Well, I went ahead and ordered one 6" PE6 plier and one 10" PE10 plier to see what I think of them. I was originally thinking I would like to have two of each size. After looking them over, and trying them on a couple things in my shop, I will keep both of them, but I won't be buying a second pair in each size. If another brand starts making a better quality version of these in the future, I will likely sell or trade these off and buy the other brand instead.
The Good-
The chrome looks good, and they function as intended. They seem like they will last a long time as an occasional (likely 10x a year or so for me) use tool. I paid about $44 delivered for both pliers. I'm fine with that price, because the are a specialty tool and there aren't really any other better options out there. The stock spreader gap adjustment range is not large (3/4" stroke on 6" pliers and 1-3/8" stroke on 10" pliers), so I will be making a couple different lengths of my own thread on jaw pad bolts, so these pliers can spread a wider range of gap distances without constantly needing diy spacers. That should make them much more useful.
The Bad-
The lock nut on the 10" plier's handle adjustment screw was female threaded at about a 30 degree tilt, so the locknut was functionally worthless for locking the handle adjustment screw. I don't usually lock the adjustment screw, so that issue was resolved by removing the nut and throwing it away.
On both pliers, the tip of the handle's adjustment mechanism was machined at a noticeable angle, so turning the handle's black jaw adjustment screw wouldn't smoothly increase or decrease the plier's jaw spread. I spent a minute or two on each plier filing down the tip of the adjustment bolt, and now both pliers adjust smoothly as they should.
There's a lot more play/slop in all the rivet joints than I was expecting. Even China made Irwin Vise Grips are tighter. It likely won't affect function, but it does make them feel lower quality during use because every riveted joint has 20-30 degrees worth of overall side to side play. My US made Petersen Vise Grip and made in Spain Grip-on/NAPA/Snap-on locking pliers and locking clamps usually have around 10 degrees of side to side rivet joint play which makes them feel much more solid during use.
Both pliers suffer somewhat from what I call "China made tool tapped thread syndrome". Male threads on Chinese made tools are usually fully formed (as they should be), but any female threaded holes often suffer from too large of a pilot hole being drilled before the female threads are tapped. That's a shady way to cut down on tap wear and breakage during the manufacturing process. As a result, there is often only about 20-40% overall thread engagement (instead of the recommended 50-75% on most products made elsewhere) with any installed bolts or threaded adjustment mechanisms. This poor thread engagement often makes you wonder if the threads will be okay over the long haul. It looks like these pliers both have about 35-40% thread engagement for all threaded holes. Not great by worldwide thread standards, but far from the worst I've seen. Just something sadly expected for a made in China tool.
The Interesting-
Both have nothing about the COO on the plier itself or on the packaging. I thought that was strange, because I was under the impression it was a federal requirement to list the COO somewhere.
Overall Verdict-
I will be keeping both pliers, because I know of no other options for easily performing the same spreading tasks, but they aren't tools that I'm particularly excited to own and use.
