I showed everyone pictures the other day of the Senco Fusion nailers at the A.W. Meyer Octoolberfest show. Well, the 15 gauge angled finish nailer FN65DA followed me home. [wink]
I liked the 15 gauge demoing it at the show. The 16 gauge straight finish nailer isn't my thing. I don't like straight finish nailers (insert joke here) and 16 gauge was originally developed for MDF trim to prevent blowouts and fuzz from the larger 15 gauge nails. I don't use MDF trim.
The 18 gauge brad nailer was just ridiculously huge and heavy compared to an air powered brad nailer like Senco's own FinishPro25XP. I have an SLP20 that's even smaller and lighter. The 18 gauge Fusion gun is 3 inches taller and 3.3 pounds heavier at 6 pounds compared to the FinishPro25XP. It's a behemoth for a brad gun, so I definitely wasn't interested.
The 15 gauge Fusion has loads of power, is only a little bit taller and 1 1/2 pounds heavier at 6.2 pounds compared to my FinishPro42XP, which is still Senco's current top finish gun in the air powered line. The Fusion looks a little awkward with the nail magazine out at an angle to the gun body and I'm not sure if that might become an issue during use. The battery sticks up a little too much for comfort where your arm is positioned during use. That creates an odd bend in the wrist that can be a problem depending on how the user is holding the gun -- angle, height, etc.
The nail gun only comes with one 18 volt (really 19.2 volt) battery (there used to be a special mail-in for a second battery), but Senco claims it isn't necessary due to the fact that it's an advanced new type of Lithium Phosphate technology that recharges to 80% in as little as 15 minutes and 100% in 45 minutes to an hour. I feel it should come with two batteries, because you don't know the timing of when the battery may give out. It doesn't always nicely coincide with your breaks, so that would be a waste of 15 minutes that you could be nailing. The battery has a push button charge gauge so you know how much is remaining. The battery is only used for the piston return mechanism, LED light and electronics. The nail gun is supposed to fire nails up until the battery no longer has a charge without a degradation in performance so all the nails are fully set even when the battery dies. It uses compressed nitrogen sealed inside a 1/4 inch thick inner chamber, within the red anodized aluminum chamber, so it's a double chamber protected design.
Things I noticed when using it briefly. Plasticy gun body that's got a poor fit and finish to the molds of the two halves of the gun. There's a lot of play, more so on one side. The nail track is beefy aluminum which I do like better than the breakable plastic one on my FP42 air nailer. The depth of drive adjustment is excellent, however the LED light seems like a joke and waste of engineering (if there was any). The Fusion gun also has a switch selectable firing with bump (continuous) firing, off and single shot/selective. It shoots nails in both modes extremely well into the hardest of woods I could find and countersinks perfectly. It is loud when firing, but not the same sound or volume level as a Paslode. Hearing protection is highly recommended. When I first fired the Fusion 15 gauge, the nail magazine shot off the gun and back at me and the nail strip went flying. Maybe I didn't install the removeable magazine fully. Not sure, but it hasn't happened since. What I really don't like is the safety foot mechanism. The design looks cheesy, like it can easily be bent and it's definitely not as smooth as the dual rods of my FP42. The Fusion also has a small hard plastic foot protector that doesn't cover the entire safety foot causing marks in trim depending on what you're shooting and the angle at which the gun meets the wood. My FP42 has a thick softer rubber foot that fully encloses the safety foot and doesn't mark anything. Sometimes however, it has popped off, so I always check that it's there before nailing.
Here are pictures of the Fusion 15 gauge finish nailer and to further explain the problems I found with the Fusion nailer compared to my air powered FP42 nail gun.
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Here's a picture of a scrap of crown that I used for a "dry" test of the Fusion.
Notice in the second picture, the closeup of the cove area, the little dents in the wood. That's from the exposed part of the Fusion nailer's safety foot. If they had just used a different cover, like the same material as the air nailer and fully covering the foot, that wouldn't happen. Sure you could fill the dents in, but why and what about working with stain grade wood?
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Here's the comparison of the two types of safety mechanisms on the FP42XP air nailer with its completely encased thick rubber cover and super smooth dual rod design compared to the Fusion FN65DA's cheesy safety only partially encased in a hard plastic cover. It's got to be a bent safety just waiting to happen.
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Here are pictures aimed down the sightline of both guns. Notice how difficult or actually impossible it is to see where you're actually firing the nail on the Fusion because of the backwards foot design, yet on the air powered FP42, it's wide open and easy to judge. First picture is the Fusion gun.
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In the end (I think it's the end), I believe I will not keep the Fusion gun, especially because the way I look at it, even if I didn't have any issues with it, I still need an air compressor for the brad nailer and pinner when doing trim work. I don't see a benefit for me just to have the finish nailer be airless, especially at $400. How often would I only be shooting 15 gauge finish nails on a job? I can't remember not using a mix of at least 18 gauge brads with it.
Makes you think, right? Something that always fascinates me and is a source of much intrigue. Where the heck will we be in 5 years, forget 100. Technology is moving forward at an exponential pace. To forecast where we'll be in 5 years by gauging our developments in the previous 5 years to today is not even a valid sampling. THAT is what is so cool to me....
