CH Hanson 09300 7-Inch Needle Nose Self-Adjusting Locking Pl

I'm actually fairly pleased with the 10" one, but this 7" long nose one is really bad.The bad:- I ordered a set of these in two sizes some years ago, and both had misaligned jaws so I returned them and didn't bother getting more. Now I ordered these individually, and emailed the seller to ask that they check that there's no major misalignment in the jaw before sending. They didn't bother replying so I have no idea if they checked, but the jaws mostly line up. However, they are so loose that there are several millimeters of left-right play in them, and even if they are lined up when you clamp down hard, they can move out of alignment as you work.- The clamping force can be strong, but when I set the force adjusting knob so that they clamp well onto the workpiece, then they are almost impossible to close when there's nothing in the jaws. And if I set the force so they are closable when there's nothing in the jaw, then they clamp really weakly onto the workpiece. The 10" one does this too, but not nearly as bad. This means you'll often want to leave them open in your toolbox which takes up a lot of space and is just annoying, and won't fit into a tool pouch/belt very well.- Most of the time if I clamp onto something a little larger, it will clamp on, but then the internal mechanism will get stuck when I release it and the tool won't be usable again until I unstick it, which is almost impossible to do by hand.- There is a place in the handle that can cause some *serious* damage if it accidentally pinches the skin. It's very close to the edge of the tool, unlike the 10" version where most of the internal parts are fairly recessed.- The adjustment for the pressing force is terrible. You have to make 1/4 turns to a tiny very stiff knob which has threads that go the opposite way for no good reason, except maybe to confuse the user. A half turn of movement is the difference between far too weak and impossible to clamp down. And there's only a tiny area of the screw's movement that it works on, if you screw it a tiny bit too much or too little the entire tool stops working, and without any clear indication of which direction it needs to move in, so you're left with a puzzle game trying to figure out where the correct spot is. *Horrible* design.- I feel like these are harder to clamp on than others I've used, but I didn't do a side by side comparison with other major brands. The 10" one from the same brand is definitely much easier to clamp and get good gripping force.The good:It can clamp on pretty well at the rounded areas close to the pivot. Not so much at the tip, due to the left-right play.I did quickly try out the ones I got two years ago, and I don't remember them being so bad. Maybe they changed something in the design.Don't bother.

Normally I wouldn't want any rubber over-molding on my steel tools, but I feel this automatic action requires it to be comfortable. My picture shows where I start encountering resistance from the mechanism while closing on nothing, when grabbing something it engages at an even wider angle. This wide open its hard to keep a hold of the tool to push it to the final locking portion of the swing. Both legs of the handle are unusually small and slick for locking pliers, and this is the first set I ever pinched my fingers in the release lever. I plan on adding a little hockey tape on the palm side handle but I still will likely be pinched on the finger side handle. Oh, and the release lever is red instead of black like in the stock photo.

These are not CH Hanson, but a different brand called armor. The packaging arrived with the brand name on the packaging cut off like someone is trying to hide the fact that these are a different brand but doing a terrible job at it.So far, first impressions are down the drain.When it comes to the functionality, it seems to work ok, but you still need to mess with the screw. If its screwed too much then it wont catch. Screwed too little and you arent able to close it and put it in your toolbag or pocket without fiddling with the screw.Main reason i wanted auto adjusting vice grips is so that i wouldnt have to waste time adjusting.They seem like they kind of serve their purpose as a regular vice grip, but i could do without the deceit.

I like the Irwin vise grips but I have 2 pair of these there are some advantages

these grips are very well made, though the adjusting screw is difficult to tighten enough to make for a weaker grip.the 'nose' of the grips is a little bit fatter than a previous pair of the loc jaw grips i have owned and needed to replace