Wagner Power Roller

Wagner Power Roller Pro

Pros: No using a rolling pan, it sucks paint straight from 1 gallon, or even 5 gallon bucket. Huge time saver. Or is it...

Cons: Drips, the flippin' hose is a pain, the roller attachments are expensive, the roller mechanism sticks out too far on one side, the splatter guard is a pain, the clean up is monstrously awful, and the technique required to get even and consistent coverage on wall is very difficult to master.

Bottom line is this: I hated, no let me restate that, I HATED the Wagner Power Roller Pro

Absolutely hated it.

There's no way in hell I could have used this in a finished room at all. The uncontrolled dripping was totally awful. Let me be clear too – I was not painting ceilings, I was painting walls.

I had a terrible time trying to get consistent coverage on the walls. Some places are nicely coated while other places are obviously way too thinly covered. Any attempts to increase the amount of paint on the roller would often result in more dripping from the connections and paint guard. Too much paint and the roller just slides on wall and doesn't roll. Too little paint and you get a very odd, speckled pattern of paint blotches.

The roller mechanism tube that delivers the paint to the roller assembly sticks out too damn far on one side. Scrape an adjacent wall with that, and it leaves a hideous mark on the wall.

The splatter guard is something you constantly have to mess with in corners, along the bottoms and tops of walls and generally it's just a pain. I would have taken it off, but that thing was actually controlling some of the dripping – but not much.

The hose is a constant bother too. Twists and tries to trip you at every opportunity.

I will gladly return to the “old school” method of using a standard roller and pan for the second coat of paint.

In my humble opinion – I would never recommend the Wagner Power Roller Pro system to anyone.

Wow. Sounds like a nightmare. Standard roller and paintbrush for me. I've used some spray rigs that were good, but only in rooms that were devoid of furnishings and finish flooring.

For amateurs like, me, only 2 words - Paint stick.

The prep work takes longer than the painting. And you can run it without the splatter guard just fine.

Of course, cleaning the paint stick (I got the Sears branded one) is a bit more work than a plain ol roller and pan. But for me, it's the only way to fly.

If you see me on the work end of anything that has "Power" and "Paint" in the same name, get your eye protection out because it's going to get ugly real quick.

Fortunately, the rooms I'm painting have no finished floors in them yet.

I think if I could have gotten a really nice and consistent finish with the power system I might have been able to accept the downsides a lot more casually.

After cursing up a storm, and finally just putting the cold water straight from the hose onto my head for about 5 minutes, I was able to regroup and inspect the hours of work I'd done.

The coverage was so inconsistent that I really had my final decision on the painting system made for me.

For me personally, I am a MUCH better painter with the old school tools of the trade.
It may take longer, but the results are worth the extra time.