I hate phillips head screws with every fiber of my being. All they are good at is becoming stripped.
this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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They are better than slotted. The driver always slips and you always stab yourself in the arm, they are impossible to work with. Why were they even invented, what purpose do they solve, it is literally the worst possible way to design a screw.
They are the easiest to machine, so they were invented first. Being first and being cheap leads to abundance. It also means every toolbox needs a flathead screwdriver, and most of those also prove useful as prybars.
Just wait until you have to remove some old slotted screws! Phillips are great compared to them. My house was build in 1925, I think slotted was the only option back in those days...
Found this on Wikipedia "The credited inventor of the Phillips screw was John P. Thompson who, in 1932, patented (#1,908,080) a recessed cruciform screw and in 1933, a screwdriver for it."
You would think the screw and screwdriver would come hand in hand the same year. But I guess even he struggled with how to not strip them.
Pozidrive for the win.
I prefer torx (six lobe in this picture)
Wait, cheese? I'll take twenty
Calling it a square not a Robinson makes me doubt everything else on this including the ones I know are right.
Same with 6 lobe instead of torx
Torx is a trademarked name, 6 lobe is generic Torx.
Like how everybody calls a tissue a Kleenex.
Or a personal watercraft a Jet Ski
It's like the old joke tagline that Dyson had at one point.
"Dyson, the last name in Hoovers".
Or 6 lobe tamper: security torx. Or hexagon: Allan key. Seriously.
Sometimes we use "hex key" for Allen wrench
Weird, I've only ever heard torx and square.
I'd like to go on record as saying six-lobe tamper can die in a fire.
Use a hammer and punch to break off the pin.
Screw drive arguments are my absolute favorite, thank you OP for posting such divisive content!
RIP
Star bit.
That isn't a thing ~~~~
Same - this will easily be my favorite post of the day, and it's still early.
A square screw is a Robinson, fyi.
Robertson
There's some anti-Canadian bias in this chart for sure.
Don't call Philips after the inventor but Robertson after the shape.
Also the 6 lobe or whatever it's called in the diagram is usually called a torx.
Robinson ftw though.
Robertson
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The first two are screw heads. The rest are mental illnesses.
Phillips slot is very hand tbf, you have a phillips screwdriver? Good you will have good grip, you don't have one? Good you will still be able to unscrew that
I get a better grip with slot than Phillips, which is good if I'm using an electric screwdriver and want to cam out at a certain torque
I'll give you that but all the others are in my opinion completely unnecessary and just cause issues. To me anything other than a Philips head is completely unnecessary and deliberately over complicated.
No way. Torx over Phillips all day
No because no one has a screwdriver that can fit it, they have to go out and explicitly buy one just so they can undo a screw.
Unless something really super duper seriously needs to stay tightened a Phillips is the way to go. I don't want to have to start a project only to have to go out and buy something that I'll only ever use once because it's some weird exotic screw head. Phillips is what data centres use to secure computers to server racks so it's obviously pretty good.
I like the sentiment that there should be one awesome screw head used everywhere, even if it wouldn't ever 100% happen.
But phillips head is garbage. I agree with the other reply: torx all day long. Honestly, many of the others are good designs that could likewise handle a lot of torque with less tendency to cam out. But torx has kind of already become that standard, at least around me in the US.
And, in my experience, it's proven itself in the field. My non-tech hobbies have involved a lot of outdoor construction this year. I used an impact driver to bury big 6" screws all the way into pressure treated lumber about 1,000 times, and then about a thousand other smaller 2.5" - 3.5" outdoor screws. All of them were torx.
And subjectively, the bit engages like a cylindrical gear but without any sharp corners. It seems like it should be easier to clean a screw dropped in the mud. I've had to do that more than once, but I didn't do a comparison, lol.
What is labelled "flat" here I've only ever heard of as "countersunk" and what's labelled as "slotted" I've only ever heard of as "flat head". Also wtf is "PF"?
I had the same thought! Also I’ve only ever heard “torx” instead of “six lobe” although I’m guessing torx is a brand name.
The one labelled phillips i only ever heard it being calles "cross" and the one labelled pozidriv i only heard it being called "star" but maybe is just my country
Yeah, in the US I've only heard "Philips" or occasionally "four way". We say star here also though, but I think for the "six lobe" iirc
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What is this square?
It is called a Robertson not a square.
Technically Robertson has a taper to it, while square drive doesn't. Though nobody really differentiates it in common usage.
At least with star drive, while they are the same, pretty much everyone calls them Torx.
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