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I swapped my Japanese screwdrivers for a cheap set and here's what happened after 6 months
Everyone in the forums swears by the fancy JIS drivers for camera repair. I used a $60 set for years. But last spring I grabbed a $12 no-name set from a hardware store in Portland. Six months later (and maybe 40 cameras taken apart) I can say the cheap ones are holding up fine. No stripped screws, no wobble. The tips are still sharp. I'm not saying the expensive ones are bad, but is the price difference really worth it for what we do? Has anyone else run a long term test on budget tools versus the pro stuff?
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terryf621mo ago
You know, I've been thinking about this exact thing lately. I picked up a cheap 20-piece set at a garage sale for five bucks about two years ago, and I've used it on everything from old film cameras to my kids' toys. Not a single issue with stripped screws or dull tips. I honestly wonder if the expensive tool companies are just selling us a story about "precision" when the reality is that most of us aren't torquing things down like a factory robot. My cheap set has been through maybe 50 or 60 repairs by now, and the tips still fit snug in every JIS screw I've encountered. I think for hobbyists like us, the difference is mostly in the packaging and the brand name. It is hard to argue with results when the budget tools are still working perfectly after all this time.
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margaret_jackson731mo ago
Yeah honestly my $15 no-name set has been going strong for over a year now.
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bennett.patricia1mo ago
What kind of repairs have you put that $15 set through specifically? Because @terryf62 mentioned film cameras and kids toys, I'm curious if you've tackled anything with really tiny screws or ones that are notoriously easy to strip, like on a laptop or a pair of glasses. Ngl, I've got a cheap set that handles big stuff fine but I swear the edges on the tiny bits started rounding off after like 3 uses on a phone repair. Did you notice any difference with smaller fasteners, or is yours holding up across the board?
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