization theory and overall product design to be lackluster. I could see a DIYer liking it, but in the end it just wasn't my cup of tea? Overall, they weren't bad, and they were the least expensive and a pretty good bang for the buck.
 
I like how the tstak uses full extension glides. They also seem to have a good locking mechanism.

honestly, they made the sortainers look cheap. When they are 3x the cost.

But I have no regrets in purchasing systainers for my tools. They're better balanced/designed/sized than the competitors, and I really like being able to open the middle/bottom of a stack. Its a shame to have all the boxes locked together, only to have to scatter them around to get into any with the bosch/dewalt/makita's.

I'd give up my carvex/csx before Id give up my systainers.
 
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