I just had a war with an old round-wheel cutter today and have had enough ! I came here looking for something that just worked every time. Thanks for reviewing these !
A great review of a series of cutters from a down home guy who uses or used them, telling it like it is. Fantastic! And he leaves us with two choices. Very unusual. But the price difference between the Lenox PVC Cutter and the Rigid RC 1626 PVC Cutters is so small that I'm going to order the Rigid cutters even though they are probably more than I need. Bur quality rules for my tools. And I plan to pass them down. I have many of my father's tools who passed away in 2009. And the quality of most of the hand tools he bought in the 1950s is light years ahead of the quality of tools we can find today.
I am going to return my Irwin pipe cutters because they only did two reasonable cuts of 50mm PVC DWV pipe, though the blade has always compressed and distorted the pipe too much during the process. The Irwin is supposed to be able to cope with 63.5mm pipe. Subsequent attempts to cut the PVC pipe cause it to shatter.
I always have trouble cutting straight with those types. Or maybe those red and black cheap cutters at Home Depot just have too narrow of a jaw. Seems like the Rigid version has a wider jaw. For my DIY projects, it's crucial to have nice squared cuts.
I have a Kobalt 02146974. It cuts up to 2 3/8 inch. I can cut 2 inch pvc with little pressure. It has a quick change blade, and cost 27 dollars. I just needed it to finish the plumbing for our place we just bought. I probably won't use them a lot more after this, but they worked great for me. I would recommend the Kobalt ones. They are designed like the one he's recommending here. You can get them at Lowes.