LTT Screwdriver

[Ginger Penguin]

Not a fan of the silver honestly. I wouldn't mind if it was a darker grey rather than all matte black but the silver just seems way too bright. I saw some people suggesting gunmetal in chats but I don't know if that would be a completely separate material or if it's just a different colour of their original coating then it would probably have the same issues as the black. But then again I wouldn't have a problem with it wearing away a bit. Cool silver streaks.

[Bitter]

Rainbow anodized for max RGB, maybe a clear handle version with actual RGB inside it.

[Imbadatnames]

4 hours ago, Bitter said:

Rainbow anodized for max RGB, maybe a clear handle version with actual RGB inside it.

Shove a voltage detector in and have it light up RGB

[yolosnail]

For me, it depends on what the silver looks like. If it's 'chrome' I'm in, if it's matte silver, then no.

 

All of my sockets, rachets and spanners that I use on the cars are a "chrome alloy steel" and they still look just as good as the day I bought them despite me just throwing them on the ground (lifetime guarantee, might as well get my money's worth if they break!). There are some scuffs and scratches, but they're barely noticeable unless you look closely. 

[Zarkex]

Also not a fan of the new silver, especially since it's been shown off black till now. Shouldn't it be an option, also the weared down look looks fine, it's just the paint that's damaged?

 

Is something like Samsung's doing with for example their Smartwatches (GW4C) not possible? They're black, matte and stainless steel.

[Uboatcmdr]

The silver screwdriver drama seems like a good enough reason to make a first post on the LTT forum lol.

 

Black Passivated Stainless Steel

 

This is the way. I don't want to buy a shiny silver screw driver. Passivated stainless doesnt give you a smooth painted looking surface, as you can see the machining surface finish through the passivation, but IMO it looks drastically better than a chrome shaft. At the scale these screw drivers are being produced it should be very cheap. Cheaper than paint, powder coat, etc. Most importantly it chemically changes the surface of the steel to form an extremely hard oxide layer, rather than simply adding a coating on top.

 

It doesn't chip, scratch or peel and is super durable. You can see it all over tools, knives, guns and industrial equipment.

 

 

[Thaldor]

Coating is never the best answer for lasting. I believe at this point starting to play around with another manufacturing processes and ways would be major setbacks (as in testing them and finding out which is better for this use would take easily half-full year and then the manufacturing) also that used materials could be affected needing even more engineering and testing.

But outside of black chrome plating there is always the option of black oxidation as long as the shaft is carbon steel. Black oxidation as a term does include quite many things, from acid baths, to passivation, to oil inclusion and probably 1 or 1000 that I don't know. They won't give the same look as black chrome plating but they have a range of quite interesting color and texture combinations from the forge finish like crisp black powder

 

 

to more oil like smooth

 

 

But the kicker is that these do require certain steel alloys and not all are fitting for every method. Chrome plating is easy because it will likely work with whatever steel is in use because it is a coating, basicly in loose terms painting the steel. With black oxidation you are changing the steel itself, that's the oxidation part, and it will need testing to get wanted outcome and it most likely isn't something a $10,000 plastic card collection handles. Also some of them are hard, as in if a certain way black oxidized LTT screwdriver misses its mark and hits the case, it will not be the LTT screwdriver with the scar from that.

And now that I think about it for example the LTT screwdriver bits are most likely black oxidized because at least I have never stumbled upon coated bits except in very specific use cases and then they are mostly not chromed.

[Locke5368]

I really like the look of the black oxide - hopefully they figure something out, whether it be black oxide, cerakote, or something else. Though, TBH I don't mind the silver. Did anyone catch if the silver was also nickel plated? I get pretty rough rashes from nickel, and I know it's not the most uncommon allergy in the world too.

[Spaceapes]

Agree with the above, really stoked for the screwdriver but not loving the silver finish. 
I would rather a dark gray or a Matt black. 
Also I don’t mind the idea of it scratching as in the email update pictures. For me this is a working tool and wouldn’t mind if it got a patina from being used. 
 

Hope these posts will be considered and we could have the option of black again. 

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

People hate it, give us black, i dont care about the wear, it love the wear. silver make it look cheap.

i really hope @LinusTechreads the comments and feedback on this 
 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/v9mcs1/screwdriver_news/

[Ravendarat]

Ive been very pro screwdriver and even if its silver I would still be happy to buy it but I agree with the majority here, I would rather is be black and wear over time than the silver in the pictures, the silver looks like an unfinished product with the black handle, or more over it looks like a rough sample product, not a premium driver

[Thaldor]

1 hour ago, James Evens said:

Might be too late in the process. In a further revision they might look again into this but as I understand it they reached the design freeze on this product.

I believe this is the biggest reason to go silver. They are probably just changing the color of the coating because that is the easiest and fastest thing to do right now without going all metallurgy and changing the steel alloy in use (because most likely leaving the coating out and especially going into black oxidation would need different steel alloy to be used) and with it a lot of testing and finding out and costs and the screwdriver would be pushed quite far away from shippable state.

[Bitter]

It's so they can release a V 2.0 later, duh.

[Bitter]

Sorry, forgot my /s at the end of that quip.

 

You see they'll release an unfinished product, let early adopters be the beta testers, then release a more refined product later /tesla

[marlin04]

Im honestly not a big fan of the silver, I understand the possible issues due to wear but for me I would not really care about it at all, it would even make it kinda unique. I feel like it would complicate things a bit, but giving us the choice between both finish for the screw driver would have been nice, just like say a warning when buying the black one. But I suppose it would also cause the issue of having like 4 SKUs instead of 2 currently. Honestly not a big dealbreaker if I want to buy it but quite disappointing.

And who knows, maybe in the future this will give them the opportunity to make a fully black one

[Needfuldoer]

My LTTdriver isn't going in a display case, it's going in my tool bag with a bunch of random Wiha, Felo, Harbor Freight, Xcelite, Klein, Stanley, Victorinox, and Harris stuff. I don't care whether the shaft is black or silver or orange, as long as it doesn't rust and fall apart in a year.

[Unedited_Mind]

I think LinusTech did a great job of providing vital information and has been very open about the whole thing.

 

From what I gather his tool is second best or close to a snap-on tool due to the details he has mentioned.

 

The higher the price, the higher the emphasis on quality of life changes, even if small has it's price and it maters to some.

 

Somewhat like me moving from a 5600x to a 5800x.`

 

The value is what matters, not the actual price, a whole bunch of people find value in it.

 

I found value in lesser times waiting for a render, although the 5600x was more than capable. I found value in an extra 5 FPS even if FPS was more than high enough.

 

Selling the old CPU helped make the value I found in the 5800X seem much more realistic.

[DaveMath]

$8

 

[Ravendarat]

27 minutes ago, DaveMath said:

$8

 

And how good does it preform? I can go post a picture of a Toyota Echo on a site full of hyper cars and no one will say they are the same thing. This was a silly post with no context or worthwhile reason.

[Imbadatnames]

9 minutes ago, Ravendarat said:

And how good does it preform? I can go post a picture of a Toyota Echo on a site full of hyper cars and no one will say they are the same thing. This was a silly post with no context or worthwhile reason.

To be fair it’s a screwdriver, doesn’t matter how expensive one is they all work pretty much the same

[Ravendarat]

1 minute ago, Imbadatnames said:

To be fair it’s a screwdriver, doesn’t matter how expensive one is they all work pretty much the same

Uh not at all, it definitely matters if you use it every day. Would I suggest someone spend $70 on a driver to throw in their junk drawer and only use it twice a year, of course not. But if you are someone that uses a screwdriver daily at a job, like I do, then you learn real quick that all are not created equal.

[Imbadatnames]

10 minutes ago, Ravendarat said:

Uh not at all, it definitely matters if you use it every day. Would I suggest someone spend $70 on a driver to throw in their junk drawer and only use it twice a year, of course not. But if you are someone that uses a screwdriver daily at a job, like I do, then you learn real quick that all are not created equal.

It wouldn’t be the first I’d heard of it. Honestly people are quoting snap on prices. Just because snap on rip people off doesn’t mean it’s ok. 

[DaveMath]

2 hours ago, Ravendarat said:

And how good does it preform? I can go post a picture of a Toyota Echo on a site full of hyper cars and no one will say they are the same thing. This was a silly post with no context or worthwhile reason.

It works fine. It may not be as good as a $70 one but how much better will this $70 one be? What exactly would compel me to spend nearly 10x as much for the LTT model when I can pick up 4 additional spares for less than half the cost?

[Ravendarat]

8 minutes ago, DaveMath said:

It works fine. It may not be as good as a $70 one but how much better will this $70 one be? What exactly would compel me to spend nearly 10x as much for the LTT model when I can pick up 4 additional spares for less than half the cost?

Once again, the more expensive one might not be for everyone. I can tell you that in my job I have had some cheaper ratcheting ones and have broken the gears in short order. And having warranty is fine but it doesnt help me when I have a car in my shop I need to work on now. You know what hasnt broken, my snap on driver. Will the LTT one be as good, if what they are saying is true then id say it sounds like a contender but time will tell. 

[DaveMath]

3 minutes ago, James Evens said:

It is all about the bits.

 

That's the issue. A lot of those tools are indeed overpriced. Thankfully with online shopping you can get it cheaper.

 

This particular set of hex keys is 30€ at the local store. Online you get it for 18€.

 

 

One screw you don't need to drill out. The second screw which won't get rounded is already profit.

 

Take a look at the hex set in the picture above. How much would you pay extra to get them in the color coded variant? From a performance standpoint the generic black/chrome variant will be identical. From a usability standpoint the color coding is what you want.

 

Btw. The flex extension on those sets? give it two screws into wood and they break. That's china "quality". 

Want to see how garbage they are measure the bits and see how horrible the tolerances get. A

Spoiler: Wiha made in Germany mostley less then 20µm.

Wiha made in poland: as bad as 70µm

China: More then 100µm. Basically you could buy 4 of them, measure all of them and hope 4 are enough to make 1 good set.

 

So the LTT model isn't coming from China?