Fits well in hand. Good blade. 3 stars because sloppy assembly so the locking mechanism does not reach the notch that is intended to hold the blades shut.

My mum has gone through several gardening shears but they would either keep sticking or was not ergonomic enough causing her arthritic pain to flare up.I finally watched a youtube review exhibiting several brands including the very expensive swiss one and this one came a close 2nd! As it was budget friendly also I purchased it for her and she couldn't be happier! Sharp Japanese blades with its ergonomic handle makes her tasks a breeze! Will def purchase again even if it does wear down in the future!

Three years of regular use here. I've owned/used Corona, Bahco, various Fiskars, and tons of random off-brand pruners/secateurs. These are probably the best value pruners I've come across. Excellent out of the package, sharp AF, easy to clean, well-made, Japanese quality. Compared to the Felco F2, they are slightly more petite and great for medium/smaller hands, though I have large hands and they're fine.The more narrow jaw opening and shorter blade means you won't be cutting really large material as you could with the Felco F2. These are more comparable to the Felco F6, which have a shorter blade and more narrow grip span. I have not, however, really had any issues due to this, and I appreciate the more agile feeling of these for more precision work. If you're doing a lot of big branch pruning and heavy cutting, Felco F2 might be the way to go.There are no corrosion issues as you can get with Felco blades, as the ARS are stainless steel. An occasional cleaning with a light abrasive pad or steel wool with some alcohol gets these shiny again, no problem. That said, stainless steel is generally considered to be a little harder to sharpen than carbon steel, though I've sharpened these maybe three times with a hardened steel edge sharpener (Corona sharpener) and a couple light passes was sufficient to get them plenty sharp.Downsides: Blade adjustment can be a pain. The pivot screw and Nylock nut have to be tightened *just right* to have the blade snug as it bypasses the hook/anvil, but not so tight that it binds. I use a socket wrench on the Nylock nut, and a crescent wrench on the screw head, and monkey with it until it feels right. The design decision for this type of adjustment seems inexplicable to me. Felco wins in this area.The only other nit to pick is the tolerances (tightness) compared to Felco are slightly more loose. The bypass cut has a little more gap and just a bit of wobble between the blade and hook. In practice, it's never been an issue that I can recall. It cuts like a champ and unless you're super dialed in to this detail, you likely won't notice.My advice: If you want ze best, with super tight tolerances and precision engineering, and don't mind more regular maintenance, go Felco. Otherwise, get these for 30-some damn dollars. And if the ARS feel good out of the box, don't mess with it, clean it occasionally, oil it every now and then and these will serve you quite well for a nice price.

Feels very solid in hand and razor-sharp. Very similar to my Felco 6 in terms of build quality. Feels much higher quality than similarly priced Fiskers,

once I received my order I went to work. the lock is crap, you have to squeeze it so hard to lock the larger blade sticks out the other side, dangerous!!! I had a hard time cutting branches that where dead. Had to really squeeze hard.