The article talks about "normal" versus JIS Phillips drives. But "normal" actually comes in two different flavors: US (ANSI) and German (DIN/later ISO). ISO Phillips drivers work perfectly on ISO Phillips heads and quite well on JIS or ANSI Phillips heads. ANSI Phillips drivers work perfectly on ANSI Phillips heads and noticeably worse on JIS or ISO Phillips heads.
You probably have not experienced this if your Phillips screwdrivers were not made in USA, as virtually every manufacturer outside the US used or uses the JIS, DIN, or ISO profile for their tools, and those work tolerably on all Phillips type screws. (Of course JIS is palpably best on JIS, which is the subject of the article.) But if you have older or newer made in USA tools (especially Pratt-Read, who recently closed down) or fasteners (which probably had to come from some industrial type place), you may have noticed that Phillips is even more crap than expected. Or you might have noticed that the "foreigners" are better at tools if you compared against a good German or Japanese screwdriver.
Not really! It's just that there are three kinds of Phillips profile. It's awful. Death to Phillips, death to Pozidriv (too easy to confuse and damage here in the US), death to anything that looks like Phillips. Long live Robertson, Hex, Torx, and anything with ball end drivers available!
Those are the same as or at least closely related to quadrex, xeno, or "terminal" (as in "wiring terminal") bits. I have them in two sizes, both bits and insulated handles. I find I never use them as just sticking a #1 Robertson in there (despite my being American) does everything I could want.
The article talks about "normal" versus JIS Phillips drives. But "normal" actually comes in two different flavors: US (ANSI) and German (DIN/later ISO). ISO Phillips drivers work perfectly on ISO Phillips heads and quite well on JIS or ANSI Phillips heads. ANSI Phillips drivers work perfectly on ANSI Phillips heads and noticeably worse on JIS or ISO Phillips heads.
You probably have not experienced this if your Phillips screwdrivers were not made in USA, as virtually every manufacturer outside the US used or uses the JIS, DIN, or ISO profile for their tools, and those work tolerably on all Phillips type screws. (Of course JIS is palpably best on JIS, which is the subject of the article.) But if you have older or newer made in USA tools (especially Pratt-Read, who recently closed down) or fasteners (which probably had to come from some industrial type place), you may have noticed that Phillips is even more crap than expected. Or you might have noticed that the "foreigners" are better at tools if you compared against a good German or Japanese screwdriver.
Not really! It's just that there are three kinds of Phillips profile. It's awful. Death to Phillips, death to Pozidriv (too easy to confuse and damage here in the US), death to anything that looks like Phillips. Long live Robertson, Hex, Torx, and anything with ball end drivers available!