From a Contractor

I have two professional Carpenter crews installing Hardie Siding 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I have used the Porter Cable and the Kett siding shears and these are a full step ahead of those. They are solid professoinal grade shears with full steel heads that don't break after one or two houses. ^M
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I gave up on a circular saw some time ago becasuse of the cost (2-3 blades per house at a minimium cost of $30 per blade). Save your lungs and stay away from the light duty shears. Even if you are only doing one house these are the shears for you. ^M
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My clients also appreciate the quiet work since we gave up the circular saws. ^M
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One note - they cut a much wider piece out of the plank than a circular saw and can leave a bit of a rough end. If you are butting the siding to the trim then have a wood rasp handy to clean the end. If you are overlapping the trim this is not a problem. ^M
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Only wish they had a shear that would cut the 3/4 inch trim!

Wow, What a difference!!

I started a project to re-side my entire house about thwo months ago. Since I'm only working on the weekends, it's going to take me some time. I had never done this type of work before and purhcased a Hardi-Blade for my circular saw. It created an enormous amount of dust (that according to Hardie is toxic). After doing some research (including Hardie's site) I found out the tool of choice for most professionals is a fiber-cement shear. I found out the best product for that job is this Snapper Shear SS404. ^M
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The circ saw I used before was difficult to control, slow and inaccurate. This shear from Pacific Tool is the best thing for slicing Hardi-plank. It cuts more accurately, faster and can be done without someone else holding the board for you. It's awesome. Well every penny of the price I paid here at Amazon. I'll never go back to the "dust cloud" hardi-blade.

Snaper

Should be part of the tools at your hardware local hardware store! Thanks P.I.T. for saving my lungs.^M
Spud