There are hundreds of different types and designs of scissors, in countless different sizes, colours and brands. We took a practical approach to checking out the desk-worthiness of the everyday office scissors. So we set them to work on a 55-page thin magazine and then the same magazine folded in half, for the '110-page thin magazine challenge'.
Now we could find out if the famous brands really are that much better than common or garden brands.
The Scissor stakes
The contenders - 4 of our best-selling scissors
1.
Suresafe Titanium Scissors 
2.
5 Star General Purpose Scissors 
3.
5 Star Premier Scissors 
4.
5 Star 6.5 inch Scissors 
Firstly, and least importantly: there is already a clear favourite, regardless of its usefulness; I tend to prefer
blue scissors. Black is just a bit too boring for me. But onto the test!
That said, the
5 Star general purpose black scissors do look interesting and had no problem going through the magazine, either for the standard 55 pages or the folded 110. Clearly the scissors are pretty meaty and seem capable of tackling more than just paper. They also have an in-built bottle-opening device, between the handles – perfect for those late finishes when you need to blend a little light drinking with your tasks.
The
5 Star black general purpose scissors had no problem at all with either of the cutting tasks.
The
Suresafe blue titanium scissors performed best of all and slid through the magazine with ease. They were really comfortable to cut with, have a nice rubber inner within the handle and cut in a very smooth and consistent manner.
The
5 Star Premier Scissors weren’t too bad, coming in a close second.
The original “looker”, the
5 Star General Purpose Scissors, actually didn’t do very well; there is no rubber on the handles, making them harder for me to use. I can’t imagine cutting anything more than 40 pages with this, without struggling a little.
As for the
5 Star 6.5 inch Scissors; these are best left for the more delicate jobs, like cutting up a Post-it note.
Maybe brands do matter - what with the
Suresafe scissors star-shaped screw mechanism and rubber grip, as well as the strong cutting, they really are an excellent pair of scissors.
It does depend on what you intend to use scissors for, but if you’re an adrenaline junkie of a scissors user, I would go for the best quality branded scissors, always with a rubber grip. If you want value I would cut the brands (no pun intended) and posh star screws and go for one of the
standard 5 star scissors.