NorproNonstick Stainless Locking Mini Tongs

Norpro products are usually good--I have many. A friend had a pair of locking tongs in this small size and I hoped these were a match. Sadly, not so: they are lighter-weight, flimsy, hard to hold on to. They're OK for light duty, but just because foods are small doesn't mean they don't need a sturdy tong to grab them. I hope to find a pair this size but with the heft and quality stainless steel of larger Oxo models.

I bought these tongs for one job only, turning over bacon in a non-stick pan. They do this admirably, and I expect them to remain in service for at least a few years. Since adding these to my utensil jar, I find myself reaching for them more and more often.A couple of things that should be mentioned:The tongs have a spiffy little feature that allows them to be locked closed. This is great for tucking them away. All of my other spring loaded tongs need a rubber band to hold them closed.They're very lightweight....perhaps a little too lightweight. I'm not expecting to get decades of service out of them...but they're cheap. When they finally do fail, they'll be replaced.

It doesn't scratch the pan surface but the mechanism for locking them closed is flimsy. I bought 3 of these total and all three have different feels for how much preassure it takes to pull the mechanism out or push it in for locking and opening the tongs. Two of them allow the tongs to close tightly while the third has a gap I cannot fully close. The metal is light and feels like it could bend if you tried to grip something with the tongs that had any weight to them. BUT, for lettuce or tomato slices, no problem. A chicken wing... not so much.The nonstick surface is harder plastic and does not appear to be as heat resistant as other brands I have used.

These tongs are tiny! They're adorably miniaturized versions of the large tongs you see more often. They work exactly the same way, but are a little more precise and delicate due to the size. I particularly like the nonstick coating on the grips for a few reasons. They don't scratch my pans (a huge bonus when working with coated pans), they don't gunk up and are therefore easy to clean, and they're blunter than metal so they don't pierce or slice my food.Buy these if you've got things to turn and manipulate at high heat in short ranges.

PRO:Small enough to use for everyday tasks like pulling food out of the toaster oven and flipping over small food (i.e. spring rolls, burger patties)CONS:Too small for grilling steaks and larger pieces of meatThe lock mechanism at the bottom pops out when you hold the tongs upside down (lock facing down), thereby locking it even if you don't want it to. Better to keep them pointed downwards to avoid this.The material is also pretty cheaply made, I think I could find a similar item in a dollar store.OVERALLDoes the job but I would buy it somewhere else next time.

Wife had some really long tongs that looked just like this that wasn't really kitchen friendly. They are like 16" long! Who wants to flip bacon 16" away? Anyway, we bought these thinking they were the same quality, they were not. They do serve their purpose, but the quailty just wasn't there. Thin stamped steel (or stainless steel) handle, but what can you expect for this price. Bumped it up another star after reading my own review.

Read 'mini' then think smaller. I have had a couple sets of tongs, and usually there's a large and smaller one. I assumed mini was maybe a tiny bit smaller than what I considered a standard 'small' one. Make sure to look at the product dimensions =].Other than that they're very well made and I use them more frequently than any other set of tongs because they're easier to fit in the dishwasher and I don't always need the range

These are a little smaller than I expected. But the reason for 3 stars is because the locking mechanism slips into locked position when the tongs are closed around whatever you want to turn. You can pull the locking mechanism out to open the tongs again, but when they are holding something, that's kind of awkward. If you don't mind doing that and don't need them to be very big, then this is fine.