Bosch STN150-18 18 Gauge Narrow Crown Stapler

I nabbed one of these after my positive experiences with Bosch's new brad nailer, and am pleased to say it works every bit as well as its brother in every regard. It's light as a feather, packs tons of power, and generally just feels much more hardy than the equivalent Hitachi gun. Jam clears are tool free (though I haven't experienced a jam yet, so I can't say how easy it is to use in practice), the exhaust port is freely rotatable, and the set depth can be fine tuned right there on the nose.

While I'm greatly satisfied with my purchase, I still have to dock Bosch a star for failing to include the coupler fitting I'd venture a good 99% of users will need to actually slap it on the end of their air hoses, and I'm just not crazy about the way the triggers on these models are held in place by a tiny rubber washer of questionable longevity. Only time will tell how well they hold up, but something tells me I'll be special ordering a handful of the things long before the internal seals die on me. The dark blue cover that sits under the magazine and keeps the follower's springs from jumping out is also made of a somewhat flimsy bit of plastic, but the way it's put together, I don't think it's likely to get broken unless subjected to the kind of abuse that rarely takes place in a finish carpenter or upholsterer's shop. Still, it really should have been metal, or at least ABS plastic.

This tool has great ergonomics, sinks staples consistently, only lacks a trigger lock as far as features go, and is just nice to use. And while other top load staplers (like the Hitachi) have the release and catch for tool-free jam clearing sticking out on the front of the gun, Bosch put the release and the catch just behind the nose of the gun, relatively out of the way. Really smart. But, the catch seems much wider than needed and limits how close you can get the gun when the body of it is parallel to a wall or other obstruction (much less of an issue than the bump on the front of the gun though).

The body and nose of the gun are about as long as they are on other staplers, but much narrower, so far so good. But the bump on the plastic cover just below the depth setting dial keeps you from getting closer than 1/2" or so from obstructions when the body of the stapler is perpendicular to the wall. Like when face stapling flooring against a wall. A little too close for comfort when you want fasteners to be covered by base or other trim that will be installed later. With my older Bostitch stapler I'm able to get much closer, @1/4" or so away from the wall.

Finally the plastic magazine cover that holds the staples in place is thin plastic. Unlikely to survive even one fall from @3'.

In short, this is a great gun in a lot of ways, and it's almost there but I personally feel that these design choices really keep this tool from living up to its potential.

...Bosch came out with airtools... I have been thru PorterCable, Bostich, Stanley, Senco but none of them measures up to the Bosch Stapler! I use it in my cabinet shop and a stapler can finally keep up with my production! It is especially great that you easily can see how many staples are left in the stapler... I will get the other tools as well when my existing ones give up. I love Bosch...