Great Debate on Innovation:

S

Sylvaneous

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Sep 11, 2006
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Dear All:
In the spirit of 1) the drag capabilities of trout reels and 2) the performance and durability of coolers, I'd like to spark some discussion with the input of the Pa fly fishing on-line community on the performance advantages of machined, carbide blade tippet nippers.
I'd like people to share their direct experiences with such game-breaking fishing technology and anything they've garnered through 2ndary sources like magazine reviews and internet blogs.

The effect on anglers' success by this on-the-water industry advance should not pass unnoticed. I look at what generations of fly anglers have used to deal with the most important, hardest stressed part of their tackle and shake my head ruefully. "How could we have been so foolish!"

Is $25 for state of the industry line maintenance really too much to ask? Especially if it comes anodized in the iridescent colors of the creatures of our pursuit?

Please discuss

Syl
 
How 'bout $165 for fish graphic nippers > here!

If you add $25 for the lanyard and $195 for the fish pattern zinger, you can buy all three for $385...plus $9.95 shipping... :-o
 
Carbide/ceramic blades in general are not exactly a new thing. Advanced blade technologies just haven't been employed in nippers very often.

In general ceramic blades stay sharp much longer. The trade off is that they are brittle under stress, and very hard to sharpen.

In nippers, the ones I've seen have only a tiny blade made of it, and it's not like we are cutting drywall or something likely to chip it. And most aren't going to sharpen it anyway. So in that sense it's an ideal application for a ceramic blade.

On the other hand, it's not a product where most consider there to be any problem with the status quo. A $5 item that does it's job fine, needs replaced only every couple of years, and is more often lost than worn out, may not be where spending money on "better" is justified.

As opposed to drags and coolers, which not only are expected to last a lifetime, but the good ones actually do their job better even when new. Not all of us have the need for improvement, but enough do to drive a market.
 
I can't bring myself to spend more than a couple bucks on something that I will end up losing within a year (maybe two years if I'm lucky). Plus if my cheap pair wears out, I can buy a new pair and still be under $5 for the two. It will take me years to justify even spending the $25 on one pair of nippers.
 
Why are you so concerned with how others spend their money?
 
afishinado wrote:
How 'bout $165 for fish graphic nippers > here!

If you add $25 for the lanyard and $195 for the fish pattern zinger, you can buy all three for $385...plus $9.95 shipping... :-o
Click to expand...

My numbers lacked a "zero". You are most correct, sir.

Syl
 
You folks are taking the bait. It's a joke post. It's ridiculous. But gild the lily as you see fit.
"This way to the great Egress!"

syl
 
Yipes.

I usually buy the 2$ one at Wally World, but I broke down and ordered a name brand pair yesterday. Sierra Trading Post has Dr Slick ones for 3$.
 
This probably belongs in the tips forum, but you can turn any set of $5 nippers into $15 nippers simply by taking a permanent marker or tiny piece of duct tape and marking the sharp spot along the blade. Saves time too....
 
1. There is a psychology behind marketing such hyper-expensive "innovations". I suspect it's lost on 98% of people who frequent this site, myself includes. That is, early adopters and those who need to own "the best" will tend to overspend. Some people heave the internal motivation to own the best of something, even if they cannot afford to own the best of everything. It has absolutely nothing to do with cost-benefit analysis.

2. There is also an intrinsic lure attached to certain advances. That's why they keep coming out with higher resolution TVs. Remember when 1080p came out at $10k for a large screen TV? Now the same TV, or better, can be had for well under $500. It seems to me each such innovation has an initial "wow" factor (4k resolution TVs). Then our brains adjust and that becomes our new normal. When we look back on the legacy tech, we think "how could I have tolerated such inferiority." It's a little dysfunctional, but marketers know how to play on those feelings to sell the next great "innovation" we didn't know we could live without.

To paraphrase the credit card commercial: What's in your mancave?
 
does anyone make nippers with a bottle opener? If not, I'll continue to use my WAY old nailclippers with some long gone flyshop engraved on the them.

and I'm not going to pay more than 10 bucks for them.
 
You got teeth? Bite your line.


When they make a zinger that doesn't break or fall off I'll buy expensive nippers.

Nippers should be matte black. No fish scale or other custom color.
 
bikerfish wrote:
does anyone make nippers with a bottle opener?
Click to expand...

https://loonoutdoors.com/product/nip-n-sip-2/
 
Damnit, I must be uncool for using nail clippers

note: I did buy a pair of expensive nippers once, lost them, and went back to nail clippers. :lol:
 
Nail clipper all the way!
I bite my nails and a girlfriend asked "Don't you own nail clippers?"
"Yup. They're on my fishing pack."
 
The built in cutters to the orvis tippet is what I use most now. I could see spending more money on nippers if I was l was clipping heavier lines. If you need to tell someone its a joke its probably not real funny, besides the fact it's already been discussed in other threads. Fox I'm digging the new profile pic.
 
ryan- cool, thanks!

Lost two nippers in last couple weeks One I had a nice fish on and reached for my net which is on one of those magnetic things. Somehow managed to get nippers and forceps attached to the magnet and tangled in the net. Yanked the whole mess and tore my zingers off the vest. Nippers went flying. Heck of a mess. Got the fish.
Other one was the usual....
Walking along and heard a "bloop" sound. Looked for my nippers and of course they were gone.

I'm thinking of investing in a metal detector and focusing on areas frequented by fly fishermen.
 
caps on your teeth= expensive nippers
 
Pin on zingers are asking for trouble. You'll eventually lose any nipper whether it costs $5 or $50 any any gadget for that matter.

Get an Gear Keeper RT5-2102 with the Threaded Stud.

Or if you really want to raise the ire of the Dollar Store nipper crowd, get one of these.

BTW - Both zingers are factory serviceable if you break the cord, lose a part or something else.
 
Those are nice but Id rather lose 25 cheapy zinger/nippers than purchase one of those in fear of losing it.
 
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