Customer Reviews

Black & Decker BDPR400 Pivoting RapidRoller

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

After painting two rooms with the Black & Decker Pivoting Roller, I generally agree that it's faster and more efficient than a conventional roller.

The central feature - the pivoting head - is handy in tight spaces. By adjusting the angle of the roller, you can essentially paint on an angle, letting you get into places that would be tricky with an ordinary roller.

Still, I found a few features other than the pivoting head to be the most useful. No doubt part of this is that my rooms were mostly large with few tight spaces where the pivoting head would come in handy. In a small, confined space, I might think differently.

One positive is the "kickstand" - I simple fold-out rack that lets you put the roller down anywhere without worry about dripping or getting the roller head all over everything.

The other main thing I liked was the paint fill and application system. You simply attach the roller to a paint can, and then you can suck paint into the long handle of the roller. No trays, and unlike many powered paint rollers, there are no hoses to attach or clean. Of course, the compromise is that the roller only holds so much paint, and then you need to refill it - but the advantage in cleanup time is worth this minor inconvenience. To feed paint to the roller, you simply squeeze the ratcheting handle, and you get a nice steady stream. With some practice, it's easy to get smooth and even coverage as you paint.

For me, cleanup is always the sore spot for these types of products, but the Black & Decker wasn't too bad. Of course, with a conventional roller, I often use the option of just throwing it all away when I'm done. While the Black & Decker isn't super-expensive, it's still probably too costly to discard when you're done with it, so be prepared to take it apart and clean. Not that it's a big deal - everything comes apart easily, and for the most part, cleanup is just some warm soapy water.

Overall, I found the Black & Decker Pivoting Rapid Roller to be a better alternative than a conventional roller - definitely worth giving it a shot next time you have a few rooms to paint.

Recommended!

I wasn't expecting to be able to review this as quickly as I am, mainly because I didn't think I'd be painting until the fall. Then my husband spilled wine on the white kitchen walls, so out the RapidRoller came! I found it to be very easy to put together, being almost entirely assembled in the box. To practice with it, I used water in a sink, which I later realized was also how to clean it.

To add paint from a standard sized paint can, you put the lid that comes with the RapidRoller on the can, then attach the roller and pull out the handle, basically sucking in the paint. It stays inside the clear handle of the roller and you use the trigger to pump more into the roller as you paint. To refill, you repeat the process with the paint can lid attachment. To pivot while you're painting, you just reach up and turn the roller part the way you want it.

I found the trigger pump and handle a little unwieldy for me, honestly. It takes practice. And I'm not completely sure the paint comes entirely out of the handle once you've cleaned it. It seemed like the white paint left a white haze on the inside of the clear handle. (If there's a problem with that, I'll update this review when we get around to painting the outside of our house.) The included roller cleaned up really well though, and the construction seems solid.

Black and Decker has videos online to show you how to use and clean the RapidRoller, by the way, and they are VERY handy. I definitely recommend watching those videos. They weren't posted to a certain well-known video site until today, oddly enough, so I didn't have the option of watching the videos until now, but I'm glad I did. When I get to painting the house, I'll be able to use the roller more effectively.

I was so excited to use this product to paint my daughter's bedroom, but alas, I ended up wasting time (and paint) with this roller, and had to use a regular roller anyway.

I could not get this roller to draw the paint out of the paint can and into the tube. It was only about 1/4th full every time I tried. I tried numerous times, re-read the directions to make sure the O-ring was in place and everything was properly lubricated with the included Vaseline, but I still had no luck.

Here are the directions from the manual:
"Pull plunger (b) all the way back to draw paint into RAPIDROLLER . (This may take some force.) Once tube
is full you are ready to start painting. Lift RAPIDROLLER slowly off fill tube.
NOTE: If you do not receive a complete fill the first time, push plunger slowly to return paint to can and
then pull back plunger making sure angle is correct and orange fill cap cover is fully seated."

Glad it works for some people, but it didn't work for me. Maybe my paint was too thick. I was using HD Behr Premium Plus Ultra (Paint & Primer in one), and it was very thick...like the consistency of thin yogurt.

 

I like this product - it works extremely well right out the box. but after cleaning and replacing roller pieces fall off the nozzle and it tends to leak after that. I'm assuming the answer is to buy replacement rollers (purfirated) with the holder.

I bought this roller because I had bought a new house and knew I was going to be painting most every room. The roller greatly cut down on the painting time, but some of that was eaten up by the clean up time.

The pros of this roller are that you can paint a large room (20*15) in about 30 minutes. Once you get use to the trigger action it goes pretty quick.

The cons of this rooler were that it is heavy and you may get tired of the weight soon. The roller needs to be cleaned out very good after each use or you will pay for it next time you go to use it. Also, make sure you either buy extra rollers or celan out the one that comes with it. The rollers are special in that they have holes inside that let the paint flow through to the outside of the roller.

I thought the cleanup was a bit tideous but I keep doing because I can paint so much quicker. You will need a bathtub or good deep bucket to clean in as you have to suck water through the nozzel into the tube then push it out to clean all the parts. Plan on spending 15-30 truly cleaning it up.

Also, I've now painted 5 rooms with this roller and on the last room paint started to drip from the nozzel where you attach it to suck the paint into it. I'm not quite sure what was causing this but I will have to address that next time as it would drip paint all over your floors.

Yesterday was the first time I had the opportunity to use the Rapid Roller and I have to say it worked like a charm. After watching the quick tutorial on youtube I felt very comfortable with the instructions.

We primed our walls the traditional way because I thought it would be a hassle to get all the primer out of the rapid roller and then start painting. I popped the lid off the paint, stirred the paint, installed the rapid roller feeding system and loaded the roller just as easy as the video showed. I then started rolling the wall and really didn't see any paint until I had pushed the first full tube through but then it started pumping and I was rolling away. Our living room is approximately 24 x 12 and I was breezing around the room. My wife was cutting in the trim and she could not keep up. The roller showed no signs of leaking anywhere and holds the paint well. I was so confident that I didn't use a drop cloth after the first wall because all the paint was going where I wanted it and not on the floor.

So all in all the roller worked as advertised. A couple things to keep in mind is the unit is pretty long when the plunger is fully extended so if you are not working in an empty room and have tight areas it can be difficult. It is also hard to apply equal force when you tilt the head so I didn't move it very much. The clean up is not difficult but it is not necessarily quick either and you have to get the paint out of all the knobs of the roller head but it could have been worse.

I am very pleased with the roller and I will definitely use it on my next paint job.

This product definitely impressed me and has more than made up for the intial investment. It reduced my painting time by almost half, part of this was offset by the time required to clean after the painting was completed. The one tip that I would offer is that it is essential to buy new roller pads for every use, cleaning is inefficient and extremely time consuming, other than that the roller performs extremely well. It does require a little strength and endurance to use because you are carrying around the weight of the extra paint that is stored in the handle. This is especially noticable when working on anything overhead, or on jobs that are of a decent size. I would recommend this item, but it is definitely not for everyone.

We are painting halls and two large rooms in our house with Behr Premium Plus Ultra paint. Overall, purchasing the rapid roller has been a good decision. (We purchased it at Home Depot for $29.97.)
My husband's assessment:
For large areas, the rapid roller is a definite improvement over the standard handheld roller, for small areas not so much and would not recommend using it in tight spaces. We haven't cleaned it yet, just wrapped it up at night to resume painting next day. Did notice that it did leak a bit in the bag even though the tube appeared empty when it was put away. There also tends to be some minor splatter when you refill from the bottom of the paint can and air sneaks in. Glad that we purchased it.

This rapid roller system is an unbelievable time saver. I had to paint a two-story entry way - I painted it once before and it was an unbelievable pain. Even with a handle extension, when I used a standard roller I needed to use a 21-foot ladder to reach the top. This meant constant trips up and down the ladder to refill the roller with paint. Not with the rapid roller!! I could fill the paint tube and paint a large section of wall before having to refill.

not only is the paint process faster, but MUCH MUCH cleaner. There is a lid that fits the paint can, and the roller fits onto the lid. Just pull back on the handle plunger and the tube is filled with paint. That's it! no messy trays, no dripping, just squeeze the handle when you want more paint.

WOW this was a great buy, I absolutely recommend this to anyone with a large paint job.

This is the second time I try to paint my walls. The first time I used the regular roller and a tray, made a big mess. This time I bought this B&D roller, its GREAT! Save so much time, don't need to dip and roll, especially helpful when I have high ceiling (12ft).

I also bought the wagner paint mate for my helper. It was $10 cheaper, so I want to give it a try. In general, both are good, and did the job. The downside of the Wagner is that there is no stand, so its harder to put it on the floor. The other limitation is the roller head, cannot be tilted, unlike the B&D one. Other than that, they are similar. But for only $10 difference, I'd go with B&D if i have to buy again.