Hitachi Reviews

This drill is remarkedly comfortable to use. It is smaller and more powerful that an older DeWalt 9.6 volt drill I have. The major draw back is the battery charging system. With the DeWalt you put a battery in the charger and leave it until you need it. Not with the Hitachi. It says to take it out when charged. Therefore you got to watch it. Also, if you are using the drill alot and the battery gets low on power, it is also warm and the charger will not charge it until it cools off. Can't get the battery to charge until it cools off???? If you need to charge right away, you are out of luck.

I guess for the price, I can live with this flaw. But sure like the DeWalt charging system much better.

This drill is a champ, I had an old stick type 9.6v Makita that served me well for 8 years. When I finally lost the last battery I decided to buy a new drill. I never really wanted more power than the 9.6v Makita delivered so I didn't see the point in getting a huge cordless drill. This drill is light, incredibly comfortable, all the power I need in a cordless and for $80 with a flashlight and a rebate for a third battery it was a no brainer.

I picked this one up at a garage sale for 50 bucks (brand new) I have had it for a year now in my shop and it performs beautifully.From cleaning my tools, inflating tires, and running my nail guns. Not too heavy to move. If you need a small compressor with a lot of power this is the one for you.

THE BEST COMPRESSOR I EVER OWNED
PERFORM GREAT IT IS VERY QUITE
NONE STOP I USED IT FOR CABINET INSTALLATIONS TOP NOCH
IT GOT STOLLEN FROM ME AND I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO FIND ANOTHER OF ITS KIND SO CAN YOU PLEASE START MAKING THEM AGAIN
I ALSO WANT TO PURSHASE ONE

I looked at all the planers. I was going to buy a planer with AMPS being my first concern. With a 3.4 amp motor this planer did not fail once. I put this machine to work on rough cut white oak with the blades full bore, and I got tired before this Hitachi planer. My only wish is the shoe as in all planers in this class was 1 inch longer. With a longer shoe or base this would get 5 stars. At this price you cannot go wrong. Blades are a snap to change, and sharpen. This is a nice machine.

If you need a hand planer for occasional use and don't want to spend more than $100 bucks this is an excellent buy. I gave it 5 stars are mainly because this is a best value choice. I got mine on sale for $89. It came with a metal case and right angle fence. It's a quality tool and fit and finish are very good. The shoe is a little short, making it slightly unbalanced, but it still feels pretty good in your hand. Depth of cut adjustments are simple and accurate, and it will produce a very clean cut. I've had mine for 2 years and the blades are holding up extremely well. I have not had to change them or sharpen them. It takes a little practice but it will take down to 64th of an inch with very little snipe at the ends. Has plenty of power for my needs. I use it mainly on bowed studs, shaving jam extensions flush, or back planing baseboard. None of these operations require extreme accuracy, but this tool delivers very nice results. Occasionally I will use it for shaving doors and it works fine but you will likely need some touch up hand sanding.

I think this is the probably the best hand planer out there for less than $150. For under $100 you can't beat it. If you want the top of the line look at the Porter Cable 9118 but that tool is 5 times the price.

I've used this sander to finish a project consisting of lots of veneered panels. In general its not bad for the price, the dust collection is good (a bag is supplied -- you'll need to purchase an adapter to connect a regular dust extractor hose) and the lever clamps make it easy to change the sanding sheet. The only problem is that the powerful motor can make it difficult to control and a lot of vibration is transmitted back into your hands. This makes it uncomfortable to use for long periods. Might be worth looking into the variable speed model (SV12V).

This is a great sander! This sander semi-replaced my 20 year old Craftsmen dual action sander (which is still being used for it's inline sanding ability). Dust collection is good, vibrations are low, it is very quiet, paper changes are a breeze, and best of all, the 20,000 OPM smooth's out my projects quickly with no swirls. I love woodwork, but hate sanding, and this tool definately cut's my sanding time in half.

Without a doubt this is the best router value on the market. I state this owning 24 routers and I have at least one of nearly every model available. For the price of a PC 690 you get an extremely powerful PLUNGE router with the best balance of any plunger. It is not an accident that nearly every time you see someone in Fine Woodworking cutting a mortise with a plunge router they're are doing it using the TR12. It doesn't have variable speed or a soft start feature which would be nice but unless your doing raised panels the lack of variable speed is inconsequential. This is the best balanced hand held plunge router at the best price in the world.

I have had mine for years and years . It does not have the soft start as meantioned , it does not have variable speed , who cares .
What it does have is power , balance , smooth bronze bushing plung action and an easy to reach on/ off switch mounted on the tools body .
I dropped mine with the edge guide in place and cracked the base long ago but it still has held up , the nice depth knob handle is gone too .
Still it is my favorite plunge router of all time . Even at its size it is light and very stable and easy to control .
I want another but they are not made any longer , now we have the MV-12 which personally I don't feel is a nice or as well made as this older TR-12 .
I am going to spring for a new base and brushes and cord rather than but something new , I feel this router is well worth the repair . I happen to like a round base , I'm used to one . I don't need soft start or variable speed , you hold the handles , that's what they are there for .
Why not just leave well enough alone or keep making this one hitachi ? Give the consumer a choice the old reliable and the new high tech version . I truely do not understand what the benefit is of having soft start on a plunge router , the bit is well away from the wood and no router I have ever used was so powerful that it jumped out of my hands on startup , so what's the point ? Something else that can and will fail and cost a fortune to repair ?
This to me is one of the largest mistakes manufacturers make , all trying to keep up with the competition when in fact they were ahead of the game long ago .
A tool is something people become adjusted to and are then comfortable with , not a fashion statement .

Be aware that the model sold at Lowe's for $159 is the UU610CZ, a "little bother" model to the UU610. The beam is shorter, it cannot accept an "extension stop," and it DOES NOT INCLUDE THE ROLLER FENCE AND STOP. It is a "price point" model designed to sell for around $150. It does, however, include the wheel kit.

Note also that this is a "universal" miter stand, and can accomodate any size and any brand of miter saw, not just 12" and not just Hitachi.

I'm giving 4 stars because at only $30-$40 less than the UU610, unless you just don't need the capacity or the roller fence and stop, and you do need the wheels, it doesn't seem like as good a value as the UU610, T3B, or T3.

The Hitachi UU610, Bosch T3B, and TracRac T3 are all made by TracRac and are exactly the same basic stand, differing only in COLOR (green, blue, or black) and in which accessorias are included. ALL are "universal" stands, and include identical saw mounts.

The T3 includes an extension, extension flip stop, and wheel kit. If you want "everything," this is the best value vs. buying one of the other two stands and purchasing the accessories.

The T3B includes the wheel kit but not the extension stop (although TracRac customer support says it does include the extension, just not the stop, but this doesn't make any sense, and the extension is not shown in any of the pictures).

The UU610 does not include the extension stop or the wheel kit. It does include a 'stop' that attaches to one of the roller fence rollers.

This stand appears to be the little brother of the UU610! Both are made by TracRac. The stand is very sturdy and lite. Assembly was simple and takes about 30 minutes give or take a few minutes upon your ablilies. Directions are simple pictures that anyone can follow. If you plan on leaveing your saw on the stand don't bother with the rubber feet because they will just get in the way of assembly or just put it in last. I mounted a Hitachi C10FSB sliding miter saw. IT fits perfectly since there is an added bar that you can mount for the trianglular mounting pattern. It appears that all saws will fit since the mounting materials will slide as far appart as you like. The dual extension arms extend out to 8 feet apart and will easily hold 12 to 16 ft of material. The big brother UU610 doesn't come with the extensions will cost an extra $70 to buy but are a little longer! This seems to be the perfect homeowner miter saw stand at a very reasonalble price!

Good driver, but a reasonable retail value would be closer to $99 than it would be the listed $999

Well worth the $1000 I dropped on it. Great for installing drywall

Had this unit for about three years with very light use - occasional tire inflation. As a previous writer indicated, the gauges got stuck, the pressure release valve froze, it wouldn't start and turned out to be uneconomical to repair. Basically, as other reviewers on other sites stated...its a piece of junk - Stay away

I've a professional woodworker for 20+ years and have owned several small compressors. I have yet to find one that lasts indefinately either due to malfuntioning or being stolen from job sites. Therefore I'm reluctant to purchase anything expensive. This unit however has so far proven to be a quiet and reasonably reliable for over 2 years. For the current asking price of $200 and change, I consider it to be a good buy. The list price of $600+ is a joke but wouldn't be all that far out of line if it didn't come with the flaws in the controls that turn up eventually in all light duty compressors in the $200-$300 price range. It's likely that if you plan on running it all day to feed one or multiple framing nailers, you might be better off purchasing something more expensive, installing a GPS locator chip for when it disappears or chaining it to your truck while being guarded by a junk yard dog. Using a light duty unit like this to feed tools like air sanders or paint guns would fry even larger, inexpensive, medium duty compressors after a realtively short time.

Good airflow and not a power drain. Has powered two framing nailers but need to give compressor a breather when going fast. While using one framing nailer no problems even while using the hitachi pneumatic stapler for fastening sheathing. Great air supply for the blower used for cleaning tools of sawdust. I was able to run this unit on a 50' cord with no problems.

I purchased not just one, but two of these supposedly highly rated coil nailers. The first unit would not set 2 1/2" nails anywhere near flush. Like 1/4" short to a full inch short of flush. Tested through various materials and tested not only by me. I took the unit in to the Hitachi factory authorized service center, and they had the same results. The service center said it must be falulty and that I should retrun it.

So Amazon had a replacement at my door in less than 2 days. (Thanks Amazon for many years of excellent service) Anyway the new gun did not set nails any better than the first unit. So I took it in to the Hitachi service center as well. With the same results. They told me it was a faulty nail gun and I should return it like I had the last one.

I suspected that there may have been a bad series of nail guns out there and I just got two of them. So, just to be comprehensive, I contacted Hitachi customer service and was re-directed to a head tech person who told me that he knew of no bad guns and that they just don't alway work as advertised all the time. Gee... Thanks a whole bunch Hitachi.

So I packaged up the second hunk of junk and sent it back.

Since I already owned two other Porter Cable nail guns (finish and framing), which have never given me any trouble in quite a few years; I ordered a Porter Cable COIL250. It came with a nice case like my other PC guns (the Hitachi gun only came in a carboard box). Porter Cable also sent me a restrictive trigger replacement for free (Hitachi wants close to $40 for one, I understand). The Porter Cable COIL250 has performed well over the past month as I have run thousands of nails through it.

I would be very wary of this Hitachi NV65AH, maybe their larger coil nailer is OK, or maybe there was just a bad group of guns out there, I don't know. I do know I will not order another Hitachi nail gun. Buyer beware!!

Hitachi has a great nailer but they absolutely, positively need to include the single shot upgrade kit at no extra cost as this gun fires multiple nails far too easily and jams like you wouldn't believe. It's a great nailer as far as feel and weight but do yourself a favor and install the single shot nail kit.

Hitachi, shame on you for not building this into the gun or offering the upgrade at no extra cost.

As it stands now, I'd recommend to others to look at the Makita coil nailer as the best choice and then the Porter Cable as the second choice.

I am a DIY'er. I bought this nailer to install Hardieboards on my house. This tool saved me a huge amount of time over a hammer.

However, I am not a pro and here is what I found challenging:
1. The depth gauge was fairly easy to use but after a while I found that I had to just nail in a course and quickly hammer the nails home. Call it user inexperience (which clearly was the case) but I ended up under-driving rather than over-driving on purpose.
2. If you don't watch the plastic nail strap or cut it off frequently, it could twist around and foul the tool, requiring a stop to fix it.
3. It comes with the "automatic" trigger function: Hold the trigger, push, and nails will pop out until you let go. I found that difficult to work with: I can see how that would be useful for roofing, but for Hardie Boards, it made me pay too much attention to trigger pull/release, rather than paying attention to quality work.

Why 4 stars and not 5: Because the single-trip (one pull, one nail) mechanism doesn't come with the tool. I had to order that from a Hitachi dealer (referred by Hitachi themselves when I called) and it cost an additional $60-$70. Porter Cable, for example, will provide a different trip mechanism for free for their finish nailers (or at least they did when I bought one). This should have been included, or at least the price not so excessive, for such small and few parts.

TRIED TO ORDER BUT WOUND UP AS A NO LONGER AVAAILABLE SO I CAN NOT FAIRLY REVIEW ITEM AS I DID NOT GET ONE, BUT DID GET A BETTER ONE AND LOVE IT , SAME BRAND.

I have many cordless drills, but this is my favorite! Yeh it a 9.6v and does not have the power of the newer 18-24v class but it fits everywhere. I'm a woodworker and it is the perfect screw driver. Speed is exelent, matched with a magnetic bit and you will be surprised! I bought this drill because it was [less costly]!! I'm now looking for another great buy on one. I do own the 12v hitachi but I still many times prefer the 9.6v. So take this advice and buy one. If you don't like it you can always sell it to me!!!

I am an electrical contractor and also a general contractor.This drill/driver has been nothing but the best.It's estimated torque is definitely under-rated,I have snapped the heads off numerous drywall screws in the drill torque setting.I have used every major name cordless in my profession,and this is the best,it's lighter than the rest,which makes it easy to drill or drive overhead for a long time without tiring,the life of the drill battery between charges is much longer than the rest,it's comfortable,light weight and well balanced.I currently own 4 of them,and my employees will grab one of these,before any of the other drills that I have.I had one employee drop one of these Hitachi drills from the top of a three story building,only damage done to it was that it cracked the left side of the case,but he continued to use it for the rest of the day.Any of my other drills would have been in the scrap pile after an impact like that.I have since replaced the drill case,and it still keeps going and going.I did have a problem with the clutch slipping out of the drill position on only one of the drills,but that was after over three years of heavy,hard usage.I can't begin to tell you how many times my other cordless drills from the major manufacturers have broken down and been in a repair shop.
For the money,this is the best doggone drill out there.I only wish,that in years to come,hopefully many years,when these drills that I currently own finally go to their final resting place,that this drill will still be available for purchase.But,thats just a dream,like everything else that works great,it is removed from the market and replaced with a new deluxe model,which works half as good as the original,and costs twice as much.
The major manufacturers have beefed up the drills with larger than needed,much heavier batteries.Try drilling overhead or driving screws overhead for an entire day with one of the new 24 volt beasts,your arms turn to rubber,and before you even start you better have biceps and forearms as big around as your waist size.