I wanted a paint sprayer for a couple big jobs (to me) but knew it would be somewhat limited use beyond that. Though others here may poo poo it, I bought one of these and its worked flawlessly for what I needed. Krause & Becker

On a related note, I've learned a bunch about using an airless sprayer 'the right way' by watching this guy's videos. The Idaho Painter

Thanks BD, I like that unit and will check the videos

Whatever I get, it will get very limited use as well

I have a handheld Graco Truecoat - the 2-speed model. $100 on ebay. Check cjspray on ebay for 'reconditioned' units - basically, used 1x & returned, sold for 75% or so.
For thinner paints & stains, one of the $75 hand-held HVLP sprayers will work. For latex, the HVLP sputters & doesn't coat evenly (or puts too much on). Stepdad has a Wagner HVLP (the lower tier one) that did great with semi-transparent stain on some benches, but royally pissed me off trying to paint a door with latex.

The airless beats thick paint into submission, but it's still really easy put too much on, then there's the overspray.
With spraying its possible to cover with 1-coat, something I've never been able to do with roller.

Just finished painting Mom's kitchen/dining/living/hallway + ceilings - future new flooring/trim made cutting in with the Graco possible & cut 2-3 hours of brushwork. We still cut in with a brush at the ceiling & above head-height in corners. The only issue we had was trying to paint a red wall with kills oil-based after I had cut in the ceiling with latex & the sprayer - the still wet overlap of water-based played a bit of hell with the oil. Worked out ok though.
If we had felt comfortable putting tape on the fresh ceiling (or waited until the next weekend) I would have preferred to mask the ceiling & cut in with the gun all around - no brush marks where I sprayed, can't say the same for where Mom/wife used a brush.

I'd like one of the x5/x7 units with a pressure roller, but I can't justify the cost. We've rented one to spray a basement ceiling, but that's probably hit or miss with people cleaning them.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
I wanted a paint sprayer for a couple big jobs (to me) but knew it would be somewhat limited use beyond that. Though others here may poo poo it, I bought one of these and its worked flawlessly for what I needed. Krause & Becker

On a related note, I've learned a bunch about using an airless sprayer 'the right way' by watching this guy's videos. The Idaho Painter

I've also heard decent reviews of the HF paint guns, as well as watched the Idaho painter. He's passionate about painting, so move the speed up to 1.25x or 1.5x, you'll get all the info faster.