I guess at least you can tell the difference between the cutters with the name and handle color. Other 'companies' have Felco copies that are straight up counterfeit. You know you have an excellent product when other companies are copying your stuff!
The biggest and most significant difference in the two is the inside the handle where the spring is. The inside corner is more rounded on the felcos and the one stop gardens is more angled. These are exact replicas of the zenport qf2. Which makes me wanna return my zenports and get the harbor freights
I'm a longtime HF junkie and a noob gardener. Bought the Halcos to get things started this year, and had no idea about the Felcos existing. The Halcos have held up great on tomatoes and squash and I have been happy with them for the ten ought bucks, but no way would I expect them to hold up to years of serious tree work. I've never seen the Felcos in person but obviously the blade and grade of steel involved is a whole other ballgame. Either way, HF normally doesn't make unabashed clones like this, very surprising.
You don't always get what you pay for. But, you'll almost always pay for what you get. I have serious doubts that this copy will be as durable as the Felco.
My Felco pruners date back at least 35 years. They are from before they had Numbers, but they are almost exactly like the current No.2s. They are starting to stick closed occasionally, do I need a new pair, could the alignment be off a fraction, or should I just replace the spring? Opinions? Also where are the new No.2s made? Still in Switzerland, or China?
one thing to consider is how frequently you buy a pruner. If you do it every week or every month, you might consider a cheaper version of the Felco, the "Cadillac" of pruners. If you want to buy a pruner that will probably last a lifetime, then passed along to you heirs, you should buy a Felco. Just change the blade every 10 years, or so, if you cant sharpen it.
The spring holder is a good bit shorter on the halfco which probably mean it will come off easier, and when the spring pops off a Felco pruner you hardly ever see it again. I can see this happening much more often on the halfco. The two major questions I would address would be how well the Taiwan company stands behind its product and how durable is the obviously different metal alloy in the halfco pruner? My experience with many metals from Asia has been less than rewarding in the past, regardless of the product the metal is a part of. JMHO, from 34 years of using every kind of hand pruner imaginable, some even more expensive than Felco, but still not as durable or easy to use. Always some ‘minor glitch’ that becomes a ‘major b-ch’ with heavy usage. Such as losing a spring every whipstitch.
I bought a Helco a couple of years ago, it's a great design, worked well, but the blade is not all that sharp. Now that I know the parts are interchangeable, I'm buying a genuine Felco 2 blade and anvil to make an upgraded Helco. IMO, best affordable pruner is Okatsune, harder blade than Felco.
A few important points to note would be that Felco pruner handles are made out of forged aluminum and their blades are a high quality tool steel. Having not purchase the knockoff, I can't speak to the quality of the blades, but knowing Harbor Freight, these are probably a low-grade steel. I would also wager that the handle it is a significantly lower grade of what appears to be cast aluminum. As a general rule, castings are not as strong as forgings. Knowing Harbor Freight, although the hardware looks similar, I am sure that we would find some Devils in the details. Just looking at the large lock nut, we can see that there is a much finer grade of machining on the hardware for the Felco pruners, and a more thorough test would likely show that the Felco hardware is stronger/more durable. While they are clearly anesthetic knock off of the Felco pruner, these Halcos clearly ain't got nothing on the original. If nothing else, the made in Taiwan label shows us that the humans and the environment were exploited in the manufacturing of the Harbor Freight knock off. Finally, we shouldn't support any company that's willing to so brazenly attempt to steal the intellectual property of a high-quality manufacturer like Felco.
I like your comment & I agree with most of what you wrote. But I should point out that "Halco" hasn't stolen Felco's intellectual property (brazenly or otherwise) because those classic #2 pruners haven't changed since at least the 70's when I started using them. So if there were any patents, they've long expired. (Yes, I'm that old.)
@@ProfoundConfusion I supposed the term intellectual property may be more legal-sounding than my point intended to come across as. I'm not worried about whether or not HF broke some sort of patent law here, I'm annoyed by the fact that they've poorly manufactured a replica of a genuinely high quality product. They didn't make a pair of pruners. They traced someone else's work and tried to pass it off as something reasonable. Shite behavior, though exactly what's to be expected from HF.
@@ProfoundConfusion they aren't exact. Look inside the handle where the spring is. Felco has a bevelled edge and curved. The one stops are angled and unfinished.
Thanks for the awesome review! I was wondering about this exact thing, Even though there is not a cutting comparison, it is still a very good video! Since you have done the video, how have the held up? BTW, other companies can make these pliers, because all the patents that cover the numerous elements of this design (there is more than one) have expired!
I really haven't used them that much. I purchased a new blade for the Felco's and they are really smooth and easy to use. I'm mainly keeping it around for parts.
You can see the striations of Felco *forged* steel vs the lower quality *cast* steel on the "jaws" of the knock-offs. Asian "clone" manufacturers are notorious for using low quality metal & for skimping in general (especially on components such as springs, screws & blades which require high quality, specialized & expensive metals ). If "Halco" is using lower quality steel for the jaws of it's pruners (which they didn't even bother to finish smoothly)...... I think it's safe to assume they've also used lower quality metal on the less "noticeable" components. There's no way those Halco pruners will do the same work as the Felco pair. You know the old saying: "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link." ....... The jaws of cheap pruners tend to bend out of alignment if you "challenge" them with hard or dead wood. Cheap blades don't hold an edge & need to be replaced because they get ground down sooner from all the sharpening. Cheap springs & screws snap. Cheap "catches" bend out of shape & no longer "catch" without a lot of fiddling around. I've experienced all of this with off-brands (I have a small orchard of 200 trees & I've been tempted to buy cheap pruners because I've lost a few pairs of expensive ones, over the years...... It's always been a mistake to buy the cheaper ones.)
I was thinking about buying a Felco F2 untill i saw these "Helcos" today at harbor freight. Hopefully they last me as long as a felco would!! They certainly feel like they are quality pruners.
Hi guys I got 3 Felco 2 pruners new original Swiss Made, i have to buy 3 for a good price, Any way if any one need to shear me with those let me know , I live in Jersey
some of hf tools are pretty good now....just need a little diy tweek when get it home and u save yourself lots of money.....that good ....extra money for treating your self lobster dinner that can not be duplicated....hahahahahahaha
Actually they can get away with it because patents expire, and evidently this is a very competitive market, with dozens of patents that stretch back 140 years! Don't feel too bad for Felco, because they took a number of elements for their designs from other expired patents. The spring that is used in this pruner goes back to a patent in the 1940's! So all the companies pretty much do this. As such, this is a highly refined design, and perhaps partly explains why they are popular!
I guess at least you can tell the difference between the cutters with the name and handle color. Other 'companies' have Felco copies that are straight up counterfeit. You know you have an excellent product when other companies are copying your stuff!
The biggest and most significant difference in the two is the inside the handle where the spring is. The inside corner is more rounded on the felcos and the one stop gardens is more angled. These are exact replicas of the zenport qf2. Which makes me wanna return my zenports and get the harbor freights
I'm a longtime HF junkie and a noob gardener. Bought the Halcos to get things started this year, and had no idea about the Felcos existing. The Halcos have held up great on tomatoes and squash and I have been happy with them for the ten ought bucks, but no way would I expect them to hold up to years of serious tree work. I've never seen the Felcos in person but obviously the blade and grade of steel involved is a whole other ballgame. Either way, HF normally doesn't make unabashed clones like this, very surprising.
You don't always get what you pay for. But, you'll almost always pay for what you get.
I have serious doubts that this copy will be as durable as the Felco.
My Felco pruners date back at least 35 years. They are from before they had Numbers, but they are almost exactly like the current No.2s. They are starting to stick closed occasionally, do I need a new pair, could the alignment be off a fraction, or should I just replace the spring? Opinions? Also where are the new No.2s made? Still in Switzerland, or China?
Yeah check the spring and give it a good cleaning. I believe they are still made in Switzerland. The springs do get weak over time.
one thing to consider is how frequently you buy a pruner. If you do it every week or every month, you might consider a cheaper version of the Felco, the "Cadillac" of pruners. If you want to buy a pruner that will probably last a lifetime, then passed along to you heirs, you should buy a Felco. Just change the blade every 10 years, or so, if you cant sharpen it.
The spring holder is a good bit shorter on the halfco which probably mean it will come off easier, and when the spring pops off a Felco pruner you hardly ever see it again. I can see this happening much more often on the halfco. The two major questions I would address would be how well the Taiwan company stands behind its product and how durable is the obviously different metal alloy in the halfco pruner? My experience with many metals from Asia has been less than rewarding in the past, regardless of the product the metal is a part of. JMHO, from 34 years of using every kind of hand pruner imaginable, some even more expensive than Felco, but still not as durable or easy to use. Always some ‘minor glitch’ that becomes a ‘major b-ch’ with heavy usage. Such as losing a spring every whipstitch.
I bought a Helco a couple of years ago, it's a great design, worked well, but the blade is not all that sharp. Now that I know the parts are interchangeable, I'm buying a genuine Felco 2 blade and anvil to make an upgraded Helco. IMO, best affordable pruner is Okatsune, harder blade than Felco.
Hoping the blade swap worked well for you.
A few important points to note would be that Felco pruner handles are made out of forged aluminum and their blades are a high quality tool steel. Having not purchase the knockoff, I can't speak to the quality of the blades, but knowing Harbor Freight, these are probably a low-grade steel. I would also wager that the handle it is a significantly lower grade of what appears to be cast aluminum. As a general rule, castings are not as strong as forgings. Knowing Harbor Freight, although the hardware looks similar, I am sure that we would find some Devils in the details. Just looking at the large lock nut, we can see that there is a much finer grade of machining on the hardware for the Felco pruners, and a more thorough test would likely show that the Felco hardware is stronger/more durable. While they are clearly anesthetic knock off of the Felco pruner, these Halcos clearly ain't got nothing on the original. If nothing else, the made in Taiwan label shows us that the humans and the environment were exploited in the manufacturing of the Harbor Freight knock off. Finally, we shouldn't support any company that's willing to so brazenly attempt to steal the intellectual property of a high-quality manufacturer like Felco.
Good points.
I like your comment & I agree with most of what you wrote. But I should point out that "Halco" hasn't stolen Felco's intellectual property (brazenly or otherwise) because those classic #2 pruners haven't changed since at least the 70's when I started using them. So if there were any patents, they've long expired. (Yes, I'm that old.)
@@ProfoundConfusion I supposed the term intellectual property may be more legal-sounding than my point intended to come across as. I'm not worried about whether or not HF broke some sort of patent law here, I'm annoyed by the fact that they've poorly manufactured a replica of a genuinely high quality product. They didn't make a pair of pruners. They traced someone else's work and tried to pass it off as something reasonable. Shite behavior, though exactly what's to be expected from HF.
@@ProfoundConfusion they aren't exact. Look inside the handle where the spring is. Felco has a bevelled edge and curved. The one stops are angled and unfinished.
Thanks for the awesome review! I was wondering about this exact thing, Even though there is not a cutting comparison, it is still a very good video!
Since you have done the video, how have the held up?
BTW, other companies can make these pliers, because all the patents that cover the numerous elements of this design (there is more than one) have expired!
I really haven't used them that much. I purchased a new blade for the Felco's and they are really smooth and easy to use. I'm mainly keeping it around for parts.
You can see the striations of Felco *forged* steel vs the lower quality *cast* steel on the "jaws" of the knock-offs. Asian "clone" manufacturers are notorious for using low quality metal & for skimping in general (especially on components such as springs, screws & blades which require high quality, specialized & expensive metals ).
If "Halco" is using lower quality steel for the jaws of it's pruners (which they didn't even bother to finish smoothly)...... I think it's safe to assume they've also used lower quality metal on the less "noticeable" components. There's no way those Halco pruners will do the same work as the Felco pair.
You know the old saying: "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link." .......
The jaws of cheap pruners tend to bend out of alignment if you "challenge" them with hard or dead wood.
Cheap blades don't hold an edge & need to be replaced because they get ground down sooner from all the sharpening.
Cheap springs & screws snap.
Cheap "catches" bend out of shape & no longer "catch" without a lot of fiddling around.
I've experienced all of this with off-brands (I have a small orchard of 200 trees & I've been tempted to buy cheap pruners because I've lost a few pairs of expensive ones, over the years...... It's always been a mistake to buy the cheaper ones.)
Tons of companies make felco style pruners. You can buy felco blades for them. Look up zenport qf2.
Helco blade is very weak (bent it in first day of use). Felco blades are tempered better.
I like that name, helco!
Nice presentation
Thanks! This has gotten more popular for some reason too. 🤷
@@ShawneeUnion Probably a ton of people getting ripped off by fakes ahead of spring :(
Interesting video. Good source for cheap parts I suppose. Wouldn't use the blades, but maybe springs or nuts in a pinch.
I was thinking about buying a Felco F2 untill i saw these "Helcos" today at harbor freight. Hopefully they last me as long as a felco would!! They certainly feel like they are quality pruners.
+Jay Martinson I'm glad you picked them up!
+Jay Martinson glad you picked them up!
Hi guys I got 3 Felco 2 pruners new original Swiss Made, i have to buy 3 for a good price,
Any way if any one need to shear me with those let me know , I live in Jersey
some of hf tools are pretty good now....just need a little diy tweek when get it home and u save yourself lots of money.....that good ....extra money for treating your self lobster dinner that can not be duplicated....hahahahahahaha
Felco is a copy???
Felco is the original, harbor freight made the copies.
@@ShawneeUnion I know
Like listening to an old gramaphone...
Kinda shocked that people can get away with that.
Actually they can get away with it because patents expire, and evidently this is a very competitive market, with dozens of patents that stretch back 140 years! Don't feel too bad for Felco, because they took a number of elements for their designs from other expired patents. The spring that is used in this pruner goes back to a patent in the 1940's! So all the companies pretty much do this. As such, this is a highly refined design, and perhaps partly explains why they are popular!