Customer Reviews

Wagner Power Products 305 Painter Sprayer

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

I own an air compressor and was toying with the idea of buying a spray gun for it. But several factors made me decide against it. (Mainly 1) paint projects must be nearby the compressor 2) major major paint clouds)

So I was recommended the Wagner 305 by the Home Depot paint guy. It works better than I expected. But I do agree with other people who have written reviews.

1) there is quite a bit of cleanup time, but take this with a grain of salt--I usually don't clean up paint brushes and rollers, I just through them out and buy new (really! hehe)

2) It's noisy yet not extremely loud. It quiets down once the paint starts flowing into the compressor. The gun would be no problem outdoors at all. But in confined spaces the echoing might get to you.

3) Overspray. It's going to happen. Get tarps. This was expected and should be expected.

4) Some wasted paint. If you have a large job buy the paint in 5 gallon buckets and consider cutting a 1/2" hole in the lid. Then put the 1/2" tubing through the hole, attach the filter. Then draw enough 1/2" tubing into the bucket so that it reaches the bottom. Use a clip on the hose to KEEP IT AT THE BOTTOM. This will *prevent* all globbing.

For small projects use the quart attachment and pour the paint into there. Then just run hot water through it. Voila. Cleaned.

Benefits. TIME. This this moves Soooo fast. Very very fast. Entire rooms can be painted in a heartbeat. But like everyone always says, things go smoother when you prepare correctly. (i.e. use tarps, mask off needed areas, etc.)

Never had to thin my paint. Don't know what type of paint others are using but mine flows perfectly. No problems there.

HTH,

-Ed.

I was in the process of ordering a Wagner painter and noticed the bad reviews. So rather than buy one just yet, I borrowed my boss' sprayer which is the above model. Here's my objective opinion, BS free.

If you think it's loud, you don't work around power tools much. Spend a few minutes with a router, table saw, sander, whatever.

I needed a sprayer because I had to paint louvered doors --a guaranteed mess with a brush. I used alkyd enamel --I don't know how this thing sprays latex. (What does?) I have never used an airless sprayer before and the job came out perfect. I have used compressed air sprayers on signs and a car before and to me there is no difference in technique or coverage. There will be overspray and there will be wasting of paint with any sprayer, right? It's a tragic fact of life. The other tragic fact is that cleanup is intensive. That's a small concern, overshadowed by the splendid results. Certainly, with practice and experience, one could, no doubt, shorten the process. Same as with all sprayers. Use rubber gloves.

Packing all the stuff away can be a problem but it all fits easily away if you remove the spray jar and invert it into the case. No problem after that.

Unless you want to fork over money for a compressor and gun, this thing will do just fine with oil based enamel and stains. Sure it's a little heavier than a spray gun. Use two hands if you are doing a big job.

By the way, I felt the warning of injection hazard, resulting in possible amputation was sort of scary. But then it occurred to me: what power tool doesn't offer the promise of possible amputation?

I originally picked up my Wagner Power Painter used from a garage sale. I find them often being sold after very limited use. Why do people get rid of them? Well, often they don't properly take care of them so they are upset with the results. I find that usually about 20mins cleaning the used gun yeilds an almost brand new gun that operates properly.

Apparently by reading the reviews, people also don't know what to realistically expect. First, you WILL get overspray from every sprayer airless or not. You should wear appropriate clothing to avoid being drizzled upon. Second, it is heavy for many people. You have an electric spayer with a container of fluid that needs to be held up for relatively long durations. Your arms are likely to get tired. Third, if you use latex paint, you will need to thin it a bit. A little experimentation is involved with a scrap piece of cardboard to get the mix and setting right. Do this before you start your project. Fourth, I agree with a previous reviewer. It is noisy but no more so than most electric tools. My skill saw or grinder are no less noisy. Finally, when the paint container gets about 3/4 empty, it very well may start spitting paint instead of spraying it. Just get used to refilling before your almost empty.

I just got off the phone with the Wagner folks who informed me that the piston is rated for ONLY 7-10 gallons of paint before needing replacement... They also told me I shouldn't be using Behr of Kilz paint with it. Those will wear it out faster.

If I knew this information before, I wouldn't have bought this product. Perhaps they should put it on the box.

I was faced with painting 500 square feet of 6 inch wide siding. This would be a daunting task in that I suffered a rotator cuff injury 6 weeks before.

The 2 speed Wagner 305 was the answer. Not counting the masking of windows and an 8 inch cut in with a brush around the trim, the 500 squre feet of irregular surface was covered in 50 minutes. A third of this time was moving the ladder.

The weight of the 305 was not a problem even for my injured arm.

The slower speed allowed me to work within a foot of the trim with no overspray and within 8 inches with a wet wipe of the trim for clean up.

There was no dripping as others have claimed. Clean up was no more time consuming than cleaning a good brush. (Clean up with oil base would be more problematic; stick with latex if you can.)

The only down side was thinning the primer enough to get a good spray and still get coverage. Applying a modest coat and then returning in 10 minutes was the answer to prevent sagging.

For outdoor wide surface projects, particularly with irregular surfaces, this tool can't be beat.

I noticed some of the bad reviews of this product and got a little worried because I had already purchased one and it was enroute to me via USPS. I bought mine from absolutehome and it was a fiasco getting the thing shipped, but that is another story.

The product itself (once it arrived) was very easy to use. I build small wood shop products so it is a bit more than I actually need. The adjustable power is a godsend though and I was able to reduce it to my needs.

The painter does have to be clean and lubed for it to work properly. I didn't find this a drawback though because clean-up is a snap. The painter disassembles and assembles so easily.

I was using very thick polyeurathane for my first attempt and it worked great once I had the adjustments right. I spent about 7 minutes cleaning it and then used a very thin wood stain, again, once I got the settings right it worked great. It will splatter once you run low on paint so be careful and have a brush handy.

Speaking of brushes, I just have to say that the people who gave this sprayer a bad review either got a broken product or haven't painted by hand very much. I don't mean to dig on those that didn't like the sprayer but for the money this makes using a brush seem 17th century. This is one piece of kit I'll use quite alot.

I haven't tried using the suction attachment for drawing paint out of the can and I haven't used the backpack so I can't add anything about those items other than the backpack looks pretty cheap and I doubt I will ever use it for fear of wearing the paint on my backside.

Overall, my experience was good and I would recommend this sprayer. I would also recommend you buy this item from anyone other than absolutehome.

Hope this helps.

We purchased the Wagner power sprayer last week. WOW, this is the best product since sliced bread. This has cut our painting time down considerably. The sprayer is very easy to use, and very easy to clean up. I highly recommend this sprayer. It has the power to do any job you want to do.

I read the reviews for the Wagner products here, and was skeptical at first about buying one. After seeing how much it would cost to rent one however, I went ahead and made my purchase. I've been totally happy with the results. I was able to spray the base of a 2,800 sq. ft. house in two days, with few problems. Using the attached canister and refilling frequently is much easier than using the suction set, which was clumsy and a bit spotty. Yes, it is loud, but as another customer mentioned, most power tools are, and I quickly got used to it. I did have to use the suction set for the eaves of the house, and it was messy, but it still got the job done much faster that brushing. I used Behr brand Latex Exterior (which is notoriously thick) and did not have to thin the paint, which was a plus as well. Overall I'm happy with the product, clean the nozzles frequently (I cleaned the sprayer every couple of hours), and keep it oiled (very important!), and you'll get good use out of it.

Let's be honest here - if you're expecting miracles from a $70 sprayer, you're barking up the wrong tree. Most people don't even know how to use a hammer, so I would assume lots of the complaints are coming from people who are "less handy". That being said, for the price, this is a great sprayer. I would suggest using this unit in situations where coverage is more important than the quality of the job. For example, I used it to paint my basement cieling and walls, a place where perfection isn't necessary. There was no way I could have evenly covered those surfaces with a brush! I used the paint can attachment to do the cieling, the hardest part was carrying around a full paint can and holding a five-pound sprayer above my head for an hour (big deal). But after just one hour, I had covered about 250 square feet of uneven and complex cieling surface. There was the expected cloud of atomized paint in the air, but what do you expect in a closed basement? The unit is loud, so use your head and throw a pair of earplugs on or something. It's more quiet than most power tools. As for clogging or spattering, I had no problem: The people at Home Depot suggested using a few capfulls of Floetrol to thin the paint, which you'll find right next to the sprayers on the store shelf. I'm not sure what people are complaining about with the cleanup: As soon as you're finished using the unit, fill a small paint bucket (95¢ at most stores) with warm water and submerse all the removable parts. Let them sit for a half hour and then all it takes is a little rinse and scrub with the included brush. I was done cleaning the unit in 45 minutes, and that's with the half hour soak. This tool helped me finish in hours what normally would have taken a week or more. But don't buy it expecting it to make your crummy projects suddenly look beautiful; the sprayer is only as good as the person using it.

I own a Wagner SprayTech Twinstroke 9140, which is an excellent machine. I paint mostly with Latex, like most people do. But the SprayTech is a b***h to clean and is better suited for large jobs. So I thought I'd pick up a little guy like the power painter for small jobs like a few pieces of custom window trim or in this case a replacement stair skirt. Boy, what a mistake. First off, you can't paint on horizontal surfaces, so I had to get an adapter, a ninety degree bend that leaked all over the place. Second, no where in the literature did it say it wouldn't handle Latex; in fact it says it will and if the paint isn't coming out in a nice pattern then just thin it out. Well in order to get an even pattern I wound up thinning the paint so thin that it barely covered the wood, and even then there were drips everywhere. I never did get an even pattern out of it, notwithstanding the drips from the leaks.

What a waste of time and money. I'm taking it back just as soon as I finish writing this to warn people of the mistake, and drinking a beer to calm me down so I don't scream at the Home Depot clerk. I'll take cleaning my SprayTech any day over ruining my work with this junk.