I was shopping the pawn shop for a cordless finish nailer to use on a
home project (hardwood flooring) and ran across what I thought was a
good deal on a Porter Cable CDA250. It didn't have gas, but I was
buying based on the good Porter Cable name and the visual condition of
the tool. I figured that worst case I'd have to buy some parts to
make the tool right. BTW, I'm using a Porta-Nailer for the boards, I
just need a finish nailer to do the places that the Porta-Nailer won't
fit. Please don't get into the pneumatic versus cordless argument.
I'm going to use this thing in finishing out my basement and I want
the convenience of the cordless. I use a cordless framer, finisher
and pneumatic brad nailer. Go figure.

Sorry about the rambling background. Now to the point. Not only has
Porter Cable dropped sales of this tool, they no longer stock most the
parts needed to keep it going - like the piston, for instance. I was
shocked to hear that. Now this was a bad tool design to begin with as
they went to extraordinary lengths so that they wouldn't have a
battery (the #1 complaint of most folks with the Paslode, I suppose).
You have to compress it at 20 lbs of pressure to compress the fuel in
the piston, and that was not a trade-off that people were willing to
deal with. So I understand abandoning a bad tool, but abandoning
customers stuck with such a bad tool shows that Porter Cable
management is taking the company into the mire.

On a positive note I stopped by the pawn shop - Pawn USA in
Woodbridge, VA - and they are going to swap me out with something they
have in inventory. I didn't really expect to get a full refund, and I
expected some hassle about trading straight up. I was very pleased,
and they were very apologetic and accomodating.

Anyway, if you see a deal on the Bammer that is too good to pass up,
pass it up anyway, as you can't get parts to fix the thing. I find it
hard to believe that their management did something this stupid.
Hopefully the guy in charge of the cordless tool division will get
axed or demoted.