The Best Cordless Brad Nailers Tested in 2023

Aug 19, 2023

The DeWalt cordless brad nailer performed beautifully in our hands-on woodshop tests. That didn't surprise us at all: We’ve long been fans of DeWalt's power tool line, which is made for both pros and prosumers, but we’d never tested one of their cordless brad nailers.

The DeWalt brad nailer comes with a 2-amp-hour (Ah) lithium-ion battery and a charger, so we charged the battery overnight before testing the following day. The first thing we did—quite by accident—was drop the brad nailer on the concrete shop floor. Fortunately, the tool has a rugged casing, and we needn't have worried—it went on to perform flawlessly.

This model fires a range of 18-gauge (Ga) brads from as short as ⅝ inch to as long as 2⅛ inches, making it versatile for several nailing projects. We fired more than 200 brads into a variety of wood types, including hardwood and softer pine. We didn't experience any jams or stalls, but if we had, we could have removed them quickly using the tool-free jam release or the stall release lever. A jam release allows users to remove a brad that misfires and gets stuck in the nose of the tool. A stall release—virtually exclusive to battery-operated nailers—releases a brad that gets stuck halfway in the wood and the nail gun.

We tested the DeWalt brad nailer in both single-fire mode and bump mode, which is designed to fire brads rapidly for making quick work of attaching sheet-type materials, such as plywood. We like the sizable depth-adjustment dial on this model, but we weren't too impressed with its guide lights—they shone outward rather than on the workpiece—so don't count on them for illumination when working in dim areas. This model includes a belt hook that we found handy for stowing the nailer on our tool belt when not in use.

Read our full review: DeWalt 20V MAX XR 18GA Cordless Brad Nailer Kit

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Get the DeWalt cordless brad nailer at Amazon, Ace Hardware, or Blain's Farm & Fleet.