Let me start by saying that I did see the youtube video showing that the sciXors were sub-par, but I really like the form factor so much that I broke down and ordered a pair. I found a dealer in Ireland on Ebay selling them for about $11.00 and free shipping, so I bought sciXors. After, I found that unique titanium had them for $7.95 and free shipping. When they arrived in about 6 days, I opend the package and began testing the sciXors. The video on youtube is spot on. These are the worst pair of scissors I have ever used. Other than regular paper, these will not easily cut anything else. After watching the video, I though, well, paracord would be a little hard for a small pair of scissors to cut. I'm sure th sciXors are more useful that the video shows. They are not! I could not even get them to cut a loose thread from my shirt. I really wanted these to be better than they actually are. I like the form factor, I like the way the keyring attached to them, and I thought sure, they won't work as well as full sized scissors, but they will be great for EDC. However, as neat as they look, save your money. Yes, they can be had for under $10.00, but I can think of a lot better uses for $10.00 than on the True Utility sciXors.
Thanks so much for this review. I was also going to disregard that youtube review and order the SciXors since my Micra seems to perform much better than that reviewer's model. But with independent confirmation of the (lack of) performance, I think I'll pass, even though I love the concept.
Mine just arrived. They're pretty indeed. I was hoping to solve that by sharpening them properly since I do like the form factor, but after a close inspection it might not be worth my time. The way the edge is angled is just to straight to be real useful -when compared to regular functioning scissors- and what doesn't help neither is that the blades themselves are pretty thick, so the way it's designed it actually works against itself. It's seems like it would take quite a bit of filing to get a more useful edge on them. I might still give it a try though, but I don't have a vice here at home so it'll have to wait until I visit someone that has one anyway. If I ever get to it I will report back here.
Three pairs of top-notch keychain sized scissors I use: Victorinox Classic SD (Alox if you want skinny and can afford it) SAK Leatherman Micra (or similar scissors based mini multitools they make) Fiskars Heritage folding scissors
I had a similar experience - saw the review, heard they were junk, tried them out anyway, found out they were junk. However I'm wondering if sharpening the blades would help - they don't seem very sharp out of the packaging.
I tend to find that in general, TU have good ideas for their products but they are implemented against such a cost constraint to stay in line with their target market that they just end up being products that represent their cheap price. It's a shame really.