Customer Reviews

Amco Stainless-Steel and Nylon Locking Tongs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was excited to receive these tongs thinking how handy & safe they would be to use on non-stick surfaces and the handle length would keep my hands further from the pan. My gripe is that the locking mechanism is just plain lousy. It won't allow the tongs to fully open or fully close. To have to use two hands to open them defeats the purpose of one hand operation. Yes, I know how to use tongs. Believe me, IT'S THE TONGS! Because they don't fully open I can't pick up anything greater than 1/2" to 3/4" meats. My K-mart "Special" works better than these. Why don't I send them back? Why add to my cost (postage that's not reimbused) and aggravation (standing in a post office to mail them). I use them in the garden to hold thorny rose stems, they lock onto those.

They are acceptable as one can use them w/ non-stick cookware. They were the only tongs I was able to find for use w/ non-stick cookware, when I ordered them last year.
They do not grip well at all: the "gripping" parts shift when you try to grip something. They also have really sharp edges on all the stainless steel parts. I expected a better quality from the Amco brand. BTW, the locking mechanism works just the opposite than most other "regular" tongs I have used + the mechanism also unexpectedly disengages by itself...

I am probably Amco's biggest supporter. Their products are not only professionally stylish but are the most practical tools I've ever owned.

What makes these tongs especially great is it's ability to be used on non-stick surfaces. This is especially important and a necessary investment when you've already poured out hundreds on your All Clad Ltd, Calphalon, Analon and other professional non-stick cookwares.

These tongs are useful when you're frying/bbq ing on a non stick grill. This is the most useful tool for flipping meat, pork and other stuff on non-stick grills.

I received these tongs as a wedding gift, and my husband and I couldn't be happier with them. We use them for my nonstick grill pan to turn the meat. They open large enough to turn chicken, steak, fish...just about any meat you could think of to grill. I also use them to turn fried chicken. They don't scratch my pans, and I can just throw them in the dishwasher to clean.

For reveiwers who can't get them to open, there must be a problem with yours, because mine open to a full 7" and grip the meat beautifully. Of course you have to squeeze - unless you have invented a springloaded tong that does the work for you, all tongs require squeezing to grip the food. Also, for those reviewers who don't think there is a locking mechanism, all you do is close the tongs and push the curved metal piece at the end down.

Wouldn't bother with these if you don't cook on nonstick surfaces. After about a month, I am already noticing some wear (ie - melting) in the tips. They are A LOT bigger than they need to be, making using them somewhat difficult especially when you are trying to handle small pieces of food (shrimp for example). They are also a bit stiff - meaning you really have to squeeze them to grab the food. Finally, there is no way to lock the tongs closed when you store them away, so they take up a lot of room in your drawers. The stiffness and size are the biggest problem with these tongs.

Since there are few alternatives to tongs to select from when cooking on nonstick surfaces, these will work just fine.

Great item! I have looked for something like this to use in non-stick cookware so as not to scratch. It is finally here!! I have used it several times. It is a great product. I even bought one for my sister too! I love it and I am sure you will too.

Tongs seem to be well constructed, nylon coated tips are nice. Only complaint is that handle locking isn't very sturdy. They easily open, lock closed because metal piece moves so freely.

It serves the purpose that it was designed for but a little flimsy for my taste.

After purchasing this quite a while ago from Amazon and after almost daily use since then :::

[1] It's THE SAFEST utensil that this older, rather unsteady, & quite short woman has found so far to handle ANY hot foods cooking on any flat surface. -- Just for one example : I oven-char many veggies before using in a recipe : eggplant, tomatoes, garlic, onions, etc. The idea is to blacken & blister the veggies' skin all over under the oven broiler, so it then comes off very easily after a brief icewater bath. -- For me, it's better if I can rotate the veggies while they're still under the broiler, rather than having to pull the broiler pan in & out to do it. Well, before I tried these tongs it was always either my oven mitt or ME, not the veggies, which got the most charring-blackening-blistering during the rotating process!

[2] In answer to a previous reviewer's difficulty using the tongs with regular metal (not nonstick) pans: We have sets of both types of pans. These tongs WILL work perfectly with regular metal pans IF you apply a very light spray or coating of some sort on the pan. -- Our choice is always a good-quality olive oil [the Misto sprayer sold here at Amazon does a fantastic & quick job of delivering a truly LIGHT coating of any oil]. However, a very small amount of any cooking oil or even butter, spread around with a paper towel as the metal pan is just beginning to warm, will also do the trick. -- Let's face it, nothing but a heavy hand with a heavy spatula is gonna pry a pork chop off a metal surface on or under high heat!

[3] This and especially its shorter companions (which were also available at one time here at Amazon too, not sure if they still are) make very good-looking & easy-to-use SERVING utensils AT THE TABLE, for various kinds of salads, for bread or rolls, for chops or small steaks, in fact for just about anything that's not 'liquidy'. -- The locking feature helps them take up much less room in or atop a serving dish or actually on the table than one would think. -- AND, if you want spoon-rests or "TONG-RESTS" for the business end of these things : Try a pretty set of those shallow long/narrow corn-on-the-cob serving dishes! They work perfectly for either tabletop or stovetop.

I saw these tongs while browsing and noticed the great review. I was looking for nylon tongs, since I had recently purchased a nice set of stainless steel cookware.

Well, when I got them home, I realized they did not LOCK! I didn't thick of this while reviewing different tongs - I thought it was a default to have tongs that locked.

Aside from not locking, they were awkward to use. They were too large to handle shrimp or thin cuts of meat.

After a few months I tossed these for a nice set of nylon OXO tongs, which LOCK and work well for all types of meats and usage.