Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have been a loyal Fiskars customer for many years, until TWO pairs of these pruners changed my mind. While I appreciate that Fiskars offers a "lifetime warranty," it is hugely annoying to be photographing them, sending info to Fiskars, etc. I had a pair of these from about 2008 that worked like a champ and even had them sharpened once or twice. However, pruning the tough stalks of a plant like bamboo will eventually wear out any pruner. So I purchased this figuring they would work as well as the prior pair had. I do not know where the older pair was made, but the new ones were both from China. I have some Fiskars left-handed scissors I have used for sewing for a at least twenty years, and they were from Europe, and they are excellent. Times change, but the quality of these pruners has as well. Both the new pair and the replacement pair have the same problem-- as the jaws open and close it is as if the spring or mechanism in the pruner that forces the jaws back open after a cut is not strong enough. That makes a tendency for them to cut "sideways" a bit, and if you are using them in a wet environment that only becomes worse with more use. I struggled along with the first new pair for a couple of months, then contacted Fiskars for a replacement. I cannot fault their service as they responded quickly and did send me a replacement pair. Unfortunately, the replacement pair has the same exact problem. They worked great for about an hour of hard pruning then began to squeak and have the same have-to-open-the-jaws-by-hand after each cut. Very aggravating. I will not replace them again and I will be shopping for a more heavy duty pruner from a different company.