They're ideally suited for professional use in construction tasks such as framing and sub-floor laying, where manual nailing would otherwise be highly repetitive and time-consuming. The internals are quite similar in some ways to those found in the 1st generation 2nd fix cordless nailers pioneered by deWalt in that you have a flywheel powered by a motor (in this case a 2-speed brushless motor) which drives the driving pin. It's predecessors were a somewhat second-hand original stick-battery black Paslode Impulse (see below), an orange Paslode IM350/90 (my first new gun) and a Senco GT90CH. In fact the only aspect of this gun I still dislike is the weight – but even there I've learned to live with it.

Family-owned since 1998, Powertool World has become one of the UK's largest tool distributors – and we're still growing. Just like on gas nailers these can weaken and break with age, especially if you've been nailing into hard brickwork for a long time.

On both my DeWALT DCN660 16 GA finish nailer and my DeWALT DCN650 15 GA finish nailer these have a spring loaded nosepiece that must first be compressed into the workpiece before those nailers will fire. The LED lighting illuminates your target area well and the fact that they switch to red when it is time to reload is a great feature. The Hikoki NP18DSALW4Z 18V 23 Gauge Pin Nailer is a lightweight and compact piece of equipment, ideal for working with nails between 15 and 35mm in length. Have I added that some manufacturers also seem to source their batteries, chargers and plug top transformers from a factory making novelty cracker fillings somewhere in central China? I have noticed a tendency to dry fire when used at extreme angles for toe nailing, but at those angles my old Paslode or Senco would be all but unuseable, so I don't really see it as a problem.

These trackers enable basic interactions and functionalities that allow you to access selected features of our service and facilitate your communication with us. We've also got an older Axminster (air) 23ga nailer which has been great, but the last guy I know who bought one said the nail clip flew open everytime he shot a pin!There is a fairly standard looking thumb wheel depth control fitted to the nose of the tool to vary the amount a nail head will be sunk into the material. Grex work perfectly in my Hitachi pneumatic pin nailer, but they are too weakly joined to handle the thump from a cordless unit. At least the most modern guns have cured some of the worst ills which early models had – such as my first Paslode which refused point blank to work upside-down (try doing in-situ joist replacement or solid strutting in volume and you'll understand why you need a gun instead of a hammer and why you need it to work upside down), the battery constantly falling out, batteries needing to be removed when the gun was rested for more than 5 minutes because the flashing light would flatted it and NiCd batteries which were, to say the least, fragile (as were the chargers). just under 8lbs) it is a fairly heavy tool (although lighter than the first generation 16ga first fix gun I still use) and whilst I consider it to be reasonably well balanced in the hand, for that reason I have to admit it won't for everyone. The nailer runs in two separate modes, sequential mode (where the nose has to be positioned, pushed down onto the work, the trigger pulled, the motor then spools up and it fires) or bump mode (where you pull the trigger to run the motor up to speed then “bump” the tool against the work to fire a nail).