I've seen the Porter Cable shears advertised at a much lower price than the Snappers, in the range that you paid, and I've been tempted to try one. It's hard to justify another one when I have two Snappers, however. At the time I bought my first Snapper, I wasn't aware of the P-C models; I'm not sure if they were available yet. I've been using Hardie products for quite a while -- almost since they were first available. Hardie recommends the snapper, but that doesn't mean the Porter Cable won't do the job. They're not available at any local Home Depots in my area (4 of them within a 17 mile radius!) The Snapper does have a lifetime warranty; I've sent one back and it was rebuilt for free. In fact, that's why I have two; one broke in the middle of a job, and I couldn't wait until it was repaired and returned, so I bought another one the same day the first one broke. It was cheap when you consider that it kept a $12K job on schedule.