Diagonal Cutter Comparison, and Partial Fail.

[shoggoth80]

It's been a few weeks since I posted last. Just haven't felt the compulsion to jump on and BS tools lately. Lol. It happens. Anyway. I figured I would share a little info here. Might be useful to some, might not. Depends on who you are, what you do.

Here I will briefly compare two diagonal cutters. One is issued by my employer (because my last pair was so worn out, they were absolutely unusable...but were issued anyway), one was purchased by me. The brands in question are Harbor Freight's Pitts Pro, and Napa's Carlyle brand.

The Pitts has a better handle area, slightly cushioned, with better grip. They are actually the more comfortable of the two to use. The HF pair is also OLDER than the Carlyle pair. Both see similar duty. They are used to cut wire, strip insulation, occasionally start the bend on cotter keys when nothing else wants to bite on, and pull **** out of tires. The HF pair rides with me in my road box most of the time, and gets jostled around with all the other bits and bobs in there. The Carlyle live a better life on my tool cart.

All that being said, the HF pair is holding up better than the Napa. They are sharper, are more comfortable to use, and most importantly haven't chipped on me. The Carlyle pair is only a couple months old, maybe... and the tip on one of the jaws is already chipped off. They still cut, but I am surprised that they are not holding up as well as a pair that I literally paid $3 and change for. Fanboys gonna rave, haters gonna hate. The HF ones are cheap, yes. But so far, I can also say that they have performed their job without hiccup too. I think I put them in my road call box last summer.

 

[mickeyone]

Neither are any good and will not last get Klein 2000 series with angled head and never buy another for the next ten yrs.Or spend a few bucks more on Knipex,had hf dikes dulled real quick and rusted...Hf makes a few good things definatly not pro grade pliers.

 

[shoggoth80]

My employer issues tools. Any tools on the premises are assumed to belong to the employer. For my own personal set, I want to get Knipex, because I generally like their products, and German made stuff. For something that basically becomes company property? Nah... Not spending more than I have to. Lol. I got the cheap HF set to put in my road box, so I wouldn't have to stop and think "did I forget to grab anything out of my cab?" before going out on road calls (more than one occasion I've needed to do electrical repairs that were not reported as part of the problem). Cheap insurance. Literally. Surprisingly good cheap insurance so far though. Professional grade or not, they've helped fix a lot of trucks where they sat.

 

[sselander]

As long as they get the job done, who cares where it was made.
At least you don't have to worry if they grow legs.
I do have those HF ones, and they are holding up fine. My Craftsman ones are OK, but the grips split and fell off. Same as the Sears vise-grips I have.