So I walked into Lowe's one day and found a Kobalt steel toolbox with a Pioneer stereo system. It's a little different. It's blue – not a big deal, but it has a weird door with no handle in the upper right corner of the top tool box. Pushing it away, what caught my eye was Pioneer Audio. Alas, has Kobalt finally introduced a new toolbox with an integrated stereo that's more manageable than their 53-inch behemoth stainless steel offering?
They do.
I made a quick call to my contact in Kobalt and within a few days we had the new toolbox and matching cabinet unloaded into the workshop of a local friend who is the chair of an inner city ministry. There's no better place to test it than his workshop, which has actually never seen a toolbox newer than a 1970's Craftsman with its rusty drawer pulls. This is going to be fun on so many levels.
Editor's Note: Check out our Best Toolbox Reviews article to see our top picks!
Package
The staff at Lowe's were more than helpful in helping us load two large boxes into our F-250 Super Duty pickup and we made the long drive to the store with no trouble. From my last experience with the Kobalt, I knew this company packs their toolboxes really well, so I instructed my friend to hit the rails really hard to test the durability of the Styrofoam sealing system Sex… alas, my friend isn't that bold. Honestly, we'd probably get hit by a train, and I'm pretty sure a steel toolbox would be fine. However, what we want to test is limited.
build quality
Back at the workshop, we quickly tore open the box and unpacked it. Some assembly is required—namely, the huge 5-inch casters that must be bolted to the bottom of the 6-drawer tool cabinet. I love these casters. They're oversized so you can easily move the unit around as needed – even when it's full of tools. Additionally, the two front castors are lockable both in roll and swivel. This gives you a completely secure lock, so you can park and forget about the tool cabinet without worrying about it floating around on you. With the casters in place, we flipped the tool cabinet upside down and rolled it into place, ready to lift the tool box onto it and secure it in place.
As you guessed it, each cell is typed individually. Once everything is assembled, it's time to get a full picture of everything and get our bearings. First of all, the whole cabinet is made of double-layer steel, which is very strong. The integrated 4-outlet power supply is located on the right side of the cabinet and is useful for plugging in power tools and equipment that draw less than 10 amps. While you could plug the top cabinet into the outlet strip on the bottom cabinet, we decided to use the two wall outlet plugs on the back of the cabinet to unleash all the power as it is easier to access.
Ball Bearing Drawer Slides
The drawer slides appear to be solid, with a ball bearing arrangement that pulls with relative ease. Each drawer is rated at 99 lbs. Capacity should be enough to hold almost anything that could be thrown into this cabinet. Each side of the lower and upper cabinets has a recessed secure handle for when you need to grab and maneuver the tool box.
The Kobalt blue powder coat finish is very nice, the only thing that is disturbing is that Kobalt put a lot of stickers all over the cabinets. These would be fine – if they fell off…but they didn't. We tried to strip something and ended up messing things up. In the future, we'd love to see them simply use a plastic-free solution. It might cost them a few extra pennies, but it will allow the user to remove the marketing stickers without ruining the look of the toolbox.
Other than that, we love that Kobalt continue to include and pre-install their custom drawer liners, which fit perfectly into toolboxes and cases and protect it from damage and leaks, and provide a great grip for your tools Surface. They also include a PVC cover, but since we don't work in public shops, this is more for auto guys who really tend to take care of their toolboxes like they do their vehicles.
Pioneer Stereo System in Kobalt Toolbox
Our favorite commentary part is when the tune is turned up. It's one thing to have a great Kobalt steel toolbox with a Pioneer stereo, but it's another to be able to safely store and organize your tools while listening to a jam tune. The stereo speakers are located at the top of the toolbox, while the head unit is a Pioneer stereo with a removable panel, located behind the top drawer on the far right.
The door opens by pressing the top right corner of the drawer so that it hinges down. The stereo is a base model and includes AM/FM/CD and Aux controls. That's where it comes in – Kobalt supplied the system with an iPod docking cable and remote. Best of all, the door to the stereo can be closed, and the remote controls the stereo through a plastic channel in the door. It's not that widely used, but it works.
AM/FM reception was good on the Kobalt Steel Tool Chest with the Pioneer stereo, but we absolutely love the ability to hook up an iPhone to the system and dial in a playlist. Queuing up some of our favorite tunes, we tried out the different EQ modes available on the Pioneer head unit. Overall, the sound is pretty good, unless we turn it up. At high levels, we noticed some distortion – a common occurrence when you're not using a high-end head unit or stand-alone amplifier. I guess if you have the power, it wouldn't be that hard to intercept the signal from the head unit and run it through an external amp to get better sound – but we'll leave that for another day!
in conclusion
The Kobalt Steel Tool Chest with Pioneer Stereo System with Pioneer Stereo System is a huge win in our book. It has the winning combination of toolbox and stereo, making the 53-inch stainless steel model an incredible offering, but offering the most important things at a price and size more accessible to the average person (plus, uh…we There is already a refrigerator in that workshop already, lol).
Considering you can buy a 35" full-size tool storage unit with a built-in radio for less than $800 — a very attractive buy — and you can buy the top or bottom tools separately for $395 Dollar. This product is also so new we can't even find it on Lowe's website, let alone Kobalt's own product website. However, get yourself into a store and you can find it. This is a great product that will make any shed or workshop an even better place to have it.