Porter-Cable Reviews

I have used the combo kit for about 4 years. The drill has a lot of torque but the chuck gave up it's grip after 3 years of occasional use. I replaced it with the new all metal chuck from pc not available on all of their drills. pc told me it grips better and will last longer. So far I am happy with it after a year. Now to the saw: It cuts okay when the battery is fresh but if anything is binding on the blade such as when the work is not properly supported you will use up the battery in a hurry.Torque drops off quickly as other reviewers have pointed out. This probaly explains why some people can not get more than 30 cut 2x4s on a charge.If everything is set up right you can get over 100 2x4 cuts. Also for some reason plywood eats up the batteries faster than cutting 2x4s. Except for the occasional cut I have not been using it much for these reasons.You would have to have a big pouch full of batteries to get any serious work done with this saw. The batteries and charger have given me fits. I am on my 3rd charger in 4 years and the first two just outlived the one year warranty. PC had nothing interesting to say about it. I have also gone through 3 batteries. Beware that there are various capacity replacements out there and make sure you get the largest available.After using Makita batteries, Bosch batteries, and older Portercable 12 volt batteries I would say I got the shortest life out of the 19.2 volt pc batteries.Now that Lithium Ion technology has arrived I would get a different brand such as Makita , Milwaukee , or the yet to be released Dewalt. You will get much longer run times with this new technology. KS Maryland

This is is nice quality saw that works well, but has one drawback. It eats batteries very quickly. And when the battery even starts to get low it completely looses all torque power. The only way to work with this saw is to have at least 3 batteries available and charged before starting work. But it will cut like a workhorse as long as you feed it batteries.

PURCHASED THE QUAD PACK BUT HAD SOME SPECULATION ABOUT THE SAW DUE TO PROBLEMS FROM THE PAST WITH OTHER BRANDS. AFTER ABOUT A DAYS USE I AM COMPLETELY SOLD ON THIS SAW. HAS ALL THE POWER YOU NEED TO DO WORK THAT IS MADE FOR CORDLESS TOOLS. THIS SAW , IN MY OPINION , IS HANDS DOWN THE BEST I HAVE USED. IT FEELS SO COMFORTABLE WHILE USING I PURCHASED TWO SPARE BATTERIES SO I WONT HAVE TO BOTHER WITH A CORDED SAW. YOU CANT BELIEVE HOW MUCH TIME THIS SAVES YOU IN A PRODUCTION TYPE ENVIRONMENT AND HOW MUCH NEATER THE SHOP LOOKS WITHOUT CORDS EVERYWHERE.

I got the router on Monday and on Wednesday the motor burned up, I have to admit I was cutting cabinet faces which is a big bit, but not a too many of them and I was cutting and assembling them one at a time allowing the motor to cool. I had to send in my other router, a Porter-Cable 690 the same model, because it had a lot of vibration. So I now have two of this model, both had problems, I would go for the 3HP model if I had it to do over again.

THE POWER SWITCH IS ON THE TOP OF THE UNIT MAKING YOU HAVE TO HOLD THE ROUTER WITH ONE HAND WHEN TURNING ON OR OFF, MAJOR SAFETY HAZARD. THE DIAL USED FOR SETTING THE DEPTH IS MADE OF PLASTIC, KIND OF CHEAP. ROUTER IS MADE IN MEXICO!!

I'am very pleased with 690LRVS, it gives you the ability to
use bits rated 23,000RPM or 25,000RPM for example.
The only thing I wish I done is the additional 45 Dollors
and bought 694VK.

First one I bought the "Tool activated" switch did not work i.e. the vac came on even when tool (Dewalt router, table saw or miter saw) was not on. OK, maybe a bad switch or something I thought.

Returned it, next one SAME THING! Called PC they said "we can said out a new switch" so there it remains in my garage unused. Also bags fill up VERY FAST and are $$$. Don't think about using vac w/o bags because it is a mess to clean out.

Ultimately the vac sucks, but not in the good way.

This is the quietest shop vac I have ever used. I like the power plug that allows me to run my sander or table saw and continues to suck for 15 seconds after turning off the tool. On the down side the hose is on the small side. A larger dia. hose would have been nice for sucking up debris larger than saw dust. Ten gallons is a good size when you are working in a tool cramped garage. Storing the hose is a weak point since it's compact size allows the vac to be stored under my workbench but where do you put the hose. All in all this vac does what I wanted it to do.

This vacuum cannot be beat for easy clean-up of drywall and other fine particulates. I bought for my husband after I got tired of tripping a system he rigged up with the wet dry vac for picking up drywall dust. He was convinced that no vacuum was worth $265 until he tried it. It is now a permanent fixture on every project. I recommend buying the hose adaptor and accessory pack--he uses those all the time too.

When everything is working, this is a great router system. Too bad, it seldom works. I've owned the router for over a year and for 6 months of that time it has been in and out of the shop. Problems include broken motor lock mechanism, broken worm gear to raise motor and broken shaft lock. Last time, I bought extra gears and shaft lock pins just to keep it out of the shop. Any sawdust clogs the mechanism so raising and lowering are tough. I've had several other PC routers and have been extremely pleased with all of them, but this one has just about made me lose the faith.

Using the router under the table has been impossible, since I keep snapping the cheap spun aluminum levers PC has used. This especially happens when using a socket to manipulate the lever. Loosening the lever screw so that the lever won't break does not adequately secure the router. The router design is brilliant in terms of the mechanism, but the parts need to be rock solid and they are not. I am extremely dissapointed.

I have used this router only under the table (inside a dust collection enclosure) for about a year now and I really like it. The router is solid as expected from PC. It is much more quiet/less obnoxious than the 690 series and has noticably more power. I don't have a need for the speed control that much. I love the height adjustment features, and even though I would like it even better if they made it out of aluminum, it has held up just fine so far. The only thing I dislike given that all the other features make it so convenient for under-table-use is the safety feature that requires you turn the router switch to the Off position in order to use the spindle lock feature: I use the tool with a table mounted switch in a dust collection enclosure and so I had to cut the plastic safety tab to circumvent this issue. Still like it a lot.

I noticed about 50% of the reviews on this thing were bad and I bought it anyway. Big mistake. I only got about 30 nails out and it jammed 3 times before it quit for good. I think I actually broke it while unjamming it the 3rd time - the nails were stuck half out and I had to really pry them out hard. Not only that but when it did work about 30% of the nails were not flush. So I returned it to home depot and got the senco 40R and so far it hasnt jammed and all nails are flush. The senco is only [a little] extra too, its a no brainer. I must say I do have the porter cable framing nailer and it works decent. They should recall these things.

After purchasing this nail gun, I read several reviews which were not good and to be honest, I was worried that I had made a mistake. I already own a P-C stick framing nailer which I am very happy with and I thought the coil roofing nailer would be of similar quality, but I wanted to actually use the tool before I wrote a review on it. I just finished a 1,500 sq ft garage roof and used about 5,000 nails without a single jam. The tool performed as I hoped and is just as reliable as my stick nailer. I read one review from a guy who said he had at least one jam with every coil he used. The only way I see this as possible is if he did not set the nail height correctly. If you can follow the directions, this tool will perform flawlessly.

Just finished my roof today and with out this tool I'd still be out there for another week. Sure I had a few jams. A punch and a light tap with the hammer and it was cleared. I now own two porter cable nailers and wouldn't trade either one of them for something that costs a hundred bucks more.

Avoid this vacum! You would think that anything with the PorterCable brand on it would be top shelf but this vac is living proof that name brand is indeed what your are paying for and NOT quality. On mine, the auto trigger died after about 2 months of light use(vac mostly sat in a corner) Amazon told me to go to the manufacturer to honor the year warranty. What a nightmare ! After going through PC's maze of customer service I finally got hold of a tech who told me that I would have to box and ship this heavy vac out to the service center. It cost me $30 to ship to them and month plus for them to "fix" When I finally got it back -guess what- it crapped out again not 3 days later!!
So,after more hassles with the inattentive techs I was told to ship it back out at my own expense(AGAIN!)and they would replace some more parts! Do yourself a favor and stay away from this tool . I've since picked up a Fein wet/dry and couldn't be happier

I have had this Porter vacuum for a couple of years now. No troubles to report. Previously I owned a Shop-Vac. The Shop-Vac was about the same size but with a stainless-steel container. Stainless-steel is very-good but all plastic is even better for my dock-side work. Overall the Porter is a more sophisticated, made in Italy, design. I would have purchased another of the Shop-Vacs since it provided many years of good service. However, I bought the Porter because of the power-outlet feature that I need for my sander. The Shop-Vac was somewhat more powerful. The Shop-Vac was completely stable when rolling around on its wheels. The Porter has a tendency to tip on even the slightest of irregular surfaces. The wheel's track is too narrow. The Porter is blessedly free of exhaust-dust. There are aftermarket filters available from Gore that help the Shop-Vac blow less-dust than its factory-filter, but still the Porter can't be beat in this department. The Porter is quieter than the Shop-Vac, but as I said a bit less powerful as well. The Porter does have an extra-long heavy-duty cord. Would I buy another Porter? Perhaps, but I would also consider another Shop-Vac with an aftermarket, external, automatic-power-outlet unit available elsewhere on Amazon. All of my old Shop-Vac accessories work fine with the Porter.

I bought this PC 7814 15 gallon vacuum and I love it. the tool-triggered fiture is the best keep up the good work PC. But I found this this new dust collector that you connect between your vacuum and tool. It use's water as a filter, has a drain on it, can be mounted on the wall or a cart. Found it on I think bagkeeper.com

This is a great small angle grinder. It has plenty of power and the three position handle is an advantage in certain situations over two position models. The only reason I give it 3 stars instead of 5 is the safety switch. It is a pain to operate out of the box. I had to file it down to use it, now it works fine. Milwaukee has a similar switch on their small angle grinders that is just as effective and works much smoother. I would not buy this grinder again because off the switch. A safety switch should be an aid to the user, not a hindrance.

As others have mentioned, the switch lock is not the best design, particularly when using heavy gloves, so it lost a star.
After several years of ownership, I felt the need to comment on the durability of this product.
I have absolutely beaten on this tool, and it continues to function perfectly.
I has been dropped, soaked, buried in the dirt, stalled out repeatedly, overloaded, and exposed to every kind of abrasive dust there is. Honestly, it no longer owes me anything at this point, but it just keeps going and going...
I would buy one again, but I may never need to.

Bought this grinder and never knew how many uses I would find for it. I beat it up and it keeps going! Well worth the $ - good value.

Note the fine print in amazon's shipping policy:

" It will be delivered to your address but not UNLOADED, unpacked, or assembled. "

This means YOU will be responsible for getting the item OFF THE TRUCK when it is delivered to your home. That's over 4 feet off the ground. And yes, the truck will not have a lift gate--that costs more. So, they offer "free shipping", not "free delivery." Buyer beware!

I held off on this review because a had to get a replacement. The first one was pretty banged up in shipment. I believe the reason for this is do to insufficient packing. The unit is not bolted to the pallet and only held on with 2 plastic bands. This wouldn't be a problem, but the unit is top heavy. The 2nd unit I received arrived in good shape, but I had had my fingers crossed. The styrofoam was pretty shattered. The setup was smooth except for trying to line up the holes to get the wire piece in that holds the handle in place--a minor design problem. Man, this puppy is quiet--especially compared to my little Emglo 1.5hp. It runs smooth and doesn't cycle on very often when driving nails. I would have given 5 stars except for the packing problem. It seems like it's just what I wanted since I need something that is an all-around machine. I need it for nailing, spraying, and other small jobs. I also needed something portable to work around the house replacing siding, etc.. Amazon was very nice and understanding in making the replacement. I do have to crate up the 1st one and send it back, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

I have a small shop (our two car garage) and I am very sensitive to noise. So, you can guess, that my two top priorities were a quiet unit that I could operate in the shop while I was working, yet powerful enough to drive my wide range of pneumatic tools. If you have the same requirements, you are reading about your dream compressor. This unit is smooth and powerful Once again PC has delivered a nice piece of engineering. I have placed it in my shop under a table that I do most of my assembly and work. It kicks on and burrs for a few seconds and goes to sleep for a long period while I am firing nails or something. I measured the noise level while it was running and it is well within the range. I just love this compressor!

I bought this saw relying on the P-C name and reputation. The tool arrived in an undamaged package. It really looked like it was very well engineered and manufactured until... Until I made the first 1/4" angle steel cut. The cut was perfect but the next morning I found oil all over the base of the saw. Well, it's my own fault, I trusted P-C name and not the reviewer above that documented the issue with the seal. So I decided to fix it by bringing the saw to the authorized P-C service center. It took them 4 weeks just to look at it and now they are telling me that it will take another 15-30 days for the parts to arrive. So I don't have my saw for a month already and I don't know when I get it back and how long the seal will last again. If you want to have no problems stay away from this P-C saw otherwise be prepared for the oil leaks!

The Porter-Cable 1410 is 100 times better than the best abrasive chop saw. However, it's not comparable to a big 3-phase industrial cold saw. At the price, it's an excellent value.

This saw makes beautiful cuts when used properly. You shouldn't crowd the motor, and if the blade produces sparks you're applying too much pressure. The result of hurrying is rapid blade destruction. The saw isn't slow; you just can't run it like an abrasive chop saw.

I'd recommend buying at least one extra blade, so you can rotate blades through the sharpener's without having to have your saw down.

My only complaint is that the first 1410 I bought quit quite suddenly during a project, with fewer than three hours of operation on the motor. This cost me delay of the project, plus most of a day spent driving into Atlanta to the Southeast Porter-Cable repair facility, where they gave me a new saw. (That is, after they told me on the phone they would give me a new saw, then tried to welsh on their offer, and I subsequently intimidated them.)

Even though the box says "Tennessee" on it, the saw is made in Taiwan. That strikes me as a little bit deceptive. But the place of manufacture doesn't really matter where performance is concerned.

The saw would get a full 5-star rating if I hadn't received a lemon the first time out.

Clean, fast square cuts that don't get hot. Could use a faster vice.

These DO NOT fit the Porter Cable nailers as he claimed. I guess I should've known better than to rely on people writing reviews.

I am not one to put down any one or any company but why would I look at this product twice when I can get the same size Plain Shank Full Head Framing Nail in a 4000 pack at a one word company that starts with an "L" for $30.00. That's over 3000 extra nails for the same price. It will be interesting to see if this review shows up. I have used this brand and see no difference then other brands for less money such as Grip Rite. I have looked at the (review guidelines) I do not own stock in any home building supply company but I would like to see my fellow tool users get the most value for there money. Price, quantity and quality go hand and hand with any product. My name is Scott I am a tool addict. Thanks for letting me share.

Nails work great. Will order more!