2021 test14 productsHand Tools
Which Pliers Brand Wins?
We compared 14 pliers options head to head. Knipex came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Knipex
Price shown in test: $43, the most expensive tested
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Runner-up
Gedore
Price shown in test: $33
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Budget pick
Doyle
Price shown in test: $20 (sold at Harbor Freight)
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Made In | Weight | Jaw Width | Adjustable Positions | Mild Steel Bolt Grip Test | High Carbon Steel Socket Extension Test | Hard Steel 34 In Bolt Test | Impact Wrench Damage Score | Claims |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Knipex$43, the most expensive tested | Germany | 373 g | 0.31 in | 27 | 573 in-lbs, third place | 257 in-lbs, by far the best result, more than doubling the second place finisher (Stanley FatMax at 99 in-lbs); teeth still looked as good as new afterward | 1,118 in-lbs, second place, close behind the Gedore's 1,208 | 0.5 (scale of 0 to 5, lower is better), the best score of all brands tested | not tested |
| 2Gedore$33 | Austria | 331 g | 0.28 in, tied for narrowest | 15 | 644 in-lbs, second place | 46 in-lbs (tied with LAOA); teeth held up well, described as looking nearly as good as new | 1,208 in-lbs, the BEST (first place) result of all brands tested | 1.5, one of the best scores | not tested |
| 3Doyle$20 (sold at Harbor Freight) | Taiwan | 352 g | 0.31 in | 21 | 559 in-lbs, fourth place | 68 in-lbs, second place; teeth held up very well, nearly as good as new | 1,074 in-lbs, described as doing great for a very affordable brand | 1, tied for one of the best scores; described as bringing the bolt to a complete stop after about a second | not tested |
| 4Irwin$16 | China | 413 g | nearly 0.5 in, the widest of the lineup (about 20% wider than the other brands) | not tested | 867 in-lbs, the BEST (first place) result on this test, described as very impressive | 49 in-lbs, performed better than three of the four previously tested brands at that point, though the teeth experienced quite a bit of wear | 334 in-lbs, struggled to maintain hold on the harder steel despite winning the mild steel test | struggled to hold back the bolt from spinning freely; teeth experienced a little less wear than the Hautmec | not tested |
| 5Stanley FatMax$15 | China | 342 g, the lightest of the brands tested up to that point in the video | close to 0.31 in | 17 | 390 in-lbs, the best result among brands tested up to that point in the video | 99 in-lbs, second place overall (behind only the Knipex), described as by far the best result up to that point; held up well with only minor tooth wear | 323 in-lbs, a lot better than the standard Stanley model but not top tier | did quite a bit better than the standard Stanley at holding back the bolt, but the teeth experienced quite a bit of damage | not tested |
| 6Hautmec$16 | China | 361 g | 0.29 in | 15 | 365 in-lbs, performed nearly as well as the Stanley FatMax | 40 in-lbs, second position at that point in the sequence, with more tooth wear than the Stanley FatMax | 592 in-lbs, performed well | performed about the same as the Stanley FatMax at holding back the bolt, but with quite a bit of tooth damage | not tested |
| 7S&R$22 | Germany | 364 g | 0.28 in, tied for narrowest | 16 | 415 in-lbs, described as better than average | 39 in-lbs, about average, with more wear than the Doyle | 269 in-lbs, struggled to maintain a grip | did a fairly good job holding back the impact wrench at first before the bolt began to gain speed; moderate tooth damage | not tested |
| 8GearWrench$25 | Taiwan | 341 g | 0.31 in | 27 | 356 in-lbs, about average | 36 in-lbs, really struggled to gain traction; teeth experienced quite a bit of dulling | 283 in-lbs, slightly better than the S&R | began to perform better after the first couple of seconds as the teeth sank into the bolt; damage about the same as the S&R | not tested |
| 9Klein Tools$33 | Germany | 332 g | 0.28 in, tied for narrowest | 10 | 314 in-lbs | 42 in-lbs, slightly better than average | 219 in-lbs, struggled to lock onto the bolt | 1, tied for one of the best scores; wasn't able to gain a good grip on the bolt but held up well with only minor damage | not tested |
| 10LAOA$36 | Taiwan | 307 g, the lightest of all brands tested | not tested | 20 | 347 in-lbs, described as unable to keep up with some of the less expensive brands | 46 in-lbs (tied with Gedore), but the socket extension dulled the LAOA's teeth noticeably more than average | 267 in-lbs, quite a bit of tooth damage | not able to do much to hold back the impact wrench; bolt caused quite a bit of damage to the teeth | SAE 1060 steel body, high frequency quenching, hardness up to HRC 58 |
| 11Fujiya$21 | Japan | 317 g, very light | 0.37 in | 7 | 184 in-lbs, struggled, similar to the Channellock | 39 in-lbs, about average, but with noticeably more visible wear than the Doyle | 106 in-lbs, struggled badly, carrying over tooth damage from the prior test | bolt spun freely (impact wrench was too much for it), though teeth only experienced moderate damage | not tested |
| 12Channellock$16 | USA, the only US-made brand in the lineup | 391 g | 0.39 in | 7 | 190 in-lbs, one of the worst results, couldn't get a good grip | 39 in-lbs, performed nearly as well as the Irwin, though teeth were noticeably less sharp afterward | 344 in-lbs, slightly better than the Irwin | 1, tied for one of the best scores; grip was weak (couldn't slow the impact wrench much) but the teeth themselves held up very well | not tested |
| 13Stanley bi-material groove joint (standard)$14 | China | 413 g | stated in the transcript as 0.41 mm, which is inconsistent with every other brand's measurement being in inches (roughly 0.28 to 0.5 in range); kept verbatim as a likely unit/caption error, not corrected | 7 handle positions | 279 in-lbs; the Husky held the lead over this brand at this point in the video | 32 in-lbs, struggled, with even more wear than the Husky | 137 in-lbs, the worst result on this test, described as unable to get a good grip | bolt spun nearly freely in the jaws; teeth experienced quite a bit of damage compared to the Husky | not tested |
| 14Husky$13, the least expensive tested | China (sold at Home Depot) | 422 g | 0.39 in | not tested | 326 in-lbs | 32 in-lbs, struggled, teeth described as too soft to gain a good grip | 630 in-lbs, a surprisingly strong start, holding an early lead in this specific test before pricier brands surpassed it | did a great job slowing the rotation of the bolt for the price, with only a moderate amount of tooth damage | not tested |
How it was tested
- grip strength on threaded mild steel bolt
- grip strength on high carbon steel (single-use socket extensions)
- grip strength on a smooth 3/4 inch hardened steel bolt
- tooth damage from an impact wrench forcing a held bolt to spin for 5 seconds
“the Knipex brand is by far the best”