Tool chests

Thinking about asking Santa for a tool chest for Christmas but haven’t been able to get out to look at any of the options because of lockdown.

Having a look around online the better, budget ish, options seem to be the halfords advance, Clark HD or SGS ranges. Does anyone have any experience with any of these or any other suggestions to add to the list?

https://www.halfords.com/tools/storage/tool-chests-and-cabinets/halfords-advanced-6-drawer-tool-chest—black-570405.html

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/070118130/

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/professional-9-drawer-tool-box-chest

I got one of these and it is awesome!!!

https://www.sealey.co.uk/product/5637183330/4-drawer-wide-retro-style-topchest—blue-with-white-stripes

The halfords advanced stuff is very nice. Even the basic halfords units are pretty good. You are at the mercy of their random pricing though.

Standard answer is the Halfords pro or advance but there’s loads of options out there now that look tasty.

That said due to the bulky nature and their propensity to damage Id want to collect my box rather than have it delivered. Even at Halfords I had to check 3 boxes to find one undamaged.

Point to note – homebase had some kickass looking stainless cabs with oak tops on discount at 500 quid….they were 72″ units my only point to note is I wouldn’t have them on the wheels they come with as it’s only 4 and the span is massive.needs mid support imo. Will go dig out a link

https://www.homebase.co.uk/ultimate-storage-72-inch-tool-trolley-15-drawer_p383631

May have been a local store promotion but they had that marked up in-store down to 500 at inverurie a couple weeks ago.

Probably bigger than op is looking at but one to watch for anyone looking for a big cab

The Halfords advanced stuff is quite often on sale after Christmas. I got the full stack with inserts a few years ago (inserts were 3 for the price of 2 and the chests half price).

Really good quality tools and cabinets

I have a couple of SGS cabinets and a Halfords Advanced one; they are similar quality but for no particular reason I prefer the SGS ones. As has been said, Halfords pricing is random, also SGS are often on special offer and one of mine was bought from their Ebay store using one of the Ebay 20% off offers. The SGS ones were delivered well packed and undamaged, the Halfords was picked up at a store.

Ask around all of your mates and see if anyone has a Halfords trade card. The big savings make it the obvious choice and you can save again on all the cool modular tool trays to fill it up.

I’ve had the basic red Halfords chests for c20 years. Had a lot of use when I was was restoring cars as a hobby and stood up well.
The drawer runners weren’t as smooth as the fancy ones but I figured for weekend/ occasional use it’d do.

As tools don’t leave the shed much,I have gone down the steel drawer cabinet route (Bisley 8 drawer) rather than more toolchests,I like them and they work for all the other bike bits storage as well.

The one from Costco I’ve got was ok for the money. It’s lasted 15 years with no issues and is in daily use.  However I was looking at the Halfords Advanced range only yesterday for one of the Davesport juniors. Look like good quality. Drawer runners tight, no slop & look like a quality purchase. No experience of other makes.

I’ve the Halfords advanced 6 drawer chest then bought shadow foam and cut all my key tools into the foam. So much easier doing a bike build with everything where you want it!

I’ve left the other 3 drawers for less used tools that I don’t care about and spare bike bits in the deep one.

+1 for SGS tool chests.

Had a look in person at the halfrauds pro and std and sealey, the range in Homebase and wasn’t too impressed tbh, so left buying one for a while.

Was recommended SGS through m/c buddies, SGS had a promotion on, so got the 42” model, base and top cabinet. Quality is very good – the units are seriously heavy, I’d recommend it.

The thing is bloody huge though, loads of room for all my tools.

SGS 4 part wheeled tool box.

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/stc500d-mobile-suty-4pc-tool-box

This one. Get on the waiting list for it. I have one in my van as a mountainbike tool kit. Brilliant thing.

I have the ‘Barn Top’ Halfords Advanced in your first link. Good quality. If not apparent, it’s a Hammerite type wrinkle-black paint finish. The top area is deep* and has two plastic fittings for 13amp plugs to fit through (I.e. for impact / drill chargers etc). With the included rubber mats, the first five drawers are approx 2” deep, the bottom drawer 2.75” deep. The drawers are the soft-close type similar to good kitchen units. I.e. you can ‘throw’ them closed and they slowly retract the last couple of inches.

*In case it’s any help to anyone – it’s four or five inches taller than the previous Halfords Advanced chest. Which means it’s a very tall stack if used with roll cab and mid box.

I have £100 ones from Amazon. One at home for bike tools and parts and two at work for barbering tools. I wouldn’t imagine they would last too long in an actual garage but they will no doubt last me for years. The drawers are smooth.

My son has a top box with tools (Clarkes) that’s OK.

I’d love a full chest, but manage with a large Stanley tool box as I prefer to be able to take the tools with me to our caravan when down there with the bikes.

Another +1 for SGS. Not quite what you’re after but I have this plus a strimmer, axle stands and trolley jack from them.

Very happy with them all for both quality and value.

I’ve got a top box from Clas Ohlson (CoCraft IIRC) lovely made thing, better than the Halfords roll cab it sits on.
My uncle bought the Cocraft set when he sold his MAC tool cabinet when he retired, been happy with them.

I’ve had the Clarke’s one in your link in black/gold from a machine mart for 15/20years and its still going strong. (Living in a garage but only used for home fettling)

I went for that as when I compared them years ago the draws on the Clarke’s had less float/wobble than the Halfords ones.

Halfords Trade card user here. I bought mine cheaper on offer than the discount card allowed.

Also I bought 3 sets of top middle bottom and 1.5 sets had to go back for dints or scratches etc. So i’d check them in the car park post purchase

Have got a clarke bottom box on wheels and have had it since I was about 15 as my dad bought it for me one year. Have since added a Halfords advanced mid box as well, both good quality and more than happy with both. Definitely recommend the trade card, my current boyfriend has one and it works out as really good value.

I have this SGS one for bike tools/stuff
https://www.sgs-engineering.com/sgs-1500-8-drawer-tool-box-chest-roller-cabinet?utm_campaign=pdp_related&utm_medium=web&tmsb=r3qlz9o&tmrl=r5khd81&tmsl=product-page-related-products&tmty=w&tmcv=5&tmcs=71v4ng2

I ended up with 2 top cabinets because the first was damaged in transit and they never bothered collecting it after replacing it.

Nobody seems to have mentioned Halfords stuff is on offer at the moment.

https://www.halfords.com/black-friday/workshop-black-friday-deals/?prefn1=type&prefv1=Tool%20Cabinets%7CTool%20Chests%7CTool%20Chests%20%26%20Cabinets%7CTool%20Boxes#bottom-banner

I must say though I’d be happy with SGS stuff as well, their trolley jacks are good quality.

I suspect I may be over thinking this as they all seem to fair pretty well based on the experience above.

So, I have just sent all the options above, plus the cheaper halfords top chest, over to MsGinge and said I’d be happy with any of them. This way I still get a bit of a surprise.

I have a cheap one and I wish I had the ball bearing runners, it’s so covered in stickers I can’t upgrade it now

I’ve got a 5 draw and 3 draw of the Halfords Professional chests. They seem pretty rugged. The 5 draw I bought off eBay from a small engineering co that was closing; it’s a bit dented and scratched, but the draws still run smoothly and can take a heavy load of tools. For a home user I reckon they’d last a lifetime.

We use the Halfords Advanced and Professional tools, great value and the tools them selves are 9 tenths of snap on, facom, Stahlwillie etc.. just not the range. Still you will see more Halfords pro socket sets in race car pits than all the rest put together.
The tool cabinets and boxes are pretty good, ie 7 to 8 out of ten, noticeably down on the best but more than good enough and quarter the price. Trick is to find them in the sales. If you can get a trade card they become excellent value and hard to beat and why we have 8 plus of them in the hanger and workshop.

I’ve got a couple of sets of Halfords advanced. Had them for 6-7yrs. Great bits of kit.

I have 3 Halfords tool chest sets ranging from the black pro to the cheap £100 blue one (and the mid range red one).
All are great value.
The cheap blue one I mainly use to house network equipment and my workshop amplifier. Have also butchered it to allow cable entry and have battery rack for my akita stuff.
The big black professional one holds most of my socket sets and is noticeably thicker, but with my non industrial use they are all fine to be honest!

Mine are ancient Clarke, I was adviased at the time to get the cheapest one with roller bearings and that seems to still be not bad advice.

If I was buying again I’d want some deeper drawers, mine in the main top chest are all about 2 inchesand that’s fine for spanners etc but annoyingly slightly too shallow for a lot of bike stuff which doesn’t like to lie flat, hammers, etc.

Do Halfords still do special offers on the advanced/professional cabinets?

As tools don’t leave the shed much,I have gone down the steel drawer cabinet route (Bisley 8 drawer) rather than more toolchests,I like them and they work for all the other bike bits storage as well.

same. The only thing i use regularly enough that they don’t get put away is a set of allen keys screwed to the wall.

Total cost for an 8 and a 12 draw… zero. Thats a bike that is.

@Aquaprofile, going by the expired deals on hotukdeal, yes, but seemingly not lately. If you haven’t already, sign up to their mailing list, for advanced notice.
The standard 20% off atm

@Northwind, how about one of these (was on sale for £350 last Oct)

Ooh sexy

@Aquaprofile they have 20% off the advance ones now which is the best I’ve seen since Black Friday when they had 30% off. It was enough to tempt me into finally getting some after MsGinge missed out on the Black Friday sale for getting me one for Christmas. They turned out a bit nicer than I expected but also quite a bit bigger/heavier than I though they would be which nearly caused some issues getting them home.