Review: 8 Screwdrivers In One

Another little item I picked up from Zazz as a part of my Festive Giftmassing hamper is this "8 In One Screwdriver". Not something I would have purchased on its own, but came as a welcome addition to one of the hampers I purchased. I have a pretty ready and varied set of screwdrivers, both in my tool-box, a set in my car, and a combination of multi-tools and keychain-tools on my person. However. not everyone is as much of a walking tool-magnet as I am, and I like to provide for my friends.

This tools wide body fills the hand, and to get to the tools, the arms need to be pulled out, much like the Medical Droid in Empire Strikes Back and each of these rotates upwards to the central position to lock into place. There are three Phillips head and three flatheads, each of various size. The seventh arm contains a "hidden" tool, which unscrews to reveal a tiny flathead/Phillips head for delicate work. Each arm can be withdrawn independently, although obviously only one can be fitted to the central position at once.

One neat thing I noted was that with a tool fitted, the whole unit could be stopped from rolling by deploying two more of the arms to act like a bipod. It didn't affect my ability to use the mounted screwdriver, as they folded neatly into place but meant I could place the tool down after driving one screw, to fit another, without the rather round body rolling away. One final nifty feature is that the base red nubs at the base of the tool house LED's, which would shine to illuminate the work-area (but I didn't manage to fit it with batteries before it was time to wrap it!

It's reasonably put together, the plastic seems sturdy, but I have my doubts about the steel used. I have had too many issues with cheep steel in tools, and have come to recognize it by feel, and this gave me pause enough to put it in the "gifting pile" rather than put it in my just-in-case stash. As I say, its not the kind of tool I have much use for these days, but would certainly find a place in the desk or kitchen drawer, or glove box of most suburbanites I know.