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New Icon Wire Stripper/Cutter/Crimper

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zendriver

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Drunkonunleaded said:
These are the best if you're doing something automotive related. My recommendation is to spent an extra $10 or so and grab the wire stop. This gets you clean and consistent strips every time, which is important when you're wiring multi-cavity connectors.
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I didn’t know they had a wire stop that would be handy


M I like that style because I don’t have to pinch the wire with one hand while I yank on it. The stripper with the other hand sometimes really ***** if the insulation is tough. It’s one handed.

I have a similar model that I purchased military surplus probably 35 years ago
 
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Drunkonunleaded

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zendriver said:
I didn’t know they had a wire stop that would be handy


M I like that style because I don’t have to pinch the wire with one hand while I yank on it. The stripper with the other hand sometimes really ***** if the insulation is tough. It’s one handed.

I have a similar model that I purchased military surplus probably 35 years ago
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I think I paid $10 from Zoro. There's a few different ones depending upon which Stripmaster you have.
 
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willf650

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bwringer said:
Oh no, this again. :rolleyes:

I don't do a lot of electricalizing, and I despise this style of wire stripper. So not for me, no matter who makes it.

But if this sort of thing is the sort of thing that you like, I think HF is to be applauded for making it available to those of us who don't want to chase down a Snap-On man and develop a warm, loving, intimate relationship in order to perhaps someday obtain the rights to consummate our passion by paying $80 or more for pliers.

Snap-On stuff is great, yes. Expensive, sure, no problem. It's the process of laying hands on the stuff by luring the attention of an elusive man in a truck that makes it weird.

It is pretty damn big ... Icon does have this 7" wire stripper/cutter/crimper:
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I don’t do automotive work and bought one of those trying to lighten me bag but those are entirely too small for my needs.
 
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neophyte

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whateg01 said:
I thought they only copied snap on and was it knipex?
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Icon has “copied” Snap-On, and Knipex, although most of the Knipex “copies” are more functional than aesthetic copies, with the exception of the Knipex plier wrench copy.
The Icon “Swedish Style” pope wrenches seem not to be a direct copy of previous Bahco or German type (Swedish style Pipe Wrenches).

As far as other Icon items go, some seem to be “copies” of other products, but some have their own Harbor Freight design.
 
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Steve_P

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neophyte said:
Icon has “copied” Snap-On, and Knipex, although most of the Knipex “copies” are more functional than aesthetic copies, with the exception of the Knipex plier wrench copy.
The Icon “Swedish Style” pope wrenches seem not to be a direct copy of previous Bahco or German type (Swedish style Pipe Wrenches).

As far as other Icon items go, some seem to be “copies” of other products, but some have their own Harbor Freight design.
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There is also a copy of the Knipex twin grip plier.

The Icon pipe wrench pliers are awfully close to the Bahco and SO versions. I'm sure they're not 100% identical, but they didn't produce it on their own.
 
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four.cycle

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Steel_Rain said:
I’m just amazed we generated a 2 page thread from a tool none of us own yet. Damn we are good!
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Even more amazing when you consider that Harbor Freight does not have the item in stock at your local store.

It gets better: Harbor Freight website doesn't recognize either part number: 70400 OR PWCC9
 
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A

AJHD

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four.cycle said:
Even more amazing when you consider that Harbor Freight does not have the item in stock at your local store.

It gets better: Harbor Freight website doesn't recognize either part number: 70400 OR PWCC9
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Yup... but they exist. Guess we have to just ask for them and hope whoever you talk to knows WTF you're asking for.

 
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four.cycle

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RE: 5904078 - May 18 1999 Eric T. Gustafson et al

What exactly is being claimed?

Okay, I didn't even have to get through the first two paragraphs on this one.

Eric Smidt is going to have fun with this one. AND he is going to make a lot of money copying Snap-on's design on this one.

And Snap-on already knows (after their big FAIL in court on the Daytona jack) that they don't have a snowball's chance.

And Harbor Freight (dba "ICON") will bring onto the market a carbon-copy of the "original" Snap-on design.

In the end, I have to applaud Mr. Smidt for his business acumen. It's clear he's fully understood the philosophy of Sun Tzu, and is using it to his full advantage.

I am happy to see another 800-pound gorilla being taken down - face down on the mat - by an "up-and-comer".

Tsk tsk.

====

IOW: "somebody got too big for their pants"
 
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neophyte

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Steve_P said:
There is also a copy of the Knipex twin grip plier.

The Icon pipe wrench pliers are awfully close to the Bahco and SO versions. I'm sure they're not 100% identical, but they didn't produce it on their own.
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The Twingrip and Raptor plier “clones” use a functionally similar design to the Knipex, with the jaws basically copied, and the serrated adjustment track, but the adjustment push button, is a different design, that is actually nicer to use than the Knipex design, and both have the Chevron design forged in, that is distinctly different than the aesthetics of the Knipex originals.
The major disadvantage to the Harbor Freight button design, is that unlike the Knipex design, you can’t purchased button replacement kits is the button mechanism breaks.
The Icon pope wrenches are a filly firged design, like the various Getman manufacturers use, rather than the Forged, plus folded sheet metal design now produced by Bahco, as sold by Snap-On as well, since Snap-On owns Bahco.
A fully forged design was how the original Swedish pipe wrenches were made, and this seems to be what the various German manufacturers copied, but Bahco changed the construction of their pipe wrench at least 30 years ago.
 
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neophyte

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four.cycle said:
RE: 5904078 - May 18 1999 Eric T. Gustafson et al

What exactly is being claimed?

Okay, I didn't even have to get through the first two paragraphs on this one.

Eric Smidt is going to have fun with this one. AND he is going to make a lot of money copying Snap-on's design on this one.

And Snap-on already knows (after their big FAIL in court on the Daytona jack) that they don't have a snowball's chance.

And Harbor Freight (dba "ICON") will bring onto the market a carbon-copy of the "original" Snap-on design.

In the end, I have to applaud Mr. Smidt for his business acumen. It's clear he's fully understood the philosophy of Sun Tzu, and is using it to his full advantage.

I am happy to see another 800-pound gorilla being taken down - face down on the mat - by an "up-and-comer".

Tsk tsk.

====

IOW: "somebody got too big for their pants"
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Snap-On has a website that does not seem to be properly indexed by Google, (maybe intentionally), and which is sometimes a pain to search.
Snap-On also charges a $25 shipping fee, and seems to not want to deal with the general public.
Harbor Freight started put as a store for people who couldn’t afford to buy even decently priced professional brands like Crescent, back when Crescent was US made, although HF did allegedly carry SK a few decades ago or so, so they weren’t just concerned with cheap imports.
Harbor Freight locates their stores in strop malls, and other places the average person might easily go to buy tools.
Two of the Harbor Freights close to or in Philly are basically right across from larger grocery stores.
A person can basically pop into Harbor Freight while out buying food items to survive the Snowpocalypse.
 
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dnschmidt

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nicks78camaro said:
Never been into the all in one wiring tools. For automotive especially, a pair of dikes, a separate stripper, and a separate crimper (in the nose not between the handles) is ideal for me. I'd consider it for a compact solution for a rarely used mobile tool bag though.
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On the automotive note. I always use UNINSULAED connectors and heat shrink over them. Many tests, including my own, have proven to me that this forms the best and strongest connection and also the smallest. This truly matters when you have multiple wires to fix.
 
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ChevyEFI

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liliysdad said:
Odd take by anyone.
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Competition is good for end-user economics, many times. What details make you take your position?

I mean, we've seen a publicly traded, large, successful company deal in products labeled "Made in U.S.A." which have evidence they are not, while another smaller, but still successful, private company took them down on that. That was hydr. jacks. They did it with Dual 80 internals as well.
 
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four.cycle

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^ Snap-on's "Patented designs" are being copied because they are being issued patents for items which are not original designs - the ICON "long nose pliers" probably being one of the best examples. (patent 8051749)
If Snap-on wants to protect their "original" designs, they need to come up with something that's actually "original".
Multi-position pivot points on a pair of pliers are not "original" - that was done by Kraeuter in the 1920s. The legal palaver in the patent document won't cut it in a court of law, and Snap-on's legal team obviously knew that, or they would have filed suit against HF for patent infringement (as they attempted to do on that fancy "Daytona" floor jack.)(patent D730612)
I don't think there's anything "odd take" about it at all: Snap-on has been bullshitting their customer base in respect to some of their items being "new designs", when in fact legal rulings have shown their claims not to be true.
One only has to wade through all the superfluous nonsense in the patent documents to find the evidence of that.
 
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rword

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Is it a copy when snap on engineers left and went to HF ? It’s not a China knock off. Ex snap on employees are working under HF now.
 
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CHI_Tool&Die

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Steel_Rain said:
Sigh.
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It actually started as a discussion on why HF cannot find it in themselves to alter a tool to make it better instead of just offering Snap-on but cheaper. They did it with their Gen2 ratchets. And these strippers aren’t even that great from Snap-on. It just turned into a HF vs Snap-on thread because people are gonna people.
 
M

mike93lx

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CHI_Tool&Die said:
It actually started as a discussion on why HF cannot find it in themselves to alter a tool to make it better instead of just offering Snap-on but cheaper. They did it with their Gen2 ratchets. And these strippers aren’t even that great from Snap-on. It just turned into a HF vs Snap-on thread because people are gonna people.
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What it started as is basically no different than where it ended.

And this progression could have been expected by anyone who has been around here for more than a couple weeks
 
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Z

zendriver

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CHI_Tool&Die said:
It actually started as a discussion on why HF cannot find it in themselves to alter a tool to make it better instead of just offering Snap-on but cheaper. They did it with their Gen2 ratchets. And these strippers aren’t even that great from Snap-on. It just turned into a HF vs Snap-on thread because people are gonna people.
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The two subjects are directly related, but why shouldn’t they sell stripper pliers that look exactly the same? Seriously.

“Us vs Snap On” it’s been a major part of HarborFreight’s product marketing for probably 10 years on by all accounts. It seems to be pretty successful. Why shouldn’t it be? “ same stuff 1/10 the price1” pretty brilliant actually

Does it really hurt snap on all that much? Some may be but the end it probably gives them more heat from the brand loyalist.

Otherwise, if the icon brand didn’t exist, harbor freight shoppers are not gonna start instantly searching out the nearest tool truck they’ll just buy whatever other products that similar. They sell there that get the job done

Besides, isn’t one of the unwritten rules of this forum is to have the desire to beat a dead horse endlessly?
 
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