Side by Side Comparison of: Senco vs Hitachi

I'm a hardwood floor guy and put 4000 nails through this gun day 1 on a topnailed oak floor. Love it so far Great Gun!!!

A really great finish nailer. I have always liked the Sencos for finish and brad nailers- quiet and precise and last for a very long time (This one replaces one I have had for over 10 years- and I lost it, it didn't break). My only complaint about the item is the relatively large size which makes it hard to maneuver into some corners but it's a minor issue and other brands are not any smaller. Perhaps I need to buy a palm nailer...

Nice lightweight nail gun and Senco quality wrapped up in one. Depth adjust simple and easy to access. Oilless so you don't have oil flying onto expensive hardwoods. Bump trigger or pull trigger, can be used either way. Can't say enough about it, if you are looking at it, just buy it, don't even think twice. You will not be disappointed. Just remember its oilless, don't even think about reaching for that bottle of oil! If you do, there is a warning label at the fitting area to give you one last chance not to mess up.

My first Senco 15 gauge finish nailer recently stopped working after 18 years. I almost went for a rebuild kit but decided I might be better off updating to the newest technology. I'm glad I did. The new tool is lighter, handles longer nails (2-1/2" instead of 2") and has a mechanism for adjusting countersink depth. It's also compatible with my existing supply of Senco 15 gauge finish nails so I didnt have go out and buy all new nails. I'm very happy with the purchase.

Gun is awsome... I'm happy i made the purchase investment...

My only complaint and tiny at that.. is that this gun fires 34 degree nails only...

It should be mentioned in the listing by Amazon and put on the main page at Senco's site and not on a technical page...

Other then that... I just find excuses to use it... I've shot 1-1/2 and 2" nails both bright and galvanized into pine, oak, yellow cedar, birdseye and sugar maple, and cherry...

Nose guard stays on and i'm 2000+ nails into the original piece.

Great quality and functionality at a good price, brads go in effortlessly and sink to the depth set on the nailer, although so far I've only used it on relatively soft woods. FYI, the combo kit that includes the compressor and brad nailer does NOT include a case for the nailer, I was a bit disappointed by this.

You cannot beat the price of this nailer. I've used mine for dozens of projects and it's rarely had issues. It's high quality and does exactly what I need it to do for my wood projects. Easy to maintain. My only complaint is that after a while, one of the black sides came off that was attached with some kind of glue, but doesn't affect the nailer's performance.

I bought this to replace a cheap old CH nailer that came with my air compressor. This is one of the nicest finish nailers ive ever used. Easy adjustments. I will definitely buy the framing nailer in the future. For this price, you will not find a better deal.

I bought this on the strength of a review by a guy who makes his living with it. He claimed that, on the job, they treat these nail guns like dirt... dropping them, abusing them, and generally defying them to fail. He claimed that this one won't.
I'll never intentionally mistreat this one, but it's good to know it will forgive me if I do. It's been a great tool for me and I'm very happy with it.

Love this nailer! Very easy to operate, runs well, built well, light weight. Accurate to, in the ways of if you set your pressure you know it will go however far down you have set it in the past. I have used it on trim, crown, quarter round, cabinets you name it. All my nailers are Hitachi. I thought they had no business making such tools, but they make awesome nailers.

Great birthday gift for my husband.

Quality product, initially felt a little less firm as the previous one, which was more metal (much heavier/bulkier). 4k nails so far, no jams.

Used it for a small patch of sidings on my house. It worked fine. I'm not a professional user. The front latch to get out a jammed nail is pratical. It didn't jam that much (twice at the end of the nail strip) and I'm not using senco nails, so seems fine to me.

The same gun costs in EU around 500 euro, even with shipping and tax this was a cheaper buy. Ok warranty wouldn't be that easy, but buying a type and mark that is sold in the EU as well, would mean that repairs to the gun are possible.

The plastic box is a bit bulky but for a DIY user it's nice to have something to store it in.

not as good as the SN40 that was stolen, but still a good nailer, better than other brands I have used.

This is one of the best finish nailers out there. Performance seems to be flawless. I only gave it 4 stars because the tool case is ridiculously larger than the nailer itself. Any other comparable nailer that I own or have seen the case is 1/2 the size. When you carry 20+ power tools to a job site space is critical.

OK

I've been using it now for 6 months. I've put in trim, door casing, cabinetry, etc. Mainly using 1.5" and 2" brads. Put it through oak and pine with zero jams. The plastic hitachi hi-light black plastic trim fell off, but I just glued it back on. Good power and adjustability as I have set my gauge from 70 to 110 PSI. Never had need to go higher.

Works well with 100% pin insertion. I have had no misfires and the unit is quiet and easy to use. I am unsure of the longevity due to the amount of plastic used in the construction but it keeps the tool very light to use.

This little brad nailer has worked great. It's nice and light weight but still feels well built.

The magazine release is plastic, which I was worried about, but has held up just fine. I don't know if it would stand up to everyday abuse but for diy/hobbiest use it seems fine. My Porter-Cable finish nailer has a nicer metal magazine release (actually the entire magazine is metal whereas the Hitachi brad nailer magazine is mostly plastic) but it is also heavier and more expensive.

The drive depth adjustment works fairly well and is easy to set. The window to check the amount of brads is small and not the easiest to see but once you get used to it it's simple enough to check and reload before you start firing blanks.

The safety is not located directly over where the brads come out, which can be a little awkward when working with small pieces that have a profile or when you're trying to fire a brad close to the edge of a workpiece. It's not a deal breaker but it does require some thought from time to time. I've never used a brad nailed before so for all I know they're all this way but I prefers the safety location on my finish nailed.

Overall this has been a fine tool and hard to beat for the price.

Was uncertain about purchasing because I thought this might be good to put a bird house together, but not suitable for heavier work. I was wrong. Had no problem putting the Hitachi 2-in nails through old wood during bathroom remodel. So far I've shot 2-in and 1 1/4 in nails through it. No need to adjust the depth gauge when switching between nail sizes, a real plus. Only reason I didn't give it 5 stars was that it was a bit finicky in having to depress it absolutely all the way before it would fire. Given the cramped work space you sometimes have when working with a brad nailer, this caused several mis-fires until I found an angle which would allow me to fully depress the nailer before pulling the trigger. Very easy to change between different nail sizes, and I like the view window which shows you have at least 5 or 10 nails left in the gun. Very happy with purchase.

Love my senco finish nailer for so many different things. Shoots great mine doesn't really jam, the rubber tips do tend to fall off all these sencos and this one doesn't have the option to be an air nozzle either, so if you need that then get a different gun.

I have been a finish carpenter for many years and have always used senco nailers. They have always been great products but the last few models seem to be declining in quality. The 35 was a joke but the 40 kinda made up for it and now with the 42 it's starting to go the wrong way again. We've had a few things break on this gun already within a year. I guess you can say you get what you pay for. Senco nailers use to cost $400+ and now they are a third of that. What can you expect.

Not as good as Hitachi.

I have been considering this Senco gun. This spring, Senco filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and sold off almost all of it's assets. My local tool repair facility told me they are having a very tough time getting parts now and was not confident about the future. Too bad , they made good tools. So just beware. If you purchase a Senco there's no assurance that parts will be available. Many of the more consumer-oriented and Chineese/Taiwanese import brands have very short-lived parts availability. They are meant to be used by homeowners until they break then thrown in landfills. It remains to be seen what happens to Senco long-term. If anyone has updated info, please respond to this.

I don't buy it

Love the gun but the safety is horrible. I had a porter cable forever but they changed there design so I bought this one. I build cabinets so I use thus gun for 10 hrs everyday. The safety goes all the way around the tip and is so loose you can't tell where you are going to hit. I am going try something else

This is a decent gun but the nail magazine is made of plastic so when I was useing it hard for a few weeks of trim work the mag broke and renders it useless but at the price it was worth it

While I like Hitachi products, the two problems I have with this gun is that you can't really shoot from an angle. It has to be pretty much a straight shot, or it won't fire. The other problem is that you don't know when you've run out of nails. Some guns won't fire when it's empty. This will continue to fire until you finally figure out that you've been shooting blanks.

I usually buy more expensive tools, but a friend talked me into buying this gun instead because it does not have the obtrusive head design (guard) and can nail close to the wall. So far it seems to work fine. If I had to complain about anything, it would be that it will "dry fire" when out of finish nails, so you have to watch your clip to see when you are running low. Also, the ram head does it's own damage to the surface. My high-end finish nailers leave nothing but a hole from the finish nail. Other than those two negatives, the positive is that it is very light and works in tight spots. Easy to load and seems dependable at this point. Time will tell. Price is right.

I have been a finish carpenter for 20 years. My first finish gun was a Senco. It was the tool you never had to worry about. I literally drove hundreds of thousands of nails with it and almost zero problems. Ah the good old days! I now have 2 of these nailers and both are a step above trash. The feeder doesn't stay straight in the nail holder. The last few nails, like clockwork, mis-feed or jam completely. The feeder spring has broken on one gun and is too weak on both. I get routine double fires and random no fires. What has Senco done to their guns? The form of the gun is all I can give kudos on so if you want a good looking gun with a small muzzle that makes it easy to see what you are (trying to) shooting at and don' t mind the frequent problems, this is a good gun.

This was my second finish nailer in about 15 years. The first was a Porter Cable that just died after years of heavy work. The Senco seems sturdy enough out of the box, as good as anything else. Loading is fine, however it started misfiring within the first hour of use. On the second day it started jamming multiple nails. By day four it was misfiring and the firing pin was not retracting. All nailers misfire here and there, but not this often. I don't have time to make sure every nail goes in, which the nailer makes you do. You really need something you can trust. You cannot trust this nailer. Maybe the one I purchased was a fluke, but I returned it for the cheaper Porter Cable. I used the Porter Cable nailer all day yesterday, not one misfire or jam. I cannot recommend this nailer.

THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED.You can read what I wrote years ago when I had a problem with this gun but I regress on many statements I made. The said Dewalt gun ended up dieing soon after writing. I recommend the Senco SFN 30 to everyone now. Reasons can be found in a post I made in comments. Please disregard my anger at what is probably a rare fluke. I've bought from Amazon many many times since, and have never had another problem. Ive also taken a recommendation to try another Senco gun (the SFN 30) and LOVED it. We bought several. Sorry to those who feel misinformed. Just had a bad experience that particular time.THIS REVIEW HAS BEEN EDITED.Ok .. so i receive my new Senco air nailer around the date i predicted. thats a great start. but thats where the props stop. i open the box main shipping box (which wasnt hard as it was 1/2 opened already) and get to the manufacturers retail box. i have another person in the room so i asked them to come be a witness to this. we look and sure enough it has been open. its this little seal on the outside flap that says "If seal is broken or package damaged check contents before signing receipt"So my alarm is immediately set off about this product as i now fully open the box and the case. as i'm opening the case i hear a very strange sound. it reminded me off a rain stick but it didnt last long. it struck me as odd but i wasnt focused on the case. i was more worried about the gun. i didnt notice anything wrong w/ the mechanics off the gun but i cant count on an working product till after ive tested it in a work environment. i'm a trim carpentry sub-contractor. i use and have used just about any 15ga finish nailer made and i have my personal favorite .. the dewalt D51275K. only drawback is its not oiless. so thats what i use for myself. but for my employees, i want to give them something to use thats dependable, reliable, virtually maintenance free and so the expensive but generally well received Senco seemed to be the best option. i was wrong. after about 10 min off using the gun my employee came up to me with a problem with the gun. it was jammed. no problem. it happens. shouldnt happen often cause i AM using Senco brand 2" angled nails but ok. i gave him my dewalt so he could keep working. i fix the jamb and start using the senco myself and after i'd say about 5 shots it goes and jambs again! as im clearing the jamb i notice that this jam was caused by the long nail hitting either a metal plate or concrete. ok, so i clear the jamb and go to set the nail head thats sticking out. and then i put the nails back in the gun and go to shoot my first nail. IT SHOOTS THROUGH DOWNWARDS INTO THE FLIPPIN MAGAZINE!. yeah, right through the metal nail clip. no way of fixing at the moment + i wanted to see Senco bite the bullet for a piece of crap i was sold so i left it alone. after going back home that evening to put it in the case i start examining the case. yeah, it makes a weird sound of plastics bits inside the case. then i look where you put the manual. the whole edge of that plastic piece was chewed up and the whole flap itself caved inwards. the sound i was hearing was the pieces of chewed up plastic moving around inside of the manual compartment.all in all, it's my belief that i was sold an inferior product, a 2nd, an assembly line inspectors reject. because of the lack of time i had and the work that i had lined up i dont have time to have a long drawn out battle over getting reimbursed or replacement but i'll have it be know that i will no longer buy ANYTHING from amazon.com that isnt music/dvd/game which ive had no problem with in the past ordering hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise. i no longer have the original gun and case that was sent to me as i went to my local supply store and bought the same model and swapped out and returned on that receipt explaining the problem. they RTV'ed it to get sent back to the manufacture. so i do have a working gun now but unfortunately i have to fight my workers wanting to still use my dewalt now that they've tried it. i might end up buying another few of those in the future. but as mentioned, no more Sencos for awhile and definitely no more Amazon.com

When this nailer is working, it works great. However, it constantly jams with the 3/4" brad nails I've been using. The spring loaded part of the magazine that keeps tension on the nails ends up sliding over them and the nailer stops working. Guess it's a common problem with these. Spend a few more dollars and get one that doesn't have this problem.

I picked this gun because of the wonderful reviews, maybe I got a lemon. The nail cartridge is made of plastic and just keeps jambing, gun has little time on it, nothing like the performance of my bostich. I will be getting a bostich again regardless that the reviews were not as good as this one.

This nailer jams up often - reliably. The slide that presses the nails to the front is too loose. It has small indents intended to keep nails from sliding behind or in front of it, but they're not enough and nails slide pass the slide, jamming the nailer. I have found a cheap nailer from Harbor Freight costing $20 to be reliable and it also handles staples. I'm very disappointed with Hitachi.

I purchased this product because of my Hitachi history with their other tools. Some are favorites. My Porter Cable nailer went on me after 10 years. and i needed another that day. I went to Amazon and was going to order the same nailer but i opted for this hitachi because of the best buy rating. i received it the next day and used it for about a half day when it jammed and did not make it back. i don't think this tool can be a dependable one for a professional. Probably a good stand by.

I bought this nailgun almost two months ago, and just used it for the first time. It seems to work just fine, and though right out of the box i was concerned about the durability of the plastic parts (the nail storage area in the gun is made of plastic, and it has a bit of flex in it, and I wonder if it could withstand a dropping like the old senco i used to use can).

So the durability was the issue right out of the box. But the real actual problem is that when I used 2" nails designed for the gun, they jammed the gun twice in less than a half hour of use. Just to add, I read thoroughly the instructions.

Not so happy with this nailgun.

This is the 2nd POS I have recieved. The1st one the nail coil would no longer slide up to force the nails into the driver. 2nd one the safety wont engage the trigger.

SO UPSET!! Does any manufacturer make a tool that will work for longer than 2 months?

I have had this nail gun for several years and it is junk, one of the worst tools I have every purchased. It misfires more times than it fires correctly-- double hitting, under hitting, you name it. You can disregard the reviews here for people that have owned the gun for 7 or 10 years stating they are great and made in the USA, because today they are made in China and done so poorly. That's not to say that all made in China air nailers are bad and in fact I a 15 gauge to recommend that's made in China. Just don't pay a premium for this one assuming it's in the upper range of manufacturing because it isn't. If you look closely at the nail guide and manufacturing, it seems a bit clearer why it performed so poorly. I also want to be clear that this was not user error-- it's an oil free gun, I didn't oil it; operated at correct pressures with an adequate compressor, etc. I finally gave up on it and bought a BOSTITCH BTFP72156 Smart Point 15GA FN Style Angle Finish Nailer Kit -- what a difference. It just about never misfires, the trigger point is amazing, manufacturing very tight (yes made in China but well done), and very innovative and solid. Just a great 15 gauge nail gun that will speed your work. Whatever Senco was as a company a decade ago, you can forget about that when it comes to this gun. I bought mine in 2012, so if they have improved since then, I wouldn't know.

Gun was leaking air when I plugged it in. Air nozzle was housing was cracked causing it to leak air.

Received boxed product all good. Had to buy a nipple for the air attachment, (not attached or included). Bought that and while tightening it into place I snapped the housing for the nipple. I didn't cross-thread or over-torque it. I needed the gun for a job immediately and went to a nearby repair shop and store. They told me it would be three weeks until their next Senco order went out and longer for the repair. So I bought a Hitachi which I am very happy with right out of the box. Having the Senco fixed and may keep it despite the hassle. Wasted several hours and am disappointed with the flimsy casting. I imagine that I caught a bad break and that the gun would satisfy many that don't have this misfortune, but who has the time for junk and trouble? I always aim to buy the best and would gladly pay a bit more for better craftsmanship if given the choice.

This finish nailer is certainly not up to Senco standards, nor what I have grown to expect and experience with Senco products. The nail advance feed self destructed, with the end result being the nails do not advance. The nailer was less than 9 months old. Think if I had to do all over again I would have stayed with Porter Cable.

The nail follower jams up all the time, all the time. It feels like less than half the quality of the Hitachi 16ga straight finish nailer, I and several other guys have used the 16's for years without a single problem. This 18ga gun is junk right out of the box

Brad nails slip behind spring loaded plate causing the jam. My nailer was 2 years old, or roughly 2000 nails, before encountering this problem. Since the nailer has a 5 year warranty, i called to see what could be done. Was told to mail it in with no promises.

**update 11/4/2013:
Nailer was received to Hitachi on 10/20/13, back in my possession on 11/1/2013. Only the plastic feeder piece being pushed by the spring has been replaced, with the same OEM piece. Only a matter of time before jams return.

The first one of these tools I owned lasted me for 3 years with no problems. The second one lasted 2 months, this one I recently purchased lasted 12 days before it malfunctioned. All three of the guns had the same issue, the nails jammed in the clip and while you think the gun is shooting it will not allow the nails to feed up. It didn't even seem to matter that I was using the Hitachi brand nails or another brand, all resulted in the same problem. I'm not sure what changed with the quality of these guns, but I would not recommend them to anyone, homeowner or professional.

I purchased this in 2010 for some finish carpentry projects and have used it very lightly. Like many others, the slide doesn't advance the nails. Hitachi framing nailers enjoy a great reputation, but something went wrong with this product.

The spring that pushes nails toward nail hole stopped working the second time I use it. Even though the mannual states that chek and tighten all screws before each use, there is no approproate tool included.