Amazon has my favorite home and DIY-use technician’s style screwdriver for $10.99 right, which I feel is cheap for the quality you get.
This is the PB Swiss 168.00, which comes with a double-ended screwdriver bit, built-in pocket clip, and removable cap.
According to their website, the screwdriver tips are Phillips #00, and hollow-ground slotted #00 for use on screws with 1 to 1.2mm head widths.
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I use the Phillips for battery compartment screws and similar, although sometimes I grab a separate #0, and I typically use the slotted for adjusting or fixing glasses, and occasionally for very gentle prying tasks. To be clear, these sizes are too small for some everyday tasks.
I definitely got my money’s worth over the years – it’s worked well for me.
There are other colors if you’re not fond of red, although not on Amazon. The other colors will typically cost more at the least in the form of shipping fees.
I have one in my office/electronics workspace, and another one in the kitchen. Someone misplaced the cap to the one in the kitchen – that’s something to look out for.
I bought my first PB Swiss tool almost 17 years ago, and most are still going strong.
At this time, the screwdriver is sold by PB Swiss Tools and shipped by Amazon. $10.99 isn’t the best price, but I feel the free shipping still makes it’s a good price. DRPD has it for a little less, but you’ll have to spend over $100 to get free shipping (which is easy to do with this brand).
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Amazon also has the mini PB Swiss Insider screwdriver, which doesn’t have a cap and comes with 3 double-ended bits. I bought one of those at some point, but I prefer the “168” model discussed above better.
“$11 for 2 screwdriver bit sizes? That’s a bad value!” See: The Perfect Screwdriver for Toys & General Everyday Use. The screwdriver in that post is still just $2.49 with free shipping. The two very different screwdrivers actually complement each other well since the Stanley sizes are larger.
Home and DIY?
I sometimes use these screwdrivers for other tasks, but it’s generally my go-to for impromptu needs. For electronics projects, tech repairs, or other such stuff, I’ll grab a precision screwdriver with swivel end cap.
You can see some of those in an earlier post: Top Precision Screwdriver Picks.
The #00 bit tips here are incredibly versatile, but they’re micro screwdriver sizes, not do-it-all’s. That’s not bad, I just feel it’s necessary to emphasize this tool is for very small screws.
Random Tangent
Looking at my Amazon order history, I apparently bought a set of PB Swiss novelty screwdriver handle-shaped magnets 10 years ago. I bought them for workshop use, and they’re all currently on the refrigerator, with one on door to the garage. They’re pricey (I spent around the same 10 years ago), but delivered 10 years of trouble-free smiles and paper-holding.
Jim Felt
Stuart. Thanks for the reminder.
Something so easily forgotten but so important when it’s needed.
I just now ordered some as “no special reason” gifts for a few friends.
JeffD
Back when Amazon bought SmallTools and dumped all their product in a clearance binge, I bought more PB Swiss than god allows.
Expensive and smelly, but nothing I’ve ever used works better.
Stuart
That’s how I got my first PB Swiss tools too!
Charles
And Amazon shows it as “currently unavailable” – but they do the one with a second double bit for $24…..
My “go-to” inexpensive precision driver was always the pen sized MegaPro – in part because you had access to two different sized bits without needing to pull one out and flip it – as they had a bit on either end of the pen shaped tool.
But then it turns out that there is only a very thin (and apparently soft) bit of plastic between the top and bottom parts, so with a bit of pressure, the bit keeps receding into the holder. MegaPro will replace it, but still…
I guess I’ll have to spend $100 at DPRD….
eddiesky
Don’t ya love how kids toys and other electronics have the smallest phillips head fastner? You need a #0 or even #00. Plus more frustrating the older you get and you grab your cheaters, that then get a loose temple hinge and need a tiny flat blade or #00.
If these are acetate handles, no thanks. Over time, they stink. Literally.
Stuart
Mine don’t stink and never have. Leave it in a sealed tool box for a few years, and that might change. I have other PB Swiss hard-handle tools, and they haven’t smelled either, although I do prefer their soft-grip tools where that’s an option (mainly screwdrivers).
CMF
I have often heard this complaint of the handles stink. I don’t know if it is a complaint for PB Swiss acetate, or other brands also.
I only have a couple of PB Swiss acetate, the minis like this article, and a couple of others. Most of my PB Swiss are the ones that have a rubberized coating over a hard handle…they have a name, but can’t think of it. Those are my favorite handles of all the screwdrivers I have ever used.
Anyway, the acetates I have do not smell, be it PB Swiss or other brands
Stuart
The SwissGrip handles feature a Santoprene grip.