Summary
Product- Bostitch MIIIFS Flooring Stapler
Test - Used to lay hardwood flooring.
Cost- $500.00
Conclusion - Laying a hardwood floor just got easier with the Bostitch MIIIFS.  It made good on power and performance with only a couple hiccups during the process.  None of the staples jammed in the tool, however, there was once an issue with it firing two.  These issue could have been caused by user error as the user was trying to stay on a schedule and laying the staples as fast as possible.  The added bottom adapter protects the floor as the tool is slid down to the next position.  Also the adaptor has rollers on it and it has a large base allowing for better alignment with your foot.

The Bostitch MIIIFS with the flooring adapter is an all around great flooring stapler. This was a brand new one that we picked up on-line at Amazon.com.  We used it for laying a single floor and for testing out how well this model worked.

In the past we have used a manual flooring nailer and the tool was decent in laying the floor.  In order for the tool to work well you needed to swing the mallet enough to force the nail through the wood and into the floor.  This can be difficult as sometimes you don't swing hard enough to force the nail through the wood and you will have to figure out how to remove the nail or nail the rest into position.  Unlike the manual nailer this stapler is air powered so you need an air compressor for this tool to work.

There is no real comparison between this tool and the manual tool.  As you may assum this tool out preformed the manual in every scenario.  The only difference would be in price as the manual is cheaper and of course you do not need the air compressor.  However, we are not doing a review on a manual vs an automatic.

This tool performed very well and we only experienced a couple problems, as I believe were partially the fault of the installer.  The stapler  had enough power to force slightly bent or bowed wood into place. With the force that the installer used to fire the nailer and with the power of the tool you can easily put wood where you need it.  This stapler can take the same swing force that a manual can take without damage.  However, you will find you usually do not have to swing that hard to fire the staples.

The tool makes it easy for a novice to pick it up and use. It may seem intimidating at first but after a couple rows he/she will become confident enough to quickly lay down a row of wood in a good amount of time.  The only caution that I recomend is that you get the tool seated correctly over the wood.  We had one instance where the installer was going to fast and shot the staple through the top of the wood.

There are a couple of issues that you still need to do manually as the foot print of this tool is too large. You will still need to manually face nail or manually tongue nail the beginning and ending rows.  The nailer needs about six to eight inches away from a wall before you can use the tool (depending on the width of your wood flooring).

The firing knob of the stapler is too rigid as you cannot fire the tool without the swing of the mallet.  The mallet that we had, had two ends.  One being a rubber head and the other other being a metal head. The rubber head can be used to force the wood into place.  We used the rubber head for all purposes.

We did not experience too many split outs from the staples through the tongues of the hardwood. Our hardwood was pre-finished and came from the manufacture with a high quality wood. I will assume that if you purchased wood like number two knotty pine you would experience a lot more damaged to the tongues as you will be hitting more knots in the wood.  In this case you may want to go with a nailer and not a stapler.

Now that I have explained the performance of the tool lets talk about value. This tool is not cheap at a cost of around $500 dollars.  However, you may want to consider your options as renting this stapler may be more expensive in the end.  If you are a contractor then you should consider buying the tool as it will pay for itself in a couple jobs.  However, if you just want to lay some floor over the weekend then you may still want to purchase over renting.  If you consider the cost of renting of around fifty dollars a day at two to three days you are going to be spending around $100 or more in renting this tool.  Also, renting tools can be frustrating as they are usually abused and have a tendency to break down more than new.  With this Bostitch stapler the tool holds its' value and you can buy a good used tool off eBay from people that have used it only once on their personal project and now are reselling it.  This is a good route to take if you are willing to risk purchasing items over the internet.

We purchased this stapler off Amazon.com (an excellent source of products) which included the base attachment for free.  We also bought a box of staples as well.  These were all shipped to our door on time and brand new.  We used the tool for the day to lay the floor.  We then turned around and sold the tool with the left over staples for a small profit on eBay.  Now I cannot guarantee a profit but like I said the Bostitch holds its' value well and is easy to resell.  Making a profit along with making the job easier is worth the extra bit of money and time when doing a flooring job.