I HAVE RECEINTLEY STARTED MY OWN BUSINESS BUILDING HOUSES AND I HAVE BEEN BUYING TOOLS WITH THE PROFITS MADE. THIS WAS THE THIRD GUN I BOUGHT AND IT IS THE MOST APPRECIATED ONE I HAVE. I HAVE SPENT HOURS UPON HOURS ON A ROOF TRYING TO GET IT DRIED IN AND THEN I BOUGHT THIS GUN AND IT TOOK ABOUT 75% OFF THE TIME TO HAND DRIVE THE PLASTIC CAPS! I DEFINATELY RECOMEND THIS GUN TO EVERY HOMEBUILDER! Hitachi NV50AP2 2-Inch Plastic and Metal Cap Nailer
This tool seemed to be a godsend so I went for it. Unfortunately it sounded much better than it is. Like the previous review, my gun hangs up after maybe shooting 10 good caps. After that I have to pull EVERY single cap into place MANUALLY. The instructions are just an add on sheet which don't give you ANY indication if there might be an adjustment to correct the problem. When I'm on a roof trying to beat an incoming rain storm I don't want to hear about bringing it to a service center. I need to take care of things right then and there or lose money!!!The gun comes with NOTHING, not even the air connect nipple! This gun is extremely expensive and shouldn't be a source of frustration and monitary loss to me.Since this review I have spent some time tracking why the gun wouldn't perform as expected. The problem with the hung up caps was/is invariably the flimsy paper roll that holds the caps. If it's just slighly deformed/wavey it hangs up the caps. Now that I am aware of this, I pay attention when reloading and I am actually pretty happy with the gun now. Still hangs up at times, that's why I gave the gun 4 stars now instead or 5.
I'm not afraid to spend money on a good tool if it helps me do a better job, saves me time, and saves be from a sore arm at the end of the week from pounding thousands of nails. This nail gun is easily one of the more expensive in my garage. While finishing, framing, coil-siding, & coil-roofing nailers seemed to be a given I hesitated on buying a cap nailer thinking I wouldn't mind pounding a few caps in by hand. I found a good deal on a used 1st generation Hitachi Plasti-Cap NV50AP nailer and never regretted it!!! I have to say the balance of the 1st & 2d generation tools are awkward. You have to fight the cap magazine to keep the tool level on your surface. It looks like the cap magazine was added to the side of an existing tool design which throws the balance off. The tool wants to roll over on its side while it's in your hand. I recently purchased one of the 3rd generation NV50AP3 nailers and this is definitely the tool to buy. It weighs significantly less and the nail and cap magazines are better designed to minimize the overall profile of the gun while maintaining almost perfect balance. I have put several thousand cap nails through both of these guns and my comment on jams and mis-feeds is simple... take care not to damage or bend your nails and cap rolls and you shouldn't have any problems. I have only used the Hitachi brand caps/nails and can't comment on the generic brands out there. If you have a coil of nails that looks like someone stepped on it or tossed in the tool trailer under a pile of who knows what you're going to have problems. Anyone with coil nails should know this but I've seen some people who just don't understand why they have so many mis-feeds and blame the gun. Even if you only think you will use this tool one time BUY IT and sell it off when you're finished. You'll save lots of time, have a much easier time nailing down that felt or house wrap in the wind (been there) and your arm won't hate you.
Although I don't own this newer model, I purchased an almost identical older version several years ago. The only real difference
between the two models is that this "newer" one shoots plastic AND metal head nails. Let me tell you without hesitation this gun is absolutely great. Yes the nails cost a bit more than the hand-driven ones, and it does take using it in a certain way to insure the nails are fully driven, and once in a while you need to fully set the heads with a hammer {as in all other guns}and once in a while you might "lose" a few caps here and there, but using this gun is at least 7-10 times faster than hand driving the plasticap nails. It's alo durable as mine is used constantly. In fact I ordered a secong one last week. Looking forward to using the new one in my flat roof installations. "Don't know what I'd do" if Hitachi ever stopped making the nails for this gun. And there's no camparison between plastic-headed nails holding down felt in winds, and staples. Forget the staples or reguler EG roofing nails. Plastic caps all the way and the felt will survive even 80 MPH winds!
Have a Plasti Tacker Pro and it is great for drying in a roof but have found it to be unreliable. The plastic caps hang up just before dropping into place and jam. Thus driveing a nail without a cap. And sometimes resulting in wasting several plastic caps. It also leaks air at the trigger if held open for repetitive driving. I did have the O-rings replaced in the trigger valves but it still leaks air just like before. For the last couple of days I have been searching for a web site that provides professional technical advise but I don't speak German and that is the only thing I could find except for the places to buy something, they were in English. - Hitachi'
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