Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My review is obviously not in agreement with most others but i believe it is very fair and accurate. I am 61 and have been carpentering since I was 16. I am retired but still work as a consultant for an emergency restoration company on very hard jobs in the renovation of homes after fire,flood and mold damage. I have used all four types of nailers including hand nail sets,electric. pneumatic (air drive)both portable and connected to an air compressor as well as manual hammer driven hardwood floor nailers. I am not connected with Arrow company in any way!!. The tool is used is the second version which tells me the first probably had flaws or why upgrade it. It takes a lot of power to drive a narrow nail through wood especially oak or maple and if you look at most expensive commercial nailers they have large heavy heads for the drive mechanism. A manual floor nailer has a one inch drive head that you slam with a three inch mallet that then transfers all this force to a single wire nail 1/16th inch wide. Even then they won't set all the time which is why they sell a "Bostitch manual nail setter" with most mallet nailers. Air drive nailers are expensive, heavy and also split and break moldings if you are not careful! This is an inexpensive electric nailer that will drive nails within its' limitations which is where I believe the negative ratings come from. My bet is most people did not take the time to read the instructions carefully. First is power and this tool pulls over 10 amps which is a huge electric load but that is why there is a 16 gauge cord on it. If you connect this to any typical extension cord you will have trouble since they are usually 18 gauge (higher number means smaller wire) and will not power this nailer.The gauge is listed along the side if the cord if you look close. A 12 gauge extension cord is expensive at half of one hundred dollars or more for 50 feet) which is why it's real nice to have this 10 feet cord.If you cannot reach an electrical outlet you will need the heavy extension cord.Even the outlet is no good if it is powering another heavy electrical load (fridge ,freezer, washing machine) at the same time. Next is nailing cycle which is 20 nails per minute which means you cannot go "pow pow pow" like an air nailer but you have to go "pow; count 3 seconds and pow again". This most like prevents overheating and I suspect charges a condenser for power. You also have to put heavy pressure and the head (use both hands) to prevent rebound.I know that is hard when putting up moldings in awkward areas but it may help to tack it with one hand in a couple of spots with one hand and then go back and use the 2 hand method. Also you should know that all wood is not wood and many moldings and materials you are nailing them onto are composed of resins, glues and other extremely hard substances made to appear like wood. In old homes "white wood" which is fir, spruce or pine gets very hard as it ages..especially spruce. If you are nailing into a knot you will see nails sticking out. I have no problem using this to set moldings in place even if I have to go back with a nail set and finish the job where I can't use two hands. So it boils down to you get what you pay for and this tool for its' low price does all the things I want it to do instead of several hundred dollars for air nailers, compressors etc. I have free access to all of those but this is much easier and handier. The only negatives I have with this tool is the safety slide switch above the trigger gets bumped very easily into the off position when you are twisting your hand around in tight spots.Too much safety is not a real issue. Also it would be nice to see Arrow come out with a multiple nail pack of the four sizes instead of separate 1,000 packs. hope this helps