Blog

Aug 21, 2023

This game

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.

A Stanley Maxsteel multiangle base vise.

I've always said that good tools make jobs easier. This is why I highly recommend getting decent tools wherever possible.

Buying the very best you can afford at the time is rarely false economy.

Also: This portable battery station can power your home for 2 weeks, and it's $200 off right now

But sometimes there's a tool that so completely changes the way you work that you wonder why it took you so long to get one.

This is how I feel about my Stanley Maxsteel multiangle base vise. It's an invaluable tool and is currently on sale during the run-up to Amazon Prime Day.

This compact clamp gives you a firm hold on electronic components, parts, and more.

I've been using "helping hands" for years for things like soldering or other fiddly work, but I'd never bought a vise before because I didn't think I needed one.

Also: This must-have screwdriver has two hidden tricks

In my head, they were big, bulky, industrial-looking steel objects affixed to a bench. My granddad had one, and I didn't think it was suitable for the sort of work I do.

I was so wrong.

The Stanley Maxsteel multiangle base vise ticks all the boxes for me.

A super versatile vise for electronics work.

It's small, yet really tough, able to handle big jobs. Don't let those small jaws fool you -- you can really clamp them down when you need to.

Also: The perfect mini electric screwdriver

It's also highly portable, yet can be clamped down to a bench, the back of a truck, or even a table, thanks to the soft jaws on the clamp.

A soft clamp holds the vise down to a variety of surfaces.

You can swivel it to pretty much any position or angle to suit where you are and what you are doing.

The jaws are multipurpose -- tough metal when you need to bite down, but with the option for a soft, rubber coating when you want to protect the item being held.

Metal jaws come with soft, rubber covers.

For the current sale price of $46, this is a great vise, perfect for my needs. It can hold a variety of items, from circuit boards to car components to hunks of wood I need to work with. And I've clamped some really big stuff in this vice, and clamped it really tightly, and the vice shows no signs of loosening up or weakening.

It's really solid.

The 360-degree rotation swivel-ball design is both versatile and really strong.

So why is it a game-changer? Because it's so very versatile.

Coming back to my granddad's bench vise. That thing was big and bulky and attached to a bench, and suited to heavy-duty use.

Also: This has replaced my multitool for a fraction of the cost

You couldn't move it about, it didn't have the cool swivel mechanism, it didn't have the soft rubber jaws, and you definitely couldn't use it for delicate work (I can't imagine clamping a circuit board with it).

This vise does it all.

It's small enough to be portable (it fits easily into a medium-sized toolbag), tough enough for heavy work, and delicate enough to hold easily-damaged items. Plus I can take it with me on jobs, and it can be out away when not in use, thus saving precious bench space.

It's also replaced a number of other clamping tools that I used to use -- from my helping hands to clamps.

It's simply made my life so much easier. Do yourself a favor and make your DIY life easier too!