Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

The hinges holding the lid on are unsecured & come apart with every use. I had an older box of the same configuration & by the same company. I used it very satisfactorily for 15 years. After all those years of use, the catch finally broke & cannot be replaced.
When I bought the current box, I expected the same layout & quality of construction. I am very disappointed.

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

Good size and fit for the art supplies I use.

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

space allows for many different kinds of tools and materials

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

Price was SOOOOOOOO good

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

I bought this to store the large quantity of paint that I recently purchased, and it does a fantastic job. Previously, I only had a small, one tray box that was good for storing a few tubes of paint, brushes, ect. I couldn't fit much in there though. Now, not only does all of my paint fit, but also the sponges, brushes, various mixing supplies, and a palette, with room for more.

I'm torn about the way that things are spaced in this box, however. On the one hand, it's great because small paint tubes fit perfectly in each of the middle vertical spaces. On the other hand, it would be much better if there were an option to have the trays be customizable so that they could be unsegmented trays. Then it wouldn't matter if something would fit in a space or not.

Another slight annoyance is that my box, when shifted slightly while opened, started to close up, but only on one side. I'm worried that it may do this again and end up a mangled mess of broken plastic if I'm not wary. But other than that, this is exactly what I needed. :)

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

The ArtBin XL 3-Tray (8237AB)is better than its smaller counterpart, the ArtBin 3-Tray (8737AB) but not by much. I have reviewed both boxes but have noted some improvements in the XL version below.

I already own the ArtBin "Upscale 3-Tray" case and was always happy with it. This year I had an over-abundance of art supplies for school and I needed to find something a bit larger.

I decided to purchase the ArtBin 3-Tray (8737AB) and the XL 3-Tray (8237AB) which are essentially the same boxes but different sizes.

I was very disappointed with the quality when they arrived. The first thing I noticed on both was that when opened, the top lid easily slips right off its hinges! I can't imagine if this happened while someone was carrying it! The trays seem also very unsteady with a lot of "wiggle room". Perhaps this is a deliberate design, but when opened, the trays can actually be twisted semi-sideways. My Upscale 3-Tray is NOT like this at all. This problem is worse with the larger box (XL 3-Tray) but still occurs with both models.

Any dividers that run front to back are permanent. Removable dividers are included if you wish to further divide the spaces. Because most art supplies are larger, I wish ArtBin had designed the trays with more open space with optional division. I am not storing small things like beads or pins. Paints, markers, brushes, ink jars, brush cleaner, scissors, tape, etc. require wide spaces to store.

Unlike the ArtBin 3-Tray (8737AB), the XL's THIRD (lowest) tray is deep enough for colored or regular pencils, most pens, and Prismascolor or Copic markers. Happily this frees up the single thin space on the top tray for paintbrushes (a few) and the bottom space for larger, bulkier items. However, the second tray is foolishly an inch short and cannot accommodate these items! If you want to store both markers and pencils, you are pretty much out of luck, unless you sharpen down your pencils to fit or put them in the bottom section.

Neither ArtBin cases fit my needs. The tray compartments were too sectioned off and the entire box seemed cheap and poorly constructed. In the end, I ended up going with a locally purchased Creative Options bin.

I will happily return to the ArtBin brand if they improve the quality of their tray boxes.

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

Overall, a good quality of art bean, but some of the compartment is falling off easily.

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

Pros
1. Plenty of storage.
I'm able to carry all my supplies ranging from
Sumi-e ink, copic markers, conte, pencils, charcoal pencils,
airbrush supplies, etc. and I still have plenty of room.
2. Price
When price matched with its counterpart the Artbin 3 tray
craft/art box the essential 3 tray is by far a better value
because of its amount of available storage.
3. Presentation
The Main factor of the craft/art 3 tray art bin that
detered me was the color tone of the box. I didn't feel
like paying over 20 dollars for a artbin that looked like
cheap matieral (Though I'm sure the quality is the same) I
prefer the essential strong tone of black.

Cons
1. Size
Now I don't mean to be a hypocrite and complain about the size and then say its amazing because of how much space it has but the box is a lot bigger then I had expected. To be exact its about 2 times bigger then the usual Bin you see people carrying around (which is why I gave it a 4). Which made it a tough choice between the craft and essential bin. But since it was able to fit my 72 copic marker set and everything else I had in such a neat manner I stuck with it.

Suggestions
If you just want to carry a few art supplies around as a beginning artist or you prefer to only carry the supplies your using for a certain class I would consider the Craft 3 tray bin. As for artist like me who enjoy carrying all their supplies wherever they go and having them nicely stored away when at home grab this Mammoth while its CHEAP!

Comments about ArtBin Essentials 3-Tray Box:

This box can hold anything and everything that I need for my art classes as a student and amateur. I would highly recommend this box to anyone.