# Handheld sprayers - What's the point?



## Professional Painter (Mar 15, 2014)

Hello all, now that I have grabbed your attention.....I am exploring the options available with handheld sprayers and why one would be beneficial to our operations. From the low cost Graco True Coat Plus II to the True Coat Pro Fine finish to the 16N654. 

It has been relayed to me that some of them need to be rebuilt/repacked after about 100 gallons or so. Now I will admit, this is a big turnoff for me as the rebuild kits start at a Benjamin. I can see their use for a small company who has the occasional 20 or more shutters they have to paint on one house. Spraying would sure beat the labor it would take to brush. Let's say you only have 6 or even 4 shutters...after the time it takes to fill it up, prep an area for spraying and cleanup....is there really any advantage with these?

The advertisements suggest that no ladder is too high for these things. Well, no ladder can reach as far as the hoses I have hooked up to the fleet of sprayers I have. Only one sprayer has the standard 50' hose length. The rest have 100' of hose and even if a ladder could reach that high, you can bet your bottom dollar that none of my men nor myself would be caught dead on a ladder that high. So, that advertisement failed IMO. 

Regular tips or fine finish can be swapped at will with the sprayers we have, so a handheld fine finish sprayer wouldn't (in theory) be a better solution and for cabinets, I would imagine that the weight, size and dimensions of the handheld would fatigue quickly and limit the areas accessible. It's hard enough in tight quarters with just a gun and a whip hose. 

The one thing I can think of to where these would come in incredibly handy would be the painting of a front door where the client requests a sprayed finish. Cleaning out a 50' hose and sprayer from (let's say for example) white to dark red can be more time consuming than I would prefer it to be but it is what it is. I simply cycle water in between the two paint colors so that neither paint color gets tinted....but again, this takes more time than I prefer it to take. Then once you are done, you get to do it again. Not my idea of a good time and after all is said and done, the end product looks superb but the labor aspect does not.

Hence why I am looking into one of the handheld's. What I would like is some real world feedback from professionals that have used or have been using various handheld sprayers. I have a list of questions that I would very much appreciate you taking your valuable time to answer if you have some real world experience to offer.



Is it really true that they have such a poor working life before they have to be rebuilt/repacked?

How long does it _realistically_ take to clean them up for storage after use?

Is good water pressure required to properly clean them out or can you use a bucket of water...or a couple of them if a wash sink or constant water source isn't available?

Are the tips the same as the rest of the non-industrial type Graco sprayers?

I there a particular part that seemingly fails before everything else? 

If so, how easily accessible is said part? Do you need to special order?

Also, does that part that fails have to be purchased as a "kit" instead of a part?

Do you have to worry about temperature conditions to yield a consistent finish (not the paint, the machine....let's say you just brought it out of a cold or pistol hot trailer and poured in room temperature paint and are painting in a climate controlled area) 

How long does the typical battery last per charge? Would you recommend several back up batteries and chargers?

How long before the batteries useful life is gone? (not per charge/use)

Are there any spitting, clogging, sticking, dripping, output or performance issues that appear after a certain hour or gallon usage? If so, approximately how long based upon your experience?

How long can you "store" paint in the sprayer without it damaging the sprayer or affecting performance? (overnight, two days, weeks...)

Are there any safety issues that are not typically associated with a normal sprayer? (Like a Graco 395)

Are they a 360 degree sprayer or are the spray angles limited to certain degrees? (please base this question on a full to 3/4 a tank)

Is there, in your experience, a handheld sprayer that you would recommend above all else based upon your experience?



Sorry in advance for so many questions. I know that nobody could possibly answer them all but if you would be so kind as to share your experience with myself and the rest of PT, my team and I (for one) would really appreciate it. This seems at first glance like a great tool but experience and thousands upon thousands of wasted dollars on supposed "great" tools has placed a little bit of caution on the latest and the greatest. 

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Now that I have stated my inquiries, please allow me to offer something else I asked if I could acquire today and see what other thoughts you may have with regards to this. This does not have to be based upon real world experience but just plain ol' common sense. What I asked is if the hose on a regular Graco (let's say a 395) could be ordered at a shorter length.

The answer was yes. It is a special order and it does have to come from Chicago but the wait time would be less than a week. For myself, this is no big deal. They do offer them in 6' lengths and I can get them for around 20-25 bucks a pop. Sooooooo, what I was thinking was that I could use ANY sprayer in my lineup to somewhat quickly change from one color to another (even severe). Here's how (in theory).....

Take the 100' hose off and cap both ends with a 1/4" cap on both sides, set aside. Install 2 connected 6' sections in it's place. The only paint that would need to be cleaned out at that point would be the paint in the sprayer and in the gun. Not much colorant to clean out until the 12' section was used and not new...._still_ not much to be cleaned out.

*A 12' hose is plenty to do a large shutter on workhorses or a large front door with some wiggle room leftover.*

Quick change out, quick color swap in the sprayer and on to work. Quick change back (run water in between colors before and after). Simply run the original color back through the 12' hose and recap before reinstalling the original 100' line. 

So, my thoughts today lay with the title thread. On one hand, there is a convenience factor with a handheld but it comes with somewhat (to me) seemingly extreme maintenance costs and on the other hand, there is a fifty dollar option that utilizes what I already have that offers the same performance with seemingly much less maintenance and much less loss of good paint switching out colors.

What's the point? 

Basically what I'm asking is whether or not these devices are worth the weight, hassle, cost and upkeep when weighing in the convenience and labor factors. Thanks for taking the time to read this post and I look forward to an educational discussion for all.

Professional Painter


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## woodcoyote (Dec 30, 2012)

There are a lot of questions here to answers. 

The truecoat = crap. I owned it when it first came out, worked okay, switched to proshot = way better. more pressure etc. 

Parts? Depends what breaks. It also depends on where you live, if your in the middle of no where, everything including good high quality paint is special order much less parts. If you have a good supply shop they should have the parts. If you order the rebuild kit for the pump etc, which isn't expensive, it's a great little thing to have for spare o-rings that might get lost or damaged etc. Be up in running in 20 mins. 

Tips are 'essentially' the same as regular graco rac-x tips, however, the guard is permanently attached. Buy several just like you would tips = no problem. This gun isn't meant to be used to paint a whole interior of a home. It's for smaller jobs etc, so you shouldn't run through one tip a day. 

Spits runs? Yeah sometimes, depends on filtering and how thick the paint is etc. I've also had spit issues with 795 and gas powered units too...so it's an unavoidable problem. Just happens sometimes, especially if needles get worn out in the pistols of regular guns. 

Batter life = 1 gallon per charge roughly. Perhaps a little less as the battery does have a shelf life physically, but mine have lasted a long long long time with no issue.

Store paint in the machine? I never would. Why ask for a problem? Could you, yes, but could you also have a problem? Yes. So why risk it for a $600 machine? Take the 10 minutes out of the day to run water through it and clean it properly, just like you take 10 minutes out of the day to fill up a car or truck for gas. No big deal. 

360 degree sprayer? It's not recommended you tip the machine upside down and spray. It's basically a -45 to 45 degree sprayer. The Pro Shot has a flexible intake tube vs. a fixed one, the flexible one (ProShot) can move with gravity (i.e. the way your holding it) to suck up paint so you won't have any issues. 


** They sell a backpack, which I own, as an accessory to the ProShot which works AWESOME. It holds a gallon of paint that you can basically go around spraying with. So it does have the ability to have a 'bigger' container vs the quart size bottles attached to the machine. **

The other cool thing about it that I like is if you order quart cups and caps. You can store different paint in each one and seal the lid on it. Then you just unscrew one and screw in the other paint. Of course you would have a water cup to clean between paints before you screw in the 'new' color. That's just an interesting tid bit.


Note:
On your idea of switching out hoses, its easier said that done. Depending on your setup, you still have to clean the machine (intake tube and filter) and still clean the old line (even if it is at the end of the day). Depending on what your really trying to do, I'm not sure if its worth the hassle. You might be better off buying another machine or two and just have difference product in each one.

The cost of a small titan or graco runs around $600-800 which is almost the equivalent price of a ProShot. 


** The positives and reasons why I bought a ProShot was because we do a lot of painting on the roof (pipes, scuppers, etc.) and it becomes a real pain to drag a hose around the roof (around corners of parapets, skylights, etc.) and even MORE of a pain to drag an actual machine up to the roof. The ProShot, especially with the backpack, can be loaded up and used much faster. 

I have one guy with the backpack and 2 full batteries run circles around a guy with a hose line on the roof. Painting a new construction next door to another new construction and we ended up making a 3 man crew look bad (1 below watching paint levels, 1 handling the hose line, and 1 painting) vs my 1 guy solo. 

Long story short, the guy went and bought 6 proshots at the SW Pro Show after he was disgraced in the field. So...I guess they aren't all that bad after all?  **

Good luck!


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## jhudson (Jun 16, 2011)

*Waste*

ProShot TruShot whatever from Graco are POS. I went thru 3 of them and had no success. I have 2 Graco sprayers a 3900 and a 395 best investment around but for whatever reason those battery powered units suck. I gave my batteries away and threw my proshot away


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## Paint guy 55 (Apr 15, 2014)

A lifelong friend of mine is a 30 year Graco repair guy with SW. So I've drilled him on what he sees from a service standpoint. 

He says the first year they were our. The original Proshot. Not the new one with the pressure control. He probably saw 100 come in for repair. 99 out of them only needed a thorough cleaning. 

Good tip. A normal sprayer has the piston and fluid section above the material and pulls it though the main siphon pipe. But at the end of the day you always see that spit of cleaner I your can from the remaining cleaning solution dripping out of the fluid section. 

With the handhelds that doesn't happen. Little engineering flaw or maybe it was the only way to fit all the components on that type of unit. But I was given the solution and it has saved me tons of time. 

Out it in the box and store it as if you were spraying down. It allows that remaining cleaning solution -which I so many times still mixed with latex - to dropout and not form a seal around the piston/packings. I met the Graco tech rep at the Proshow this year. He confirms that it's a good practice. 

Also- to your point of what they are good for. Well , I don't think it replaces a sprayer. But It does have some awesome purpose. This is what I've used it for. 

1- doghouses on a roof. I hate climbing up there to knock out two doghouses and my line slides off the roof and I have to go all the way back down my ladder. 

2- I got a job last year painting park benches. 55 metal and wood benches all over a park. I hay kids wagon with a roll of rosin paper, some tape, paint , and my Proshot. I would have had to b&r all that otherwise. And I wasn't going to lug my electric around the park all day. 

3- dryfall touch ups. It's rare but not having to fill 100 ft of line and clean it. Not to mention I can save the gas from my truck and just take my car with my Proshot. 

Just my opinion. Hope it helps.


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## Paint guy 55 (Apr 15, 2014)

I know that is filled with grammar errors. I hope your picking up what I'm putting down.


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## TJ Paint (Jun 18, 2009)

Wtf...


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## Professional Painter (Mar 15, 2014)

So, there actually _is_ some advantages to these types of sprayers. Far and few between from the feedback so far. They seem to be smaller jobs and jobs that are far from an electrical source or too cumbersome for a typical line hose from a normal sprayer. Anybody else care to join in on the discussion?

We are interested in purchasing one but so far, we aren't convinced that any of them are worth it. 

I greatly appreciate the feedback so far.

One question that I am very interested in is this (as posted before)....Do you have to worry about temperature conditions to yield a consistent finish (not the paint, the machine....let's say you just brought it out of a cold or pistol hot trailer and poured in room temperature paint and are painting in a climate controlled area) 

Professional Painter


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## Boco (May 18, 2013)

Never had any luck with the proshots. 390 is the way to go. My friend bought one for doing spray tans. Worked great but never cleaned it out after first use and it was ruined.:thumbup:


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## aaron61 (Apr 29, 2007)

Boco said:


> Never had any luck with the proshots. 390 is the way to go. My friend bought one for doing spray tans. Worked great but never cleaned it out after first use and it was ruined.:thumbup:


WTF??:blink:


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

Boco said:


> Never had any luck with the proshots. 390 is the way to go. My friend bought one for doing spray tans. Worked great but never cleaned it out after first use and it was ruined.:thumbup:


 I thought Rob was nuts for using an old 440 to spray weed killer!


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## Professional Painter (Mar 15, 2014)

Gentlemen, while I appreciate past conversations and history along with something I would never do, let's please try to keep this thread focused on the thread topic if you don't mind. 

Money is on the line here and with participating in a professional painter's forum, I would expect professional responses as opposed to the normal diatribe seen on other forums. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. 

Professional Painter


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## Gwarel (May 8, 2012)

Professional Painter said:


> Gentlemen, while I appreciate past conversations and history along with something I would never do, let's please try to keep this thread focused on the thread topic if you don't mind.
> 
> Money is on the line here and with participating in a professional painter's forum, I would expect professional responses as opposed to the normal diatribe seen on other forums. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
> 
> Professional Painter


Good luck with that......


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## RCP (Apr 18, 2007)

Professional Painter said:


> Gentlemen, while I appreciate past conversations and history along with something I would never do, let's please try to keep this thread focused on the thread topic if you don't mind.
> 
> Money is on the line here and with participating in a professional painter's forum, I would expect professional responses as opposed to the normal diatribe seen on other forums. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
> 
> Professional Painter


LOl, I don't know what's funnier, that you think Aaron and I are trolls or that I am a gentleman! 

Ok, the proshot is great for doing exterior doors, garage doors, shutters, touch ups and small projects where minimal paint quantity is needed. 
We sprayed a ton of NC and they were invaluable doing touch ups. It's a tool.


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## Boco (May 18, 2013)

Professional Painter said:


> Gentlemen, while I appreciate past conversations and history along with something I would never do, let's please try to keep this thread focused on the thread topic if you don't mind.
> 
> Money is on the line here and with participating in a professional painter's forum, I would expect professional responses as opposed to the normal diatribe seen on other forums. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
> 
> Professional Painter


 Hey if you can afford a luxury item buy one. If you have a 395 I would just stick with that. If you worried about have not having power on jobs I would invest the money on getting generator or an inverter for your work vehicle. Do proshots work? Yes very nice, but they need constant maintenence and getting parts isnt all that easy nor cheap.


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## Boco (May 18, 2013)

Professional Painter said:


> Gentlemen, while I appreciate past conversations and history along with something I would never do, let's please try to keep this thread focused on the thread topic if you don't mind.
> 
> Money is on the line here and with participating in a professional painter's forum, I would expect professional responses as opposed to the normal diatribe seen on other forums. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
> 
> Professional Painter


 Hey if you can afford a luxury item buy one. If you have a 395 I would just stick with that. If you worried about have not having power on jobs I would invest the money on getting generator or an inverter for your work vehicle. Do proshots work? Yes very nice, but they need constant maintenence and getting parts isnt all that easy nor cheap.


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## harmonicarocks (Nov 29, 2013)

Professional Painter said:


> Gentlemen, while I appreciate past conversations and history along with something I would never do, let's please try to keep this thread focused on the thread topic if you don't mind.
> 
> Money is on the line here and with participating in a professional painter's forum, I would expect professional responses as opposed to the normal diatribe seen on other forums. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.
> 
> Professional Painter


That's soooo not going to happen here.


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