When it comes to designing nailers, Hitachi keeps the end user in mind. Their siding coil nailer, engineered for serious siding work, impressed us with its light weight (only 4.6 pounds), which does wonders for your arm (not to mention your productivity) toward the end of a long day. We're also suckers for a good grip, and the NV65AH has a great one--it's rubberized, and, unlike a lot of other tools we've known, it's also a width that normal-size humans can get their hands around. This nailer's got an easy-to-operate depth-of-drive adjustment as well, to countersink or flush-drive nails, and a smooth firing mechanism. The air deflector pivots 360 degrees--a nice, user-friendly feature. One feature we'd like to have seen is the two bumper plates that go on the front and back of other Hitachi models. These plates really go a long way toward protecting a nailer from unnecessary wear and tear, and, in the end, they probably extend its usage quite a bit. But, on the whole, this is a nice piece of equipment. We'd be happy to fire it up any day. --Michael Shilling
