It's juts a way to strip the same screw head twice

I love that this is a common conversation. Allow me to pick up where we left off. No we don't use them because flatheads are bullshit. A flathead screw driver always slides out at speeds comparable to the average speed of other heads. And don't get me started on phillips. They are designed to strip. Then you need a square head to remove it, so you might as well start there. Default square head. Other than square is inferior to star. Torx is the one true driver!

Torx or nothing. Hex maybe.

The Canadians have it figured out with the Robertson being a common alternative

The rest of us are living in the dark ages

Here in Canada we do things right. You trying a Robertson head once, feel how the drill never jumps out of the screw, you will wish you were Canadian too.

I do a lot of DIY and have all manner of screws in my shed gathered across the years. These ones are a rarity.

Also, I hate flatheads.

Nah, it's a lose-lose situation. Flatheads suck, and philips are crappy too. Just use hex, torx, or Robertson for everything and the world would be a better place.

I rarely see flatheads anyway. No one uses them on new stuff, and old stuff has often had them replaced with something better. I kinda feel like this is a solution looking for a problem.

If I want to carefully losen a phillips screw that has a damaged "+" which looks more like a "O" I sometimes use a dremel to cut a flat head like this "Ø" to turn it out. Yours seems to have that feauture inbuilt so I'd prefer to find them over an ordinary phillips screw. However, If I get to choose the screw myself, then I go torx or hex.

I tend to see these:

Or these:

Though I'd prefer Torx or just plain Robertson (square)

Square head or torx or gtfo

Really only on things like bike lights and such where you want to be able to use a random piece of scrap to open them up.

Here's an actual photograph you can use for this thread, instead of that cgi/ai slop monstrosity

There's a lot of science behind modern screw heads, and things have moved on massively since the battle between flat and cross head screws was a thing - back in the 70's, these were quite common, but recently, particularly on tools and gadgets, torx (6 pointed star head) is more popular, mainly because they reduce the chance of head stripping during manufacture massively. Combo screw heads were introduced into manufacturing because + head drivers are self-centring, are less strippable, and work better with powered drivers, but field repairers often only had flat head drivers. These days, I only carry one or two flat heads when I do the repair cafe, but mostly posi and philips, with a set of torx, and tiny exotic, and security bits. Most electric tools (drills, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, etc.) have torx or security torx. Electronics usually have philips or posi, occasionally torx or exotic. Electric kettles usually have mostly philips with a single exotic security head to prevent end-users from getting inside and electrocuting themselves.

For woodwork, I usually use posidrive heads, and occasionally torx. Most posi heads will work with a philips bit, but chew up more.

I hadn't seen one for a few years until today. Then this pops up on my feed.

I am vaguely and generally suspicious

JIS forever. Or Torx please.