Wiha56818 Precision Electronic Diagonal Cutters with Wide Pointed Head

These are outstanding flush cutters. I've been a professional auto electrician for 18 years & a good pair of small flush cutters are a constant necessity. For years, I've only used Snap-on's, but their pricing is really excessive, so I started researching alternatives. I've used other Wiha tools in the past & the price was right, so I pulled the trigger. At this point, I've used & abused these cutters constantly for about a year now. They'll comfortably cut 16 gauge copper wire with no problem. They also cut zip ties dead flush, even heavy duty 14 inch ones. Like I said... abused. needless to say, after a year, they still have a perfect cutting edge & there's absolutely no slop in the hinge. The grips still have a nice, soft touch feel & they are still firmly attached, with no slippage or deformation. The handles clean up easily with a little windex or alcohol & the cutters still look, feel, & function as well as the day I got them. By comparison, the Snap-on's typically would start showing signs of wear & tear by this point & I never went more than 2 years before needing to replace them. I have little doubt I'll still be using this same pair of Wiha's in another year. These are professional grade cutters & I can recommend them with no reservations.------------------------------------------------------Update: 2 1/2 years of daily abuse now & these still show no signs of wear. They are still razor sharp & still have absolutely no slop. These have now outlasted any pair of Snappy's I ever owned. These are the best flush cutters I've ever owned.------------------------------------------------------Update: 4 1/2 years of daily abuse. They're just now beginning to get a little dull, but still perfectly useable. The spring is still as good as day one & the hinge is still perfect. The handles still look new when I clean them up. Maybe I'll get another pair in the next year or so. The last couple years have been really bad regarding the abuse. I've trimmed thousands of zip ties, sometimes even the big 24 & 36 inch ones that take multiple cuts to get through, cut tens of thousands of wires, even as large as 12awg stranded copper, I've cut para-cord, thin 26awg steel cable, Cat6 cable, coax, 18-4 shielded cable, and the list goes on & on. At the end of the day, they get tossed into the tool bag without a thought. These cutters are the best thing since Betty White.

As long as you don't abuse them on oversize or steel or any material harder than small copper wire they will last. Accurate and sharp enough to cut scotch tape clean and square. That is something most cheap nippers cant do because the cutting edges don't line up or fully contact the entire length. These do. Throwing the used cheap aggravating nippers in the trash.

These flush cutters are outstanding and worth the price. From cutting wire, to zip ties, to thin ABS they work great. The rubber/plastic handles are top-notch...Wiha makes the best handles of any tools at any price IMO. These are about double the price of the Crescent ones or the blue-handled ones you can get from the snap-on guy but they are easily double-triple the quality. If you use flush cutters often or simply want a very high-quality tool these are the ones to get and are fully worth the price. Note that amazon's picture is outdated...the second pic is one that I posted is indicative of how they actually look.

These are well made, and the reviews are good, because they are made out of hard metal. If you buy these, they will last a long time. Wiha screwdrivers have the hardest steel I've ever seen. But the ergonomics of these Wiha 56818 are just God awful. The handles are too slippery, and don't have a good texture, because they slip out of your hand. They are short and fat, and hard to get a grip on. I have a set of Klein Flush cutters and they appear to be the exact same cutters, but the Kleins are $9.80 at the time of this writing, and they have way better ergonomics. These Wiha are good quality, but I am returning them because they are so hard to hold onto. I've used a lot of wire cutters, and these are the only wire cutters I've ever picked up that I immediately hated. The cutting edges are good, but the back edge nearest to the handle don't make contact, around the last 1/16" of the blades. The blades only touch on the front 80% of the blades, and don't touch nearest the back. I tested them on wire and they cut wire the full length of the cutters. The Kleins don't have quite as good fit and finish as these Wiha's.

This is a great pair of cutters. I'm an A/V technician and I use these daily. They have a very comfortable grip, they cut well and also seem to hold their edge.