Rating  - Very poor design
Bought this at a home Depot. The power was ok, but the design makes it easy to malfunction and hard to repair. Later, I bought a Stanley and it was great. It was easier to load, had a better safety features. Now the I compare the two, the Stanley blows the Arrow away.
Rating  - Excellent: very comfortable and easy to use
This tool is a must. After using it for one year, I'm never going back to a manual stapler. Not only it requires less effort than the hand powered stapler, but the electric stapler is much more reliable, more accurate accurate and much faster.
The tool is primary a stapler, but it can shoot small brad nails, which is very convenient. However, the short brad nails are only useful for very small projects.
The tool jams from time to time, like any stapler, but the feeding channel is easily disassembled to clear the jam. Jamming has never been an issue, but I don't know whether the jams are more frecuent than with other staplers. The shooting mechanism is made of thick steel, and it looks very robust.
Rating  - Well designed and powerful
Arrow Fastener ETFX 50 Heavy Duty Professional Electric Staple and Nail Gun
I bought this staple gun for my wife to use when installing insulation as part of a whole house renovation. Her hand isn't strong enough to use a manual stapler for very long. It also works well for chair upholstering and similar chores.
Pros:
- It's sufficiently powerful to drive 9/16" staples into hardwood.
- No misfires, jams, double-staples, etc.; after firing many thousands of staples.
- It fires BN1810 nails (5/8" 18 gauge brad nails), but since I own two air-pin-nailers, we didn't try this tool's nailer capability.
- Sufficiently light, well balanced, and a nice handle, to use all day with comfort.
- You can staple to the edge in a corner, since nothing on the tool protrudes beyond the "muzzle".
- The staple magazine and the locking slide is all steel. It works easily every time, and it's intuitive.
- The 10' cord results in no extension cord most of the time.
- A parts list is provided, with reasonable prices.
- The blow-molded case actually works pretty well, and protects the tool when carrying or storing. There's some room for spare staples or nails, but not much.
- Takes 6 sizes of T50 staples (1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 1/2", 9/16", 17/32").
- It's electric with a 100% duty cycle, which means it can used it all day with no breaks. Also, no air-compressor (and hose) is needed.
Cons:
- Although it holds a normal supply of staples, it's so easy to shoot them, they run out quickly. A larger magazine would have been nice.
- The tool will fire if it's empty, which it shouldn't do. However, the staple view port makes it easy to see if the gun's loaded, so to speak.
- If Arrow is so confident in their tools, why only a 90-day warranty?
Other:
- There's some recoil, but it's minor, and as long as the business end of the tool is held firmly against the wood, the staple seats all the way. Another stapler sufficiently heavy to eliminate most recoil wouldn't be as comfortable to use all day. If the tool is held weakly against the wood, the tool recoil might keep the staple from seating (i.e., operator error).
- Arrow rates this tool at 10-amp with a 14-amp surge. "Surge amps" can be misleading for tools like vacuum cleaners or circular saws, since normal running amps is the important number. However, an electric stapler's entire cycle lasts about 1/4 of a second, so surge amperage is the key indicator of power. This thing draws lots of amps; a staple hit a nail head once and tripped a 20 amp circuit breaker.
Summary:
This is a fine electric stapler.
Rating - Arrow Fastener ETFX 50 Heavy Duty Professional Electric Staple and Nail Gun
Good product, I would recommend it.
Rating  - ETFX 50 - Love/Hate Relationship
I'm an avid diy'er and purchased one these at the local home center about one year ago. I have primarily used this for insulation and cathedral ceiling baffles. When it decides to work...there is no finer tool for the job. The trigger pull is awesome and there is absolutely no hand fatigue after hours of use. BUT...lately it only fires when it feels like it. It may shoot five staples perfectly, and then die for the next 20 trigger pulls -- extremely frustrating, especially when standing on a 12' ladder. Unfortunately the warranty is only 90 days; I think for the price they charge it should be at least a year.
Some other notes...
You'll need a decent extension cord (12gauge or better); it doesn't run so well on light-gauge cords -- the staples will not sink flush. I also wish the magazine/clip that holds the staples was longer; it goes empty real quick -- at least it use to...when it fired properly...
Now I'm using the Arrow staple hammer, which I love. It is very fast and holds twice the staples, but it's not nearly as precise as the FX50 and often tears the vapor barrier...
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Customer Reviews for Arrow Fastening,ETFX50,079055001553,0079055001553,B00020JOEG, |
