This is pretty common in my experience? Market some relatively common item to an out-group of individuals at stupid markup based off brand recognition alone and reap the rewards. LTT looks to be flexing his brand here on unsuspecting PC enthusiasts where anyone with more experience in the electrical trades knows where to get higher quality tools for better/similar pricing.

I'll compare to my time in Paintball years ago. Any site marketing woodsball gear to paintballers had nutty markups, but if you went to any Army Surplus or Hunting outfitter you could get a lot of similar gear for way cheaper at better quality because it wasn't marketed specifically to a niche sport relying on brand name alone.

It happens all over the place. Consumers not doing their due diligence have only themselves to blame.

I take the video with a grain of salt of course but just to be fair here, the video spends the majority of its time explaining in great detail why Linus did NOT just slap his name on a megapro screwdriver. I actually found the minute details of how they designed, prototyped, and stressed over the screwdriver quite fascinating and while it may or may not translate to quality... it at least is a weak signal to me that someone considered every facet which I believe is somewhat correlated with quality.

I don't understand the assumptions in this comment. Linus is selling a screwdriver that he designed and would not otherwise exist, and that he believes is better than any other screwdriver available. That's different than selling a common item at high markup. It would have been more profitable and far less work to put the LTT brand on an existing screwdriver.

I'm still not going to buy it because it's too expensive and I don't care enough. But most of the cost here is associated with a small player trying to make a product from scratch rather than using existing tooling, molds, parts, etc. That seems very different than how you characterized it.

> Market some relatively common item to an out-group of individuals at stupid markup based off brand recognition alone and reap the rewards.

Yes, but is that really so bad? I mean you can get cheaper T-Shirts with better quality than the ones at the merch stand at concerts. People don’t buy them because they are under some delusion that their great value for price. They buy them to support the creators, and to be able to show and talk about their support of the creator to others.

Another example: I feel like DACs have the same problem where companies like Schiit market their products to Hi-fi enthusiasts when you can get an audio interface with similar performance for a much lower price.

These types of products generally fall under the header of "lifestyle brands", and IME are experiencing a big boom right now due to the advent of "influencers".

There's a reason this is sold right next to t-shirts and mouse pads. This is to support a channel and get something useful in return, not for people who are looking for the best value. LTT does at least put a lot of thought into the stuff they sell. It's not just white-label mystery meat from the cheapest manufacturer in Shenzhen's industrial district. I learned a lot more than I ever thought I wanted to know about Pantone from their video on the Pantone towers they bought for the designers.

Or Wiha, which is also a very reputable German-manufactured steel hand tool company. Similarly named to Wera but a competitor.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=wiha+scre...

they make some excellent torx, security torx, hex, precision screwdriver sets. in addition to the larger stuff they make for 600/1000V insulated electrical use.

Personal story, I ordered https://www.wihatools.com/products/precision-phillips-screwd.... On the plus side, the Phillips screwdrivers are hardened and almost impervious to camming out/slipping (but can still strip on bad screws if you don't apply any pressure), unlike my cheap Amazon screwdriver kit which chewed up Phillips screws for a living. On the downside, the PH0 screwdriver's endcap wasn't spinning freely (until I cut a bigger gap and it spun freely but had increased plastic-on-plastic friction when I pressed down on the screwdriver), and I went through support to get a replacement PH0 screwdriver; I'm not sure whether to feel better or worse about the company. Shape-wise, the screwdrivers are not suited for applying large amounts of torque, but that's not a design defect but a result of being precision screwdrivers and the shape chosen. Next time I might try a Wera screwdriver, or an iFixit kit (https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Minnow-Driver-Kit/IF145-4... is the cheapest multi-bit kit but not the most popular one).

I wish electronics were built with Torx screws. Those are practically impervious to stripping if fully inserted, even with the cheapest steel possible (though cheap steel drivers can probably still deform and strip). I've heard mixed things about using JIS (looks like Phillips, isn't Phillips) screwdrivers on Phillips screws, and good things about using them in JIS screws.

Just beware - this iFixit’s set, I assume by the looks of end cap on the photo, it comes with a plastic handle. Bigger sets come with screwdriver made fully out of aluminium. Much better quality, feeling, lower friction.

are you quite sure you weren't trying to use a pozidriv bit in philips screws/bolts, or vice versa?

The cheap Amazon kit I was cursed with looks identical to https://www.amazon.com/Syntus-Precision-Screwdriver-Electron.... The product is advertised as S2 tool steel, but I think this is a lie since reviews complain of soft steel, eg. "my T6 stripped right away with no resistance" and "I don’t have much use for either set".

I think the Phillips tips are both too soft, and misshapen and too tapered so they cam out easily (often stripping the steel in the process) rather than locking solidly onto the screw socket. I do not see any Pozidriv bits with diagonal ridges in this kit, though some older screwdriver kits I have contain them.

I second Wiha screwdrivers. I have been using them for years. In fact I am still using the set I purchased (Wiha #30299) that has every type of screw driver I you could come across in normal US products Slotted/Phillips/Torx/Pozidrive and Square). I keep them in my tool chest - been there for 21 years and still going. Bought $120! - https://bit.ly/3B7FtCn

I addition I am using the Wiha 26-IN-1 Tradesman multi bit screw driver - love it. Has every bit you would commonly need - I keep one in the office and one in the kitchen drawer. Fantastic tool - $36 - https://bit.ly/3q1sYCa

Can't see the point of spending this kind of money on this.

And Wiha actually came out better than Wera in some project farm tests. After I went all in on wera screwdrivers and bits. Even though I rarely need them, it hurts.

My brother gave me one. It’s really quite a nice driver. The insulation is nice and the bits work really well. I find the grip quite comfortable.

Much better than the “mr ratchet” driver set I got in the 90s..(one oddly wasn’t. Ratchet driver)

Wera makes quality stuff. I keep a small set of Wera drivers and sockets in each of my vehicles. And I keep one of their multi drivers upstairs in my office and one downstairs in the kitchen. They get used weekly.

I love wera too, their tool check plus stuff is so portable and so versatile. I keep a set in each of my vehicles and a set in the house (that solves 99% of my tool needs, I break out my big tool box maybe once a year at home now that I have this).

A cursory Google search suggests all of their manufacturing is done in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Taiwan -- is that right?

That is correct. Wera are often considered "top tier" in the screwdriver arena.

I just like knowing that there’s a screwdriver arena

Their bottle opener is great, I spent a while looking for a decent one and ended up with it without knowing the wera brand beforehand. I'm not joking when I say I've bough some of their tools because the bottleopener was such good quality.

I have the Wera ratcheting driver, and I don't really like it that much. The shaft is pretty wobbly from the handle, and there's a ton of slop when you have it locked and not ratcheting.

Surprisingly even a $16 Doyle driver from Harbor Freight has less slop in its ratcheting mechanism. Overall the Wera feels very nice but its ratchet isn't great.

I'm also wary of tools with any kind of rubber overmolded handles. That rubber is going to break down after about 10 years, it will be sticky and you'll smell the butyric acid vomit smell. I've remember seeing a video of a 15 year old Wera driver with that issue.

I own 20 year old overmolded Wera drivers that look a million times better than hard plastic Snap-On equivalents.

Not all over-molded things use rubbers that'll break down quickly; and some don't even use rubber at all now that there are performant urethanes and other choices in the arena.

I can confirm, without knowing the name I bought one of their sets and it was the first time I enjoyed using screwdrivers without cursing

The Wera 816 RA Ratchet Screwdriver is good (I got it in the set). The best part is the quick connect which allows you to use any standard bit with it. Interchangable with your impact driver and if you break one you can just replace it.

The advantage of having the quick connect right at the handle is that the bit shaft is as thin as possible which is really handing for dissassembling products/things where a screw is down in a deep recess.

The ratchet does take a little bit of force to engage which does make it average for pc building.

LTT had Wera, Wiha, and other screwdrivers available during their streamed sales event for people to compare their screwdriver to, so considering the volume of sales they still managed to achieve, it ought to be better than a Wera for some. Though I'd still prefer a Wera Kraftform Kompakt 20, the telescopic bit holder is neat.

Or something like this socket wrench set, the screwdriver handle with a T-bar comes in handy.

https://www.proxxon.com/en/industrial/23080.php

Can you buy their stuff in the USA? Looks amazing.

KC Tool are great people - I highly recommend them.

Awesome. Thank you!

Support our friends at Klein. They also make exceptional screwdrivers.

They're also available almost everywhere. Your local electrical supply almost certainly sells them and Home Depot has them in the electrical aisle.

Bonus: they sell cabinet tip screwdrivers in the common slotted and Philips sizes.

Edited to add: Snap-On also makes good screwdrivers, and your friendly local garage can probably tell you when the Snap-On truck comes by </edit>

If you need quality slotted screwdrivers for slotted screws with both the width and thickness of the blade specified, you'll likely need to find your local gun and ammunition store (and they'll likely be a special order even there).

Gunsmiths and sewing machine repair people are just about the last people on the planet who care about the blade fitting the slot well in both directions for a wide variety of screw head sizes.

>If you need quality slotted screwdrivers for slotted screws with both the width and thickness of the blade specified, you'll likely need to find your local gun and ammunition store (and they'll likely be a special order even there).

or any marine shop. slotted fasteners abound across the seven seas.

with very little practice you can easily shape a screwdriver tip with a hand file

edit: its also helpful to do a quick-n-dirty case hardening if you have a gas stove or other way to get it dull red

Yeah after reading some of the Wera reviews on Amazon.ca I think I'll stick with my Klein.

My top pick.

If you're in USA I'd just buy something local made. I've not used it personally but I've heard good opinions: https://www.amazon.com/Williams-WRS-1-Magnetic-Ratcheting-Sc...

You can buy things from other countries and have it shipped here. But yes, Amazon has Wera products.

Maybe, could be a chinese knock off brand posing as Wera, you'll never know until it's shipped.

edit: looks like Wera tools specifically are sold by a bunch of different people on Amazon, NEMobile, and BCFasteners are a couple that I've seen, so really no idea what you're getting.

Eh, Amazon was just an easy example.

Grainger stocks Wera in the US

https://www.grainger.com/category/tools?brandName=WERA&filte...

Added bonus being that Grainger doesn't track you all around the internet.