In an endless sea of new-product press releases, this one caught my attention. The Fix It Sticks Mini All-in-one Torque driver has five common torque values (6, 10, 15, 20 and 25 in.-lbs.) inscribed on the tool. Simply insert the proper bit (Torx T10, Allen, etc.) and put the tool into a ¼-inch driver, and watch the barrel for the proper torque. It’s really that easy.
Don’t, as I started to do, think you need to move the setting on the tool itself. You don’t. You’ll break it if you try to change the setting on the tool—don’t. Resist the temptation to twist the dial to the torque setting you want, because that’s not how this tool works. Rather, it starts at 0, you turn it until it reaches the correct amount of torque, then you stop. Done. Talk about easy! It springs back to 0, too, once you remove it from the screw. That’s super handy, as anyone that’s ever picked up a torque driver to find it cranked all the way to the highest setting when they need it at the lowest setting will attest.
The "Mini" part pf the Mini All-in-One Torque Driver should appeal to those who have adopted pistol-slide-mounted red-dot sights. While a good number of these sights have top-mounted battery compartments and do not require removal to change the battery, a significant number do not, meaning when the battery needs to be replaced, the sight has to be taken off the slide. This makes the use of thread-locking compound less appealing, for obvious reasons, so torquing the sight down properly becomes imperative.
Having used the Mini-All-in-One torque driver on a number of pistol-slide-mounted red-dot sights, I can wholeheartedly attest to how easy it is to. I've featured a number of different red-dot sights on different pistols in our “I Carry” series, and being able to properly torque down a sight without needing locking compound has been super beneficial. Obviously, when we’ve finished the segment with the dot, it needs to come off the pistol; “close enough” by hand can often result in problems on the range. Not any more, though, when the sight can be tightened down properly.
Another advantage of the Mini-All-in-One torque driver is evident in multi-optic platforms like the Glock MOS, Smith & Wesson C.O.R.E. and others. If you’re testing different optics—or simply think that someday in the future you might swap red dots—you’re going to be reluctant to even semi-permanently affix the device. Besides, you periodically check the screws to make sure they haven’t worked loose anyways, right? Of course you do. With the Fix It Sticks Mini-All-in-One torque driver, each check ensures the proper amount of force prescribed by the manufacturer holds the optic in place.
MSRP on the Mini-All-in-One torque driver is $55. More information on the driver and other tools from Fix It Sticks can be found at store.fixitsticks.com.
