They say you get what you pay for. But not always. Sometimes, the cheapest products can perform nearly or just as well as much-higher-priced brands.
In the realm of tools, I always look to Todd of Project Farm to unearth these inexpensive gems. In this testing video, he looks at needle nose pliers from Klein Tools, Stanley, Knipex, and others. He tests for handle wobble, weight, grip strength, twisting force, tooth damage, cutting strength, and overall build quality.
Surprisingly, in the end, the Kobalt pliers, at $11, performed the best, with the Klein Tools pliers (at $30) also performing well.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
