Anyone try the Milwaukee M18 nailers yet?

[ear3]

Haven't had occasion to walk down the nail gun aisle at Home Depot in a couple of months, but lo and behold, as I was going to get some 16 gauge nails yesterday, I saw that Milwaukee has now entered the cordless nailer sweepstakes.  This would be a perfect solution for me, as thus far I've held off on getting a cordless nailer because I don't want to invest in another battery platform.  But when I checked online at Amazon to compare prices and browse reviews, I saw that as of yesterday the 16gauge straight cordless nailer had only 2 reviews, and both horrible, complaining that it did a poor job sinking the nails in hardwood.  So I'm just wondering if anyone has tried these out yet, whether the 16 gauge straight nailer, the 16 gauge angled nailer, or the 18 gauge one. 

 

[bionicus]

Wait for the 2nd gen versions. I think they rushed these to market without enough field testing. Nails sitting proud if fired at a slight angle is total bullbird.

 

[RKA]

Skip them Edward.  I picked up an 18 ga, and it couldn't sink 2" nails into pine 2x4's.  I sent it back and got another that manages to get 80% of them flush, but a few are still proud.  What's more, like the first one, the drive pin made was marking up the surface of the wood and deforming the head of the nail.  I kept it, because sometimes it's handy to have a cordless option, but I can't recommend these.

And just for kicks, I used my Grex air nailer, a porter cable cordless and a Ryobi cordless, and they all drove the nails just under the surface cleanly without marking up the wood.  I think I still have the scrap I tested on if you want to see the pics.  Milwaukee should be ashamed, especially when they come out at 2x the price of the other cordless options.

 

[live4ever]

I got the 16g angled.  I've only used it on a few small projects here and there, mainly got it to do a bunch of exterior trim.  The biggest design flaw on these as others have mentioned is the inability to sink nails when shot at an angle to the surface.  That to me would be a deal killer on a 18g.  The 16g I'm less likely to use that way (not a pro though) so it has been fine for me.  The Ryobi 18g seems by all accounts to be a better 18g cordless (there is a good head-to-head test on YouTube), though durability may be a concern for all-day everyday use.  I haven't had problems with the 16g angled sinking nails when firing flat, but I've only been using it on cedar, doug fir, and ply so far.

The YouTube reviews of these nailers are interesting.  Rob (Concord Carpenter) gives them glowing reviews, though some would say to take his reviews with a grain of salt.

 

[RKA]

I should have clarified, in my testing I was only shooting perpendicular to the work piece. 

 

[ear3]

Wow, this sounds like a catastrophe.  What on earth were they thinking?  Short-sighted me-too-ism I guess.

EDIT: Mr. Toolguyd certainly enjoyed them -- wonder if they made sure to test fire his model before he got it?
http://toolguyd.com/milwaukee-cordless-nailers-hands-on/

 

[Mort]

Only thing I have to go from is YouTube reviews and I wasn't impressed. Plus, I held one at Home Depot and they weighed a ton. I guess I'll just have to drag out air hoses for the time being.

 

[glass1]

any reason you do not want the paslode 16 gauge guns, they make both straight and angled ? Take a look at the grx 18 gauge gas gun. I like the paslode 16 gauge gun but the nose on the 18 gauge I find the nose to be to hard to depress.

 

[RKA]

You have to be careful reading toolguyd's reviews.  Sometimes there is more hypothetical discussion than real world experience behind them.  In this case he didn't have a chance to fully test it, it was a "quick hands on review".  Most of the article picks through the published specs and other less critical aspects.  He fired 2 nails out of that gun, one was proud.  He later talks about the cycle times and it does indeed fire the nail faster than the other cordless models, but it enters the thermal cut off far quicker than you would think based on Milwaukee's statements.  In testing a dozen or so nails I went into overload.  I was probably at 1 nail per second or less.  Speed wasn't a factor for me, I simply wasn't expecting to encounter this limit based on my usage and their specs.  Both of my samples were consistent in this respect.  But Stuart talks about a theoretical limit or capacity of 3 nails per second based and parrots mailwaukee's suggestion that we should never hit overload if we're not using bump fire.  In my view, there is a huge gap between what Stuart reports and actual use.  Technically what Stuart reported may have been correct, however he couldn't/didn't capture another key issue because he really didn't have an opportunity to test it.

 

[Tyler Ernsberger]

I have had a 16ga Paslode Impulse for 8 years and it amazing.  Many days it gets used all day long. I just wore it out and I'm going to get the newer 16ga.

 

[sae]

You have to be careful reading toolguyd's reviews.  Sometimes there is more hypothetical discussion than real world experience behind them.  In this case he didn't have a chance to fully test it, it was a "quick hands on review".  Most of the article picks through the published specs and other less critical aspects.  He fired 2 nails out of that gun, one was proud.  He later talks about the cycle times and it does indeed fire the nail faster than the other cordless models, but it enters the thermal cut off far quicker than you would think based on Milwaukee's statements.  In testing a dozen or so nails I went into overload.  I was probably at 1 nail per second or less.  Speed wasn't a factor for me, I simply wasn't expecting to encounter this limit based on my usage and their specs.  Both of my samples were consistent in this respect.  But Stuart talks about a theoretical limit or capacity of 3 nails per second based and parrots mailwaukee's suggestion that we should never hit overload if we're not using bump fire.  In my view, there is a huge gap between what Stuart reports and actual use.  Technically what Stuart reported may have been correct, however he couldn't/didn't capture another key issue because he really didn't have an opportunity to test it.

This is a good observation, and one of my pet peeves reading his blog. There's very little experience and tons of speculation.

And he lost all his credibility right when he posted "I just bought my first house, how do I install a dryer duct" blog. Not sure how he skated by as a blog for this long having not used any of the tools he's reviewed, but it all makes sense now.

 

[ear3]

Yeah, I've subsequently gone through some of his other reviews, and was sort of surprised to find that many of them were simply regurgitating the factory/manual specs.  Not sure what the deal is with that (maybe it's just about driving traffic?) but I will not use him as a standard in the future.

As far as the Paslode guns go -- yeah, in a perfect world.  But I simply don't want to add another battery platform at the moment, so for now I'll wait for gen 2 of the Milwaukee and remain content with my PC compressor and guns.  I'm still really disappointed though that Milwaukee would rush a sub-par product to market after all the good will they had been building up with the Fuel line. 

You have to be careful reading toolguyd's reviews.  Sometimes there is more hypothetical discussion than real world experience behind them.  In this case he didn't have a chance to fully test it, it was a "quick hands on review".  Most of the article picks through the published specs and other less critical aspects.  He fired 2 nails out of that gun, one was proud.  He later talks about the cycle times and it does indeed fire the nail faster than the other cordless models, but it enters the thermal cut off far quicker than you would think based on Milwaukee's statements.  In testing a dozen or so nails I went into overload.  I was probably at 1 nail per second or less.  Speed wasn't a factor for me, I simply wasn't expecting to encounter this limit based on my usage and their specs.  Both of my samples were consistent in this respect.  But Stuart talks about a theoretical limit or capacity of 3 nails per second based and parrots mailwaukee's suggestion that we should never hit overload if we're not using bump fire.  In my view, there is a huge gap between what Stuart reports and actual use.  Technically what Stuart reported may have been correct, however he couldn't/didn't capture another key issue because he really didn't have an opportunity to test it.

This is a good observation, and one of my pet peeves reading his blog. There's very little experience and tons of speculation.

And he lost all his credibility right when he posted "I just bought my first house, how do I install a dryer duct" blog. Not sure how he skated by as a blog for this long having not used any of the tools he's reviewed, but it all makes sense now.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Yeah, I've subsequently gone through some of his other reviews, and was sort of surprised to find that many of them were simply regurgitating the factory/manual specs.  Not sure what the deal is with that (maybe it's just about driving traffic?) but I will not use him as a standard in the future.

As far as the Paslode guns go -- yeah, in a perfect world.  But I simply don't want to add another battery platform at the moment, so for now I'll wait for gen 2 of the Milwaukee and remain content with my PC compressor and guns.  I'm still really disappointed though that Milwaukee would rush a sub-par product to market after all the good will they had been building up with the Fuel line. 

I don't think you'll find a worse jigsaw than the one Milwaukee sells as part of the M12/18 range.

 

[live4ever]

Here's the very glowing review I mentioned.  Actually put the nailer through extensive testing, but given the results people are actually getting, obviously was given a carefully pretested tool.

I found this one to be informative as well...again with actual testing.

 

[ear3]

While I was waiting for my Dewalt cordless nailer to arrive (it was on backorder), I found a really sweet deal on a 15 ga. Milwaukee on ebay, so I went ahead and bought it, thinking I could always resell it for basically the same price and not lose anything on the deal. 

I put it to work over the past week driving 1 1/2" -- 2 1/2" nails into softwood framing materials (not hardwood).  So far I'm pleasantly surprised.  It has a beastly kickback, but that seems like a minor issue given how it fires immediately on pulling the trigger, with no ramp up time.  After sinking perhaps 1000 nails, I've had no issues so far with nails not sinking all the way (though again, I still have to see how it performs in hardwood), and it was able to sink them even when I held the tool at an angle to the material.  No jams yet either.  So....so far, so good. 

 

[KFirestone]

New to FOG, and this is my first post, so hope it works

I have the Milwaukee 18g Brad and the 16g angle nailer. I purchased them as soon as they were available
I switched from the Paslode, wanting to get away from the gas.
The 16g nailer works great. Not one jamb yet. I have shot into poplar, oak, maple, cedar, PVC,etc. I have had some nails not sink in all the way,but it has usually been operator error. You must keep the safety pressed in and firmly against the material. Line of sight is pretty good on this as well.
The 18g Brad is really fussy. Tool must be perfectly perpendicular to the wood for it to shoot. No issues with sinking the nails. Line of sight takes some getting used to, but awkward.
On both nailers, I keep the depth of drive at maximum regardless of what material I am shooting thru.
I am curious how  the next gen will be.

 

[rst]

I bought the 15ga Milwaukee and the first thing I did was shoot through 1" aged oak that I use for stop at my shop saw,
nail went right thru and was a bugger to extract.  First job was refastening old 1 1/8" mahogany stops on 18 large, 48 x 54" insulated units in local a ice skating rink.  So much easier than  dragging out my compressor, hose, and nailer, especially up on scaffolding. 

 

[ear3]

Speaking of Ryobi vs. other brands, last week my Ryobi 23 ga. pneumatic pin nailer crapped out.  It was less than two years old.  It had started to jam more frequently over the past month, and the nail length setting kept on getting stuck.  It finally reached a point last week where it would only fire one nail before jamming up again, and no amount of cleaning or fiddling with the disassembled unit seemed to work.  I needed a pin nailer right away, so I had to plop down some $ for a Porter Cable model.  I don't know what the Ryobi service policy is, but my last experience with Home Depot tool repair (of a Ridgid router) was a joke, as it took them almost two months to perform a simple repair under Ridgid's Lifetime Service Agreement.  So I don't know if I will even bother to get it serviced.  God willing this will have been my last Ryobi tool. 

Here's the very glowing review I mentioned.  Actually put the nailer through extensive testing, but given the results people are actually getting, obviously was given a carefully pretested tool.

I found this one to be informative as well...again with actual testing.

 

[glass1]

Milwaukee fuel nailers = junk. Why. Big cumbersome noses that cannot set nails at an angle. The dewalt cordless nailers are better. The paslodes 16 gauge is better yet. 18 gauge Grex is good. The latest edition of the hitachi 15 gauge gas is good. The hitachi battery guns are strong but heavy. Just my 2 cents.

 

[ear3]

That seems to be the word on the street, but again, my experience with the 15 gauge thus far has been good.  But if anyone from Milwaukee is reading this, you should know that despite the positive results I've gotten from the 15 gauge Fuel, because of all the bad feedback I've made the decision to go with the Dewalt 20V models for the other gauges of cordless nailers over to which I'm in the process of converting.  Already have the 16 ga angled, and later today am picking up the 18 ga model. 

Milwaukee fuel nailers = junk. Why. Big cumbersome noses that cannot set nails at an angle. The dewalt cordless nailers are better. The paslodes 16 gauge is better yet. 18 gauge Grex is good. The latest edition of the hitachi 15 gauge gas is good. The hitachi battery guns are strong but heavy. Just my 2 cents.