This pair of tongs has a good grip, and good nylon tips. My only gripe is that the arms of the tongs could be a bit easier to clean, but it is a good utensil over all.

These are great tongs. The other zillion people rating them should have you convinced of that by now. Even though I'm very satisfied I'm going to concentrate on my complaints instead of their virtues.

Cons(-)
- hard to get clean without a dishwasher. The arms are not closed but curve under towards the food side, making a long skinny cave for stuff to hide.
- The rubber grips on the arms are far from heat safe. I'm not sure how they ever got exposed to direct heat there without my hand burning up first, but they did.

Neutral
- In retrospect a longer pair would make some jobs easier. Nine inches is really only right for the stove top.

Pros (+)
- Many, see the other reviews.
- Notably the locking design is vastly superior to the foolish old ring design, what were we ever thinking?

Verdict: buy 'em.

This is "The Tong" in our kitchen. I mean, we have others but this is always the first one that my wife and me grabs first when cooking. We use it for frying as well as to turn barbecues. Bought 4 years ago and still working fine.

Pros:
-Soft tip. It will not scratch your pans.
-Locking. You pull the rubber tip to lock it and push to unlock. This preserve some valuable space inside the kitchen drawers.
-Rubberized grip to prevent slipping.

Cons:
-The soft tip is not completely heat proof. It will burn if you accidentally lay it too close to the fire. It will melt if you fry at very high heat.

I would have five of these in my kitchen if I could, I'm always finding a use for them. I also love to give them as wedding gifts because they are so useful and not many people have them. Recently the husband of a couple I gave them to thanked and told me he uses them all the time!
I'm pretty sure that Cook's Illustrated highly recommended Oxo Good Grips tongs - I certainly love them.

I use this quite often with my cooking. Great for many uses; turning meat, veggies as they brown, lifting out of pan to serve, barbecuing, etc.
It protects my nonstick pans from being scratched. Quite simply, I love these tongs! The 12-inch length is better than the 8-inch too.