Paint Sprayer Review: HomeRight Power-Flo Pro Piston Pump Sprayer

Homeowners are really stuck when it comes to buying professional-level paint sprayers for painting their house exterior and other large expanses. Mainly because, well, those sprayers are professional-level, not consumer-level. So what's a homeowner to do? Make the big leap to some complicated, expensive pro-level sprayer? Or wield an anemic paint sprayer better suited for painting inside walls? Or simply paint your exterior by brush and roller (actually, not outside the realm of possibility, if you have the time)? What to do, pray tell?

So, how much does a real, honest-to-God professional level paint sprayer cost? The question is more: How much do you want to spend?

A Graco Ultra Max II 490 costs over a grand. Their FinishPro 390 Air Assisted Airless Paint Sprayer uncomfortably approaches two grand. Quality products? Probably, but it's the cost that's the huge obstacle for any homeowner looking to paint his or her house exterior maybe two or three times, the interior a couple times, and perhaps a few side projects like applying treatment to a wood fence or painting a shed. In other words, most homeowners will use their sprayers a very finite number of times.

Yet others, like the Ryobi Duet Power Paint System--while cost-effective at around $100 or less and decent in its own right--isn't good for much more than painting interiors.

So you want a paint sprayer that's cost-effective but has the mojo, the oomph, the cojones, to do interiors and exteriors, and do them at a fast clip without much fuss.

For some reason, you always feel more professional when you are drawing paint from a bigger container. The hand-held Graco TrueCoat cordless pulls from a 32 oz. container (it's impossible to hold much more than that). The aforementioned Ryobi pulls from a one-gallon can.

The HomeRight Power-Flo draws from both a one-gallon or those big five-gallon paint containers you see paint-spattered contractors buying at Sherwin-Williams. Yeah, there's a reason they buy bigger containers, and it's not just cost. Once you're spraying, you want to keep on spraying with fewer interruptions. Big containers allow for this.

The pump, powered by a ½ horsepower motor, provides a respectable 2,800 psi of spraying pressure, no thinning of the paint required. The Power-Flo sprayer will drain those five-gallon paint cans in as little as 20 minutes, laying down a total of about 2,000 square feet in 30 minutes. Contrast this with the 32 oz. Graco I mentioned earlier, which took me just under two hours to finish a gallon can of paint, breaks included.

Unlike some of those massive, wheeled grand-plus pro-level sprayers, the Power-Flo tips the scales at about 19 pounds--no problem to carry with one hand. And its 25-foot hose will easily reach to the top of second-story paint jobs.

With an MSRP of $249.99, the Power-Flo's price will make the average homeowner think twice if intending merely to paint the baby's room. If you're painting your house exterior and wish to use a paint sprayer, this might be for you.

Consider also the costs of hiring paint contractors. It's difficult for me to wrap my mind around the idea of a paint contractor charging less than $10,000 to paint your house exterior. Granted, the bulk of the cost is--or should be--prep work. But still, ten grand is more than chump change.

Put it this way: if you're intending to take on a serious DIY painting job, you don't want any less paint sprayer than this.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.