Southwire Tools & Equipment ESP1 Electrician Scissors DataComm Snips

First, I will say I am a professional in the telecom industry (I work for the phone company). At first I thought I'd love these snips. I have used pretty much every brand under the sun (Wiss, Fluke, Harris, Klein, and more). These are built fairly well, although the grind on the snips is kind of uneven. However, this does not seem to effect cutting ability. Unlike my Wiss snips, the stripping notches actually work as they are intended to be used (NOT flipping the snips over to strip). These have been exposed to dirt, mud, water, grease and all sorts of other contaminants and still work fine.However, My biggest issue is actually the spring feature. I find that when working with the snips, they spring open and it makes using other tools while holding the snips difficult and dangerous.The lock is a non issue, as I got in the habit of unlocking and locking these without thinking, but locking them each time I need to terminate or wrap a wire is a hassle. Over all, they work well and the spring feature is nice. However, if you have to work in an environment where you will be making multiple terminations using multiple tools at the same time I would pass on these. I think I will be buying another pair of Fluke D-Snips and gifting these to another tech.

I work with low voltage data cabling. I purchased these thinking they would save a little time because they have a larger palm type handle and no second finger hole. I've had them about a month and have only used them on one job site trimming about 100 CAT6 data cables.I do like the larger handle design on these over normal scissors that I always get my finger suck in (Fluke I'm talking to you). However, these scissors are not sharp, honestly they just suck! They do not work well with the smaller communications type cables, I can't even cut a plastic bag open. Maybe they would work okay with 14g-18g electrical wire, but I wouldn't recommend these!A co-worker on the same job site had a pair Milwaukee scissors that had a similar design and they worked great. Plus I liked the hevier feeling of the Milwaukee ones. I wish I could return these and either go back to the Fluke scissors or find the Milwaukee ones on Amazon.

I do a lot of side gig/DIY network cable termination. Previously, I've just used the razor that sits in my RJ-45 terminator. A friend of mine suggested I get the snips while I was terminating the cabling in my new house. So I bought this pair (his recommendation). After using it, I'm pretty upset with myself because I could have done the work I was doing so much faster.If you are going to do more than four or five cables, do yourself a favor and get the snips. I am sure you can find other things to work on them with as well.

I love these. I just did a networking job and they did everything I needed them too. They cut right through braided copper. They fit well in my hand also. If I were going to quibble and say there was anything wrong with them, I’d say the thumb latch that holds them closed could be a little easier to open. But this is not enough to lose a star.

spring-loaded snips are just the worst idea ever. They're sharp enough, nice enough... but I merely purchased on a whim, to try out other tools and see if I could find something I liked more than my Klein pair. Horribly disappointed with this item, attempted to use it a few times while at work, and on the first day I took them out of my pouch, back to the car, and promptly forgot about them. I found them again recently and can't even bring myself to take them out and try them.

These things are awesome! It takes a minute to get used to how tight the blades are, but being spring loaded makes it worth it (also the safety for the spring load is stiff as well, but still well worth it). I've put enough hours on these already to know I really like them and my boss seemed to like them too, since he kept borrowing them even though his were right in the pouch on his belt.lol

The quality of the material these snips are made is good and they have a great edge. The ergonomic design feels good on the hand too, but my only complaint is the locking mechanism is tight and hard to use. It seem like it in the wrong place or was an after thought.

The good; solid construction, decent cutting ability, nice palm paddingThe bad; not exactly smooth out of the box, needed to tweak screw and oil hinge. They also took less than a month to start rusting on a humid job site despite being stored in a tool bag full of dessicant pouches.

These work great. They’re not as sharp as my Klein scissors, but they’re still sharp enough to cut through a couple cat6 cables in one cut. I use scissors to scar cat6 when I terminate jacks and these scissors sometimes won’t scar it well enough. But They feel nice in the hand and work well enough.