I needed a siding nailer for Hardiplank siding. After reading a few reviews I opted to try the Makita AN611. This nailer is absolutely the best engineered nailer I have come across. I own several Porter Cable, Bostitch, Dewalt and Bosch pneumatic nailers and staplers and each have their plus and minuses. The Makita has NO minuses I can find.
br /Canister loading is a snap, and the hinged head eliminated any need for disassembly of the head should it jamb (shouldn't be a problem for this tool).
br /Depth setting are plentifully (9 settings) and easily accessible.
br /Very convenient selector provides sequential or bounce fire. No changing of triggers or mechanical adjustments.
br /Exhaust adjustable 360 deg.
br /Rubber guard on housing to protect tool and eliminate scratching of surfaces.
br /Relatively light considering the quality.
br /Nice rubber grip and well balanced.
br /I have often wrestled with tools and surmise that the engineers that designed the tool never actually had to use it.
br /The folks at Makita have got this one right!
br /It's a bit pricy, but it is a specialty tool and other siding nailers are comparably priced. This one also comes with a case, another bonus...

I spent a few days researching coil siding nailers. I needed a nailer that could do both cedar shingles as well as siding. After researching all of the guns, this one fell into a mid range price with excellent reviews. I bought the gun and it is extremely reliable and works great. It is lightweight, has perfect balance, and can be handled for hours. It took 5 minutes to make the depth adjustments on the material and the gun fired each and every nail perfectly. My only disappointment was that there were no local dealers. At first getting nails seemed a challenge. However, once you tell the local suppliers that type of nail to get, just about everyone stocks the nails. Another great choice for nails is the web, where I saved 35% ordering via the web.

Have done entire houses with hammer and nails and will never do so again after buying this gun. I sided a 2 story garage alone using 16ft lgnths of cedar in about 3 days. Try using a jig, hammer and nail with a 16 footer alone! The included belt hanger on the tool was also very useful the higher I got as it allowed more mobility and kept the gun handy and the hose somewhat under control. The tool is very light, easy to load, and designed to get into fairly tight spots (only weak spot I see is the plastic nail guard so don't drop the tool )Have used this tool on several other applications such as floor sheathing and some interior planking. Great tool.....

This nail gun loads easy, doesn't jam. The only thing is you have to buy a case of nails which you can build a couple of houses with. so if you don't have a big job to do this may not be the gun for you.

I recently purchased the AN611 and I am blown away with what a quality siding gun this is. I am a contractor and have used the MAX siding nailer in the past. I thought the MAX nailer could never be beat. But I recently had my MAX stolen and replaced it with the Makita, because it was $50 cheaper. It is a wonderful gun. The Power is first class and depth of drive is great. It's lightweight. BEST IN IT'S CLASS!!!
br /I would never buy this tool as a sheathing nailer, as one other reviewer said he did. It is a SIDING GUN. It shoots the mini coil nails made just for siding, and in my area the code does not allow mini coil nails to be used for sheathing. But the Makita Framing coil nailer (different gun) would work awesome for that. I own the framing nailer as well and it is an incredible both sheathing and Framing gun.
br /Makita is 1st class for drivepower in a lightweight gun.
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This thing works great. Had no problem finding nails locally and they were much cheaper than what I found on line. I drives the 2" ring shank nail in very dry redwood ship-lap with no splitting even on the ends. I'm very pleased with this product to date.

So here's my story. I ordered the gun, it arrived in a timely fashion and without any damage. After running a few coils through it, I got to looking at the contact tip, nose, or whatever you want to call it. In the ad (from September 2006) it stated (and I quote):
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br /"Technical Details
br /Non-slipping nose is the ideal shape for diagonal nailing
br /Non-marring nose adaptor prevents scratches"
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br /The picture matched this description, showing a toothed contact nose. However, this is NOT what I got. Instead, the gun came with a round, TOOTHLESS steel nose; it did NOT come with a toothed nose (for sheating, toe-nailing, etc.), nor did it come with a rubber adaptor (for siding) as the pic and ad would lead you to believe.
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br /Anyway, this was a problem for me as I intended to use the AN611 as a back-up sheathing gun as well as a siding gun. The round steel nose is far from ideal for nailing OSB or plywood, and is downright useless for toe-nailing.
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br /After numerous calls to Amazon and Makita, I finally got the scoop. Apparently Makita discontinued the toothed nose version in Fall 2005 in favor of the rounded thing they sent me. (I guess Amazon had been selling pre-changeover inventory until I ordered mine...) However, they apprarently failed to notify Amazon of this fact, and did not even bother to update their own website with a proper pic. Worse yet, the Makita rep told me that the toothed nose piece (just the nose piece itself) has been discontinued as well, and that they only had two left. That is, two left ANYWHERE. Well, there is only ONE left now because I bought one of them (plus a rubber nose adaptor for the teeth). This cost like $35, which Amazon credited me for...
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br /The new (toothed) nose piece arrived in a timely manner. Unfortunately, it turns out that you have to virtually dismantle the gun to swap the nose pieces. So that was a bit annoying, but I got it done without incident.
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br /As for performance. I really like the gun. It has plenty of power for sheathing with 2-3/8" ring shank (0.099) as well as plenty of power for 2-1/2" smooth shank (0.099) into fiber cement siding. Depth of drive works very well. Select trigger works very well, the grip is comfortable, it is well-balanced, and light weight. The case is also nice, and I like the belt hook.
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br /However, unless you plan on doing ONLY siding, I think you will be frustrated with the new round steel nose, and I think Makita has made a mistake by changing this feature - it needlessly reduces the flexibility of this otherwise terrific nail gun. So that brings me back to where I started, nice gun, BUT...
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If you've been looking for a siding coil nailer, stop looking. This is the gun you want. Set your compressor for 90psi and walk away. All the depth adjustments and other needed features are right on the gun and no tools required. Like I said... outstanding!

I replaced the wood siding on my house and workshop with cement fiberboard. This nailer really helped make the job go smoother. It is a little inconsistent as far as depth of drive so I just underdrove a hair on purpose and hammered flush, just so I didn't overdrive the nails. This nailer never jammed once. Very well built and light. I would definitely recommend it to anyone doing any siding work, cement fiberboard or wood. Another great tool by Makita.

This gun was intended to fill in the tasks all my other guns won't do. Mostly bought it to attach sheathing, but it does much more. Great gun to have around when preping for siding. like attaching porkchops, facia, rakes, and stiffening up old sheathing. Perfect gun for nailing Geo deck when used with special tip and stainless steel ring shanks. Although not really using it as it was intended im sure it works well for hardi siding and fencing. The gun seems to be well built. Packs pently of power. Recoil is very fast. Love the hook on the end (especially that it can be reversed for southpaws). My only drawbacks are that it doesn't have the toothed nose piece i wanted so that it doesn't slip off your work and that it just seems to be overpriced compared to my other guns.

Great product. It has worked flawlessly for the last 2 months. Nice to use a product that works as its suppose to. The belt hook is a great asset.

I bought this siding gun after reading everything I could. Ablolutely no surprises! We've sided 2 homes so far without a hitch.

This gun rocks. I bought it based on a few reviews I read and it far exceeded what I expected. All the features make it a tool I will not part with ever.

I've owned this gun for a couple of years now and honestly, I couldn't ask for a better gun. Well, I could but I doubt I'd get it. This gun is well balanced and a pleasure to use, even all day long. I've used it to side my house (cedar clapboard) and the only problems I've had with it were my fault.
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br /Like another reviewer, I got a gun with the round tip and not like what is (still) pictured. I contacted Makita and they told me that I'd have to talk to the people from where I purchased.
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br /I contacted Amazon.
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br /I have to say that my experience with Amazon's CS (to this point) has been top notch. I explained my problem with the CS rep and she was very understanding and helpful, and well, it must have been my lucky day because as fate would have it, the Makita rep was supposed to be there that day. She (the CS rep) said that she'd call me back and she actually did.
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br /I caught a break, I got my tip for free and like the other reviewer, I too had to take the gun apart to replace the tip. Not exactly the thing you want to be doing before even firing one coil through.
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br /Anyway, the gun is great, the depth setting is easy and is very consistent. I like the dual (and locking) trigger too. I can't say this is the best gun out there at any price since it's the only coil siding nailer I've used, BUT... if being the best means performing flawlessly, then this gun IS the best... at any price.
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br /It's a five star performer for sure, but Makita needs to get on the ball with this one and put the non-round nose back on there as the regular tip. For that aspect alone I'd knock off a star... maybe two.

Have owned this gun for a few years and it always produces on the job. It is light and well balanced and it hardly ever misfires or jams. If you are doing cedar shingles or building fences, this gun is a great choice.

I bought this to install Hardi-Plank siding. I used 1 1/4 inch SS and 2 inch SS nails. It worked great and it is light. Getting the depth of the nail's head set right and consistant was somewhat of a problem, but in my situation it didn't cause too much damage to the siding. Plus, I was shooting through 3/4 inch cement board and assume it would do better with wood.

I have found MAKITA to be superior of those other brands that seem to breakdown at the worst possible times! ! ! !MAKITA stays on the Job after Job after JOB. I rate reliability supperior to noneR.markum