Next Generation Irwin Heavy Duty Trigger Clamps. A Major Downgrade From the Old Version.

At the top my favourite trigger clamp I bought in the mid 2000's and at the bottom the new version introduced in 2018 I believe.

I use the heavy duty Irwin Quick-Grip clamps daily in my shop.  I love how quick and easy they are to use for a multiple of holding tasks.  One feature I love about them, is that they apply even pressure across the 3.5 inch long no-marring rubber pads attached to the jaws.  I have been wanting to get two more for months now, and last week I saw that they were on sale at my local hardware store, so I purchased two.  At first glance, other than a few cosmetic differences, the new version looked exactly the same as the old one.  Sadly, they are not the same and have a major flaw which is very unfortunate.  The following pictures and video will show you what I discovered.

My old clamp. Notice how the backing blocks on the lower part of the rubber pads are perfectly shaped to rest on the inner jaws of the clamp.

The new version. Notice that the lower part of the rubber jaws backing blocks are not touching the inside of the clamp's jaws. There is quite a large gap there.

My old clamp applies even pressure across the whole length of the rubber pads thus holding securely these two 2x4 together.

The new version at first glance looks like the rubber pads are applying even pressure over their whole length but in fact only the top half of the pads are applying pressure on the 2x4's.

The new version's lower part of the rubber pads do not contact the inside of the clamp's jaws so there is no pressure applied there to the 2x4's

In comparaison, my old clamp's lower part of the rubber pads are completely supported by the inside of the clamp's jaws.

The following video demonstrates how this gap between the jaws and the rubber pads on the new version of the clamp, prevents an even distribution of the clamping pressure over the whole 3.5 inches clamping surface of the the jaws.