Customer Reviews

Bostitch BT200K-2 18 Gauge 5/8-inch to 2-inch Brad Nailer

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I have owned a Bostich BT-35 18ga. brad nailer for about 7 years. I wanted an 18ga. brad nailer with 2" nailing ability and a depth adjustment. I already had appx. 15,000 Bostich 18ga. nails, and experience with 3 other Bostich nailers that I own (BT-35 Brad nailer), (FN-60 15ga. finish nailer), (SX-32 finish stapler), made the choice of which brand to buy a non issue. I bought their latest 18ga. model the BT-200 because of the increased nail length capacity and the on tool depth adjustment.

The BT-200 can shoot a 2" brad, the BT-35 only shoots a max. length brad of 1-3/8".
The BT-200 has a depth adjustment which the BT-35 doesn't. You have to increase or decrease the power by adjusting the air pressure.
As soon as I took the BT200 out of the box I compared them side by side. Since the BT-35 can't load a 2" nail I used 1-3/8" in both guns. I used 200 1-3/8" nails in each gun and 200 2" nails in the BT-200. Several pieces of 2-1/2" thick red oak were the test material.

The 200 is somewhat lighter than the 35, but not by much.
The 200 is oil free, the 35 needs lubrication.
The 200 recoils more than the 35
The 200 is the only air nailer with a sequential trigger that I have ever used that double fired!
The 200 miss fired 5 times on the 2" brads (out of 200) that came with it although it did not with the shorter 1-3/8" lengths.
In 7 years I have NEVER had a jam or a missfire with the BT-35, FN-60, or the SX-32.
The 200 and the 35 will each countersink in oak any length that they can fire.
If I did not have the BT-35 to compare it to, I would probably have been more satisfied with the BT-200. The BT-35 just feels and sounds like the high quality product it is. I don't think, in my opinion, that you could by a better brad nailer than the Bostich BT-35 at any price. I am sorry that I can't say the same for the BT-200.
In my short test the 200 has more recoil. is louder, and for the first time ever I had a missfire in a Bostich nailer and a sequential trigger that double tapped.

Adjusting air pressure and adding a few drops of oil suddenly doesn't seem as much of an issue now as it did just one hour ago.

I was surprised to see all the negative reviews on this gun. I've had mine for about 6 months now. I've fired atleast 10k of bostich, porter cable and craftsman nails through it. Maybe I'm just lucky, but so far Ive never had a problem. counter sinks 2" brads into oak like it's cardboard. If mine ever breaks, I'll buy another one just like it.

This 2" brad nailer doesn't accept real 2" brads. Of course it comes with the bostitch 2" made in china brads but I did not open that pack since I had an open box of Porter Cable 2" brads. I tried to put the 2" Porter Cable brads in the magazine and they didn't fit. I thought the magazine was defective and I returned the BT200K, but I took a clip of the 2" porter cable brads to try in the store's display's model and they didn't fit. Next I tried the 2" porter cable brads in the discontinued Bostitch SB1850 model and they fit! So I bought the Bostitch SB1850 model. I'm impressed with the 1850 over the BT200, the magazine, depth adjustment knob,as well as the tigger mechanism are metal, while on the BT 200 all three parts are plastic. After having both, I prefer the discontinued SB1850 model even if I have to put in a couple drops of oil. I feel lucky that I wound up the the SB1850 model since I really wanted the oil free BT200, but the SB1850 is a much better built gun. All I can say is that there is something is wrong with this new BT200 model especially if it doesn't accept the available brads that are sold locally.

I pruchased the Bostitch BT200K because it is light and the price was right. I shoot about 1500 nails a week through each gun and they don't seem to last very long. After between 3 to 6 months is all I get out of one. The weak link is the driver pin. It breaks where it is attached to the piston. If they could fix this problem it would be an awesome nailer because it is so balanced and never misfires and is very consistant. I hope Bostitch updates this model soon because I love it when it works.

I tried the Porter Cable BN200A and the Bostitch BT200K. The PC worked flawlessly, felt more solid, and just generally outperformed the Bostitch. This surprised me since I own other Bostitch nailers and am quite satisfied with them. The Bostitch would not throw the nails consistently slowing down my work flow considerably. Additionally the PC seems to be able to tolerate different types of nails more easily. All in all the PC is just simply better. Spend slightly more and save yourself time and trouble => Buy the Porter Cable.

I recently bought the bt-200 expecting great results. I had seen a lot of publicity in trade magazines and was excited to see how well the gun worked. The first problem I ran into was trying to load 1 9/16" 18 ga. porter cable brads. The clip jambed and wouldn't close. So the gun doesn't accept any brad up to 2". Then I loaded the 2" brads that came with the gun. Once I hooked up the air, I noticed that the trigger leaked air. Then I began fireing the gun at different air preasures within its working range. I had a miss fire of one out of every five shots. I bought the gun with a litte scepticism because I had problems simular to these with bostich staplers. I returned the gun and got the porter cable. No problems.

I borrowed a SB-1850BN (shoots same size brads but must be oiled) from a friend and was pleased. I decided to purchase a brad nailer. I saw the BT200K ... it did not need oiling, and proclaimed to be maintenance free ... great. I fired maybe 40 one inch brads at 80 psi. The depth would not remain fixed, I had two misfires and I was having two hit marks left on the wood. I took it back ... the store tested it ... no double hit marks ... but it did misfire and the depth would not remain fixed ... I received a refund. Yes ... I now own a SB-1850BN ... I don't mind having to add a drop of oil.

This is an excellent gun. Its driving performance is comparable to my 16g Porter Cable nailer. This gun has a couple of nice-to-have's:
- It is oil free. So you don't have to remember when you oiled it last etc. and you do not leave oil marks on the wood.
- It is very light. It is half as ligh as the box of nails that comes with the kit! If you work overhead this is a great advantage.
- The air exhaust is in the back, where the hose connects. I like this design better than the "adjustable" exhausts on top of the tool. With those, you hold the gun in a different angle every once in a while and get the blow in you face or into the dust etc. With this gun the exhaust does not get in your way.
- The non maring tip is fairly small. This makes it easier to toe nail shelves into dados etc.

I am surprised with the negative comments of other reviewers. I am wondering if their bad luck was associated with loading. This gun needs the nails at the bottom of its holder. There are groves for the nail heads of different length nails. Perhaps if you load the nails in to the wrong grove it might cause jamming. I did not have any jamming problems so far. Also, I used porter cable brand nails. I did not have any issues. I am wondering if cheaper brand nails are the cause of some of the negaitive comments.

I am sorry for everyone who did not like this gun. I love it. I worked for me right out of the box.

Bought one last weekend ... To date I have went through at least 200 nails putting together some plywood boxes that will ultimately be filing-type cabinets. I do not know what the other posters are referring to here when they say that it does not shoot 'true 2" brads'.. mine actually came with a box of 1000 2" brads with the nailer. Yes I did have misfires; when my air compressor decided to bail out on me and it was shooting with only 40psi! Tried on a new compressor and not 1 misfire. Yes it's loud, so is my air compressor, so is my tablesaw, so is my planer, etc. etc. If you are using power tools you should be wearing ear protection anyway.

To summarize: does the job, one of the few 18gauge nailers that fires 2" brads, and is not overpriced (there were comparable nailers at Harbor Freight that cost more!...I checked)

Get yerself one if you need it.

I wish I didn't have so many misfires because I like the gun. I took it in to a certified warranty place to get it repaired and it still misfired after that so I went to the top! Bostitch (Canada) and sent it there to be repaired (still under warranty). In the meantime I bought a Ridgid oilless brad nailer - NICE GUN!!! The Bostitch guy replaced the whole body on my gun and then my first day using it I broke the narrow orange cast part at the rear of the gun. They were nice enough to send me a new body for free but I'll be doing the repair myself and selling the gun cheap when I've repaired it because I love my Ridgid gun and I'm tired of the Bostitch downtime and shooting so many holes in my work. I also don't beleive in having to use Bostitch nails only in a Bostitch gun. Ridgid didn't specify any nail because they don't make them.