LTT Ratcheting Screwdriver

[Grokew]

You must be using a terrible electric screwdriver. Mine on Clutch position 1 can't even loosen a T8 head equal to a 3mm bolt that is essentially finger tight.

It was terrible indeed, that happened back in 2006 and it was a company provided screwdriver. The most recent that I have used an electric screwdriver was over a year ago. Had to adjust the clutch cause it couldn't loosen a screw that was on the plastic cover of a mini split.

 

[n8n]

If you need a JIS bit for Japanese stuff use it, if it's Philips use a damn PH bit! They've been designed so your gorilla arms won't kill the thread (unlike JIS). The only time you should use JIS on PH is when it's slightly damaged. It's easier to extract with a JIS.

Every Japanese made stereo I've ever worked on (which is most after the mid-60s) has used JIS screws, and I know they are intentionally so and not just sloppy Phillips because they have the dot on the head. And JIS bits are less likely to strip a Phillips head than a Phillips bit anyway.

 

[dukefx]

Jeff's review is up

 

[Grokew]

Jeff's review is up

Why do they keep lying about the price of the PB Twister? It isn't $150/160 The set with a box and bits is $150 but not the screwdriver itself.

It is $88 On amazon, $77 on pbtools, and $76 on toollady. And if they wanted to be fair and went with the insider3 it would be $99 dollars with 10 bits and in handle storage. That's the only thing I find dishonest on both PF and Jeff videos.

 

[dukefx]

Why do they keep lying about the price of the PB Twister? It isn't $150/160 The set with a box and bits is $150 but not the screwdriver itself.

It is $88 On amazon, $77 on pbtools, and $76 on toollady. And if they wanted to be fair and went with the insider3 it would be $99 dollars with 10 bits and in handle storage. That's the only thing I find dishonest on both PF and Jeff videos.

Yes, he could have chosen the Insider Pro, but maybe it's hard to come by over there. On the plus side he did say and even wrote that it can be had for much less in Europe.

On top of that he really did take into account the advertised purpose of the LTT driver and said most of the things I already did here and on reddit. It's bulky, ratchet is unnecessary, etc. and just use regular screwdrivers for PC building. It'd be a decent tool for furniture assembly or general maintenance around house tho.

Some of the test results even differ from PF, that's really strange. The Wera performed a lot better here while the LTT did worse in some tests.

 

[Bubba Fett]

That's why I always take a couple of grains of salt with test videos. There are idiosyncrasies in the test rigs, users, and perhaps the products themselves. There is always a margin of error, and when tools come very close to each other, the difference may not even be noticeable in real life.

The real lesson here is that most ratcheting screwdrivers (typical retail brands) are terrible, but there are a few brands (Megapro, Snap-On, Willians, and a few others) that don't ****. The LTT doesn't ****, but I'm not sure it's good enough to justify the price. I wouldn't fault anyone who gets one, though.

Full disclosure: I have the Black & Decker driver that PF tested. It's basically a re-dressed Stanley. The bit storage at the shank base is useless, and the handle cavity could have easily been bigger to fit additional bits. You can get 3 or four loose ones in there, in addition to the 6 in the cap. The ratchet is course, and the shank wobbles, but it gets the job done, and the hi-vis color scheme makes it easy to find. It's better than the crummy ones with the plastic slider switch, but you shouldn't pay any more than $15 for it.

 

[vwpieces]

LTT Screwdriver drop fail @16:50 of this vid.
Linus is the Dropsie King... makes me wonder how many he has broken already.

 

[LOW1]

I will no doubt be voted off GJ Island for this but here goes. I am 62 years old and have never used or owned a ratcheting screwdriver. I do not intend to start now.

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

I will no doubt be voted off GJ Island for this but here goes. I am 62 years old and have never used or owned a ratcheting screwdriver. I do not intend to start now.

I’ve actually found that I default to my swivel head ratchets in lieu of a ratcheting screwdriver.

 

[BolognaBlake]

I will no doubt be voted off GJ Island for this but here goes. I am 62 years old and have never used or owned a ratcheting screwdriver. I do not intend to start now.

I wasn't until I bought my Snap-On, now it's my go to.

 

[F-22]

I just hate to use screwdriver bits. I have a Wera bit driver which is supposed to be wuite decent, but just hate the wobble between the bit and the handle... I always grab a fixed screwdriver.

 

[gatewaysysop]

Jeff's review is up

Yeah 30 minute video chocked full of ads? No thanks.

Some of the test results even differ from PF, that's really strange. The Wera performed a lot better here while the LTT did worse in some tests.

Not strange at all. I've said this many times, so have others, that with a sample size of one, why would any reasonable person expect the test results, the rankings, the best/worst to be repeatable when someone else conducts a very similar test?

Put it another way - if you watched a horse race, would you assume if the race was re-run with all the same horses, they would finish in all the same positions? Same person 1st, same person 4th place, etc.? Of course not. If you ran it many times over, you would see who consistently places in the top spots and only then you might actually have interesting inference to make about who the best horses are. That's why doing these idiotic YouTuber comparisons is nothing more than entertainment.

I will no doubt be voted off GJ Island for this but here goes. I am 62 years old and have never used or owned a ratcheting screwdriver. I do not intend to start now.

I'm right there with you. I don't own one, have never wanted for one. I've built a few PCs and work on them now and then, but I've never once thought this would be a useful thing to have. I actually like some of LTT's videos and really enjoyed learning about the nuances to bring this to market, but this isn't a product I would ever buy, especially at this price point. Frankly, if I had that kind of money to piss away, it would not have been on re-inventing the wheel, but that's just me.

 

[macnugget]

I may never understand the negative reaction that Linus and LTT seem to generate. I'm not really a big fan or foe of the guy or channel. Either way, I did purchase two of these screwdrivers at launch and I just got an email from lttstore reminding me to review them. It made me remember this thread, so I thought I'd offer my thoughts.

I find the tool does deliver on its promise to the buyer. I put one in my house and one in my workshop and after a month of use it's generally the first screwdriver I'll reach for for general use. Definitely a handy all-rounder for miscellaneous use around the house. It feels nice in the hand, very little slop, and the ratcheting is the best I've encountered. Obvious care and attention to went into the design and construction.

Whether it's worth the price is a wholly individual decision and I can certainly see how opinions will vary on that issue.

 

[SledDriver]

Resurrecting a dead thread but I've just bought one of these and thought I'd share my thoughts.

It's really very good. Fantastic build quality, the plastics feel great, the ratchet selector is well designed and easy to use. The bit storage section is rigid and when closed the bottom 'cover' spins very freely, so you can plant your palm on the base and spin the entire driver with your fingers.

The shaft is very good, very little wobble. Excellent quality machining on the knurling and bit holder etc. The ratchet mechanism feels great, with very little backdrag.

All in all it's superb, and stands alongside any premium offering out there for me.

 

[Steve_P]

I read this thread earlier today for the first time, and I found the amount of "hate" towards LTT in this thread quite surprising to be coming from a tool forum. And I've been on the internet since day two when it was available to the public, so little surprises me anymore. And I've never heard of LTT. And I have no need for a ratcheting screwdriver as I've used them a few times but never owned one, because I've never said, "damn, this would be so much easier if I just had a ratcheting screwdriver."

But anyway, if PB Swiss, Vessel, Hazet..... or Snap On, put this out as a new and improved driver, at the same $ or more, there'd be almost nothing but praise here. But since it was an "influencer" OMG, everyone pile on, even before actually using it, no matter how good it might be. I just found it funny how much criticism there was of this effort; and I found myself in agreement with many, or all, of Dr Clyde's posts (TBH, I do almost always agree with him, but I really thought he hit the nail on the head...)

It's a product he's trying to sell to his subscribers. And from the PF test, it's pretty GD good in comparison to what's currently available. But everyone trashed it before there was any real info available. Sure, it's expensive, but so is the Snap On. I've never seen a SO screwdriver get 1% of the criticism this did. But it doesn't matter because as others said, we're not his target sales audience. He's probably sold more of these in the last year than PB Swiss did of theirs. Maybe that's what all the butthurt is about

 

[F-22]

Don't think disliking influencers is a bad or funny thing. They don't seem like a good thing for the society in general.

Also, the megapro is about half the cost for more or less the same thing, wouldn't cost Megapro anything to modify their design to the same degree so I doubt the changes really have a ton of substance.

Also really dislike the type of endorsement he got from projectfarm. As I wrote a few times in the thread, I am convinced there were some deals behind it.

 

[teagueo]

Also really dislike the type of endorsement he got from projectfarm. As I wrote a few times in the thread, I am convinced there were some deals behind it.

I've sent a tool in to Project Farm for testing and the guy is a straight shooter in my experience.

He was pretty upfront about DQ'ing manufacturers that suggest tests that suit their tools and adamant about paying for the tool. Although, DeWalt always killing it in his tests is a little suspect....

I'm not a fan of influencers at all, but what LTT did was really hone an existing design to be a more precise feeling tool - I don't see why that's a problem for anybody. Just don't buy it if you don't see the use.

 

[matthew]

wouldn't cost Megapro anything to modify their design to the same degree

New injection mould tooling for the handle and bit holder is tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s hard to say who put up the money for the tooling - did LTT take the risk or Megapro - but it’s not nothing.

If he sells 10,000 units, let’s say it cost $10/unit in tooling. If he sells 100k units, it’s $1/ea. if’s hard to see it selling a million… but if 10k units, then as expensive as it is, it’s hard to say the price is not reflective of cost.


I agree - I don’t know that influencers are a good thing. And I think there are a number of good ratcheting drivers out there already. And I don’t like the proprietary bits.. But I do have to be a bit cheeky, and wonder if the vitriol is because LTT was too restrained, and didn’t offer it in a choice of designer colours??? (Laughing just a little. Yes, I own a yellow ratcheting driver…)

 

[Buddro]

OP. Did you ever get one? Thoughts? Didn't have time to read everything but it sure seems to be one of those products everyone who doesn't own hates them but I'm yet to read a negative review from an owner. I get it, I wouldn't drop 70 bucks on a screw driver myself, maybe a set of quality hollow ground for gunsmithing. However, my wife couldn't think of an Xmas present for me so I told her one of these would be nice. I'm a big believer in presents being something a person wouldn't just buy themselves.

I know its an old thread but the change over time is what interests me.