Dear Slipjointed:
--Good tip. Thanks. I just bought an ordinary pair of Kobalt side cutters, but I will be buying one or more of the Lindstroms as soon as my taxes are paid.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." Albert Einstein
Best Regards
Clear Ether
The Kobalt's weren't a mistake... I keep a "standard" set as well as my fancy Lindstroms. The Lindstroms actually have very hard cutting edges and so are durable, but I could bear putting a nick in the edge of a normal pair much more easily.
I usually only use the Lindstroms on a known quantity, so as to not damage the edges prematurely. That, and I NEVER let anyone borrow them.
![Cheesy :D](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xcheesy.gif.pagespeed.ic.KPzuH4J-TG.png)
I added pictures to tease you until I get paid again.
![Tongue :P](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/xtongue.gif.pagespeed.ic.J5mTe0A2NA.png)
To add some commentary to the pictures, these pliers are very large (for electronics pliers), don't let the pictures fool you. My hands are a bit on the big side. That is a good thing though, because that makes them very comfortable.
The front of the grips has "wings" molded in where your index finger and thumb rest on the handles, so you still get a wide, controlled grip, even when you need to pinch grip the front of the pliers, or twist them slightly in your hand.
The handles are FRP overmolded with thermoplastic rubber, so they are very light, very strong, and very grippy. You can see the three adjustments for spring tension inside the handle, the spring pops out and repositions very easily.
The vast majority of the RX series have adjustable joints, so as they wear you can tighten them back up.
I picked up some Hakko brand side cutters for a very reasonable price and I like them a lot. They are like these ones, but I found them in Fry's: http://www.scubatools.com/p-433-hakko-side-cut-5.aspx
Those Hakkos are superb cutters for the money. As you were discussing above, flush cutters wear out much faster, so I picked up the Lindstroms in semi-flush as my fancy pair, and I have a set of Hakko full flush for when I need true flush cutters. I picked them up from tequipment for really cheap, back when they were blowing out a bunch of Hakko stuff.
The are cheap, well made, and hold up very well. If I hadn't found the Lindstroms listed on ebay for crazy cheap, it's pretty damned hard to argue against the Hakkos.