50.00 Abel Nippers, Worth It?

I dont usually carry nippers anymore, switched over to William Joseph Hemocuts a few years back and couldnt be happier.
 
Don't you guys who lose your nippers use retractors or zingers??? :-D I'm a firm believer in anchoring down everything and anything that can fall/get lost; because sooner or later it will!

With regards to $50 nippers, I suppose it all depends on the amount of disposable cash you have on-hand. Personally speaking, I would never spend that on pair of nippers and even $20 is steep for me. I'm sure they work well, but my cost/value equation doesn't add up for purchasing $50 nippers. YMMV...
 
Agree with Becker here. I use nail clippers. This is maybe the 3rd or 4th yr. for them without any problems.
 
Don't waste your fity. I did. I thought these would offer superior cutting technology, but they're no sharper than a $5 pair. They may work OK for heavier tippet, but forget about it for 6 - 7x fluoro. Within a few outings, i had to continually hunt across the edges for a sharp spot. I think these are better suited for the saltwater angler as the eye punch will not accept tiny fly eyes. Granted they will replace the blades for free for 2 years or whatever, but you have to mail them in, PITA. I'm going to see if they will just send me some new blades out - I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to swap out the blades.

You can also forget about the new ''award-winning'' Loon Nip-n-Sip nippers. I just sent back a pair - supremely dull.

The best (sharpest) nippers still are the Angler's Image (fine Japanese stainless) or CF Design (also Japanese with 3 replaceable blades). However, you can wear these both out in a year if you do a lot of fly changing.
 
Ausable wrote:
I guess I am the minority here but i think they are the best nippers made. Pricey but just the highest quality to say the least. Last pair you will ever buy.
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I saw these nippers at my local flyshop here in syracuse yesterday. They seemed very high quality and i was told that they come with a lifetime warranty for the blades, whenever they get dull or chipped you can send it back and get the blades replaced for free. It was tempting because they are nice nippers.
 
mcwillja wrote:
Ausable wrote:
I guess I am the minority here but i think they are the best nippers made. Pricey but just the highest quality to say the least. Last pair you will ever buy.
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I saw these nippers at my local flyshop here in syracuse yesterday. They seemed very high quality and i was told that they come with a lifetime warranty for the blades, whenever they get dull or chipped you can send it back and get the blades replaced for free. It was tempting because they are nice nippers.
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They're fabulous. I love mine
 
I'm not sure I ever used nippers while out on the stream... that's what teeth are for. I use nail clippers for building leaders at home, but that's it. $50 for nippers? No way.
 
Bam,
Why not $50 for the nippers. Otter has three pairs... I agree with Becker on this one, easy to loose and $50 buys alot of nippers. I found a pr from umpqua I like that are about $3 so I bought half a dozen of them. Since then I haven't lost any.
 
Bump.....just realized I have had my nail clippers for atleast 4 years and they still work. However, I would still take a pair of Abels as a gift. Lol
 
Amazing. Truly Amazing.

$50???

I don't want to hear any of you paying $50 or even $20 bucks for a glorified nail clippers to EVER complain about the cost of a fishing license or a gallon of gas.

$50 is what I paid for each of the last two fly rods I bought (pre-owned of course).

I'm planning on giving one of them away as a Christmas gift. Now let me think here. Which gift would my fly fishing friend appreciate more, a $50 pair of glorified nail clippers, or a 7' 1 wt travel rod. That's a tough one.

I tell you what, if I spend that much on any nail clippers or nippers, they better at least have a bottle opener and a cutting blade and I am not talking cork screw either although that would be nice, too.
 
Even if I were to pick these up for 1/2 price, I can't justify $25 for something that I know that I will lose.

Abel makes great products and I've used many of them but they're a little too pricey for me.
 
FarmerDave wrote:
Amazing. Truly Amazing.

$50 is what I paid for each of the last two fly rods I bought (pre-owned of course).

I'm planning on giving one of them away as a Christmas gift. Now let me think here. Which gift would my fly fishing friend appreciate more, a $50 pair of glorified nail clippers, or a 7' 1 wt travel rod. That's a tough one.
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Hmmmm a 1wt rod I would NEVER use or something I would use every dang fishing trip. I think I would prefer the nippers. I would never buy either of those things, but I know what I would prefer. I would sell that rod so quick and use the money I got from it to buy hooks and stuff. Don't listen to me though, I don't have 2 ponds and am an engineer with brits.
 
Image is everything? $50 for nippers is outrageous. GG
 
Debate over $50 nippers...... I'm going to bet some giving their thoughts will also tell you that spending more than $8 for fly line is foolish. Hilarious


To add my 0.02, too much unless you can afford them. I got a pair of hardened nippers for $7-$9 several years back and they work fine and probably will until the get ripped off my vest or pack.

Bam, if you can bite through 3x fluoro all day, that's outta my league. The chompers start to hurt after 2 fly changes. Lmao.
 
As an inventor of blade steels, I'm into paying a lot more for slightly higher quality cutting tools. I have a $350 folder in my pocket right now (no, I didn't personally pay that much).

The steels are designed and mostly used in machining equipment, to cut other steel. They find their way into a few really high end consumer knives. Still, in that market, unless you are really, really more demanding on knives than mere mortals, then this thing isn't any better than your decent quality run of the mill $50 hunting knife from the likes of Buck or Gerber. Oh it's a slightly better combination of toughness/hardness/wear resistance/corrosion resistance/sharpenability/etc than the cheap commodity stuff. Maybe a professional chef or something, but I doubt the average knife user will ever notice in use, and that includes me. It's what I do, so I'm into it, but knives aren't something that needs a lot of improvement for the average consumer. The status quo works just fine. Buck and Gerber make fine cutting tools for the masses.

But when it comes to nippers, I'm more like everyone else. It's just not equipment which needs to be improved. Like Becker, I've never been streamside and muttered to myself "dang these cheap nippers!" I'll happily stick with the cheapo ones you get in a plastic bin.
 
Been using an Abel nipper for the past year. Only reason I got it was that it was actually cheaper for me to buy them with my discount and the free shipping, than driving an hour to the closest fly shop that had my favorite Dr Slick angled nippers, or get them online and pay shipping.

They do look cool, but I can describe their performance in two words.

They suck. :roll:
 
Don't you mean "they nip"?
 
krayfish wrote:
Don't you mean "they nip"?
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No. They're awesome for cutting 20 lb test. Not so good for the lighter stuff.

They're also tough to get close to the eye on small patterns - the Dr Slick angle nippers do a much better job of that.

The hook eye cleaner pin is all but useless on small flies too.

I can see the worth if using them on larger flies, and heavier tippet, but for smaller trout flies, they're overkill.
 
The WJ nippers that came with my Confluence have a REAL small eye cleaner.
 
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