Hitachi Reviews

YOU CANNOT GET THE SAW THROUGH A 30" DOOR WHEN MOUNTED ON THE STAND. Everything else is great. So what? I can't move it to the basement, from the garage into the house, into my storage room. The width is 29" at the wheels. Sounds good - if any of my doors opened 180 degrees and didn't have stop molding. In practice 27.5" should have been the design width they worked within. That should not have been difficult given the saw width is 25".
And don't think you can just turn it side ways and slide it through. With the stand and blade guard installed (both require tools to remove), the profile is more than 29". You can wiggle it through but I doubt the plastic blade guard will survive too many attempts. The whole assembly is also very heavy and awkward when trying this.
Don't underestimate how important this is. Only my front door is greater than 30 inches. Every other door is 30".

This will be my second stand, as I purchased the Bosch saw/stand combo a few years ago. The new stand will replace a mickeymouse thing now under my 10" Bosch comp.miter saw. I was looking at the Rigid MSUV table for the miter, and I'm sure it's a fine unit. But since I'm not encumbered by time, and I have lightweight portable supports, I didn't really need the on-board roller supports. And I'm very pleased with the stability and ease of set-up of the Bosch table. Besides, it's less money now than the Rigid and Amazon doesn't sell the Ridgid (not now, anyway). I'll probably have to adapt the miter hole patterns to the new saw frame, but that's minor stuff. I know how well the table saw gets around on this base, so it didn't make sense to go to something different and wind up disappointed. It really is a very well designed base!

This is my second purchase of this item and I am well pleased. It is easy to assemble and easy to operate. I now own 4 of these stands and would rate them high above any other similar item on the current market regardless of price. It is very sturdy, balanced, and well designed.

This saw is great to use, cuts like butter and is very quite. The only thing I would change about this saw is the safety trigger, it's in an awkward position. specially for a lefty's. Get the saw happy cutting.

I cannot recommend this product enough - good price, arrived on time, highly accurate tool. It would have been the perfect transaction if I had received the nailer I sent all the rebate info in towards!!!(see Kevin Graham's review, as well). Having waited now four months, I have sent an email to Hatachi since I know Amazon to be useless in these situations. For lack of any other real recourse, my second option is to send a letter to Hatachi's company president, Kazuo Furukawa. Unfortunately this is not the first time I have been stung on an Amazon advertised rebate.

I am totally happy with my new Hitachi saw but I want to warn others about Hitachi's failure to honor their rebate offer of a free nailer ($100 value) when purchasing this saw last fall. Last fall, I sent in complete paperwork for the rebate within the prescribed period. I heard nothing for about three months. In early March I sent a second copy of my rebate materials to Hitachi. Yesterday (after about a month) I received my second rebate application returned to me unopened and stamped "Offer expired". Like the previous reviewer, I think Amazon needs to know this is happening. My initial reaction when I saw the "free nailer" offer was this is too good to be true. I was right.

This gun is better then the senco or any other
it is light weight and well balanced .This is a very powerful nailer. This is the only trim gun I'll buy.

This is a quality gun. I needed a 15 gauge nailer for a big job; my P/C 16 gauge just wouldn't do it. I read all the reviews on Amazon and narrowed it down to a couple. I wanted a quality gun but really did not want to spend more than $200. I originally was going to go with a Senco but they were on back order so I "settled" for the Hitachi - I am SO glad I did. I checked out the big chain stores - Home Depot was the only one that had it (at $219 plus tax); and with the $20 special discount Amazon gave it was a no-brainer. My Brother-in-Law is a professional and he has two Hitachi guns & loves them.


I've only used it for about 40 hours so far but it has worked flawlessly. I've been working with 1 inch Pine & red oak effortlessly. It is light weight & wonderfully well balanced. It is very compact & I'm able to get in tight spots that my larger PC gun would never allowed me. Senco nails fit perfectly & are readily available. The air blower is a great feature! I first thought it was a useless frill, but it really is useful. If there was anything negative I could come up with is that the depth adjustment is a bit funky. However, once set it is very consistent.

I own four finish nailers and this by far my favorite.

so that I could buy it again at Lowes. For $199 Lowes sold me the NT65MA2 and promised to mail me a Hitachi 18ga nailer for rebate.
This nailer is quality all the way and is one of my favorite tools. It is well balenced and fits my hand so nicely. The case holds it with a few small boxes of nails, safty glasses and hex keys. After using some of Hitachi's products I know how they get away with making some of them look so stupid, like something out of Buck Rogers. BECAUSE THEY CAN!
It took several months for Lowes to send me the NT 32AE(s) for rebate, but the price(free)was awsume! Another fine tool from Hitachi.

just started to take on large roofing projects myself (i used to sub them out)and asked around which gun to buy. the answer was either stanley or hitachi. personally i hate stanley, so went with the nv45. my 1st project with the gun was 27 squares.
it was a reroof so i used 1 3/4" nails. at least 60-70% of the nails needed a little persuasion with my hammer. a real waste of time. but the gun only jammed once which wasnt bad to clear, it only took a minute. had the pressure up to 100 psi so am not sure what the problem was.

I'm a ceramic and marble installer and everything i do is over Cement board. I finally broke down 3 years ago and got with the program and picked up one of these guns. A roofer friend pointed me in the right direction. Initially i wasn't impressed, it left the nails slightly proud and required some extra hammering. From my experience these guns have a definite "break in" period. A few months after my purchase this tool started to perform flawlessly and still does.

I don't use this as much as a roofer would, but to date i have had maybe 2 jammed nails and zero repairs!!

great tool. period.

i recently stated that the gun had difficulties with 1 3/4" nails on a reroof project, someone had suggested to stay away from the longer nails and i switched to 1 1/2" nails.
amazind difference!! gun sank every nail and never had a jam.
dont know why they advertise it as a 1 3/4" gun when it isnt. but know i know. guess i should have bought the stanley bostich

My first circular saw and I like it a lot. Easy to use. I replaced the blade with a diamond edge masnory blade to cut 2 inch think flagstones, it cuts like butter. Great saw.

I am obsessive about researching my purchases, especially with tools. Not wanting (or needing) a heavy worm-drive saw, I narrowed my search to the Hitachi (well-rated), Milwaukee 6391 (top-rated by many magazines), Bosch CS20 (also top-rated), and Porter-Cable MAG (again, top-rated). However, I also take most magazine reviews with a grain of salt - always get actual consumer reviews and get your hands on the item.

While the Milwaukee is a great saw with a great reputation, the Tilt-lok seems like a nice "bonus" feature but I usually believe "The simpler the better" principle (less stuff to break down or cause issues) and wanted something a bit lighter. I didn't like the "composite plastic" Bosch plate and have seen other durability issues (see reviews on Amazon). The Porter-Cable was a front-runner (I love PC tools), but again there seemed to be some durability issues in some reviews, wondered about the fancy plastic dust port clogging, and the price was $50 more (is it worth 50% more money??). So, after handling all of these saws at the store, I really liked the Hitachi best - plus a perfect 5 star rating here at Amazon (until the guy who posted incorrectly about the warranty). I couln't find any faults - it is very light, powerful and accurate (dead-on 90 degrees and 45 degrees out of the box). The blade brake isn't as fast as I hoped, but still several seconds faster than without (and those several seconds could make the difference between "Ouch!" and "Take me to the emergency room!"). The stock blade is better-than-average, the plate is rock-solid and nicely designed, nice dust control and it has great visibility. Some people might not like that the plate tilt does not have any markings to tell what depth it is set at - however, I usually "eye-ball" the blade depth for a cut anyway, and if I really needed to be accurate I would actually measure the depth instead of relying on the rough measures on the tool (plus, the bar used to raise/lower the plate is enclosed - so it won't collect sawdust and dirt). To top it off, it does carry a 5-year warranty (unlike a previous poster stated), plus the brushes are replaceable for extended life.
I'm sure all the saws I mentioned would be a great choice, but for the money I betting on the Hitachi!

I first bought a Skil 5750-01, thinking that the laser guide would be great. I liked having the extended line of sight, but that was the only plus to that particular piece of equipment. I immediately returned it, and bought the Hitachi. Wow, was that a good idea. Perfect 90 degrees at catch, the other measurements for angle are off, though, and it doesn't tilt all the way to the 55 degree miter. The first thing I did was change the blade, a snap with the tool provided in the case from the factory (nice touch, Hitachi!), store the old one on the gripping spindle in the case (another thoughtful addition) and cut through a piece of 3/4" 7-layer birch plywood. Perfect performance, and the brake isn't too hard, so there's almost no kickback when you drop the trigger.

I've had this drill for about a month, and used it to drill 3/8" cast iron plate. This drill has plenty of power and torque, it will not bog down. It has a very comfortable fit in your hand, and has a two finger trigger which is very nice. If you need a strong hand drill, you won't disappointed.

One thing to watch out for is the trigger lock, if you don't pay attention you can set it without knowing it, and if the drill bit binds. You can not hold this DRILL, other than that, for the money a excellent drill

We've never owned a really good drill before so this one was such a pleasure to use. It just works. I haven't had reason to use the detatchable driving handle much but it's nice to have. The best part is the electric brake. It has prevented a lot of stripping. This thing is heavy and without a strong hand, the mixture of the powerful torque and something like a hole saw could rip this drill right out of your hand; that's where the electric brake comes in but watch your wrist. So, hold on tight because this is a great drill.

I just got this drill and used it to secure some oak planking on a bridge we are building. The drill had plenty of power to sink 4" lag screws through the 2" thick oak planks (after drilling pilot holes, of course) and into the underlying structure. An older Craftsman drill that another guy had couldn't even get the screws started into the hard oak planks.

The removable side handle is a must in situations where you need a lot of torque. I let someone else try to use this drill and the first time it spun itself right out of their hands. The grip is very comfortable with just a little bit of rubber to help prevent slipping and I really like the two finger trigger. As another reviewer mentioned, the brake works well and the drill stops quickly. Overall an excellent drill, I am very pleased with my purchase.

In the middle of roofing a difficult tall steep hip roof house with 8 hips and 4 valleys I decided I could not have done without a nailer. The Hitachi is a side loader, using full round head, wire collated nails. Having used a half box (3600) nails from the "Collated" brand from Lowe's I discovered that turning down the pressure to around 90 lbs alleviated the bent head and most went in straight on, flush head.
Of curious note, with these nails and this gun, I know when the coil is done, as the last nail falls out of the gun and tinkles down the roof when the next to the last nail is used.
The gun is light and has some rubber bumpers that help protect somewhat when dangled from the ladder, bumping the roof.
I have no comparison to other guns, and have given this 4 stars as some nails go in sideways. It is easily adjusted for depth with locking twist knob and the sideways nails could be the roof, the cheap nails, or my holding it at a slight angle. This roof is 12/12 (45 degrees) and is a ladder only approach.
Having the green Hitahchi Framing Nailer, I will say I love it and have used Hitachi nails in it and it performs flawlessly, nails excellent, gun no failures with power to spare.
Hold trigger firmly, as if loosely held, a slight hiss of air leak and less drive to nail with nail sitting a little proud.
I WOULD BUY THIS NAILER AGAIN IF GIVEN THE CHOICE.

After reading lots of reviews, I decided to purchase this roofing nailer about a month ago. My husband is using it to replace the roof on our house that was damaged in Hurricane Katrina. He really likes it and hasn't had any problems with it. [...]

I was about to start my first roofing replacement, and seriously considered going the cheap route and buying one of the hundred dollar Harbour Freight import guns to save money, but luckily for me they closed at 7:00 and I didn't make it in time. So I went to my local tool shop and picked up the gun I knew I should buy; the Hitachi. The next day we ran two nail guns, my Hitachi, and a Porter Cable that my buddy barrowed from a coworker. While I was buzzing along row after row stopping only to chalkline and reload nails (like every 10 minutes), I could constantly hear my buddy and his crew whining over on the other side as his Porter Cable nailer repeatedly misfired, jammed, etc. They were at the point after about an hour where they would actually count out loud how many nails they could drive without a problem. I think they reached 12 a couple times. Since the PC nailer slowed us down so much, we found ourselves working into the rain and the dark. The other crew exchanged their PC Nailer for lights so we could see as me and my Hitachi continued to run through row after row in the rain until the roof was covered. I am glad I dropped the extra money on a really high quality tool, and would recomend it without hesitation to anyone.

for working overhead, or on staging or framing on the jobsite, it's a bit more awkward than a similar stick nailer. Changing nail sizes is a tedious little business, can't be done easily while up on a ladder, for instance, with different coils and different magazine settings while a few clips of stick nails fit easily and quickly in the nail bags. Coils are easily bent or bumped on a busy job, which makes them quite difficult to fit into the nailer. Get the stick version instead.

I purchased this gun about a year and a half ago. I have waited to give my opinion for some time due to the fact that I use this gun constantly, and wanted to see how this gun would preform over an extended period of time before making a recommendation.

This gun has never, ever, let me down. I am in construction and the Hitachi NV83A is my best friend. Sure the gun would periodically jam here and there, open the front loader and remove the nail, end of story. This thing is so durable and honest that it is a pleasure to pick up.

If you are contemplating buying a framing gun... I strongly recommend the Hitachi NV83A.

I work with this gun in South Florida and it is the best gun I have ever used. The specs say this gun holds 2" to 3 1/4" nails, but it also shoots 1 1/2" case hard nails into concrete like a real pro. 2 1/4" case hard nails also work very well. Down here we have all concrete block exterior walls and do quite a lot of furring to attach drywall to. This is the best of about five different makes I have used over the past 20 + years. AAAAA++++ rating.

This nailer marks soft wood on the recoil and if you push too hard it will mark just setting the nailer on the wood. I don't get why this was not brought up here before. I sets nails well alright but the extra mark in the wood is not worth it. I still have my Senco with a plastic non mar tip, not anywhere near the power but does not mark the wood as this Hitachi. 3 out of 5 from me for this huge problem and for the fact the tip design does not allow for pinpointing the exact path the nail will take.

I got mine about 6 months ago and I love it .It does not misfire or double fire .It set the nail every time in all types of woods. Truly the best brad gun for the money mabe the best on the market.

i've been using this brad gun for a little over 2 months now and I really like it, I use it mostly to install shoe molding and other light trim work. The Hitachi has performed flawlessly , always countersinking the brads. Just to see how strong it shot , I took two scrap pieces of 5/4 oak stacked on top of each other and shot a 2" brad into the two pieces , and the nail head was countersunk nicely, needless to say I was surprised. P.S., this gun replaced a senco 1 1/4" brad gun that wasn't countersinking for me properly (yes i am a senco fan, I love my 41xp), the hitachi is well worth the price, no doubt.

The jointer bed is too small for this to be the perfect machine. The planer is excellent, but the total length of the infeed and outfeed bed is very short and makes it difficult to accurately joint long pieces of wood. The first thing that I did after buying this was to buy a 71" powermatic jointer. It is not the most economical way to go.

The exhaust tends to get plugged in both the planer and the jointer with wood chips.

The blades for the P12RA are what in trade referred to as "specialized" blades because they have custom slots and holes. Consequently, you are tied into the manufacturer for blades.

Despite reports to the contrary and the failure of these blades to appear in the documentation as parts or accessories, Hitachi does offer carbide blades for P12RA planer and the jointer. The Hitachi part numbers are: planer - 200001 and jointer - 401000. I just ordered both sets from an authorized Hitachi parts supplier, be ready for sticker shock, the MFG list price for the blades are $448.71 for the planer and $224.35 for the jointer as of April 7, 2006. The vendor I purchased from discounted my price to 80% of the list price.

The toll free number to Hitachi Power Tools Customer Service is 800-706-7337.

I've had my Hitachi P12RA planer for 8 years and couldn't be happier. Originally, I wanted to buy their F1000A cast iron planer/jointer but discovered Hitachi no longer exports it to the USA. Since the F1000A is SOOOOOOOOOOOO remarkable, I took the chance on this "little brother" and was very pleased- with the planer.

The quality of cut is outstanding, and boards come out dead accurate. In fact, I go to this planer over my 2 year old Jet 15" stationary planer almost every time. The Jet is a workhorse so that should tell ya something! Setup is simple. The knives are really beefy and all the other parts (castings, chains, bearings, adjusting screws) are heavy and well made. I get "slick-as-glass" results even on ebony. Since most of the components are aluminum alloy or stainless steel, I don't even have to fight rust.

Though the jointer is powerful and gives a fantastic finish to the wood, it's just too simplistic. There isn't a way to align the infeed and outfeed tables, which makes getting a flat board almost impossible. They are fixed except to adjust the depth of cut. In fact, holding a straight edge to the length of the jointer bed reveals both tables angle away from the cutterhead. Since I make guitars, this sort of thing drives me bananas. I actually sent the jointer portion back to the dealer for a partial refund.

My advice is to buy the planer portion only. Spent the money for the dust hood too. It's well put together and very effective. This planer has been featured in several books and magazine articles over the years, and for a good reason. You will be amazed with the results!