Universal Sprayer W 690 FLEXiO - Electric Paint Sprayer for dispersion/latex paints, varnishes & glazes - interior and exterior usage, 15m²-6 min, 1800 ml/800 ml capacity, 630 W, 3.5 m hose

This is a review for the Flexio 690 after ~2 years, I can't comment on the other products. First things first, any review that says this is a bad product doesn't know what they are talking about. Period. I had my 4 bed, 3 floor house renovation sprayed top-to-bottom by the pros (on fresh plaster skim) which cost nearly £8k. With the 690 I can now get as good a result as them, and in some cases better. However... and the however is a big one... the reason the pros cost so much is because spray painting well is *hard* and takes a ton of prep and loads of practice. If you aren't prepared to put in the time & effort to learn this, then do yourself a favour and don't buy this (or any similar) product. If you are prepared to make the effort, then the results can be spectacular and well well worth it. Below is pretty much everything I have learned from using this over the last 2 years from re-spraying rooms and kitchen cabinets to furniture and aluminium trim: Firstly, the 690 kit doesn't even come close to what you will need to do this properly, don't think you can just pull this out of the box and start painting the front room. Don't try and skimp on this, either invest in the kit or don't bother. I learned this the hard way. The Flexio 690 kit itself comes with: 1x Compressor 1x Hose 2x spray heads (1 large, 1 standard) 1x detachable handle 1x large (1800ml) paint holder 1x standard (800ml) paint holder 1x stirring stick You will also need the following: 2x 800ml containers with lid (standard head): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000FFR4NG 2x 1300ml container with lid (large head): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08JQBQY5W 1x Viscosity jar: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00J8D0LTA 1x Pack Paint filters (don't buy the cheap rubbish): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B013NQDO1Y 1x Pack Microfibre cloths: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07TVDJVR9 1x Protective coveralls (you don't want be doing this in shorts & a t-shirt!): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008PQKR7C 1x Respirator mask: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WG74YQK 1x Shoe covers: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B086KYXX5G 1x Tack cloths: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0048DYVCI 1x Dust sheets: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00IEAFZRG 1x Some awesome masking tape: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B084B8351C 1x Brown paper for masking: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07WQGWFWP 1x Scalpel with sharp blade 1x large bucket 1x Bottle brush set: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B086D7SX8K 1x non-abrasive scouring pad Some Amazon cardboard boxes in large sheets Whether you are painting walls & ceilings or furniture etc there are 4 key phases to getting pro results - Prep, Dust Control, Painting, Clean-up 1) The spray will land on *everything*, you must mask and/or seal anything you aren't painting. This includes around/under door frames and other voids. 2) Dust control is absolutely critical, the turbine produces a large airflow that will kick up any dust left on any surface. 3) Sweep and thoroughly vacuum the room/area, especially at wall/floor junctions and in between floorboards etc 4) Get a damp (with water) microfibre cloth and wipe down *every* surface you will paint. Especially wall and ceiling junctions. Yes do the ceiling too, dust from decorating sticks to everything! It will all ruin the finish. Now to prep the paint. (Assuming this is water based) A quick note. Always, always mix around 1/3 to 1/2 more paint than you think you will need, for 2 reasons: Firstly, neither of these 2 guns spray well on the last dregs in the container, you will get splatter. Secondly, diluting paint can very subtly change the shade (especially dark shades), if you need to revisit and touch up you'll want exactly the same mix. You can just stir it back into the tin when you know you're completely finished. 1) Fill your large bucket full of water 2) Take one of the extra containers your purchased and fill it 2/3rds full of your paint 3) You will need to dilute it to spray. The turbine is *not* powerful enough to spray paint directly from the can. The exception here is something like Polyvine Decorators Varnish which is almost like water. 4) Start with about 10% volume of clean water, stir it in well 5) Once mixed, take your viscosity jar (You did get one right?) and dunk in into the paint container to the top. Pull it out and start counting 6) The paint will slowly flow out of the jar, the speed based on the viscosity. It should empty in 30-40s. 7) If it takes longer, add more water and repeat. 8) Eventually you want something like single cream. 9) Once you are practised you can watch it run off the stirring stick and you will use this less. 10) Now pick the spray/container you will paint with, place the paint filter in the container mouth and pour in your now diluted paint *Never ever* try and spray with unfiltered paint. Ever. Just don't. The smallest particles will clog the nozzles. Dilute/mix first then filter into final container. 11) Immediately place both the stirring stick and the mixing container into the bucket of water. 12) Place the lid *not* the spray gun on the final container with the paint. 13) Fill your last container full to max with clean water. (this is why you want 3 containers, one for paint, one is dirty, one has clean water) and attach the gun. 14) Now get suited up, coveralls, shoe covers and mask 15) Transfer all your kit into the space you will paint in, along with one of the cardboard sheets and the damp cloth Painting 1) Turn the air up the compressor to Max. I only turn it down if I start to get overspray from a particularly runny/watery paint 2) With the clean water in your gun, run some test spray on the cardboard. You want a super fine mist 3) Now walk around the room/area and spray the floor, the floor should be damp 4) Now spray into the air around you, and wait for it to settle (don't use all of it, we will need in a bit) 5) This will capture the last of the dust in the air and stick it to the floor 6) Now swap the container with water for the container with the paint, put the lid on the water container. 6b) If you are painting furniture/wood etc, use the tack cloths now to wipe down the surfaces to be sprayed. This is your final dust control chance. 7) Make sure you point the suction hose in the container the right way. Eg. painting a ceiling point it towards you etc 8) Start to test spray the cardboard from about 30cm away. Again you want a nice fine spray. Water will come first then the paint 9) Never try to lay down too much paint. The turbine produces hot air so a thin spray dries quickly. It's much faster to spray less and add more paint then have to sand back runs after it is dry. 10) I don't use more than setting 3 or 4 volume on the large head as I find it wont atomise it properly, similar to the standard head. 11) Now start spraying in long smooth sweeping motions. Flex your arm not wrist you need a consistent distant from the surface 12) Be logical where you start and finish. Think how spraying one part might over spray another vertical part and that might cause runs 13) You want to cover about 50% of the previous spray pattern on your next run. 14) If you need to touch up a section, don't just point and spray. Hold the cardboard in front of the surface, start spraying on that and move off in a smooth motion. This is so any initial splatter is on the cardboard not the surface 15) Wipe down the nozzle frequently (every few mins) with your damp microfibre cloth this will keep it clean and spraying well. 16) I find you can leave the paint in the gun for about an hour if you want to see what the finish looks like and how it dries. Longer than that and I would clean up and start again. Again wipe the nozzle if you stop. Clean up 1) Once you have finished, unscrew the gun from the paint container and screw back into the previous water container. Place the lid on the paint container. 2) Keep the lid tight on the paint container, this is your touch up paint if you need to revisit it. 3) Now take yourself and the whole kit outside. Seal/close the room/area to allow to dry 4) Spray the clean water through the gun until the spray is just clear water. Repeat this until it is. 5) Next disassemble the gun entirely and place all the parts into the bucket of water. 6) Now start cleaning with the bottle brushes and scouring pad. The gun should look like new when you are done 7) Cleanup is critical, the condition of the gun will determine your results next time you use it. A few final tips: 1) Don't ever stand on the compressor hose, if you do you'll end up with really bad splatter! 2) The 1800ml paint container is heavy when it's full, you're going to be holding it for a while and need to be able to move it smoothly and consistently. I tend to use the 1300ml instead. 3) If you are ever painting things like cupboard doors, buy a cheap clothes rail, then screw eye hooks into the door bottoms and hang vertically off cheap clothes hangers. Painting them vertically is much easier and massively reduces dust settling. 4) Polyvine Decorators Varnish sprays really well undiluted: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01L4PQH7Y, but you need the lowest paint volume possible - basically a super fine mist. Anything more and you'll get runs (#2.5 on the large). 5) The scalpel with sharp blade.. if you get dust or hair on the surface the blade will pluck this off. Use a light touchup spray with the cardboard technique. 6) Enjoy it! This makes painting fun and it is incredibly satisfying to see the quality of the finish you can get. ...and all this is why some people give this product a low rating. Sure there are some flaws but they're easy enough to get around. The simple reality is spray painting well is *hard* and needs practice and a methodical process. But the results can and do speak for themselves.

Only had the opportunity to use this twice. Once on fence panels. That was ok to use with the prescribed attachment. However when using the attachment for the latex paint, that’s when things went awry. The machine decided it was going to stop working. This isn’t my first Wagner purchase so in terms of maintenance and thinning the products down to ensure the machine can cope, I’m well versed in. This is unacceptable in a machine of this calibre and I’d expect Amazon or the retailer to reach out in regards to this. I have further projects to complete and have been left hanging.

I have found myself looking after a garden with about 70 panels all 6 feet high that need paint protection from the elements. I am a reluctant DIY kinda guy most at home indoors at a keyboard rather than doing out-doors macho stuff. It is however a heck of a lot cheaper me painting fence panels than paying some other dogs body to do it. It should also save me money in the long term by extending the life of 70 expensive panels that will one day crumble away and need replacing. Painting panels looks a doddle but is time consuming and it is wearing on the body when painting above waist height. I bought the 'Wagner Universal Sprayer W 690 FLEXiO' with no prior experience of paint spraying to save time and reduce the physical fatigue of doing it. I was a little reluctant to get a sprayer as it filled my mind with embarrassing images of me covered from head toe in paint. Think Laurel and Hardy in ‘Dirty Work’ ( type it in to google and you’ll get the idea ). I carefully experimented beforehand with water and then fence paint discretely away from my neighbors twitching net curtains. The ‘Wagner Universal Sprayer W 690 FLEXiO’ has attachments for indoors and outdoors. On reflection it’s unlikely I will use it indoors but I like to get the most bang for my buck so the flexibility of both indoor and outdoor spraying appealed to me. After reading the instructions and assembling I was ready to go – sort of. If you are painting with a brush or a sprayer you need to prepare the area first. It seems as if you can never have enough cardboard to protect the ground. I have collected a heap of big boxes in preparation and flattened them to protect the pavement and white fence supports at the foot of the fence panels. I also used masking tape to protect the white fence posts and I filled in the gaps with a combination of old rags and bin liners ripped open to cover everything else. In fact it takes quite a while to set all this up but this is necessary regardless of whether you are spraying or brushing. I now tend to set up the masking tape in advance before ‘spray day’. The tape you can prepare any day it’s not raining but on ‘spray day’ you need it not only to be dry but also without any wind. The smiling slim early 30’ brunettes in jeans and a shirt that appear in the marketing pictures for this product I am pretty confident never actually did any painting. You need to be kitted up. With proper 'brand spanking new out of the cellophane' painting overalls on, an old pair of glasses, the provided face mask and a cap to protect my saloon shy hair it was time to blast away. When switched it on it sounds a bit like a modest hoover. Spraying about 20cm away and moving very slowly gets the best results. My first instinct was to wave my arm back and forth like a paint brush but that just increases fatigue. Better to remain static on target until an area is done and move slowly to the next bit. I didn’t get much spray blowback. It goes where you point it. The nozzle can be adjusted for side to side or up and down painting. I did find it quicker and less taxing than using a brush. However I would recommend a few things to get the most out of it. 1) It takes a while to clean the thing afterwards so it’s better to do lots of panels in one session. If you are just doing one a day you probably are not saving much time when the cleaning of the equipment is added to the job. Doing 4 or more panels at a time and you are going to be in time credit. 2) Make sure you have a BIG funnel. Pouring a bucket sized tub of Ronseal ‘Dark Oak’ Fence Paint into a small container does get very messy. I bought an 'Extra Large 200mm Orange Funnel' from Amazon and it does the job well. 3) Buy an additional 1400ml container add-on attachment. It’s annoying to be in the flow of painting and then have to stop to carefully fill the paint container again – even with a big funnel. On my spray days I fill up the 800Ml standard container that comes with the unit and two 1400ml containers I bought separately before I start spraying. When I get going I can then do a fast reload by replacing the empty container with the ready to go and already full containers. Search for ‘Wagner 417921 Container with Cover, 1400 ml Paint sprayers’ on Amazon and you will find the one I bought. 4) Wear a hat. 5) Watch the weather forecast and plan the preparation day and the spray day. 6) Consider the neighbors. Where there are windows, washing lines, patio furniture or sunbathers on the other side of the fence; play safe and use a brush. At least do not spray the top part of the fence so there is no chance of spraying something that could get you a mouthful of abuse and a knuckle sandwich. 7) Wear ear protectors. I did 12 panels in one go and my ears were ringing afterwards. With all that in mind it seems to the job quite well. It’s not cheap but it seems sturdy and it is effective. I’m happy with it and now I can get through a load of panels in less time without feeling the aches and pains of a wrestling match after just one panel.

Since I've had this sprayer I've sprayed about 90 fence panels and this makes the job so much easier and quicker and makes a better job that painting by hand. I have found a couple of ways to make using this easier, filling the small container with fence stain is tricky I use a soup ladle and a funnel with the bottom cut off to just smaller than the top of the container, no drips or mess! When you don't want spray on say the wall of the house or over the fence to your neighbours I use a large piece of hardboard to stop the over spray. Cleaning the equipment afterwards I use a nail brush and toothbrush to removed the paint. Lastly when everything is clean put some water in the container and spray the water out to fully clean the internal pipes. A great bit of kit and would would recommend it.

I'm really happy that I bought this. I'm awful at painting, I can't seem to use a brush without getting thick brush marks (tried paint conditioner and laying off with a paint wet tip of the brush). I wanted something to give me good results without having to pay a decorator. What I would say is, this machine has a learning curve and ultimately my advice is to use as low material and air pressure settings that gives you good coverage, don't try to cover perfectly in one pass. Too high a material setting means too much product leading to splatters or orange peel effect, too high air pressure then the paint is almost drying as it's atomised into the air. Ensure you're not using the i-Wall attachment if you're trying to do trim like door frames and skirting, that attachment has too high a material flow. Practice on a piece of card and have patience to dial in the right settings (there's three, paint dilution, material amount and airflow/pressure). I've just sprayed the trim in a room with water based satin and the finish is glass smooth!