Knipex Mini Pliers Compared: 08 05 110 Mini Combination Pliers vs 87 01 125 Mini Cobra

Introduction

Knipex has built a reputation on full-size professional pliers, but its smallest offerings deserve just as much attention. The 08 05 110 Mini Combination Pliers and the 87 01 125 Mini Cobra are both aimed at the same idea: a genuinely useful plier that weighs almost nothing and takes up almost no space. Both land under 100 grams, which puts them squarely in the territory of motorcycle tool kits, EDC loads, and ultralight tool roll experiments.

This comparison looks at what each one actually does well, where the differences sit, and which one makes more sense for the kind of work you do.

Knipex 08 05 110 Mini Combination Pliers

Knipex markets the 08 05 110 as a mini combination plier, listing it at four and a quarter inches. Measured on the bench, it runs closer to four and three quarter inches, so it sits in the same size realm as a pair of compact ignition pliers. It is a very light plier, and the comfort-grip handles feel like a necessity rather than a luxury at this scale.

Despite the small footprint, it performs three distinct functions. The cutting knives are smooth and sit behind a recessed opening that gives you more room to manipulate the workpiece. The rounded jaw with coarse broaching can grab a small bolt, nut, or tube. And the standard flat jaws use a single-direction gripping surface rather than a crosshatch pattern, a detail reportedly chosen so technicians can control whether a wire gets scored when grabbed, since crosshatch tends to gouge into wire no matter how carefully you squeeze.

The jaw itself is small, a little over six millimetres thick, and it reads as a junior version of a full-size lineman plier. It weighs just over 80 grams, which makes it a serious candidate for a one-kilogram tool kit, where it could represent roughly an eighth of the total weight budget. It also carries about 20 grams less than the Mini Cobra, which matters when every gram is being counted.

Cutting and Gripping Performance

The cutting knives on the 08 05 110 are notably smooth, and in testing it managed to slice through 12-gauge grounded Romex, though not in a single clean bite. The knives did not fully cover the wire, so the cut required working around the conductor with a little effort. It can be done if you need it to, but cutting heavy cable is clearly not this plier’s intended job.

As a grabber and cutter of small wire, fasteners, and thin stock, it behaves like a proper tool rather than a novelty. Compared directly with a Leatherman, the plier function here is simply better: if what you actually want is a plier, a dedicated small plier beats the folding multi-tool version of one.

Knipex 87 01 125 Mini Cobra

The 87 01 125 Mini Cobra is the classic EDC plier in this size class, and next to the 08 05 110 it looks even smaller. Despite the visual difference, the two are within a tenth of a gram of each other in weight, so both are exceptionally light. Underneath the dipped handle, the metal runs all the way to the end of the grip, so the construction feels solid rather than hollowed out.

The Mini Cobra has a smooth finish on the metal that is less grippy than the standard Cobra’s dipped handles, but it fits the hand well. It is slightly wider and thicker than the 08 05 110, with jaw thickness measurements coming in around 3.7 millimetres in the thinnest area and roughly 6.1 to 6.6 millimetres across the jaw body, just half a millimetre or so thicker than the mini combination plier. Its rated capacity is listed around 10 millimetres, though it can feel a touch smaller in use.

This is the one people have been carrying in motorcycle tool kits for years, where limited space and a hard weight ceiling make a light, small, capable plier genuinely valuable.

Which One Belongs in Your Tool Kit

If you want a small lineman-style plier with three working functions, the 08 05 110 is the more versatile pick. If you want the established EDC favourite with a finer profile, the Mini Cobra earns its reputation. Both are legitimate tools rather than also-rans, which matters when the goal is to fill each slot in a compact kit with the right tool instead of a close-enough compromise.

Conclusion

The 08 05 110 Mini Combination Pliers and the 87 01 125 Mini Cobra sit within a gram of each other in weight but take different approaches: one is a micro lineman plier with cutting, broaching, and flat gripping surfaces, the other is the tried-and-tested mini Cobra. Either one gives you a real plier in a package small enough for a motorcycle kit, an EDC pouch, or an ultralight tool roll.