Paslode Cordless Framing Nailer (CF325) Review
So what's new with the Paslode Cordless Framing Nailer (CF325)? I’ll start by saying I’m a little biased toward Paslode’s cordless nailers. I’ve used them for years and have always been happy (for the most part). I only had a few instances of the guns not firing when they were supposed to, but that was usually solved by changing fuel cells. A good cleaning at the suggested intervals also helps, I found out. I thought blowing them off with compressed air at the end of the day was cleaning them…hmmmm.
Maybe it’s the glut of new cordless nailers on the market that made Paslode take a closer look at their venerable hero, or maybe they really listened to users and took their suggestions to heart. I’ll put my money on the latter. The company is run by people who genuinely care about their products and your satisfaction with them – a rarity these days.
The tool looks the same as its predecessor, but there are some marked improvements in its design and function.
1.Fuel/Nail Combo Packaging. Instead of purchasing nails and fuel cells separately, they now come in ‘kit’ form. The theory being that there is enough fuel in the packaged cells to fire all the nails in that package…plus a little more. That’s a great idea, as long as you plan to use the Paslode nails. Some guys I know are pretty brand-loyal and have a preference that doesn’t always match the nailer brand. Personally, I like this concept and have had great luck with the new fasteners that Paslode designed specifically for this tool. They claim the new nails (called PowerBoost Black Tip Coating Nails) will drive in easily – even into LVLs. I found this to be true. The tool I used sank ‘em in on – and pretty quickly!
2.Redesigned Nose. I like this new feature. They’ve made it simpler to toenail at just about any angle – a HUGE improvement over the older tool which had a tendency to get rather fussy at extreme angles. They get an A+ for this new feature!
3.Faster Tool Performance. This is another area I’m happy they took the time to “fix”, so to speak. On the older version, I sometimes had the feeling that the tool didn’t want to work as hard as I did. It just couldn’t keep up with my rapid-fire trigger finger! The new one does! In my testing, it was sinking nails as fast as I could set the nose. Another A+ for the new tool!
4.Longer Between Cleanings. Paslode says the new CF325 will go through 50,000 fasteners before it needs cleaning. That’s good, because I will likely never clean it. The only reason my old nailer got cleaned was because we had a guest on one of our TV shows from the Paslode tech department. He cleaned it for me.
5.New Orange Quickload Fuel Cell. Another major improvement. I didn’t care much for the old fuel cells that needed to have a cap removed, a valve pushed in to set (which inevitably caused gas to leak out every time I did it – but I’m sure it was operator-error) and then had to be correctly set into the fuel cavity. I had to re-set fuel cells more than once. Not anymore! Another A+.
6.Quick Change Depth Adjustment. The good news? No tool required – just some strong thumbs! You can adjust the depth quickly and easily now. Truly, I think I gave up on adjusting my old tool. It was easier to come along with a hammer and sink the nails the rest of the way.
Overall, Paslode has taken a great tool and made it even better. Did they listen to their end-user customers and make true, meaningful improvements? My answer is yes. Sure, they added some handle overmold for comfort, but that means little to me. I wanted a nailer that was faster, easier to use and required less maintenance to keep it that way. Looks like I got my wish. Nice job, Paslode.
At the time of this post, the Paslode CF325 Cordless Framing Nailer can be found at Amazon.com for around $380, and for around $20 more, you can get the Paslode CF325 Cordless Framing Nailer and Nail Kit.