These shears are great so far, but I've only used them a couple times this spring. They are incredibly capable of trimming even thicker (~1/4 inch) green branches on the larger shrubs which I thought they might choke on a bit. The grips are comfortable and the length of the blades allows you to shear large swaths of whatever it is that you are trimming. The hole on the end of the blade is a mystery to me; when this item arrived there was a tag secured using that hole, but surely it's not there just for that reason? If it has any real purpose I'd love to know, but it certainly has not hindered its functionality either.