Powershot Stapler Review

I've had a couple of classic Arrow brand T-50 staple guns for years. They've always been pretty good to work with, dirt cheap, and quite rugged. They're nowhere near as good as air powered staplers but those are more expensive, loud, and not always convenient for small jobs.

Properly Designed Staple Gun

The issue is the design of them, and virtually all staple guns, is flawed. The handle (trigger) has always been backwards. Meaning, as you push down on the handle (to fire a staple) you tend to pull the front part (where the staple comes out) up a bit. It doesn't always happen, but it's easy to and leads to a staple that won't fire into your project all the way.

Enter The PowerShot 5700

The PowerShot was supposed to change all this by flipping the handle around. Now, as you put pressure on the handle / trigger, you're also pushing down on the spot where the staple fires from. Genius, why did it take so long for somebody to do this?

Accepts T-50 Staples & Brad Nails

That park of the staple gun works exactly as advertised. With this design, you also get a better grip and better overall control of stapling. It's really the way every staple gun should be. Only it has a major, major flaw.

On The Right Track But Flawed

Everything about this stapler is great except for the fact that it jams up. A lot. When it does jams, it was breaking off a piece of a staple so I'd have to pull it all apart and clean it all out. I shot around 250 staples and had over a dozen jams in that amount of time. All of this using stand Arrow brand 3/8 inch T-50 staples that it is compatible with and shooting into wood.

Conclusion

A staple gun needs to do two things. First, it needs to shoot staples into materials cleanly and easily. Second, it needs to do that first thing without jamming. The PowerShot 5700 did the first part well, but failed miserably on the second part. Because of that, it's getting returned for another brand. Fail.