Video transcript
Hi, I'm Ben Curry from Electrical Innovations and I'm going to be talking about these Knipex multi-jaw croppers that I've been sent for a review.
We're going to spin the camera around, were going to look at how they perform. First thing we're going to do is just show the sort of thing we use for cutting them and what we used to use previously or still use. These are our CK, trusty cheap croppers, those ones are a bit rough, quite blunt. Here's a bit of a newer set, but we went through quite a few of them.
Then we've been asked to have a look at these Knipex ones. Twin Jawed, one for scoring second one for cutting. A flat edge so it's a nice neat cut. VDE, it's 1000 volt protection. They've got these pinch guards on them as well, so you can kind of hold them. They're not going to sweat through your hands, as opposed to these things where holding them like this, you can catch your hand in there, no danger of that with these, that's what the spiel says anyway, on the advertising. In practise some people like to use these because they're nice and thin, other people like to use these because the comfier and the bigger handlers, chunky grip, I've got no real opinion. I use both different sets. I used to use just this sort of thing all the time, but more recently I've moved towards this sort of style. No opinion, either way from me there.
One of the things about these, which is one of the main selling features is the fact that they are really easy to trim the installation with the front set of jaws. As you can see, not doing a very good job of showing them off am I. Then chop it, the second set. That's the idea of how it's supposed to work. Front set is for cutting, second set, chop it, and you can see it from the image, it's got a nice clean, straight cut, that's a very nice job with them. That's the 16 mm earth.
This is bell wire, kind of the opposite end of the spectrum, still works. You can still strip with it, if you need to. If you're neat and precise, you can get decent cut and you can see I've still been able to be neat enough where it's not scored the copper.
You would never used them for this in the real world, but just goes to show what you could be doing with them. They're precise way you can still get a good cut. We've got a normal twin & earth. I think this is, its red and black out the scrap box, some old, two, five stranded, red and black, and just quick work of that, chop that there. They're not so good at doing that if you needed to, because just the size of the jaws, but they're not really designed for that. You've still got your stops at the bottom. If you are using these for second fixing for some weird way, you could still pull out the earth and all of that sort of thing. Quite nice for that, they really make short work of two five.
So far so good, the main thing I think most people would use these on in my trade domestic electrics, would be your standard 25 mm meter tails. They do an actual, really nice job of that. They can take outer insulation very nicely, same again on the inner insulation, quite nicely. Then if they need to, you can take some brute force but it does chop the end and it does a good job of it as well. Now to compare these, to these which are hella blunt, so blunt I can barely open them up. These, do one handed chopping a lot easier. They are a bigger set, you can see, you've got more leverage, but don't think the Knipex, although it said it was a up to 70 mm, I don't think I will want to be using these all the time, one handed like this.
I would much rather have a bigger set of croppers for the bigger cable and use that for what It's supposed to be used for. Even the smallest set on 25, if anything they are better than both of them, I think because they're newer and they're sharper. You could still score the insulation, pop it off, give it a haircut when you need to, another haircut with them. These go through the 25 more tails a lot better than the Knipex ones. The Knipex ones do feel more expensive, do feel a nicer build. They look a bit more polished. These are all rusted. They don't last long, these sort of things, but they are dirt cheap. They're pretty good, I do like them. I just wonder compared to just having a bigger set that are for the job, how much use I get out of them, they are sharp. They do go through but they do need to bit of persuasion, try get the best view in there as possible, so you could see, that's that compared to... there you go.
That's them. Overall I think they're a nice pair of cutters. These are not something I would probably ever buy, unfortunately. I could see why someone who were into, having the VDE, their ergonomic grip, you got a little thumb holder there, look, where you can push open with your thumb, its kind of shaped. I can see why people like that sort of stuff. They're just a bit too. I know their multi-purpose and this special design for doing a certain type of job. A set of them for me does the same job cheaper and it's actually, it does a better job at cutting tails.
Overall, I don't know, they're a nice pair of cutters, for sure. I can't help thinking the thing that they're designed for, there's better items to the job. If you're cutting big cables and you're going for these, you probably would be better off just with a bigger set of croppers, even a two handed set, or if they're really big, automatic set that would just do a better job of it, overall. It's a shame really, because they a nice set. I do wonder what, just a big set of them with the VDE installation on it might look like, bigger set of jaws, maybe? Overall, that's my thoughts, they're alright.
Sorry, It couldn't be more of a positive review on them, but yeah, not bad. They're a nice set of cutters, but I think for me, I'll stick to my old trusties.
