Our decide
This bag shops instruments vertically, holding them organized, simple to seek out, and unlikely to shift round. It may be carried with both the shoulder strap or the handles.
The most important distinction between the Crescent CTB1750 17″ Tradesman Closed High Instrument Bag and a conventional toolbox is that it trades a jumbled pile of instruments for particular person slots and pockets, storing instruments vertically in order that they’re simple to see, easy to seize, and shielded from harm.
The Crescent CTB1750 is massive sufficient to carry an entire assortment of primary instruments, with some room to develop as you tackle extra duties and develop your gear. The general design is a transparent emulation of the Veto Professional Pac XL, our improve decide and the gold normal of hand-tool storage. The Crescent might lack the Veto’s many finer factors and its almost indestructible sturdiness, however for a fraction of the fee, the Crescent retains most of the Veto’s extra apparent advantages with out requiring a significant funding.
Runner-up
Sufficiently big for a primary number of instruments, this smaller model of our high decide might attraction to of us who’re restricted on storage.
In case you don’t have a lot cupboard space or don’t see your self compiling a bigger number of instruments, we suggest the Crescent CTB1450 14″ Tradesman Closed High Instrument Bag. This is identical bag as our high decide, simply three inches shorter in width. It may well nonetheless maintain a primary number of hand instruments, however it doesn’t have room for enlargement.
We haven’t seen a dramatic worth distinction between the 2 Crescent luggage, so we really feel the selection is solely a matter of dimension choice.
Funds decide
This lower-cost choice lacks the sturdiness and arranged storage of our different picks, however it suits a closet shelf nicely and supplies locations for miscellaneous small {hardware}.
In case you’d commerce group and sturdiness for a basic hard-sided field that provides storage for screws, nails, glue, tape, and different {hardware}, we suggest the Stanley Click on ’N’ Join 2-in-1 Instrument Field.
This mannequin consists of two containers that snap collectively; the bigger one holds instruments whereas the smaller, divided one holds equipment and smaller gadgets. You’ll find yourself with a jumbled pile of instruments, and the latch isn’t as stable as we’d like—however the Stanley’s low profile might match nicely on a crowded shelf, and its compartmentalized storage for non-tool {hardware} was a rarity among the many containers we examined.
Improve decide
Loaded with sensible touches and constructed to final, this execs’ favourite holds a ton of instruments and is nicely designed in nearly each element.
The very best hand-tool storage we may discover—and one beloved by each tradesman we spoke with—is the Veto Professional Pac XL Additional Massive Compact Instrument Bag. Just like the Crescent, it options vertical storage and a two-sided design, however with a pocket dimension and configuration that may maintain roughly twice the instruments because the bigger Crescent bag we suggest.
The Veto is a kind of uncommon merchandise the place each small element has been nicely engineered. It may well get heavy when loaded, and it’s definitely not the most cost effective, however it affords a novel long-term worth that I and numerous different execs can personally attest to—I used an XL software bag for a lot of my 10-year building profession, and it by no means failed.
Additionally nice
The Klein Instruments backpack transports instruments in a hands-free method. It may well maintain a stable number of instruments and is simple to work out of.
For a hands-free solution to haul instruments round, we just like the Klein Instruments 55482 Tradesman Professional Instrument Station Backpack. Instrument backpacks are geared towards contractors and their on-the-go software life-style, however we had been stunned at how pure this felt to make use of round the home.
It takes effort to heft the Klein’s weight as much as your again, however as soon as it was on, we appreciated having each palms free to both carry one thing else or simply navigate the slender basement stairs extra simply. The backpack can maintain a primary set of round 20 or so instruments with the type of vertically oriented storage that makes a few of our different picks simple to work out of. It’s taller than our different choices, so it extra simply handles an extended hammer or a noticed.