MAXIMUM 18-Gauge Brad Nailer, 2-in

Full disclosure, I am not a professional. I have just finished the inside of my cottage and sauna almost entirely with wood products of various thicknesses with another nailer, so have a bit of experience. My original brad nailer began failing on a Saturday evening just before the stores here close for the weekend. I went out, checked out and bought the Maximum nailer as it was on sale. I went home and tried to finish the wood ceiling in our kitchen before the kitchen cabinet installers arrived Monday am, and had quite a bit to do yet. I was installing 5/16" thick pine T&G 3" wide boards and managed to do 2 8 ft boards before stopping and going back out to buy a Bostitch brad nailer and eventually returning the Maximum later when I had time. The Maximum is far too (unnecessarily) heavy as well as awkward to be working upside down for any length of time. The safety tip which must be fully seated (of course, this isn't Die Hard) in order for the nailer to operate has too heavy of a spring tension to overcome. I was trying to hold the boards in place while nailing and the nailer would crack/break the wood from the pressure necessary. The ceiling in our kitchen is not dead flat so I had to compensate for that a bit. The nails also were not fully seating to top it off. This was not because of low air pressure but due to the heavy spring action from the safety tip as I had already adjusted the depth to its maximum setting. I had to go back out and buy a Bostitch 18 guage nailer and we were good to go from that point. It was far lighter, it was more user friendly and able to seat the nails nicely even with me holding the board so that it was fairly flat and the next board would engage properly. It is my thought that as long as you are working on something that is going against a flat surface where excessive pressure is ok, this overly heavy-built sledge hammer of a nailer will work just fine. The size of the safety tip should ensure that no marring of the materiel you are nailing occurs, as noted in other reviews. BUT, if you will be working at odd angles or upside-down or with lighter wood or wood products for any length of time, you might be better served checking out another tool. Same cost when both at regular price, give or take. Sorry for the long review, but I believe it was needed to be fair and accurate.

Owned for over a year...No Jams. I operate at 100psi to 75psi and the nails go all the way in. Other users probably did not have enough psi. Swivel and hip clip are great. Easy to reload. I have fired over 2,000 nails with this problem free. It does not mar or damage wood surface. Use good quality nails.and you will be happy.

I bought this for doing updates to the baseboards window and door casings in my home. No jams to speak of but the depth adjustment was a serious issue in that unless you were targeting a high point on the trim and able to put considerable pressure on the gun while triggering you were left with an exposed head. Very frustrating.....returned it and opted for the Bostich which so fat has worked far better!

I purchased this unit after reading the reviews but my nailer failed to work after few rounds of use. The repair center that was recommended in Port Coquitlam is even worse, they were rude and told me it will take them a month to look at it. So my project is on hold until they decide to look at it. By rigid or Bostitch

Even with the nail depth adjustment set all the way and the plastic tip protector removed, the nails were barely deep enough and about 20% of the time, the nails would be sticking out and had to be punched in. Unhappy with this product and I will be returning it.