Lately we have done a lot of reviews on nailers, such as the Senco Fusion, Paslode Roofing nailer, Paslode Framing nailer, Dewalt nailer and now the Bostitch Brad nailer. I don’t know why, but I love nailers. Maybe it’s the idea of having something in my hand that I can fire without a FOID card or maybe its just the idea of being able to save time and build something.
Right off the start I have to say I really like this nail gun, but I do have two issues with it which I will get into shortly. I was very excited about opening the box up and testing this out. The first thing I noticed was this nail gun comes in a nice plastic carrying case. Opening the carrying case, I could see Bostitch included more than just a nail gun. There was one 3.6V Lithium-ion battery and 1 one hour charger, but there is also a car charger, which is handy for those who like to nail on the go. The manual and warranty card was also included, along with a nice color step by step guide on how to clean and maintain your nailer. I saw a place where you could store three firing cartridges, but there were no cartridges. At first I was a little disappointed because that meant I had to rough a ride with Dan to the hardware store and buy some. Then reality set in and I understand why they do not include cartridges because of shipping reasons. Anyways Dan and I headed to Home Depot to buy the fuel. When we get into the nailer section, we see Bostitch all over the place, but not one place where they carry this fuel for the GBT1850K. They were not out, they just didn’t carry it. So we headed to Lowe’s only to get the same results. Next was Menards, but yet again, no fuel. Man was I disappointed. This meant I had to get online and now wait to play with the nailer. This is a little frustrating that you can not buy it at a local box store. This means I have to load up on fuel, only to hope I guess right on how much I need for my job. To little and I can not finish what I set out to do. Too much and I wasted money if it just sits around. Yes I know I have the same problem if I buy it at a local store, but I don’t have the wanting time factor for purchases and returns like I do online. See update below as Paslode does fit this nailer even though we don’t recommend it.
Well the day finally came and the fuel was sitting on my door step. After playing with my kids for a while, I figured I might as well start playing with the nailer and work on the porch. This has been an ongoing project for me. I hate to admit it, but I started about a year ago and still haven’t finished the trim, so now might be a good time, plus I won’t have to hear my wife asked me when I wil finish the porch.
I have to say that this is a great nail gun and did make my job easier, even though I still have to finish the porch. The gun only weights 4 lbs., so it was easy to maneuver around and I didn’t get fatigue. However, I do wish I had a second battery for the job. Now I didn’t count or couldn’t even find out online how many nails you can fire per fuel cell or per battery charge. The only thing I did see is 1200 nails. Not sure if that was for the battery or fuel cell. The magazine holds 100 18 Gauge nails that can range from 5/8″ to 2″ and you can remove jams without a tool, which I didn’t use. I did try it and it is hard to open. Not sure if it was because it is new and not broken in or I just have girly arms. The depth adjustment, which is also tool free, worked well. The spin wheel was easy to adjust and dial down a precise depth that stayed in place over time. One thing to note is there is a belt clip that can be attached to either side of the handle, but I never used it. The no marring tip worked well
The nailer puts out 185 in/lbs of torque so it can pretty much get all your finish needs done. One thing I never noticed when I was doing my trim, was the dry lock out feature. Bostitch has a feature to prevent dry fire which saves your tool and doesn’t mess up your work. When I was doing my trim, I didn’t ever let the nails run out as I didn’t know it has the lock out feature. When the nails get low in the magazine, you can see a yellow bar, so thats when I would make the change and add more nails. When Dan and myself were making our video, I wanted to get back at him and put 100 nails into a piece of wood on his work bench and let him remove them. When I shot the last nail, the lock out feature didn’t work. The very next fire, I had a dry shot and could see the indentation in the wood. This also happened with the next three or four shots. So I am not sure why this didn’t work on the nailer.
Overall the balance of the tool is great, one of the best we have tested so far. The over molded grip is a nice feature. The two things I really could do with out is having to buy fuel online and the the dry fire feature didn’t work for us. All in all its a good finish nailer. If your a Bostitch fan and don’t want to be tied to an air hose, this is a perfect fit. Since it has a two year warranty, I will see what I can do to get my dry lock out feature fixed.
Update
After doing some research on the fuel for this nailer, I found out that you might be able to use the Paslode finish nailer fuel which is at all the big box stores. Now I am not telling you to do this as you should stick with what your owners manual says as I don’t know about warranty issues. I went back to Home Depot armed with the fuel cell. Both fuel cells look identical in every way. I did not buy the cells because they were $25 and i all ready have enough to last me a long time. Just food for thought.
