Tekton Pliers Review (Red Handle)

[WilltheEngineer]

I bought several of the red handled Tekton pliers, and thought I'd go over the good and bad.

The Good: Groove & Slip Joint
-The Quality of these, is very good, Made in the USA, tight joint for both the groove & slip joint pliers, and good metal on both.
-A raised surface area (see picture) helps reduce frictional surface area on the slip joint.

The Bad: All the other pliers (Long Noise, Lineman, Fence, etc..)
-No to little cross tread/teeth on the jaws (one sided on the Long noise).
-Metal flash in the joint, even after cleaning/breaking off, preventing full closure.
-Cutter on pliers not ground to an edge (sharp).
-Cutter edge on angle cutters, over lap, and offset.
-Bad finish grinding work, almost completely off to one side on the fencing pliers.

 

[John in OH]

Are the "Long Noise, Lineman, Fence, etc." pliers also US made??

 

[WilltheEngineer]

Are the "Long Noise, Lineman, Fence, etc." pliers also US made??

No, they ("Long Noise, Lineman, Fence, etc.") are made in China. Thus, the bad quality. I ordered several of these, based on the Slip Joint pliers I had. Didn't have time to do the research... All but the Groove & Slip Joint pliers I received are made in China.

I will say the Groove and Slip Joint are great, and made in the USA.

 

[Dave.R]

Are the "Long Noise, Lineman, Fence, etc." pliers also US made??

The Slip-joint and groove joint are USA made, the others are manufactured in China. All TEKTON tools are Always Guaranteed.

Get ahold of me so we can discuss getting these swapped.

 

[WilltheEngineer]

The Slip-joint and groove joint are USA made, the others are manufactured in China. All TEKTON tools are Always Guaranteed.

Get ahold of me so we can discuss getting these swapped.

Dave,
I've submitted once through the TEKTON website. I don't know what the process is, but like most people, I don't have a lot of time, and shipping starts to eat into the tool cost. I'll see what develops.

Thank you for reaching out to the customer base though.

Bad thing was, this was across several tools, which should be several different production lines. Since they were bought at the same location, I'm guessing each type of plier had the same Lot Date Code (LDC) or similar identifier.

 

[Dave.R]

Will,

We don't require the user to pay to return tools, nor ship the replacements. I've got your email and replied back to you.

Thanks,

 

[RH2]

I can confirm I also bought these thanks to a sale on Amazon and am very disappointed. These were my first Tekton tools and the quality is really lacking. I should have looked more closely as I was expecting USA made and what I got is on par or even lower than black friday deals for disposable tools.

I have had very good luck with China tools, but these are just **** in my opinion. I hope others have better luck.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[ex-x-fire]

I bought the small slip joint pliers a little while ago, absolutely the best bang for the buck in pliers. Love 'em!

 

[Buckgnarly]

Got the long duckbills, looked quite good for China made.

 

[66354dream]

I have the chrome cheap set and thought they were pretty good considering I paid 20 bucks for a set

 

[Zippercat]

I've got a couple of the USA made Tekton pliers and they're great quality tools. Dave, is Tekton planning on switching to USA production for more items?

 

[JonnyMac]

Yep, the usa line for me are excellent quality. Got a couple couple of pairs and i am very pleased with their performance..

 

[Dave.R]

I've got a couple of the USA made Tekton pliers and they're great quality tools. Dave, is Tekton planning on switching to USA production for more items?

As always we are focused on the product value and quality. Sometimes this works out to be a US product, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[dnschmidt]

A lot of this seems to be a USA vs the world biased argument. Fact is quality is quality and basically if the will is there can be produced damn near anywhere in the world. For example TOPTUL makes great pliers. Milwaukee's Taiwanese made pliers are excellent and yes Channellock here in America is as good as it gets and their prices are excellent for the quality provided. It's not a USA vs. them thing it's a commitment to quality thing. I like USA made tools but I love quality tools no matter where they come from. Why Channellock doesn't make Vise-Grips is a complete mystery to me. Considering what Irwin has done to them if Channellock made a good old quality Vise-Grip they'd be able to open another factory in Meadville, PA.

 

[WilltheEngineer]

A lot of this seems to be a USA vs the world biased argument. Fact is quality is quality and basically if the will is there can be produced damn near anywhere in the world. For example TOPTUL makes great pliers. Milwaukee's Taiwanese made pliers are excellent and yes Channellock here in America is as good as it gets and their prices are excellent for the quality provided. It's not a USA vs. them thing it's a commitment to quality thing. I like USA made tools but I love quality tools no matter where they come from. Why Channellock doesn't make Vise-Grips is a complete mystery to me. Considering what Irwin has done to them if Channellock made a good old quality Vise-Grip they'd be able to open another factory in Meadville, PA.

I'd concur that quality tools can be made elsewhere, but the statistical mean, median, or mode etc...for China made tools is not that good. They are getting better! Some Harbor Freight stuff is slowly becoming better, as the production machines are reworked and/or replaced with newer units. As well, some USA tools, sometimes don't turn out "good". Most cases in the past, China slacks on the ISO/Quality, Taiwan has made good quality (usually cost a little more than the China contracts), and German, Italy, USA, Canada etc..has made good quality tools.

But, from my review of the Tekton Pliers (Red Handle), the USA made ones (Groove & Slip-Joint) are very good, debatable maybe the best made for the $$.
However the China made red handled various pliers (Maybe all other red handled pliers) that I've bought (about 10), BAD, with multiple issues. So just an FYI to GJer's

 

[WilltheEngineer]

Didn't past the Diag Cutters, one set would close all the way, and i was able to get a picture of the off-set edge from bad finish work/grinding.

 

[WilltheEngineer]

I have the chrome cheap set and thought they were pretty good considering I paid 20 bucks for a set

Is that the dual material handles, 3563 set, including a Groove, Long noise, Slip-Joint pliers, and Adj. Wrench?

Companies do different production runs with different vendor contracts. So I just did my review on the "Red handle" ones. Which it looks like Tekton had a contract on the Groove & Slip Joint pliers, with a USA maker. Then another contract with a China maker for the rest.

 

[pumaman]

For example TOPTUL makes great pliers.

Toptul is junk.

 

[MagnumForce]

Are these really any cheaper than Channies? I look at Tekton stuff every time I am at Meijer. They have a very large selection. I have only ever pulled the trigger on the extra long 3/8 ratchet though. The stuff seems nice enough.

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

 

[BMack37]

I have a pair of the slip joint; for the price and made in the USA, I just had to buy them. they feel nice, have some good weight but I wasn't impressed with receiving a brand new tool with a chipped tooth. Makes me wonder how well these will hold up, I guess I can't really complain for the price.

 

[Parrothead]

The Tekton combination wrenches with the wrench rack are a quality tool that I think most people would be very happy with. They're made in Taiwan and compare favorably to my Craftsman Pro's (USA). I would recommend them over Husky/Kobalt/Craftsman (china) each and every time. I was impressed especially for the $.

 

[ex-x-fire]

One thing I noticed over the 3 day weekend is those pliers started to show rust around the teeth. Just enough to notice, like a brown haze, maybe the finish is thin. I still like 'em!

 

[steed andersen]

I've bought 4 sets of 11" straight and 45 degree long needle nose pliers from Tekton and have been very happy with them. Under $7 each and they perform great. Also Tekton is really good about standing behind their products so if you do get a stinker here or there you aren't stuck with it.

 

[John in OH]

Anyone have any direct experience with the 8-inch Tekton linesman pliers available on Amazon for $10 (which, I assume, are Chinese)?

 

[Dave.R]

One thing I noticed over the 3 day weekend is those pliers started to show rust around the teeth. Just enough to notice, like a brown haze, maybe the finish is thin. I still like 'em!

They are a raw steel finish. Like any raw tool, they will rust unless they are wiped down with oil. The benefit is that there is no finish to chip or wear off.

 

[Mikerodrig27]

Tekton has the attention of a lot of people now. If Tekton wants to be the company to go to for a quality product/price then they need to work on getting more of the USA branded pliers. I had a whole cart full of Tekton pliers but now I'm only going to stick to the slip joint and channel.

I know it isn't easy. I would expect a lower line for people who purchase off the shelf etc and a higher end line for the people who take the time to research.

 

[M6erfan]

Tekton has the attention of a lot of people now. If Tekton wants to be the company to go to for a quality product/price then they need to work on getting more of the USA branded pliers. I had a whole cart full of Tekton pliers but now I'm only going to stick to the slip joint and channel.

I know it isn't easy. I would expect a lower line for people who purchase off the shelf etc and a higher end line for the people who take the time to research.

Tekton Pro?

 

[Mikerodrig27]

Yes, something like that. I'm sure people would go nuts over Tekton Pro.

 

[Dave.R]

Yes, something like that. I'm sure people would go nuts over Tekton Pro.

I certainly would. A pro line is only saying the "the other stuff is junk, but you should be okay with that.". If what you mean is an all US line, there are already plenty of those as well.

Our goal has always been improving the line up for the balance of cost to function.

I did some digging and the teeth issue above is a finishing problem. The teeth are cut first, then given a final finishing grind. That finishing grind "pushes" a tiny bit of material and fills in the side gaps from the teeth. This literally wipes off. Any pictures of the pliers actually open would show that the teeth are there and ready for use.

I sent out replacements, but haven't heard anything back.

 

[Mikerodrig27]

Well, I will go back on my statement regarding the all USA Tekton Pro thing. I would think that Tekton Pro should be Taiwan or USA as opposed to Chinese and doesn't have to use 'made in USA' as it's defining characteristic as a pro line. USA stuff is just icing on the cake.

Lets be honest, Tekton does have a pretty wide variety and quality among their different tools. There is nothing wrong with that. However, if the higher quality ones were distinguished, then it would make it a lot easier for me as a professional to choose which tools to purchase from Tekton.

As of now, I have to look at Tekton reviews which is also no problem. Heck, I'm happy with my last purchase of a Tekton product so I'm still happy with the company. I want to pick up the long reach ratchets, socket rails, and the USA pliers. So we will see how that works out.

 

[winlinmac]

I picked up a $40 Tekton wrench set (Metric-sized) 15-piece though Amazon. High quality pieces for sure.