Pros:
-Safety. Great safety feature which is a small clip where the staple comes out. The stapler will only shoot the staple if the clip is depressed, and it will only be depressed when you have it in place to staple something.
-Dual Purpose. Stapler / brad nail gun. I only used the staple feature, but I'm sure the brad nail feature works fine as well.
-Electric. You don't need the getup involved in having an air gun. Plug it into any outlet and go.
-Performance. When I pressed firmly down on the wood I was stapling, the staples would sink all the way down most of the time. This was really a 4 out of 5, because if you didn't press quite firmly, it wouldn't sink the staple all the way. I was stapling into southern pine, which is a softer wood. I don't think it would have performed as well with a harder wood like oak. I'd have liked a stronger gun which would sink the staple all they way regardless of how hard I pressed, or what wood I was stapling into, but then for $25, I can't complain too much.
-Specs. Compare this electric stapler to other electric staplers. They are 120V, 10 Amp, 60 Hz, just like this one. As for why they are more expensive, who knows.
Cons:
-Performance. See above. For the price, it is surely as good as it gets, and will get the job done for the average DIY such as myself, but the power isn't overwhelming.
That is all the usefull information in my review, for a more exact and mostly boring background of my review of the stapler, read below.
I recently moved into a house with a fenced backyard. There was a 2-3" gap under the fence, and so I had to install chicken wire along the entire length of the fence so that our rat terrier (the wife's of course) couldn't get out. Using the Stanley staple gun, I did it. Now, as for performance of unit, it was very good, not great. I found that if I pressed down firmly on the wood I was stapling, that it would sink the staple all the way down. The reality was that the fence would "give" a little when i stapled into it, and so almost all the staples stick out just a little bit. Now, they'll work fine, but it just isn't the clean look everyone wants. It would have been nice to have a gun powerful enough to sink the staple no matter what, even if the wood under the gun vibrates or "gives" a little, but then I'm a guy that likes extra power in just about everything. It jammed once which was my fault for not setting it against the fence properly, and the jammed staple came out with no problem the next time I pressed the trigger. By the way, the rat (terrier) is effectively trapped. Stanley TRE550 Electric Staple/Brad Nail Gun
Purchased this gun, but will be returning it right away.
This gun may be good for very soft wood and short staples, but is worthless for your average wood or hardwood.
I tried this gun first with 1/2" staples on poplar wood. The staples only went in about halfway. I tried again with 1/4" staples (the shortest) and they still did not penetrate fully even with very hard pressure.
I tried the same staples with an average manual gun, and they penetrated fully.
If you're looking for something tho make your staple work easier, look elsewhere.
The reason the title says "buy a hammer with it" is because you will definitely need the hammer. Here is how the stapler works, first you fire the shortest staple (1/4 ") into soft pine wood, then you realize that it did not go all the way in, now you take the hammer and finish driving the staple in......see how easy it is. :-)
In short, this stapler is simply not a good product and definitely not up to what I normally expect from Stanley. And yes, I did have the stapler set on the "high" power setting. Unfortunately, I tossed all of the packaging thus I can't take it back so I will just throw it away and buy an Arrow brand. I hope you gain something from this review because I sure lost out on the deal.
Cheers,
Don
Purchased one of these to drive 3/8" Stainless Steel Arrow T-50 staples through thin indoor-outdoor carpet into oak stairs. The staples worked fin in my manual Arrow T-50 gun, but the Stanley gun, at it;s highest setting could only get the staples in all the way about half the time. One bang with a hammer drove them in the rest of the way , but that defeats the idea of the electric gun, in my opinion.
It did perform well on a block of Alder and also Doug Fir, but forget about Oak , Walnut or hardwoods.
I would recommend this product for woods softer than Oak.
I thought this would make my upholstery job easier. Now, I have to hammer each staple in, regardless of the setting. And forget odd angles- my manual works better. Unless you're flush against the surface, the staples don't even go in. The price is right, but only if it works as well as a manual. It does not. Maybe the $100 range does the job. Going back to the silver stapler.
I couldn't agree more with the other reviewers in this class (one star.) I've never written a review before, but this unit is so poor at setting staples that I am confused why it was ever marketed. Surely, Stanley knew it would be found out? The staples do not penetrate, the +/- control is cosmetic only, and the shame of putting this into a landfill is more valuable than the item. Is this American made?
I needed a stapler to hang insulation in my garage and trusted the Stanley brand. But most of the staples could only be driven in half way, and I was using 5/16" staples. I am very disappointed with this item and made for a frustrating experience.
The Stanley TRE550 works as well (i.e. as poorly) as other manual and electric staple guns and brad drivers that I have used. A common characteristic of these tools is that you must hold the base absolutely flat against the work and press the tool down firmly as you staple, otherwise the staple is not driven all the way down. It is difficult to determine by sense of touch whether the base is flat against the work. You may swear that you have positioned the tool correctly, but when you examine its posture visually you find that you have the back of the base slightly off the work or have it tilted to one side. The TRE550 has a narrow base so the problem is worse with the TRE550 than with some other staplers. The work piece must be firmly supported. For example, if you are stapling into a board that is slightly crooked and it is not touching the work table directly under your staple, the staple may not go all the way in. As other reviewers have noted, if you want staples driven flush with the work (with this or other electric or manual staplers) you should have a hammer handy to finish the job.
Unlike similar Arrow brand staplers, the TRE550 has a safety mechanism that prevents the tool from firing unless the nose is in contact with the work. It will still fire when the magazine is empty of staples and this leaves a slight indentation. The TRE550 is not the stapler to buy if you want to do rapid fire stapling. The safety is useful if you are worried about accidentally pressing the trigger and shooting a staple through the air.
I have used electric and manual staplers to attach artists canvas to wooden stretchers made of poplar. The TRE550 works as well as the electric Arrow ETF50BPN, the Stanley Manual TR150HL and an old model Arrow manual stapler that I use. Out of 10 staples, you have to finish driving one or two of them with a hammer. All staplers that I have used jam occasionally. The jams are not hard to clear. You open the magazine and the mangled staple usually falls out of the tool. To avoid jams, don't use small groups of staples that have broken away from a chain of staples, as these chains come fresh from a box.
While doing work on a roof, I was stapling sheets of polyethylene as a temporary cover. The staples were being driven into several sheets of tar paper that covered the top of concrete. I accidentally drove one staple into an area where the tar paper had peeled off and the staple hit the concrete. This broke the stapler. The TRE550 stopped firing at all. When I shook it, I could hear a loose part sliding up and down. I took the tool apart. (This probably voids any warranty. One of the screws requires a security torx.) The loose part was the metal band that drives the staple. There is a spring with two long arms and one of the arms has popped out of a hole in the band. Putting the spring back fixed the loose part. However the TRE550 was still dead electrically. There is a small perfboard inside the tool with some electrical components. The driving mechanism consists of a coil of wire and a piston that slides up and down within it. My voltmeter showed that that the resistance of the coil was 1.2 Ohms, so it was not shorted. I could measure 120 V AC coming into the tool. (The problem was not that the saftey switch was left open. I put the tool back together to test it.) I conclude some of the electric components on the perfboad have gone bad.
Checking the Stanley website, there are no replacement parts listed for this tool. The electronic components on the perfboard do have standard markings and it looks like a simple circuit.
The TRE550 has a knob that turns to adjust the power of the tool. Like the adjustments on other electric or manual staplers that I have used, this adjustment doesn't do much. With the tool apart you find the knob controls how far the piston rises. The knob has a shaft with a wedged shaped end that acts like a simple cam. As you turn the knob the piston is allowed to rise more or less. A complete revolution of the knob brings the setting back to where it was.
I rate this tool as two stars out of five to indicate it is a somewhat below average electric stapler. This is due to its narrow base. It did break easily, but whether other electric staple guns might have broken under the same conditions, I cannot say. - Stapler - Stanley - Staple Gun - Electric'
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