I have had this gun for about a month and have had only a few issues with it. First off, it takes a bit of effort to engage all the safety mechanisms to get the nailer to drive. The nailer is what I would call two phased. Several times I have worried about bending the tip of the gun due to the pressure I was applying, and once in a while I curse the thing because the pressure has moved my material. This is less noticeable when you aren't toe nailing in a tight space.
You must remove the battery from this unit once you are done with it at the end of the day. The first day I came back to the nailer it had drained the battery, and I had to wait 30 minutes for it to recharge. The battery drains because a constant green light flashes beneath the trigger alerting you that the gun is charged and ready to go. This light will turn red if there is not enough charge left to fire. This may be a defect with my gun, originally I understood that the gun would power down if not used, mine does not.
I am not a big fan of the depth guage, it requires a tool to change. It does come with a nice case.
One time the gun would not fire, everything checked out, battery was fully charged, emptied out and reloaded the nailer, nothing happened. I then thought I might of somehow drained the fuel cell, although I had only driven a couple hundred nails. I checked the fuel cell, had plenty of fuel, reset the cell, and the gun then fired without problems. This has only happened once during the month that I have had the gun.
On the plus side, this gun shoots HARD! I am firing 3 1/2 nails and it is sinking them below the surface with the depth set at 25% below maximum. One other thing, in the manual I don't see where there is any maintenance required with this gun.
I have had some people tell me that cordless nail guns are better than pneumatic, (check the reviews for some of the Pasloade guns), they are not. Pneumatic guns work smoother and engage easier. Pneumatic stick nailers hold almost 3x as many nails as cordless. These work great if you don't want to get out your compressor or have no power where you work.
However, as far as Pasloade versus Hitachi, Hitachi is the number one for now.
Update: One year later the nailer is still working great, occasional hiccup, when I have to reseat the battery and the gas canister.
There are some professional reviews online that place this nailer above the others. Hitachi NR90GC Clipped Head 2-Inch to 3-1/2-Inch Cordless Gas Framing Nailer
I've had this tool for a year now and love it. I had some problems at first, but found out it is not recommended above 5000'. After reading some reviews on another web site, I found out it will work with RED PASLODE FUEL CELLS at my high elevation. After I switched from the Hitachi cells it worked great. Each cell cost about $10, but last a long time. It will almost shoot a box of nails. I have an air powered nailer too, but love not having the hose. The built in hanger is very handy. The battery charges in one hour and will last all day. Wouldn't build without it.
I have had this nail gun for almost two months now and am pleased with the performance. The first time I tried using the gun I had similar results that J. Larson had. It wouldn't fire, finally fired one nail, would not fire again, then fired one nail, and would not fire anymore. After about fifteen minutes I gave up and got my Passload to complete my current job. I reread the owners manual and noticed where it talked about new batteries needing to be charged a couple of times before they work to their full potential. I had charged both batteries (I purchased a second battery when I bought the gun) the night before. The gun showed a bright green light with either battery in but I went ahead and recharged the batteries again. The gun has worked great ever since. This might have been Mr. Larson's problem also? It appears the gun requires more battery juice than the flashing light on the handle requires to change to red. I have had the gun not want to fire a couple of times while the light was green. I switched to a fresh battery, recharged the old one and the gun doesn't miss a stroke.
I have had two Passloads (one currently still works) I like this Hitachi more than the Passloads. The Hitachi is better balanced and does not tire your hand as quick when shooting nails above your head for several minutes. The only thing I dislike about the Hitachi compared to the Passload is the belt hook. The Hitachi's is set up almost for a left hander. The hook swings out from the right side of the gun forcing you to turn the gun around so you can hang it from your belt or pocket. The Passloads hook is mounted at the very end and swivels to either side.
I bought the Hitachi this time instead of another Passload for two reasons. First the price, if I can save $100.00 for the same tool I will. Second, Passload has horable customer service. I went to their web site and asked them about getting a couple of new work contact nose pieces for my guns (one being an old (2 models ago old) model, Passload would never contact me back. I finally gave up after a half dozen e-mails. In this day and age customer service needs to be a high priority. I e-mailed Hitachi with a couple of questions and they responded back immediately with the answers and a personal e-mail address to reply to if I had any further questions. A+++++ on customer service.
I highly recommend this product over the Passload for these two reasons and that is a quality made gun so far.
I purchased this tool, charged the battery and test fired it. It wouldn't work at all on the first few attempts, then it shot one nail. A few attempts later it shot another nail and then totally quit working. I tried all the procedures in the manual and nothing worked. I let it sit overnight and changed gas cartridges, but still nothing worked. There was an additional sheet of material stuck in the manual about troubleshooting so I wonder if this is a common problem. I called Hitachi and they told me I had to pay to have it shipped to them in order to get it fixed. I decided to return the item and get a paslode instead. The paslodes have their flaws, but work much better than this hitachi. The finish of the gun is better than the paslode, the gas chamber is better designed, as is, the nail catch and case, but it just didn't work at all. If Hitachi can iron out the functioning problems this would be a great gun. - Framing Nailer - Cordless Tools - Nailer - Ergonomic'
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