Following their sea creature naming convention, iFixit has released two new screwdriver kits: the Minnow and the Moray. You probably know iFixit for their teardowns of the latest gadgets, but a number of Verge writers also swear by their screwdriver sets which come with lots of exotic bits to open up electronics yourself. These new sets are their smallest and cheapest yet, with 16 and 32 bits respectively, and both come in under $20.
Both sets come with the bits you need to take apart some of the most popular consumer tech: you can open iPhones and Macbooks with the pentalobe bits, Nintendo Switches with the tri-wing bits, and some PCs and older Apple computers with the Torx and Torx security bits. Both sets also include the basic Phillips and flatheads that you’d find yourself reaching for during everyday household maintenance, as well as the grippy handle that the included bits magnetically slot into, and a lifetime warranty. The handle also hides a built-in SIM removal tool, which could sometimes be handier than the stand-alone one that’s probably hiding in your drawer.
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The Minnow driver kit costs $14.99, and has a lot of what people will need if they’re just working on newer tech devices. For people with older gadgets, however, the $19.99 Moray may be a better fit. It justifies its $5 price increase by adding more sizes of the bits found in the Minnow, as well as obscure bits like triangle (often found in toys and vacuum cleaners) and Gamebit (for older consoles such as N64, NES and SNES, Sega systems, etc.). It may also be the choice for people who do some work around the home, as it includes a couple of metric hex bits that are used in everything from bikes to build-it-yourself bar stools from Ikea.
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While the sets are relatively inexpensive, shoppers who are always fixing things may want to look at some of iFixit’s other kits, such as the $25 Essential Electronics Toolkit, which comes with a lot of the same bits, plus tweezers, spudgers, and other tools that are useful for taking apart today’s glued or clipped-together devices. There’s also the Mako toolkit at $35, which includes a whopping 64 bits and has an aluminum driver handle, as opposed to the plastic ones found in the Minnow, Moray, and Essential Toolkit.
That said, having more options when it comes to repairing your devices is a good thing, and the Minnow and Moray have attractive prices for people who will only need to repair devices every so often (or for people looking for a secondary kit to keep at the office or in a backpack). With the low price points, these sets seem poised to be popular stocking stuffers, possibly from family members hinting they have computers they want you to repair. I received my own iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit from my mom a few Christmases back as a (successful) bribe to upgrade her laptop’s hard drive. Since then, I’ve used it to keep all of my tech in good working order. And all of my mom’s tech. And my sister’s. And my wife’s. You get the point.
