Review: Black & Decker Airless Sprayer Pro 5.5
Ease of Use, Performance: 18/25
Look & Feel: 18/25
Features 19/25
How much I enjoy 19/25
Total: 74/100
Everyone who paints large rooms, furniture or other odd shaped and difficult objects wishes for an easy way to paint those hard to reach spots like between slats as well as an easy cleanup. The Black & Decker Airless Sprayer Pro 5.5 does a pretty good job of getting the paint or stain where you want it and cleanup is a breeze.
Painting can be one of those dreaded tasks and to paint things like a radiator, patio furniture or a concrete wall you can really wish for an easier way. The Black & Decker Airless Sprayer Pro 5.5 can be that easier to paint and cleanup sprayer that does a good job of getting paint on the way you want it.
The sprayer does a fine job of regular jobs like walls but you have to thin the paint before applying and you can even use a bucket or pail with the included siphon hose. But it does great at getting those spots you would normally miss with a brush or roller as well as rough surfaces like concrete or stone.
The Airless Sprayer comes with the sprayer, bottle attachment, three nozzles in various sizes, pick-up tube, three atomizer valves, flexible extension, suction tube with clamp, manual and carry case. The unit has the three different sized nozzles for various types of materials to spray with as well as the spare valves.
The sprayer does a great job on rough surfaces like concrete or stone and using a paint like water proofing basement paint can be done if you thin it enough. The kind of waterproofing paint that has small bits of silica in it can go through the larger nozzle and works very well for getting concrete cinder block waterproofed and thoroughly sealed.
I used the sprayer on a basement wall and did some rough painting to get some practice and find out how well the sprayer would do on a regular wall surface with interior latex based paint. The paint had to be thinned down some and did a fine job as well but the sprayer would sputter a bit and splash some thicker spots.
This slight splattering is something you can almost get rid of by ensuring the paint is thoroughly mixed and well thinned so you don’t have some thicker portions in the container. The splatter does not happen often and would just require a little wiping off and touching up.
Using the Black & Decker sprayer with stain was really easy as stain is very thin and goes on very easy but you have to use even strokes when applying. With a little practice you can get a nice even coat easily and make a good simple stain job on even rough furniture like outdoor tables, benches and decks.
I used the sprayer on a kitchen cabinet that needed waterproofing inside as well as stain and varnish on the outside. The water proofer inside was the thin stuff that you use on concrete, wood and many other surfaces and went on very well. This thinner paint, stain and other spraying does a great job and is very easy to clean up as well.
The water proofer went on well enough and did a good job with only a little wiping needed to catch some drips but the nice part was not having to reach fully inside the cabinet to get all the surfaces. The stain went on well and did a good job of covering the outside, especially the odd spaces like under the counters edge and where boards on the side held the counter in place.
The varnish I used did not do such a great job but I really think this is more the operator than the paint sprayer, I do not have as much practice with the sprayer. I used the sprayer only for a little while and do need to get some more practice with it to find out the small nuances and idiosyncrasies of using it. The Black & Decker Airless Sprayer does a good job with the varnish but I would often not move the sprayer in a straight line and would try to contour my stroke to the various pieces which is a bad thing. The spray gets thick when you stop moving it sideways but this is a problem only with how you use it.
I had no problem just wiping off the drips and letting the coat dry to apply a little more. I did not get a good even coat that is thick enough to show a smooth glossy layer like a good expensive piece of furniture but for an inexpensive cabinet that I installed it did a decent enough job. If you wanted to use this for some better furniture or a more professional job you should do a lot of practicing.
For staining objects like rough surfaced outdoor furniture, decks and anything with smaller pieces that would require hours of brushing the airless sprayer would be fantastic. It gets a good even coat most of the time but it does sometimes sputter but I think this is due to the paint not being mixed enough. I also think this is from moving the sprayer and air getting up into the pick-up tube.
You need to use smooth even movements side to side and evenly distribute the spray across the surface and not wave your hand to paint the material. The manual says this but does not say just how important it is to use this side to side movement of the gun while maintaining a 90 degree angle between the gun and the surface you’re painting.
The sprayer does a great job on surfaces like concrete and rough wood but does an adequate job on smooth ones like drywall or finished wood. It does take practice and I am sure with more work I can get a much better finish for furniture and walls. The main thing with the Black & Decker sprayer is practice and reading the manual fully.
I found that having good thinned paint or stain is important and when it does start to act up you need to stop and cleanout the container and tube as well as the nozzle. The manual also talks about cleanup but that is very simple; take off all parts like the container, nozzle, valve, tube and clean according to material. Water for latex based and thinner or mineral spirits for enamel and stains to clean up your sprayer as well as thin down the material you’re applying.
Cleanup went very easily and was the simplest part of using the Black & Decker sprayer but getting the sprayer setup also took very little time. The most time spent was practicing and getting the paints thinned to the correct consistency for spraying evenly. The sprayer did a good job on all the jobs I tried it with and does not use a compressor or air tank but it is quite loud as well.
I think the Black & Decker Airless Sprayer Pro is a good spray painter and does a great job for the cost. The model I received for reviewing costs about $80 and comes with the three different sized nozzles and the suction tube for siphoning paint from a bucket, can or pail. The other models of this sprayer that are available from Black & Decker will have either one or two nozzles and is for the one or two types of spraying according to those nozzles.
I think the Black & Decker Airless Sprayer Pro does a good job and makes for a great way to paint those odd shaped spots and spaces on things. Patio furniture, benches with those slats would be easy to paint or stain with the Sprayer Pro and I won’t even get into the things like closet doors with shuttered surfaces or even shutters themselves.
Overall the Black & Decker Airless Sprayer does a good job of spray painting both enamel and latex based materials on rougher surfaces and does a fair job on smooth surfaces like drywall. I really do think with some more practice I could do a good job with the drywall and regular wall painting.
This is definitely a decent sprayer and does a good job without the extra cost of an air compressor or air tank assembly. I highly recommend the Black & Decker Airless Sprayer for a good do it yourselfer and a handy way to spray paint all kinds of things.
