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Amazon Basics - Electric Screwdriver

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TeknoJ

TeknoJ

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First of all, it is made by SKIL. I know back in the day the SKIL saw was our go to brand of saw to cut lumber for framing. The one I have is literally 30+ years old and still kicking. I use it often. I don’t know how good other products are from the brand but I saw this little beauty on a video vs several other screwdrivers. It kicked butt too.
I have tried an electric screwdriver in the past and it was a flop, it was only good for the micros and even then, the motor burned out. Amazon refunded me a percentage of the price which about $6.
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I haven’t used it much but, my wrists already feel better.
My one gripe so far is the button location. I find myself looking at the driver to see the buttons. They are not in a great location being in the center of the body which tends to be just behind my palm when I go to use the thing initially. I just need to get used to grabbing the back of it and not the front. If the buttons were up front, it would be more ergonomic for me personally YMMV. At the very least the buttons could be a little more pronounced so I could locate them without looking at it.
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It feels good in my hands otherwise, and drives screws of this hobby size no problem. The guy was driving 5/16” nylock nuts over and over in the review I watched.

Here is the video that sold me on this.

The dewalt at the end of the line up looks like it will be my next investment for work.
 
Nice review, thanks.

One of my favorite features on the Skil screwdrivers I use is the rotary switch at the bit end that falls naturally under my thumb and is very intuitive.

Skil2.webp
 
I have tried a number of electric screwdrivers in the past, and even the good ones I had can't touch my Milwaukee hex driver. It'll break m4 screws if I crank up the clutch. And the finer clutch settings will go down far enough it won't fully drive an M2 into fresh plastic. Great for my use as I never use it for fully tightening a screw. I only use it for long-winded screws. And it just feels more natural in my hand vs bending my wrist to hold the handle of a screwdriver at the right angle.
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Cheetah928 said:
I'm cheap. I've figured out if you cut any old l wrench you can attach it to a drill. Or the straight ones in the Traxxas toolkit. Dont use em', but I've got one or two
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Those are not typically made from material much stronger than frozen butter 😄 Every one of those I get in a kit won't even make a landing on my bench. They come out of the bag they are in and go straight into the trash bin under my bench.
 
WickedFog said:
Those are not typically made from material much stronger than frozen butter 😄 Every one of those I get in a kit won't even make a landing on my bench. They come out of the bag they are in and go straight into the trash bin under my bench.
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Yeah I got them when I was first getting into the hobby. they suck and I dont use them. Mostly I just use the screwdrivers lol
 
Cheetah928 said:
Yeah I got them when I was first getting into the hobby. they suck and I dont use them. Mostly I just use the screwdrivers lol
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Do yourself a favor if you're planning on doing much wrenching. At the least, grab a set of these. You can thank me later. I have had this same set for over 10 years and they look like new. The bits are made out of high speed steel, which is super hard. Just don't drop them on a hard surface because the harder the tooling, the easier it will crack. But these things will strip the head completely out of 100 screws and not show the tiniest bit of wear.
https://a.co/d/16yHB36
Screenshot_20250914_155624.webp
 
I use a Makita that my Dad got me for one of my Christmas' and it's been pretty good although sometimes i forgot to break it out when i might need it and most of the times i just use hand tools last year my Dad got me MIP power tool tips and i've been in love with them. I might ask for some more MIP tools for Christmas this year or other RC tools.
 
CJSRCLIFE said:
I use a Makita that my Dad got me for one of my Christmas' and it's been pretty good although sometimes i forgot to break it out when i might need it and most of the times i just use hand tools last year my Dad got me MIP power tool tips and i've been in love with them. I might ask for some more MIP tools for Christmas this year or other RC tools.
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The Makita stuff is great. They were the OG cordless stuff with the 4.7v and 9v stuff.
I have also been collecting the MIP tips lately; I have a metric set on the way.
 
TeknoJ said:
The Makita stuff is great. They were the OG cordless stuff with the 4.7v and 9v stuff.
I have also been collecting the MIP tips lately; I have a metric set on the way.
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My Dad has been a longtime Makita person he almost exclusively used Makita tools when he used to be a carpenter he also passed down his older cordless drill and power driver to me back when i used to work with him. But now he mostly uses them for house projects since he is now a licensed nurse working at Integris and he'll soon be a ICU nurse.
 
RustyUs said:
Will it handle M4 screws into virgin RC composites?
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I haven’t tried it yet, assuming it did nylock nuts on a 5/16 bolt, I think m4 stuff is no problem even in brand new composites
 
RustyUs said:
Will it handle M4 screws into virgin RC composites?
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TeknoJ said:
I haven’t tried it yet, assuming it did nylock nuts on a 5/16 bolt, I think m4 stuff is no problem even in brand new composites
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I think it would with power to spare. Its pretty strong on the higher setting. :thumbs-up:
 
CertifiedMike said:
Does this screwdriver have any torque sensor in it?

The Skil 2.0 has 3 settings to help stop stripping screws. I wasn't sure if I'd like or could trust the feature. It actually works pretty well. 😎
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It has three power settings, but no "clutch".
The power settings seem to be spread apart pretty well. The lowest setting is weak, and the highest setting is powerful.
As with all power tools, I always finish tightening by hand as I don't fully trust power tools for RC wrenching.
 

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