Rubbermaid FastTrack Rail Kit vs Pegboard: Which Should You Buy?

Last spring I caught a rake handle with my heel and went down hard in my own garage. I was lucky. The wrist sprain healed in a few weeks, but it was enough to make me take a hard look at every long-handled tool I owned. Rakes, shovels, hoes, a post-hole digger, all leaning in a corner or lying on the floor. That is how I ended up standing in the hardware store aisle comparing the Rubbermaid FastTrack Rail Kit against a plain sheet of pegboard.

Here is the short version. If most of your clutter is long-handled tools and you want to be able to move hooks around without committing to a layout, buy the Rubbermaid FastTrack system. If you need to cover a full wall with small hand tools, parts bins, and odd-shaped items, pegboard is still the better tool for that job. I ended up with the FastTrack in my garage and I do not regret it, but I also kept a small pegboard panel in the shed for the stuff that does not hang well on a rail.

	Rubbermaid FastTrack	Pegboard
Price	Costs more up front, but the rails and hooks are built to last	Costs less per square foot, especially if you already have tools
Installation	Two rails and a level; most of the job is finding studs	Needs furring strips, cutting, and more hardware to get it flat
Rearranging	Hooks slide along the rail, so you can move everything in minutes	Pegs pull out and move, but the board keeps the old holes
Weight capacity	Rails anchor into studs and hold heavy shovels and post-hole diggers without sagging	Hooks can pull out of the board under heavy loads
Wall coverage	Rails leave open wall space between them	Covers a whole wall and gives you a place for small parts and hand tools
Best for	Long-handled tools and anything you want off the floor fast	Small hand tools, bits, and parts in clear view

The rake that sprained my wrist is now hanging on a hook two feet off the floor. That alone was worth the price of the kit.

Where Rubbermaid FastTrack Wins

The FastTrack system wins on the two things I care about most: getting heavy tools off the floor and being able to change my mind. The rails mount into studs. I hung two 4-foot rails in my garage bay, one at about shoulder height and one lower, and the hooks click into the track. A 48-inch level and a stud finder were the only tools I needed. My post-hole digger, which used to lean in the corner and fall over every time I opened the car door, now hangs straight down against the wall.

The other big win is rearranging. With pegboard, once you drill the board and set the pattern, moving a tool means pulling the peg, finding a new hole, and living with the old hole. With the FastTrack, I slide a hook along the rail, loosen a second hook, and the whole layout changes in about two minutes. I moved the rake to the left, the shovel to the right, and added a third hook for the hoe without drilling a single new hole. For a guy who reorganizes his garage twice a year, that is worth a lot.

Where Pegboard Wins

Pegboard is still the right answer when you need a full wall of storage. A 4x8 sheet covers a lot of space, and the peg hooks, bins, and baskets give you a place for everything from screwdrivers to rolls of tape. In my shed, I keep an 8x8 panel of pegboard above the workbench. It holds my hand tools, a box of nails, and a few small parts bins. That is not a job the FastTrack does well. The rails give you hooks, but they do not give you a solid surface to mount a small parts cabinet or a row of screwdrivers.

Pegboard also wins on cost and on covering a wall that has no useful stud spacing. If you are storing mostly small items, or if you want a wall that looks like a proper workshop, pegboard gets you there for less money and with more usable surface. The tradeoff is that it takes longer to install well. You need furring strips to hold the board off the wall, you need to cut the sheet to fit, and you need to be careful with the layout, because the holes are the layout. Once it is up, it is up.

What the FastTrack Kit Includes

The kit comes with two 4-foot rails, a set of hooks, and the hardware to mount them. The hooks come in a few shapes: single hooks for rakes and shovels, double hooks for smaller tools, and a longer hook for ladders or hoses. You also get a rubber strap that keeps the tool from sliding off the hook. That strap matters more than I expected. My shovel used to wobble and fall even when it was hung up, because the handle was smooth. With the strap, it stays put.

Installation: What Nobody Tells You

Installation is easier than pegboard, but it is not a five-minute job. The rails have to go into studs, and the studs in my garage were not where I wanted them. I ended up mounting one rail at 38 inches off the floor and the other at 60 inches, because that is where the studs landed. If you have a concrete block wall, you will need masonry anchors, which adds time. On drywall over studs, a stud finder and a level are the whole game.

Pegboard is the opposite. You can mount it almost anywhere, but you have to build a frame or use furring strips to keep it off the wall. Then you cut the sheet, which makes a mess, and you have to plan the layout before you drill. The FastTrack took me about an hour for two rails. The pegboard panel in my shed took an afternoon, mostly because I kept measuring and re-measuring.

Weight Limits and Real-World Use

The FastTrack hooks are rated for serious weight. I have a post-hole digger that weighs close to 10 pounds and a folding ladder that is heavier, and neither one has moved in six months. The key is getting the hook fully seated in the rail. If you do not push it down until it clicks, a heavy tool can pop the hook out when you grab it. That is the one thing I would warn anyone about. Pegboard hooks, by comparison, are fine for hand tools but start to sag with anything heavy.

How I Tested Both in My Garage

I ran both systems side by side for a month. On the garage wall I hung the FastTrack with three long-handled tools and a folding ladder. In the shed I put up a 4x4 pegboard panel with hand tools and a few bins. I wanted to see which one I actually used, and which one stayed organized.

The FastTrack stayed organized. Because the hooks slide, I could move the ladder hook higher when I realized the ladder was hitting the car door. With pegboard, moving the same hook would have meant drilling a new hole or leaving a visible old one. I also liked that the rails keep the tools a few inches off the wall, so the heads of the shovels do not leave dirt streaks on the drywall.

The pegboard was better for the small stuff. The screwdriver rack, the tape roll holder, and the little bins for deck screws all went up in minutes and worked exactly as expected. If I had to pick one system for a whole workshop wall, I would pick pegboard. If I had to pick one system for the garage where I park a car, I would pick the FastTrack. Different walls, different jobs.

What I Learned From the Rake Incident

The rake that sprained my wrist was leaning against the wall next to the workbench. I had walked past it a hundred times. It only took one wrong step. That is the real argument for the FastTrack: it gets the dangerous stuff off the floor before you need it, not after. A pegboard can do that too, but only if you actually install it and use it. The FastTrack is the one I actually used.

A Note on Studs and Drywall

If your garage has metal studs, read the instructions before you buy. The FastTrack hardware is made for wood studs. For metal studs you need different anchors, and the job gets more complicated. Pegboard has the same issue, since you still need something solid to screw into. Check your wall type first, whichever system you choose.

The Verdict After Six Months

After six months, the FastTrack is the system I reach for every day. The rakes and shovels go back on their hooks without thinking, and the floor stays clear. The pegboard in the shed is fine, but it has become the place where I dump small stuff, and small stuff tends to collect dust. If I were doing it again, I would put the FastTrack in the shed too and keep one small pegboard panel for the screwdrivers.

Alternatives I Considered

I looked at a few other options before I settled on the FastTrack. Slatwall panels are popular, and they hold a lot of accessories, but the panels are expensive and still need a frame to mount. A simple wall-mounted tool rack works for rakes and shovels, but it does not hold a ladder or a post-hole digger. The FastTrack was the middle ground: more flexible than a fixed rack, less work than a full pegboard wall.

I also thought about just building a wooden rack with slots for each tool. That is a fine project, and it looks great in a shed, but it takes a weekend and it is hard to change once it is built. The FastTrack gave me the same result in an hour, and I can move the hooks whenever I buy a new tool. For my money, that flexibility is what separates it from the alternatives.

Who Should Buy Which

Buy the Rubbermaid FastTrack if your garage looks like mine did: rakes and shovels leaning in the corner, a ladder against the wall, and not enough floor space to walk around. It is also the better choice if you like to rearrange, because the hooks move without leaving holes. Buy pegboard if you have a dedicated workshop wall, a lot of small hand tools, or a tight budget. The two are not really competitors. They are two different tools for two different kinds of clutter.

If you are still deciding, start with the FastTrack for the long-handled stuff, because that is the stuff that falls over and hurts people. Then add a small pegboard panel for the hand tools. That combination covers almost everything I own, and it is what I would do again if I were starting over.

One more thing: do not try to do everything with one system. The garage and the shed have different jobs. The garage holds the tools I use weekly, and the FastTrack keeps them visible and easy to grab. The shed holds the seasonal stuff, and the pegboard works fine for that. Mixing both is not a compromise. It is the best of both.