I'm installing an IEC 320 power inlet connector in place of a formerly fixed AC mains cable on a piece of gear, and since my 30+ year old POS Rat Shack nibbler is nowhere to be found I decided to bite the bullet and buy some real nibblers. Brown Santa just dropped these two off, courtesy of Amazon:
![](https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/Misc-test-equipment/i-fXTDk7d/1/e826b020/L/2018022314175633-IMG_7272-L.jpg)
-Pat
I still have the radio shack nibblers I got almost 30 years ago as a kid. How are your new nibblers different/better?
I haven't used the Knipex ones yet, but had used the Adel type at my old job. The Rat Shack ones I have are this style:
![](https://photos.smugmug.com/Electronics/Misc-test-equipment/i-4GX2jNR/0/87fe2241/O/2018022410454249-IMG_0359.jpg)
And I was never crazy about the ergonomics of them. The way the handles curve makes your grip more inclined to slide towards the narrow part where you have less leverage to squeeze them closed, making it more difficult and uncomfortable to use them. And the orientation means that if you hold them cutter up so you can see what you're cutting, the widest part of the handles (where you have most mechanical advantage) is at your smallest, weakest finger, and the strongest part of your hand is where it does the least good leverage-wise.
The Adels are the opposite - the part you squeeze falls naturally between the web of your thumb and your index finger - the strongest part of your grip. A slight downside to them is that they have a little spring loaded clamping cap on the cutter that helps to hold the material being cut against the anvil, and this requires a slightly larger hole to start the cut, but unless you're trying to make a really tiny opening, this isn't an issue.
-Pat