Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
OXO Good Grips Bypass Loppers
Lakeland Ref: 51012 Price: 24.94 GBP
The blades are of hardened carbon steel with a non-stick coating and the handles of lightweight steel with a silver powder coating. Those loppers have a cutting width of 35mm (1.5 inches) and with the OXO Good Grip Handles handle – pardon the pun – brilliantly.
As they are rather light despite their apparent strong construction one does not fatigue that easy during use as is often the case with other, heavier, ones. The handles too aid in this, no doubt.
The one thing that lets those loppers down is the shock-absorbing buffer which (1) becomes wobbly in use (it did during the test) and therefore no longer works effectively and (2) the rubber which, as with so many buffers of this kind on loppers, has begun to crack very soon after being used.
Aside from the above one I have one further concern and that is the fact that the blade section is affixed into the handles and then secured with rivets that have not been set too well either. However, considering that the majority of loppers that I have used and tested have the blade sections just “shoved” into the handles in one way or the other, often without any additional affixing, whether rivets or screws, this may make for a stronger one still. Also, should the rivets ever fail, there will be the appropriate holes with which to affix the assembly then stronger still be means of bots and nuts.
In general use the loppers perform very well and the cutting action is very positive and smooth. If it would not be for the above drawbacks, for lack of a better word, such as failure of the shock absorber and the fact that, though, as said, that is rather a common issue with the kind of rummer bumpers employed, the rubber has, after only a few hours of use, begun to show severe signs of wear, then those loppers would really rate extremely high.
As it goes, however, I can but give them a rating of 7 out of 10, and that is just because of the problems encountered with the shock absorbers.
Being a professional forester and groundsman I would suggest a reconsideration of that part of those loppers and a redesign of same.
© 2009
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OXO Good Grips Bypass Loppers from Lakeland – Product Review
