I'm going to be pirchasing a finish nailer. I dont have a lot of space and have a basement shop (up and down stairs with tools). I like the idea of a battery powered nailer, I'm sure its not cheap though. Is it a good way to go, or not? Do they carry enough power, is the technology developed enough to produce a tool worth investing in?
Forget cordless nail guns, unless it is something like a Paslode framing nailer. Cordless brad nailers, pinners or staplers never really drive the nails flush, are inconsistent and just don't have the power for anything harder than pine :-(
Stick to pneumatic nailers and don't look back! Even some of the cheap Harbor Freight nailers are pretty good for semi-regular use. Just about all nailers will run off even the smaller pancake compressors.
-- Regards,
Dean Bielanowski Editor, Online Tool Reviews
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I had a chance to play with a couple of DeWalt cordless nailers and liked them both. If you like to fire nails at a rapid clip, machine gun style, you may prefer the 18 volt model. Otherwise, the 14.4 volt gun ought to be fine. The major downside is they will set you back $400 or more.
I've never regretted buying an air compressor and air nailer, which will perform better than battery-operated. There are a lot of other uses for the compressor besides driving the nailer, e.g. auto/bike tires, air mattresses, basketballs etc.
Price them out and compare the difference to the battery type.
As opposed to one of the Porter-Cable deals that might feature both the brad nailer and finish nailer along with a pancake compressor and hose, etc. for about or slightly less. Then too, when the Ni-cad battery pack craps out you can drop another $75-$100 to replace it.
I tried 4 different CORDED brad nailers and didn't find anything that did the job that my $15 HF nailers do.. I use the old Craftsman power staple gun (corded) a lot though, and it works great..
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