This is what I have been using for years. They are great. But the blades dull pretty quick. I use them mostly for cutting wire and cable on rough in, but they get heavy use in general. They are small enough to fit in my back pocket. Comfortable grips. Fairly inexpensive.....I have gone through about 6 sets in the last 9 or 10 years. They cut through pretty much anything I have thrown at them, including the dumb 2+2 bundled stuff we try not to use anymore. 6 CAT cables at a time.

[Link: kleintools.com]

Looking to maybe explore other options this time, since my current ones got left behind in a crawlspace I was not in the mood to crawl back into.

I don't want to lug around the 9"+ heavy cable cutters. Something small, but can cut through any wire we would ever use, and Romex. I prefer the shear action cutters. They don't smoosh the wires.

What do you use and recommend?

Is it just plain evil of me to even freakin' bring up the fact that these will last A LOT longer if you only cut copper? Yeah, that good ol' CCS RG6 will ruin the blade. So will cutting screws....

J K.

I couldn't possibly carry around something that big with me all the time.

I prefer these for day to day cable cutting: [Link: kleintools.com]

When I know we'll be doing a lot of cutting, like demo'ing an office space or ripping out large bundles of cable, that's when our large cable cutters come out.

The scissors seem like they work forever, never get dull, etc. I just had to replace my last pair after 8 years because the foam on the grip finally fell off.

I use the Ideal data cable cutter for just about everything, but they have 'For Copper Only' or something similar stamped into the blade and they aren't kidding- CCS doesn't do these any favors. If I nick the blade, I disassemble them and fix the edge but eventually, I just replace and keep the old ones for hacking cable when I don't care if I damage the blade. For cutting wire that's too much for the data cable cutter, I have a SnapOn diagonal cutter that has cut many screws and shows no damage in 30 years.

I have only ever used Channel Lock side cutters. I get the ones that are angled which allows me to pry wire staples/nails out without needing another tool in my bag. They don't do big bundled wire but will cut electrical wire no problem. When cutting nails, screws, etc. I use my linesman. Any big electrical wire we either use the large cable cutters or a ratchet cable cutter.