tools

We all use different tools in our varied, harried lives, things that help us do what we need and hopefully make things easier or less stressful in the process. As someone who spends my working life running this site, testing and reviewing all kinds of consumer hardware, and building several PCs a year, most of the tools I use and love revolve around that. But I’ve also recently jumped head-first into the world of 3D printing, and when I’m not working, I’m often tinkering on some home DIY project, trying to make my small apartment a little nicer.

Below are some of my go-to tools, from my trusty Hoto screwdriver (great for PCs and putting up shelves), to an SSD cloner, my favorite minimal multi-tool, and more. Hopefully you’ll also find a few of these helpful in your own life, or good gift ideas for someone in your life. Most are less than $20, with a few in the $30-$50 range. One thing I can say for sure is that, at least for me, they are all easily worth what I paid for them, as they make tasks big and small easier and more enjoyable.

🛠 Rosewill M.2 SSD Cloner

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A family member recently asked me for help with an older PC, which was desperately trying to run Windows 10 while housing several programs on an old 110 GB SSD. I figured, sure, I could clone the boot drive onto a more spacious drive so the OS and programs had more room to stretch their legs. But then the thought of using multiple USB enclosures or shuffling drives in and out of my desktop filled me with dread as I pictured being there for hours getting everything done and the system back up and running. So I looked into getting an M.2 SSD cloner, and was surprised to see they can be found for as little as $49.

Rosewill’s NVMe SSD cloner is one of the more affordable options, and while I don’t love its glossy plastic shell, it does support both NVMe M.2 drives as well as older AHCI models. Operation is about as simple as it gets. You plug in the included USB-C power adapter, put your source drive in the left slot, the destination drive in the right slot, press the power button on the back, and a few logos light up, letting you know you’re ready to go. Press the clone button on the top, and the cloning will commence (provided your destination is the same size or larger than your source).

That’s assuming you want to do an offline clone. But because I wanted to also resize the partition between the old 110 GB and the newer Team Group 512 GB SSD, I used the second included USB-C cable to connect the Rosewill cloner to my laptop and powered up the device. Within seconds, both drives were recognized in Windows, so I fired up the excellent free DiskGenius software, cloned the old partition to the new Team Group drive with a few clicks, and then used the software to drag the boot partition to the full size of the new drive. The whole process took just a few minutes; the Rosewill cloner supports 20 Gbps USB, and I wasn’t exactly copying a huge partition.

When the cloning process was finished, it was hard to believe it was all that easy. I had expected to be at my in-laws for hours, but I was done in less than 30 minutes. Sure, unless you’re in IT, a drive cloner might not be something you use all the time, but it’s handy to have around. You can also use it to save some money by buying a laptop with a cramped SSD and swapping in something much roomier – provided, of course, the laptop’s storage isn’t soldered to the motherboard.

The Rosewill cloner is also handy for just checking the contents of old M.2 drives you may have lying around. But if that’s all you need, you can buy an NVMe enclosure or a single-drive dock. I also own this model from Fideco, which costs less than $20.

🛠 Sangabery Digital Caliper

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While I use my tape measure more often around the house, when I need something more precise, I always reach for my digital caliper. I used a plastic model from Harbor Freight for years, and while it was mostly served my needs, it always felt like a toy and didn’t have as many features as this steel model from Sangabery. Would I trust it to be as accurate as models that cost more than $100? No, but for what I use it for – mostly measuring the thickness of laptops and making sure my print models are to scale and that what I want to 3D print will fit on my Anycubic Kobra 3 V2’s print bed, it works just fine.

🛠 HOTO NEX O1 PRO 3.6V Screwdriver Set

(Image credit: HOTO)

I build a lot of PCs, and I also do some home improvement work for myself and my family. So a cordless screwdriver is a nice thing to have – and a great cordless screwdriver makes my life a lot easier. I also own a much slimmer Wowstick, but have found HOTO’s NEX O1 Pro to be useful in more ways, thanks to its extra (and variable) torque. It’s great for loosening factory-installed screws on PC cases, and also good for assembling furniture.

The HOTO won’t replace my DeWalt drill for bigger, tougher jobs. But for mostly common tasks, it’s powerful enough, easy to charge over USB-C, and even looks good on my workbench.

As the grandson of a carpenter, I sometimes work on projects involving wood (I finished the Acacia wood of my testbench, which you’ll sometimes see in my photos), and more often now I’m often tweaking plastic 3D prints. So a deburring tool is something I reach for a couple of times a week. You can get plastic-handled models for a few dollars less, but this model costs less than $10 and has a nicer-feeling metal handle. It also comes with 12 blades, and comes in three color options.

Other common uses for a deburring tool include scraping burrs off of metal or PVC pipe, cleaning up traditional scale model parts, and more. It’s a handy tool to have for many purposes, and this one gets a prime spot in my desk drawer, where I reach for it often.

🛠 iSesamo Spudger + Mini iSesamo Spudger

A must have for cracking open thin laptops, as we always do when reviewing them, a spudger lets you get in between the tight seams of modern technology and pry things apart enough to (hopefully) release the clips holding things together. You can try to use things like guitar picks or (if you’re extremely careful) a small screwdriver. But a spudger is usually the best tool for this kind of job, and this two-pack (including a keychain-friendly mini model) is well worth the $12 I spent on it in 2023 (that’s also still how much it costs).

At least once a day, I need a box opener or a screwdriver. And sure, I could just carry around a multi-tool, but it’s convenient to have these things on my keychain – and all the more comfortable when that tool is basically the size of a key, like this tiny $10 tool from KeySmart. As someone who typically keeps their keys in their back pocket, I realy don’t want anything bulky. This simple multitool is a box opener, flat head, and Philips head screwdriver. It’s designed to be added to KeySmart’s modular key organizer system, but it also works well on a typical key ring, where it’s always within reach when you need it.

🛠 Baseus 65W Flat GaN wall charger

(Image credit: Amazon)

This last pick maybe pushes the boundaries of the word tool, but so much of what I do and use every day relies on USB power, whether it’s my laptop, Bluetooth speaker, my Hoto screwdriver, even the scale I use to portion out my morning coffee (and occasionally weigh products I’m reviewing). And this 65W charger from Baseus includes USB-C and USB-A charging ports and is small and slim enough that I can slip it in any bag (or evn in a back pocket) so I’m never without a charger for nearly all my essential things.

This is also one of my favorite chargers to take on vacation or work trips, because aside from its small size, its thin shape hugs the wall, helping it stay in worn-out hotel sockets much better than larger or different-shaped chargers. It delivers up to 45W via the USB-C port and 20W over USB-A. So it’s not going to charge everything as fast as possible, but it does quite well in a pinch and I like knowing it’s almost always with me if my phone or other device needs a recharge while I’m away from home.

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