The actual stripping quality is A+, but the usability is more like a B rating.
Even though it has the "wire guides" you do have to take a bit of care to make sure the wire is mostly positioned in the cutting die. This is okay for bench use but sometimes in the field it can be annoying (like inside a car trying to repair wire and you have limited space to work with).
You also have to squeeze completely so the jaws open up and you can move the wire away. Sometimes when I'm tired I don't "cycle" the tool fully and the wire stays there and gets crushed by the tool closing back in, it basically destroys the wire so I have to cut and strip again (it has a very sudden "snap" back so it's too late to react in time hahaha).
I’ve used other brands of similar-style strippers (but that were very old and rickety, so useless for determining stripping quality) so I know exactly what you mean about crushing the wire from an incomplete cycle!!
Also the plastic length stop piece will disappear into the Shadow Realm, I lost mine a few months in. For anything critical I just trim down the exposed wire with a shear-type cable cutter (Knipex 95 11 165).
That’s disappointing. A reliable depth stop is an absolute must-have for me, because post-strip trimming makes it basically impossible to precisely match the lengths of wires for multi-pin connectors. That’s what I like about the CK strippers: the depth stop can be set to practically zero, stepless with no detents. It’s not automatic, in that one must manually select the wire gauge and depth stop, but once you’ve dialed that in correctly, every strip is perfect and consistent, no need to align onto a guide. Insert, squeeze, pull, releas. Works exceedingly well for small connectors like JST XH, which requires a strip length of 2.0mm ±0.3mm. But it’s a small tool, so some finger strength is required compared to the ones you squeeze with your whole hand.
I have been eyeing the Knipex 95 22 165 (same thing as yours, but spring loaded and with ergo grips). I have a perfectly serviceable set of cable shears now, but I want something with fatter, ergonomic grips.
It's good for some extremely slippery PTFE wire that a cheaper Jokari style tool will just slip on (I think the better auto strippers might be okay, but I still don't like having the wire crushed because I often use crimp terminals that do the insulation crimp as well).
Aye. PTFE, Kapton, and irradiated PVC are all tough to strip with ordinary strippers.