Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I compared the following fabric shears, listed in order of how well I liked them: 1. The Kai 7250: 10 inch Professional Shears N7250 (7250) - Professional Shears 2. The Gingher 10 Inch Knife Edge Bent Trimmers (Note: I list these here because I prefer this length, but I only tested the 8" and 12" models below.) 3. The Kai 7300: 12 inch Professional Shears N7300 (7300) - Professional Shears 4. The Gingher Knife Edge Bent Trimmers 12 5. The Gingher G-8T KE Tailors Shears, 8-Inch 6. The Gingher G-8 8-Inch Knife-Edge Dressmaker's Shears 7. The "Kai 110: 11 inch Tailoring Shears S-110 (S-110) - Professional Shears" 8. The "Kai 7240-AS: 10 inch Serrated Edge Shears N7240-AS (7240-AS) - Professional Shears" I bought all the Ginghers on Amazon, and all the Kais from their web site (Amazon doesn't sell them). I evaluated them by cutting eight 4" long layered sheets of lightweight cotton fabric at once. My criteria were: - smoothness of cutting - was the edge straight, or did it wave? - comfort of scissors (hand position, weight, tightness of grip) - how often did I have to open the scissors to cut the 4" fabric? With all 8" shears I had to open them too often, resulting in more effort needed to get a straight cut. With all 12" shears I had to open them too wide, which was difficult even with my very large (size 10+) hands. I thus settled on a 10" pair. The Ginghers are all excellent -- better than any of those colored-handle shears I've tried. They are rumored to last 25 years, and they're not that expensive ($25). Of those, the tailoring shears were ever-so-slightly smoother than the dressmaker shears. Not sure why. But the Kai 7000 series were simply better. They're smoother, lighter-weight, sharper, nicer engineering, and they offer a $14 sharpening service. Wow. Them's be some sharp scissors. Holy cow. Did the "let's gently run my thumb perpedicular to this blade" test and a minute later realized I was bleeding... Didn't even feel it. Must also say the customer service was top-notch. They sent me the 3 pair I wanted to test in advance, and didn't charge my card till I picked the one I liked best. Yes, they're $70. But Gingher's 10" pair are $50, too. If you're looking for the best bang for your buck, I'd get the "Gingher G-8T KE Tailors Shears, 8-Inch" ($25). If you're looking for the best fabric shears period, I'd get the Kai 7000 series (the 10" ones for me). Update (01/09/2013): A fellow reviewer pointed out to me that Amazon now carries some of the Kai shears. I have added links above to those they carry at this time. And I still recommend looking at the manufacturer's web site. They offered me super service -- really above and beyond.