Well, after reading all the reviews and checking them out in person at local suppliers, I bought the Makita AN611. Sweet!!!!It's about 1 pound lighter than the Bostitch, makes it easier to carry and use. It load easily and operating it is quite easy. I was especially impressed with the ability to adjust the depth setting of the nails without needing a tool. I'm working with cedar. I drove a few and make my adjustment and drove some more. No muss, no fuss.Love a tool that lives up to it's billing. Mine cost $350. at a local supplier. For that amount of money, when I'm done I can resell it for 50% and feel great. Makita AN611 1-1/4-Inch to 2-1/2-Inch Coil Siding Nailer
I needed a siding nailer for Hardiplank siding. After reading a few reviews I opted to try the Makita AN611. This nailer is absolutely the best engineered nailer I have come across. I own several Porter Cable, Bostitch, Dewalt and Bosch pneumatic nailers and staplers and each have their plus and minuses. The Makita has NO minuses I can find.
Canister loading is a snap, and the hinged head eliminated any need for disassembly of the head should it jamb (shouldn't be a problem for this tool).
Depth setting are plentifully (9 settings) and easily accessible.
Very convenient selector provides sequential or bounce fire. No changing of triggers or mechanical adjustments.
Exhaust adjustable 360 deg.
Rubber guard on housing to protect tool and eliminate scratching of surfaces.
Relatively light considering the quality.
Nice rubber grip and well balanced.
I have often wrestled with tools and surmise that the engineers that designed the tool never actually had to use it.
The folks at Makita have got this one right!
It's a bit pricy, but it is a specialty tool and other siding nailers are comparably priced. This one also comes with a case, another bonus...
So here's my story. I ordered the gun, it arrived in a timely fashion and without any damage. After running a few coils through it, I got to looking at the contact tip, nose, or whatever you want to call it. In the ad (from September 2006) it stated (and I quote):
"Technical Details
Non-slipping nose is the ideal shape for diagonal nailing
Non-marring nose adaptor prevents scratches"
The picture matched this description, showing a toothed contact nose. However, this is NOT what I got. Instead, the gun came with a round, TOOTHLESS steel nose; it did NOT come with a toothed nose (for sheating, toe-nailing, etc.), nor did it come with a rubber adaptor (for siding) as the pic and ad would lead you to believe.
Anyway, this was a problem for me as I intended to use the AN611 as a back-up sheathing gun as well as a siding gun. The round steel nose is far from ideal for nailing OSB or plywood, and is downright useless for toe-nailing.
After numerous calls to Amazon and Makita, I finally got the scoop. Apparently Makita discontinued the toothed nose version in Fall 2005 in favor of the rounded thing they sent me. (I guess Amazon had been selling pre-changeover inventory until I ordered mine...) However, they apprarently failed to notify Amazon of this fact, and did not even bother to update their own website with a proper pic. Worse yet, the Makita rep told me that the toothed nose piece (just the nose piece itself) has been discontinued as well, and that they only had two left. That is, two left ANYWHERE. Well, there is only ONE left now because I bought one of them (plus a rubber nose adaptor for the teeth). This cost like $35, which Amazon credited me for...
The new (toothed) nose piece arrived in a timely manner. Unfortunately, it turns out that you have to virtually dismantle the gun to swap the nose pieces. So that was a bit annoying, but I got it done without incident.
As for performance. I really like the gun. It has plenty of power for sheathing with 2-3/8" ring shank (0.099) as well as plenty of power for 2-1/2" smooth shank (0.099) into fiber cement siding. Depth of drive works very well. Select trigger works very well, the grip is comfortable, it is well-balanced, and light weight. The case is also nice, and I like the belt hook.
However, unless you plan on doing ONLY siding, I think you will be frustrated with the new round steel nose, and I think Makita has made a mistake by changing this feature - it needlessly reduces the flexibility of this otherwise terrific nail gun. So that brings me back to where I started, nice gun, BUT...
I spent a few days researching coil siding nailers. I needed a nailer that could do both cedar shingles as well as siding. After researching all of the guns, this one fell into a mid range price with excellent reviews. I bought the gun and it is extremely reliable and works great. It is lightweight, has perfect balance, and can be handled for hours. It took 5 minutes to make the depth adjustments on the material and the gun fired each and every nail perfectly. My only disappointment was that there were no local dealers. At first getting nails seemed a challenge. However, once you tell the local suppliers that type of nail to get, just about everyone stocks the nails. Another great choice for nails is the web, where I saved 35% ordering via the web.
I recently purchased the AN611 and I am blown away with what a quality siding gun this is. I am a contractor and have used the MAX siding nailer in the past. I thought the MAX nailer could never be beat. But I recently had my MAX stolen and replaced it with the Makita, because it was $50 cheaper. It is a wonderful gun. The Power is first class and depth of drive is great. It's lightweight. BEST IN IT'S CLASS!!!
I would never buy this tool as a sheathing nailer, as one other reviewer said he did. It is a SIDING GUN. It shoots the mini coil nails made just for siding, and in my area the code does not allow mini coil nails to be used for sheathing. But the Makita Framing coil nailer (different gun) would work awesome for that. I own the framing nailer as well and it is an incredible both sheathing and Framing gun.
Makita is 1st class for drivepower in a lightweight gun. - Nailer - Makita - Nailers - Siding Nailers'
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