[fly2low]

I am looking to buy a 23 g headless pinner. Considering Grex, Senco, Cadex. I did a search here and referenced threads are all old. Some of the reviews on Amazon suggest that Grex quality may be slipping.
TIA for any responses

 

[rwe2156]

Home Depot couple years ago: pin nailer + 18g for $50.

No issues at all.

 

[Rick Dennington]

I use a Porter Cable 18 gauge pin nailer…..All of my nail guns are Porter Cable….Never had a problem with any of them….

 

[ArtMann]

About 10 years ago, I got interested in 23 gauge pin nailers and bought a Harbor Freight gun on sale for the princely sum of $10. I promised myself that if the tool turned out to be useful, I would replace it with a good one. Well, 10 years and about 10 million pins later, I am still using that same Harbor Freight pinner. I keep hoping it will fail so I can justify a good one but it just hasn't happened.

 

[fivecodys]

About 10 years ago, I got interested in 23 gauge pin nailers and bought a Harbor Freight gun on sale for the princely sum of $10. I promised myself that if the tool turned out to be useful, I would replace it with a good one. Well, 10 years and about 10 million pins later, I am still using that same Harbor Freight pinner. I keep hoping it will fail so I can justify a good one but it just hasn t happened.

- ArtMann

Same here. For what I do the little HF works great.

 

[Lazyman]

I bought a NuMax pin and brad nailer from Home Depot for about $50 combined about 4 years go after reading a couple of reviews (can't remember where) that said they were a great value. I don't use them a lot but they continue to work flawlessly.

 

[bilyo]

As suggested above, it depends on how you plan to use it. If you are going to use it a lot every day, then buy a good quality name or recommended brand. Conversely, with little use, you can probably get by with a cheaper model. I bought a relatively inexpensive one for a "one time" job. It did its job and I may only rarely use it again.

 

[RichT]

Here's a recent thread on the subject. My response is post #1.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/287889

 

[squazo]

i have a kobalt brand from lowes, I got it because it could shoot the longest pins up to 1.5 and down to a .25 inch pin.
it works perfectly fine I think it was 50 bucks.

 

[pintodeluxe]

I have used Max and PC brand pinners. The manufacturers of high-end micro pinners want us to think we must have a 2" fastener length. I have found that longer 23 gauge pins tend to deflect in hardwood. This is especially true in rift sawn wood, or with changing grain direction. The pin will want to follow the grain, and will pop out the side, or generally not go where you want it to.

I say 1-3/8" is plenty for pin nailers. If you need a longer fastener, use an 18 gauge nailer.
My Max nailer broke where it won't set the pins very well anymore. The PC is newer, but still going strong.

 

[JRsgarage]

I bought a Freeman 18g and a 23g kit from HD on sale that has worked surprisingly well. It was really cheap at the time…IIRC just few dollars more than the rebuild kit for my PC

 

[Yamama]

I have the Porter Cable Pin138 nailer. Bought it on Amazon. Doesn't make sense in spending more money than that.

 

[RobHannon]

I too went the HF route to see if I really had a need for a pin nailer. Turns out it is pretty useful but the cheap one doesn't seem to be lacking anything I want.

 

[BlasterStumps]

fly2low Writes: "Some of the reviews on Amazon suggest that Grex quality may be slipping."

I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in the reviews on Amazon when it comes to tools.

I have a Grex P635 and love it. Very nice quality tool. I also have a PC 18 ga. Both work very nice.

 

[YesHaveSome]

I picked up a 23 and 18 Ridgid combo from HD for about $120 a few months ago. I really like both of them so far.

 

[Jared_S]

I am looking to buy a 23 g headless pinner. Considering Grex, Senco, Cadex. I did a search here and referenced threads are all old. Some of the reviews on Amazon suggest that Grex quality may be slipping.
TIA for any responses

- fly2low

I was between the grex, Senco and Cadex myself. The reviews were all over the place and I somehow ended up with a hitachi. No complaints. Still trying to figure out what 21 gauge to get myself.

 

[SignWave]

I agree that the 23ga pin nailer is on the list of good products from HF. I've had mine a couple years and it continues to work flawlessly. I can't say this about the 18ga, unfortunately.

 

[Jared_S]

The harbor freight 23g does not set pins below flush and can leave them proud. That may or may not be a issue to people, but it was unacceptable to me.

 

[kelvancra]

Year ten or so with a Max USA NF235A 23 Gauge Pinner and I'd replace it in a heartbeat. I paid over three, but they are down to around two now.

 

[Bill_Steele]

I bought a Grex P635 back in August and have no complaints. I don't have an older version of the tool to compare-but the quality of this one is very good.

Sometimes I wonder about those reviews. How many people that are satisfied with a purchase go online to Amazon and post a review? I would think that consumers that are not completely happy with the purchase would be more motivated to post a review.