EconoHome 5-Gallon Bucket with Lid — Does It Hold Up?

Here's the thing nobody tells you when you start magnet fishing: your finds are going to smell. Not like, mildly unpleasant. Like a lake that's been sitting still since the seventies has somehow concentrated all of its worst qualities into a single corroded padlock that is now in your car.

I learned this the hard way. Found a great pull on the Raritan one afternoon — old bolts, a couple of D-rings, something I'm still pretty sure was a bike derailleur — tossed everything into one of those basic five-gallon buckets from the hardware store, threw it in the backseat, and drove home. No lid. Just an open bucket of wet river metal baking in a warm car for half an hour.

My girlfriend still brings it up.

So the EconoHome bucket isn't exciting gear. I'm not going to pretend it is. But after that trip I got serious about the lid situation, and this one actually solves the problem. The lid seals — like, presses down and locks around the rim — so when you close it up and toss it in the trunk, the smell mostly stays inside. Not perfectly. If you let it sit in a hot car for three hours, you're going to know about it. But for a normal drive home? You're fine.

The bucket itself is noticeably thicker than the generic stuff. I've had hardware store buckets crack at the handle connection when I'm hauling a full load of wet metal — and soaking wet iron is heavier than you'd think, especially if you pull something big. The EconoHome hasn't done that. The handle feels secure. The plastic doesn't flex in a way that makes you nervous.

It's also stackable, which sounds minor until you're trying to fit multiple buckets in a truck bed.

Is it a thirty-dollar bucket? Technically yes. Does that feel like a lot for a bucket? A little. But I've bought three of the cheap ones at this point — one cracked, one I left the lid off on and immediately regretted — and this one has just existed in my garage without causing any problems. That's all I want from a bucket.

If you're just starting out and you're doing your first few pulls, honestly grab whatever bucket you have. But if you've done this enough to know you're going to keep doing it, and especially if you're transporting finds in a car you care about even slightly — get the lid situation sorted. This is an easy way to do that.

One thing I'll say: the lid can be a little stiff to pry off if you've sealed it down tight. I keep a flathead in my bag now specifically for this. Small thing but worth knowing before you're wrestling with it on a bridge in the rain with wet gloves on.