Flora Guard Garden Shears 8.2" Bypass Pruning Shears, Professional Ultra Sharp Sk5 Steel Garden Clippers, Rubber Handle Heavy Duty Plant Cutting S...

These pruning shears are smaller than I expected, especially in terms of the opening between the jaws. The opening definitely limits the size of branches that can be clipped or cut to relatively thin pieces. I use the shears primarily to trim my grape vines and they work great for vines. I can get into tight spaces to clip a vine that has started to bolt without getting other vines in the process. They are sharp and make a very clean cut, with no tearing or ripping. I have also used them to trim offshoots coming out at the base of my fruit trees, but it helps if I catch them while they are still thin greenwood. The adjustment mechanism on the shears doesnt really serve much purpose. As I understand it, it is supposed to alter the distance that the jaws and hand grips can open, but I dont think it actually works very well. To the extent that I could detect a difference, the opening maybe went from 1 at the tip down to maybe 1/2, but that small of gap just makes it harder to catch the vine or branch between the jaws. I didnt really appreciate any difference in the distance between the handles with the gap reduced. I just dont think that it is necessary to restrict the opening when it is already so small.

My wife loves working the yard and this involves lots of clipping and trimming. These clippers are a nice addition to her bucket of yard tools. Here are some pros and cons: Pros: The are lightweight, with an adjustment for larger and smaller hands so the spring loaded jaws dont open wider than your grip. The wrist strap is a real plus and keeps her from setting the clippers down and then having to search for them later among the clippings. The red color will also make them easier to spot if they are dropped among a bunch of green clippings. The locking mechanism is easy to use and well placed. These clippers are comfortable to hold and easy to use, and the blade is sharp. Cons: Really, only one consideration worth noting. These are small, lightweight clippers, and on the small hand setting they are limited to clipping limbs no larger than about a half inch in diameter. They are designed for light-duty pruning. Bottom line: These pruners will definitely get plenty of use in our yard, and deserve a 5 star rating.

The 8.3 Bypass Shears (ASIN: B0D5XJB87B) have good padding on the handles that appears to be durable. An effective lock keeps the blades together, reducing the chance of cutting something unwanted by an exposed blade. The bypass blade is very sharp and well positioned. This makes cutting limbs easier, requiring less pressure. I was able to cleanly slice through both live limbs and semi-dried cedar branches easily. The bypass shears worked well using either hand. I have large hands (XXL gloves), so I did not find the switch that limits how far the shears will open helpful. When engaged it limits the size of branch that can be cut. The switch provides just a little change in handle position as shown in the two photos of the spread handles, one with the switch engaged and the other not.

There was a feature or two that I really liked about these Flora Guard shears. One, I liked the angle of the blades. It seemed that they were easier to get around the branch to be cut. Also, I have small hands and they have a slide button that allows them to not open quite so far, so my fingers reach both sides better. Also, I liked the feel of the grips better than my other pairs. However, in my test against the pair I am replacing, they did not cut as cleanly. I tried, with as similar samples as possible, to compare my old ones on some hackberry saplings, some red bud suckers and some crepe myrtle suckers. They did great on the crepe myrtles, but on the hackberry and red bud sprouts, they did not cut as cleanly as my old ones. They cut through just fine, but then I had to give them a little tug to finish breaking the sprout off completely. It may just be because they could stand to be sharpened. They are advertised as 'ultra-sharp'. I think 'sort of sharp' would be more accurate. I may sharpen the blade and see how they do, but sharpening the blade is not something that should have to be done to a new item.