Customer Reviews

Wagner 0515009C 3/8 HP 2,600 PSI Paint Crew Jr. Paint Sprayer

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll start with the major pros and cons:

PROS

-- Easily manageable. Don't let the high PSI scare you. It's like handling a garden hose sprayer so no muscle is required.

-- Painting is fast. It won't wear out your arms like rolling will.

-- Coverage is good. I would especially recommend this for textured walls/ceilings.

CONS

-- DUST, DUST, DUST! The amount of dust created is significant, particularly if you're painting ceilings as well as walls. You have to firmly cover every inch that isn't going to be painted so painting a Great Room (as I did for my first project) means a lot of prep time plus a ton of dust when you roll it all up.

-- Proper cleaning takes a long time. The instructions explain how to leave paint in the hopper for up to 16 hours but I do not recommend this. Some paint will still dry in the hopper and hose and that will just mean more work. The wetter everything is, the easier it cleans.

-- It uses more paint than rolling and there will be at least a quart that won't run through the sprayer (though it can be poured back into the can for touch-ups).

-- It's not for smaller projects. Due to the clean-up time and the amount of unusable paint in the hopper, it's really not the best tool for a project that uses less than a gallon of paint.

TOOLS

Some things to have handy before you begin are rags, a wrench, a spatula, an empty bucket, a roller, a baby bottle brush, a grounded electrical cord. And be prepared to spend a significant amount on tape, paper and dropcloths (FWIW-- I found regular masking tape to do a much better job-- and be much cheaper-- than the blue painter's tape).

TIPS

-- Read ALL the instructions before starting. They're somewhat intimidating because they practically make you think you're going to kill yourself by using this tool but I think that fear is good to ensure you always follow the proper procedure when turning the machine on/off in order to release pressure in the hose.

-- When I say everything has to be taped down, I mean EVERYTHING. You can't just leave a dropcloth on the floor because the air pressure will lift it if the sprayer gets anywhere close to it. I found what worked best was to get rolls of cheap paper from Home Depot and tape that to the trim and then to slide the dropcloths under the paper.

-- Don't panic when you spray a coat and your wall looks like some disastrous quilt. You'll be amazed at how evenly it will eventually dry. So don't try to fix the coverage while it's wet, just wait until it's dry and then spray your touch-ups or another coat as needed.

-- You should only hear the motor when you pull the trigger. If the motor remains on when you release the trigger, that usually means you need to add paint to the hopper so don't continue spraying or you'll get some messy streaks on your wall.

-- Make sure the machine is always on several layers of dropcloths. I had one incident early where some screws loosened and paint leaked out.

-- You can get decent coverage with one coat of primer (tinted the same shade) and one coat of paint but I recommend using a light touch on the trigger and doing two coats of each. After completing a wall, inspect for any areas that are dripping and use the roller to even those out.

-- Use the spatula to poor the excess paint back into the can and to assist with cleaning the hopper.

In conclusion, I'd say the sprayer does what it's supposed to do though it could be designed a bit better. One reason I gave it a three is because I've been unable to loosen the screws to clean out the filter in the hose and if I'm never able to do that, I suspect this machine won't be usable for long. Also, it has this bizarre little cord that's about five inches long that makes it difficult to even plug into a decent electrical cord. It's also unfortunate that so much paint goes unused in the hopper and that the hopper can't be removed for cleaning.

Compared to rolling, I'm sure it's significantly faster for an outdoor project but it's about the same for an indoor project when you factor in the prep and clean-up. However, it's much less demanding physically so I certainly recommend it over rolling for a person who's painting solo. And as long as you even out drips, keep the trim firmly taped and are willing to use plenty of product (two coats primer, two coats paint) it really can be on par with a professional paint job.

I probably won't return to answer any questions so I hope this helps!

I bought this when it was a gold box item and was hoping it would be a bit better than my last experience with an airless sprayer. Wow, this is so much better than my old cheap Wagner from years ago. The old Wagner was the type with the screw on bottle that held the paint. Always a pain because the uptake tube clogged, it had a limited capacity and was a chore to refill the hopper. This Wagner is a breeze to refill and holds at least 2 gallons (it holds a bit more but that's all I loaded at one time).

I received it yesterday and went to Home Depot and bought two gallons of exterior stain for my fence. The only problem I had was starting it for the first time. I was looking forward to getting started right away so I quickly read the instructions and dumped the paint in. I could not get the unit to prime or pump anything. Not exactly sure why because the motor was working fine....so I removed the paint and filled the hopper with water and then the unit primed and sprayed ok....so I put the paint back in and it worked flawlessly. I painted one gallon of one color, cleaned it out and painted the other gallon of another color without any issues. I did not thin out the stain....used it full strength straight out of the can.

I would not recommend painting small jobs with this sprayer (less than a gallon) because the hopper is rather large and once the level of paint gets low it starts sucking up air and the spray operation stops. You'll waste a fair amount of paint...or have to brush on the paint that's left over in the hopper if you only put a little bit of paint in the hopper.

I went this morning and bought 5 more gallons of stain and fired up the unit again today. It started spraying immediately and continued without any problems until I finished the job. It was just so fast and easy compared to my last experience with an airless sprayer. Using a roller would have taken me much, much longer. Using this gun made the painting kind of fun.

We bought the paint sprayer to paint our basement. We followed the instructions and started spraying the ceiling. We used a gallon of paint and started on the second gallon. When we were about half way through the second gallon, the paint sprayer quit spraying paint. The machine was not building up enough pressure to spray the paint. We kept priming the unit to try and get it to work. We poured the paint out of the unit and cleaned it, poured the paint back in and tried again and it still did not work. What a disappoinment. I thought we were going to get our basement painted with little effort. We eneded up using a roller to paint the ceiling which took forever. When the unit worked for the first 20 minutes, it was great but it didn't work long.

I agree with most of the other comments. I followed the directions and poured in my paint ready to work. Would not prime. :( BEFORE you pour in your paint, remove the plastic inlet valve screen, pour a little paint in the hole to fill it up, then replace the screen. Now fill up the hopper with the rest of your paint and VOILA you are off and running. Thanks to Wagner for not having that tip in their directions equals minus one star.

After researching different painting products, I decided to purchase this Wagner sprayer from Amazon. I received the sprayer in a few days. (no shipping problems) After reading the instructions, I assembled the sprayer and went to work painting a 400 foot by 5 foot high stucco/block wall. My wife was the helper and moved the electrical cord and the sprayer around the yard. I finished the wall (both sides) in about 4 hrs. I used a thick latex paint (about 8 gallons). The spray gun never clogged once and worked flawlessly. The only pain in the a** was the clean-up. It took over an hour to clean the sprayer and parts, however, this is a very important part of using the sprayer.
I had previously used a power roller to paint this wall and it took many more hours and about wore out my arm. (Anyone out there need a used power roller?)
Anyway, I'm very pleased with this sprayer and I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it. (I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because of the clean-up work that is required)

I have to say, this sprayer is so great that I couldn't wait to review it. I read the reviews before I purchased this, and was confident it that I thought it would be a great machine. But what I didn't know, was that I just couldn't believe how great this sprayer was. Totally easy to use. Just fill the hopper with paint, (you don't even have to dilute it), then prime that paint, then just start spraying~ That's it! Unbelievably easy and fun to use. We have a log cabin. The side we painted, was a 10X32 side wall. And it only took about an hour to do the one side. Can you imagine how long it would have taken to paint those logs with a paintbrush? And the work, my word the work! This sprayer was really something special. Total time-saver. I would recommend this paint sprayer to anyone~ BTW, I used Olympic Sold Stain in Russet. Perfect. :) Any questions, please ask michellewhorn@gmail.com :)

I've always hated painting and it's associated mess. I hooked this up and sprayed 100 feet of fencing today in no time. It looks excellent! I actually enjoyed using the Paint Crew Jr. I used Olympic Maximum stain and the only draw back to the entire project is getting paint in every single nook and cranny. I suppose a bit of brushing will be needed at the tops of the fence pickets and a few other recessed areas, but I would definitely recommend this sprayer for any job needing more than 4 gallons of stain or paint to complete.

The sprayer and associated components are all of good to high quality. The only real gripe I have about it's use is the stiffness of the hose - but after I used it a while I started to get the hang of it. The finished job looks very professional. I do have some overspray on the grass, but it will grow, and when it does, it will get mowed/mulched.

Cleaning the machine after use is a bit tedious, BUT necessary. It took me roughly an hour to clean it from top to bottom -inside and out. But surely, the effort places the machine in a "never used" state, ready for the next job. Folks, you surely want to allow yourself a bit of time to practice on something before you spray your project. You will be glad you did. Also, search the web - there are several "how to" videos detailing using and cleaning this great machine.

PROS: MAKES PAINTING EASY, AFFORDABLE, HIGH QUALITY, EASE OF USE

CONS: HOSE IS STIFF

I chose this model because the price was reasonable and it had positive reviews. Also, the two gallon hopper and the fact that paint did not need to be diluted sold itself. I used Sherwin-Williams paint for exterior of my house and it worked great. It literally took minutes to paint a side of the house. The time consuming part was prepping the windows and such with tape and plastic.
Here are a couple of tips:
Tip#1: Practice on cardboard before starting so you can get the hang of it.
Tip#2: Try different spray options.
Tip#3: Tilt the hopper when paint starts running low and you will get a little long use out of it before having to refill.
Tip#4: Spray in smooth sweeping motions.
Tip#5: Make sure you are at a good distance from paint area. Spray about 10-12 inches away.
Tip#6: Do a thorough cleaning so it does not clog up for next time.

Happy Painting!

Worked great, Highly recommend using a mixing agent like "Flotrol" to help thin out Latex paint..

We were able to stain our large deck in one day and most of that was prep work, taping up plastic, etc. It would have taken 5 days to hand stain it. The sprayer worked great with the Olympic solid stain that we used. We did probably use more stain than we would have using a brush but the time saved was worth the extra expense and stain.