What is your experience with them, and what do you think of them ?

I have one, an X5 I believe. I am strictly an amateur. I bought it when I finished about 1000 sq ft in my basement. I did all the walls, ceilings, trim, & doors. It worked OK. I did all the doors and trim before installing and then just touched up the nail holes. It worked well on the wood. But I ended up putting on one coat of primer and two coats of finish paint on the walls. Plus the texture had primer mixed in it. New drywall really soaks up paint.

Its messy. Buy a cheap tyvek suit and a good mask meant for painting. Hoses and buckets all over. And cleanup is a moderate pain.

Im not sure if I saved any time over using a power roller and a brush. And I have the machine now that probably will never get used.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
What is your experience with them, and what do you think of them ?

I've used a couple of them in the past, but I'm more curious what you intend to use it for.

I have one but have not used it for years, it worked well. You need paint in 5 gallon buckets, they will suck up a lot to prime. They lay down LOTS of paint quickly and leave a good finish. You will spend a lot of time prepping and the painting will go quickly. Clean up was not bad for me, trie to salvage as much as possible in the hose, water wash it all out and left some of that Pump Armor in it.

I borrowed one to paint my 2,000 soft basement and 900 soft garage. 2 coats of primer and one coat of color. Sucked out of 5 gallon buckets. It worked great.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mcrimm,

I have the one that takes DeWalt batteries.. is that the one? It’s amazing. So far I’ve only sprayed a basement hallway and ceiling, but as soon as I finish priming the main rec room down there, I’m going to spray it.

It atomizes the paint I feel like. There’s paint EVERYWHERE that’s not covered.

I’ve got one (can’t remember the model, but it’s a mid tier unit) and I love it.

Bought it to paint cabinets with and it laid down the paint quickly and evenly. I just used the gallon can and it worked fine, you just have to keep an eye on usage so you don’t lose prime. I also used to to paint the exterior concrete foundation of my home and it took about a half hour to spray. So much faster than a roller or a brush.

Cleaning is pretty easy, it just takes a little time to make sure the gun and filter inside it is clean. Cleaning up an oil or shellac base is also a little more difficult since you can just hook it up to a garden hose.

The big negative is that over spray will get everywhere. I made a spray booth out of plastic sheeting in my garage when I painted the cabinets and there was paint on every square inch of the plastic.

There are lots of YouTube videos about them and I learned tons about adjusting pressure, selecting the right tip, and cleaning.

I have a 395 ultra something or other. I use it for lacquer when I finish wood projects. Haven't used it since covid though. It runs great. The models available at big box home improvement stores are considered to be disposable. That's what my painter friend told me.

Professional Gracos are great. The ones they sell at Home Depot, not so much. I can’t imagine the pain of doing some serious painting without a primary filter. You must have to dick around with the gun filter endlessly.

Borrowed one from my dad when I painted the cabinets. It worked great. This was a consumer grade (not professional). It needed a good filter added on the intake, and I replaced the tip with a much nicer tip. I don’t remember the numbers of the tip, but it passed the paint through two different orifices to atomize the paint into a superfine mist. For the cabinets I was painting, it came out fantastic.

Have a Wagner brand but it is a Graco.
It will save time on painting but prep work and cleanup work is more.
Works primarily best with thick viscosity paints like latex.
Great for large areas and it was especially great when I painted my living room with 18 foot ceilings/walls and used the extension.
Not suitable for fine painting with thin viscosity on cabinets even with a tip, use HVLP for that.

I have one I haven't used in years, but it was fantastic when I used it. I primed the entire inside of my house with it. Two coats, trim, walls, and ceilings. Then, I went back and sprayed the trim, the tongue and grove ceilings in the kitchen and family room, the bead board wainscoting, and the preprimed doors with semigloss. Talk about a beautifully smooth finish.

I just took this picture of what I painted 15 years ago:


I rolled the walls and other ceilings. As mrvmax mention, lots of paint quickly, which was fantastic with 5 gallon buckets of primer or trim paint. It would have been a hassle for a couple of gallons on the walls vs. just taping the edges of the trim and rolling the walls and ceilings.

None of the painters I've hired has ever come close to the smoothness on the trim with with a brush, so it was worth the $400-$500 it sprayer cost me.

I have a ultramax cordless for small jobs, spray mainly latex, it does okay. I don't really care for the cup they use now. I also had a older trucoat, still do but can't find a battery that will work in it. I have an old wagner 404, (20 YO) that I use for big jobs.

I have one of the hand-held 'cheap' versions - the 2-speed, can't remember the model right now.
It works well for what it is - trim, cutting in, smaller projects, etc. It will empty the 32oz bag quickly on a wall - not really advised. It's will put the paint on heavy if you let it.
Look up 'cjspray' on ebay to save a bit on refurbs - good support/warranty and you'll save ~20%

I've had a pro Graco for several years, I'm using the 3M PPS cups and I love it. Great finish, easy to clean and produces a great finish on all my work.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
What is your experience with them, and what do you think of them ?

I've used a couple of them in the past, but I'm more curious what you intend to use it for.

I need to oil stain 8400 ft2 of outdoor wood fence, too much for a paint brush. Too much for a small airless cup sprayer. Thinking about one of the lesser stand up airless Gracos with a pickup hose for five gallon paint cans. They seem to have quite a spread of very similar machines in their line. So maybe something on the upper end of a DIY machine, before you get into the pro models with much higher duty cycles.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
What is your experience with them, and what do you think of them ?

I've used a couple of them in the past, but I'm more curious what you intend to use it for.

I need to oil stain 8400 ft2 of outdoor wood fence, too much for a paint brush. Too much for a small airless cup sprayer. Thinking about one of the lesser stand up airless Gracos with a pickup hose for five gallon paint cans. They seem to have quite a spread of very similar machines in their line. So maybe something on the upper end of a DIY machine, before you get into the pro models with much higher duty cycles.

If that's the extent of the use you plan on for it, you might consider one of these. Krause & Becker Paint Sprayer I needed something to do some interior painting, but knew I'd never use it enough to justify the cost of one of the Pro models. It's worked out great for everything I've needed it for, and best of all for you, its actually on close out right now.

Just something else to consider.

Reviving an old thread. I recently got a X5 to do the new drywall in my ~700 sqft basement, walls and ceilings. I got the power roller too. I found that a real pain in the ass to use. I used the sprayer and it makes short work of it, but man does it eat up the paint. I nearly got all the walls done with 5 gallons of primer. I'll have to get another 5 gallons to finish what walls I have left and the ceilings.