You really need these when you need to strip thin wires. I'm very tired of stripping small wires with a knife, wire cutters, scissors, or SOMETHING else that wasn't designed for the job. I'm in a situation where I need to strip category 5 and 6 cables from time to time (not for normal network cables). It's 22 or 24 AWG and that makes it a lot easier. An off-topic tip: someone asked me what you do when you need to strip wires smaller than this. You're probably soldering in that little gauge, and you can usually just remove them with the heat of a soldering iron.