2025 test16 productsHand Tools
Which Screwdriver Brand Wins?
We compared 16 screwdriver options head to head. Craftsman came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Craftsman
Price shown in test: $50
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Runner-up
Mayhew
Price shown in test: $41
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Budget pick
Duratech
Price shown in test: $30
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Specs | Phillips Drive Test | Phillips Remove Test | Phillips Torque Test | Slotted Torque Test | Handle Force Test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Craftsman Extreme Grip diamond tip$50 | 6-piece diamond tip set (3 slotted, 3 Phillips), claims 4x more gripping power than standard black oxide tips, made in China | by far the best grip of any brand yet at that point; diamonds still visibly attached to the flutes even after driving all 50 screws; the diamonds help prevent cam-out under the drill's constant high torque | even less wear from reversing the screws out with the drill than from driving them in | 103 in lb tightening, 117 in lb loosening, average 110 in lb (explicitly the best of all 16 brands: "the Craftsman pretty much ran circles around the competition with an average torque of 110 in lb"); flutes badly twisted afterward | 128 in lb, blade broke; the transcript says "the Craftsman's Phillips screwdriver came out on top" in this slotted-test sentence, which conflicts with the earlier explicit Phillips-torque win already recorded and with the slotted test's actual winner (Mayhew at 153 in lb); likely a narration carryover from the Phillips-test result rather than a new claim, kept literal | began bending at 950 lb, peak force 985 lb (excluded from the final grading criteria per the narrator) |
| 2Mayhew$41 | 6-piece capped end set (3 Phillips, 3 slotted), black oxide tip, hex bolster for wrench use, extended forged blade, made in Taiwan | maintained better grip than the Kobalt, requiring noticeably less downward force; less wear and tear than the Kobalt | less downward force needed than the Kobalt; flutes held up really well | 78 in lb tightening (better than average), 93 in lb loosening; flutes bent significantly but did not break | 153 in lb, the best of all 16 brands ("the Mayhew's screwdriver came out on top at 153 in lb"); bent but did not break | began bending at 700 lb, peak force 727 lb (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
| 3Duratech$30 | 12-piece magnetic set (5 Phillips, 5 slotted, plus a demagnetizer and one chrome vanadium offset screwdriver), handle of PP and TPE, cutter arbor of matte chrome electroplated S2 alloy steel, made in China | even better grip than the Black and Decker; all 50 screws installed without slipping; small amount of wear on the flutes | very easy removal with the drill, though slightly more wear than from driving the screws in | 89 in lb tightening (led at that point in the sequence), 105 in lb loosening; survived without breaking; final Phillips-torque recap places it second overall at 97 in lb average | 134 in lb, survived but bent; transcript spells this brand "Duralast" in this one sentence ("the Duralast has performed surprisingly well throughout the showdown... moved into the lead over the Pittsburgh at 134 in lb"), a clear phonetic mangle resolved to Duratech since the surrounding description ("performed surprisingly well throughout") matches Duratech's consistently strong narrative elsewhere in the video and no brand called Duralast exists in the description's product list | not designed for as much handle force as some other brands; peak force only 942 lb before breaking (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
| 4GearWrench$52 | 9-piece dual material set, Phillips only (no slotted screwdrivers included), non-slip black oxide tip, speed zone handle for faster rotation, made in China | very good grip, not quite as good as the Craftsman; flutes in very good condition | removal with the drill was just as easy as driving the screws in; very small amount of wear | 84 in lb tightening (better than average), 93 in lb loosening (well above average); flutes a little bent afterward | explicitly skipped: "I'll skip the GearWrench since the set did not include a slotted screwdriver" | not mentioned anywhere in the handle-force test section of the transcript, unlike every other brand; unclear whether this is a genuine skip or a caption/content gap, since (unlike the slotted-torque skip) no explicit reason is given |
| 5ValueMax$8 | 6-piece magnetic set (3 Phillips, 3 flat tip), claims a non-slip handle, chrome vanadium steel, heat-treated, made in China | decent on the first 10 screws, then lost grip quickly as the soft steel wore; barely survived driving all 50 screws; flutes in very bad condition under the microscope | removed 49 of 50 screws with the drill, then failed to remove the final screw despite a second attempt; flutes in pretty bad shape with a lot of wear and tear | 78 in lb, screwdriver tip broke off (no loosening-direction figure since it broke on the tightening test) | 96 in lb, blade bent but survived | began bending at 500 lb, peak force 838 lb |
| 6Pittsburgh$8 | 12-piece set (Harbor Freight house brand), magnetic tip, cushion grip, chrome vanadium steel, made in China | started off well like the ValueMax but faded quickly; survived driving in all 50 screws, but with a lot of wear and tear | started okay then faded quickly; even with about 100 lb of downward force on the drill, could not gain enough grip to remove 2 of the 50 screws; ended up in worse condition than the ValueMax | 20 in lb tightening, 6 in lb loosening; in pretty bad condition overall | 124 in lb, blade bent (like the ValueMax) but survived | began bending at around 1,000 lb, peak force 1,072 lb |
| 7Amartisan$10 | 10-piece set (5 Phillips, 5 slotted), claims premium chrome vanadium steel, cushion grip handle, made in China | held up a little better than the ValueMax and Pittsburgh; completed all 50 screws, though the narrator's drill chuck (test equipment, not the screwdriver) broke three times during this brand's testing at around 120 total screws driven, unrelated to the screwdriver's own quality | better grip than the ValueMax and Pittsburgh at first, but the screwdriver experienced too much metal fatigue and broke after removing only 38 of the 50 screws; broken tip badly chewed up | explicitly skipped: "Skipping the Amartisan since it broke when removing the screws" | 116 in lb, screwdriver broke; described as pretty brittle | peak force 1,118 lb (led at that point in the sequence), handle broke |
| 8Black and Decker$18 | 17-piece set (just over $1 per screwdriver), black oxide tips claimed to reduce slipping/wobbling/stripping, magnetic tip, chrome-plated for rust resistance, made in China | much better grip than the first three (cheapest) brands, requiring less downward force; best condition yet, with only a small amount of wear on the flutes; the gritty black oxide coating is credited with adding grip | held up well again, only a small amount of wear on the flutes | 52 in lb tightening (cammed out), 70 in lb loosening, average 61 in lb (led at that point in the sequence); flutes badly bent afterward | 119 in lb, blade broke; described as slightly less brittle than the Amartisan's blade | shaft pressed about a quarter inch into the handle at 1,000 lb; peak force 1,338 lb (led at that point in the sequence) |
| 9GreatNeck$30 | 10-piece set, claims impact-resistant handles, magnetic tips, precision machined, fluid multi-grip-point design, made in Taiwan | did well on the first 40 screws but needed more downward force for the final 10; more wear and tear than the Black and Decker or Duratech | needed more downward force than the Black and Decker or Duratech; wear from the drill was similar to that from the impact driver | 70 in lb tightening (cammed out), 84 in lb loosening; flutes completely mangled | 111 in lb, blade broke; described as just as brittle as the Amartisan's blade | began deforming/shortening at around 450 lb per one statement and around 400 lb per the closing recap (the two figures are not reconciled in the transcript, kept both); reached a peak force of 1,561 lb for an explicit second place finish in this sub-test, behind the Williams |
| 10DeWalt$34 | 8-piece set, black chrome-plated (claimed 10x better rust/corrosion resistance), solid steel core with metal strike cap for demolition use, bi-material handle, S2 steel bar, made in Taiwan | better grip than the GreatNeck; four-direction flutes held up well with only a small amount of wear | first 45 screws removed easily, but briefly lost grip near the end requiring a lot more downward force; more wear on the reverse-direction side of the flutes | 79 in lb tightening (better than average), 69 in lb loosening; flutes not bent but showed a lot of wear | 120 in lb (a little better than average), blade broke | peak force 1,033 lb, described as not the most robust screwdriver in the lineup (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
| 11Kobalt$37 | heat-treated chrome vanadium steel, black oxide heat-treated magnetic tip, cushion grip, 20-piece kit, made in China | started strong but faded near the end of the 50 screws; more wear on the flutes than some other brands | started strong with the drill again but faded after around 25 screws; quite a bit of wear and tear | 63 in lb, screwdriver broke (extremely brittle, described as such); flutes did not appear to bend much before breaking | 136 in lb (led at that point in the sequence) | began bending at around 400 lb, peak force only 537 lb |
| 12Knipex$70 | 6-piece 1,000V insulated set (2 Phillips, 4 slotted), black oxide finish tips, made in Germany | performing better than most other brands; the Craftsman still had the best grip; flutes showed only a little wear | great job removing the screws, did not cam out a single time; reverse-direction flutes still in great shape | 68 in lb tightening (cammed out, 35 in lb less than the Craftsman's 103 in lb tightening figure, confirming the math), 83 in lb loosening, average 76 in lb; flutes still pretty straight | 145 in lb, third place overall in the final recap ("Knipex third at 145"), though the sentence describing it in the moment says it moved into second place, since the Wera's 146 in lb result had not yet been narrated at that point in the sequence | peak force 664 lb, described as not designed for hammer blows (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
| 13Williams EnduroGrip$71 | 8-piece multi-size set (3 slotted, 3 Phillips, 2 electrician), chrome blades, hex bolsters on the shaft for wrench use, special alloy steel blades, made in USA | started strong but began struggling to maintain grip on the last few screws; a little more wear than some other brands | took more force than the GearWrench, but survived removing all 50 screws; described afterward as pretty much worn out | 61 in lb tightening, 65 in lb loosening; both figures described as giving up early, consistent with the worn-out condition | 135 in lb (well above average); a second sentence in the transcript attributes a 146 in lb second-place result to "the Williams slotted screwdriver," but the closing recap explicitly credits that 146 in lb second-place figure to the Wera instead ("Wera finished in second place at 146 in lb"); resolved as a mislabeled sentence and the 146 figure assigned to the Wera entry instead, keeping 135 in lb as the Williams slotted result | moved into the lead partway through the sequence at just under 1,600 lb; explicit overall winner of this sub-test at a peak force of 1,595 lb (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
| 14Stahlwille$92 | 6-piece set (4 slotted, 2 Phillips), claims exceptionally fine industrial-grade chrome alloy steel, through-hardened, made in Germany | did not slip or cam out a single time on all 50 screws; flutes in very good condition | performed almost as well removing the screws, only a small amount of grip loss on a couple of screws; a little more wear on the reverse-direction side of the flutes | 78 in lb tightening, 89 in lb loosening; flutes a little bent but in better condition than most | 135 in lb (well above average); no separately stated loosening figure beyond this | peak force only 546 lb, one of the lowest of all brands (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
| 15Wera$99 | 7-piece set (4 slotted, 3 Phillips), claims CRM 72 tool steel heavy-duty hex blade, soft cushion grip, parallel flats to prevent roll-off, striking cap for wrench use, made in Germany. The video's own description text lists a different brand, Wiha, with its own Amazon link, and never mentions Wera in its product list; the transcript, however, consistently and repeatedly names this brand Wera across at least eight separate mentions with no wavering, so it is kept as Wera here and the conflict with the description is flagged rather than silently resolved either way | performed just as well as the Stahlwille, no cam-outs across all 50 screws; flutes still in great shape | performed just as flawlessly with the drill, no cam-outs; flutes still in great shape | 76 in lb tightening (about the same as the Stahlwille), 80 in lb loosening; flutes a little twisted | 146 in lb, explicit second place overall per the closing recap ("Wera finished in second place at 146 in lb"); the transcript sentence carrying this 146 figure literally names "the Williams slotted screwdriver" instead, treated here as a mislabel resolved via the closing recap (see the Williams entry's note) | peak force 1,036 lb, described as quite a bit better than the Stahlwille (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
| 16Snap-on$220 before shipping and handling, $265.54 after | 8-piece set (5 flat tip, 3 Phillips ACR tip), wide trilobe handle design, special alloy steel blade, round neck with six curves/flutes for fingertip control, made in USA | better grip than the Wera, but not quite as good as the Craftsman; flutes almost as good as new after all 50 screws | very good grip removing the screws with the drill; flutes still look as good as new afterward | 96 in lb tightening (cammed out), 94 in lb loosening (tip snapped off), average 95 in lb, explicit third place overall ("Snap-on third at 95") | 122 in lb, screwdriver broke; the same sentence also states "the Snap-on Phillips screwdriver finished in second place," which conflicts with the explicit third-place, 95 in lb Phillips-torque result recorded elsewhere; kept literal and flagged as an inconsistency rather than resolved | peak force 1,344 lb, described as well above average (excluded from the final grading criteria) |
How it was tested
- driving 50 3-in coarse-thread drywall screws into cured 4x4 lumber with a Phillips screwdriver mounted in an impact driver via a keyless chuck, assessing grip/wear
- removing the same 50 screws afterward using a drill instead of an impact driver, assessing grip/wear/failures
- maximum torque of the number 2 Phillips screwdriver in each set, tested on a drill press rig (roughly 22 lb of downward force via a 5 lb weight on a lever wheel), in both the tightening and loosening directions, in in lb, until cam-out or breakage
- maximum torque of the slotted screwdriver in each set (where included), tested the same way in the tightening direction only, in in lb, until bending or breakage
- maximum handle force test using each screwdriver as a pry/chisel, measuring the peak force in lb before the shaft bent into the handle or the tool broke or deformed (explicitly excluded from the final overall grading criteria)
- overall scorecard converting each brand's results across the driving, removal, and torque tests into a first-through-16 place ranking, averaged into a single per-brand finish
“And the Craftsman screwdrivers came out on top with an average finish of 3.3. The diamond tip screwdrivers indeed offer by far the best grip.”
Data notes and caveats
16 brands tested. Two brand-identity issues resolved against internal narrative/numeric consistency rather than the description: (1) a single mention of "Duralast" is resolved to Duratech, matching that brand's consistently strong showing elsewhere in the video; (2) a slotted-torque sentence crediting 146 in lb and second place to "the Williams" is resolved to Wera instead, matching the closing numeric recap's explicit "Wera finished in second place at 146 in lb." Separately, the transcript consistently calls a $99 German 7-piece set "Wera" throughout, while the video's own description/product list names a different brand, Wiha, with its own Amazon link and no mention of Wera at all; kept as Wera per the transcript's own repeated, unwavering usage, with the conflict flagged rather than silently resolved. The maximum handle force test (screwdriver used as a pry/chisel) is explicitly excluded from the final overall grading criteria by the narrator, so it is recorded per-brand but should not be read as contributing to winner/runnerUp/budgetPick. GearWrench is absent from the handle-force test section entirely with no stated reason, unlike other explicit skips (Amartisan and GearWrench's own slotted-torque skip both have explicit reasons given).