HiKOKI NR3665DA Metal Connector Nailer: A Battery-Only Nail Gun Built for Joist Hangers and Hurricane Ties

Introduction

If you have ever driven hundreds of bracket nails into joist hangers by hand, you already know the problem: it is slow, repetitive and genuinely unpleasant. The HiKOKI NR3665DA metal connector nailer aims to fix that, and it does so as what appears to be the first battery-only cordless tool of this type. No gas canisters, no compressor hose, just a battery and a trigger.

A quick note on naming: if you are in North America this tool will carry the Metabo HPT badge, because Metabo HPT and HiKOKI are the same company and the same tools under different regional brands. They are also entirely distinct from Metabo’s own darker green tool line.

Who This Product Is For

This nailer is designed specifically for metal connector work: joist hangers, hurricane ties, nail plates and strapping, in other words anything that needs short, thick-headed bracket nails driven through pre-punched steel holes. If you fit structural connectors on a daily basis, this is exactly the class of tool that pays for itself in saved time. It is much less relevant if you only hang the occasional bracket once a year.

What Is a Metal Connector Nailer?

Unlike a framing nailer, this tool fires collated full-head product nails with a 34-degree angle strip. The nails have a deliberate gap between them, which matters: tightly packed D-head strips will cause the tool to fire two nails at once, so you need the spaced connector style. Compatible collated strips are available from Echo, Paslode and Simpson Strong-Tie.

The magazine accepts nails from 38mm up to 65mm long, with diameters between 3.3mm and 4.1mm. Because of the spacing in the strip, it only holds around 30 to 31 nails at a time, so you will be reloading fairly often. It goes through them quickly.

Main Strengths

The tool is essentially the HiKOKI framing nailer with a different magazine and a redesigned firing tip, and that tip is what makes this tool what it is. A spring-loaded locator pin sits inside the pre-punched hole of the bracket to position each shot, then moves out of the way as the nail is driven through. In practice it makes hitting small bracket holes far easier than lining up a standard nailer nose.

Power is impressive. When fired deliberately straight into timber without a bracket, it drove four nails clean through, so driving through steel holes is not a challenge for it. A 65mm nail through the top plate side of a hurricane tie and a 38mm nail through the joist side is exactly the workflow this tool was built around.

Another advantage of the battery-only design is convenience. HiKOKI was the first company to release a battery-only air-cylinder-style cordless nailer with no gas required, and this connector nailer continues that approach. For anyone who already runs the brand’s multi-volt battery platform, there is one important caveat: this is a 36-volt tool, not an 18-volt one, so you will need a multi-volt battery to run it.

Things to Consider Before Buying

There are genuine trade-offs worth knowing about before you buy.

First, the firing tip has a fairly quick timeout. If you set the nose down, wait too long and then pull the trigger, nothing happens. That is mildly annoying when you are trying to line up a bracket that keeps sliding around.

Second, there is no depth adjustment. Unlike the framing nailer, you cannot push the nose deeper for a tighter seat. During testing, some nail heads driven into recessed brackets sat slightly proud and needed a tap with a hammer. In non-recessed positions, seating was noticeably better.

Third, the head is chunky. There is a noticeable bulge on one side of the tool, and working against that side in tight spaces is harder. Firing with the slimmer left side of the tool against your work is noticeably easier. In awkward angles and recessed bracket pockets, expect to hunt for a workable position.

Fourth, some strips of nails are simply a pain. Bent or damaged strips catch and jam more easily, and the paper holding the strip can break in awkward places, occasionally blocking the striker until a couple of dry fires clear it. Misfires happened from time to time.

Finally, be warned about sparks. When the pin and nail push through the steel, there is real metal-on-metal action and quite a lot of sparking. Above head height, hot debris rains down. Safety glasses are non-negotiable, and the recoil is firmer than a framing nailer since every shot is a solid stop against steel.

How the Locator Pin Works

The clever part of the design is how the pin gets out of the nail’s path. The locator pin fills nearly the whole hole in the bracket, so it looks like the nail has nowhere to go, but the pin rocks back and forth and a spring-loaded piece swings aside as the nail head comes through. The tool then jumps slightly forward as the nail clears the mechanism.

Unlike the pneumatic Simpson Strong-Tie connector nailer, where 65mm nails load at the top of the magazine and 38mm nails partway down to keep the tip protruding, this tool loads all nail sizes at the top of the magazine.

One thing you cannot do: use it as a framing nailer. A plastic stop at the end of the magazine physically prevents 90mm nails from loading, and even if that were removed, framing strips are not spaced like connector strips, so the tool would try to fire two nails at once. Buy this for connector work only.

Buying Advice

Who gets the most from the NR3665DA? Framers and builders who install structural connectors every day. The time savings over hand-driving bracket nails are real, and the collated nails cost more than loose nails, but that extra cost is quickly earned back in saved labour.

If your connector work is occasional and mostly in easy positions, the chunky head, quick timeout and lack of depth adjustment are easier to forgive. If you work in tight or recessed positions regularly, plan on keeping a hammer handy for the occasional proud nail head.

Conclusion

The HiKOKI NR3665DA is a genuinely handy addition to the brand’s cordless lineup and, as far as we know, the first battery-only metal connector nailer of its kind. It drives bracket nails with plenty of power, its locator pin makes hitting bracket holes far easier, and anyone who fits joist hangers and hurricane ties regularly will save serious time. The trade-offs are real: no depth adjustment, a chunky head, strip-related misfires and plenty of sparking. But overall it is a tool we would happily own, and it will be interesting to see what other connector nailers HiKOKI brings to its cordless platform next.