Real Good You Guys: iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit
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I work in the PCMag labs, where I’ve gotten a reputation as a fairly handy guy. It isn’t because of any real prowess with repairing or modding electronics, but simply the fact that I have a bunch of tools on a bench and can do spot repair jobs. Soldering iron, Dremel, you name it. It’s always a small point of pride when someone comes to me and asks for a hand with something, even if it’s as simple as soldering a power lead on an Atari 800 or drilling out a stripped screw holding a hard drive in place in a laptop.
I could sing praises of the glorious Dremel rotary tool for hours, but no amount of grinding and cutting can replace a good, solid manual driver. And that’s why the secret weapon on my bench isn’t something that plugs into a wall and makes a lot of noise, but a collection of extremely useful hand tools. I’m talking about the . This isn’t a kit that was sent to me as a sample, but one I bought for myself, and that has impressed me so much I’m writing about it
is the site you go to when you want to find out how to dismantle or repair something. They have guides and parts for smartphones, tablets, computers, game consoles, and even cameras. If your iPhone has a cracked screen and you don’t want to take it to a shop, iFixit has what you need to repair it yourself. You can get repair kits and parts piecemeal, but to be ready for anything you should start with one of their toolkits, and the Pro Tech Toolkit is the best combination of power and value.
The Pro Tech Toolkit comes in a ballistic nylon wrap that makes it feel like a safecracking kit. It folds up to hold everything securely when you take it around, and unfolds to show off its extensive armory of tools, each in their own pocket or strap.
The heart of the Pro Tech Toolkit is a 64-bit driver set kept in its own plastic storage box that attaches magnetically to the nylon wrap. It’s a secret weapon for opening up anything that’s been screwed shut. It has a handful of Philips, hex, Allen, and slotted bits, but that’s just the start. Have you ever looked at the back of an old game cartridge, or pried open an iPad, or just looked closely at a vending machine and noticed that the screws they use all look weird? That’s because they are weird.
Anyone can pick up a Philips head screwdriver, which is why companies from Apple to Nintendo don’t generally use Philips screws. They use different security screws with special heads that you can’t open with your average toolkit. That’s why the Pro Tech Toolkit has Torx Security, JIS, Gamebit, spanner, triangle, tripoint, square, pentalobe, and other rare bits. These let you dismantle everything from Game Boy cartridges to iPhones with ease. The driver itself has a very sturdy metal handle and a bearing cap for easy spinning, and it comes with a flexible extender and a 1/4-inch-to-4mm driver adapter. Each bit has its own secure, labeled slot molded in the foam of the case.
$60 for a 64-bit driver kit is a bit pricey (and you can buy just the driver kit for $25 from iFixit, anyway), but that’s why the Pro Tech Toolkit comes with so many other things in its nylon wrap. Bits are useless if you can’t get into a device, and that’s where the kit’s many spudgers come in. They’re special picks and blades for prying open electronics that have been closed with pressure. The kit comes with two standard anti-static plastic spudgers with pointed and flat ends, a metal spudger for prying open really tightly sealed devices, a metal jimmy with a thin blade for precision, six guitar pick-like opening picks, and three plastic opening tools. Those are made of a softer plastic than the other spudgers, for prying and opening delicate devices.
The kit doesn’t stop there, though. It also has three pairs of tweezers: one straight, one angled, and one spring-closed reverse set, for moving and holding delicate wires and picking out tiny bits that fall into cases. Finally, the kit includes a suction cup with a metal ring for lifting glass and screens, and an anti-static strap.
I’ve owned a few different electronics toolkits in my day, and the iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit is by far the best. It’s well-designed, well-made, and has everything I need to crack into anything with a screen and a battery (and many things without them). It’s well worth the $60 for anyone who ever wanted to open up an old game system or try to repair their smartphone without taking it to a store.
It’s real good you guys.
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