Steve Campbell
Elite Veteran
Location: Baton Rouge, LA
| Ditto on Thorp; best there is, period. Equalled, perhaps, by the like of Hudy and other high-quality offerings; but not surpassed. I made the mistake of buying a couple of Dynamite drivers at Ron's get-together a few years back; what junk.
I have a set of Wiha drivers that I bought in 1992 which are still going strong. Maybe they have cheapened their alloy, but I've got at least a dozen different ball drivers, screw drivers, and nut drivers from Wiha, and they see the most use on my bench.
I break out the Thorp drivers when some serious tightening or loosening is necessary. They fit much more precisely than the Wihas, which are worn a bit; plus the larger handles allow for much greater torque to be applied. You won't ever round one off, but they will break if you apply a side load while turning. The shafts on these are made from industrial drill rod. If you break one, Thorp will re-cut it for a nominal fee.
You can spend more if you wish; Hudy, Ofna, and a few others offer fancy knurled aluminum handles that are expensive to produce. But the large plastic handles on the Thorps don't give up anything; except, perhaps, "cool factor".
KSJ is okay, too. Got a couple of those. The replaceable bit concept is a good one, if properly executed. But one of my KSJs has the hole for the bit drilled off-center, making the tool somewhat interesting to use.
Sorry, not familiar with the Mavvrikk(?) brand. Isn't that Heli-Proz's "house brand"? Hope they are better than Irwin's trash; made the mistake of trying them once.
Steve |
