Maybe all you guys are using them wrong. I have the rubber boots on the tips and use them to hold things from slipping around without marring the workpiece. I used them most recently... grabbing a chromed end on a bathroom fixture. As I said... I own 5. they have a purpose. If you use them for something they are NOT intended... sure they don't work well. I have well over 100 pliers and rarely use the normal slip-joint pliers of olden days... mostly because each plier has it's job. Generic is not a thing for me.
Today I plan on using the larger Robo-Grips with rubber ends to spin the refrigerator cap holding the ice machine filter. Any other plier will for sure crush the plastic. I can't think of another way/tool to add torque in spinning that thing.
Come to think of it... I have never used them without the rubber tips... perhaps that's everyones issue. Put rubbers on your tools if they don't work well ... it may shock you.