Wagner Smart Roller

Wagner smart roller – Great product, been using it for years. Great for large jobs. If you clean and maintain it, it will last for years. Always use petroleum jelly on the seals and on the insertion tube to ensure it does not damage the valve. If you don’t it will begin to leak. Show reply

Works, for a while, good for one or two rooms maybe, not value for money – I bought a Wagner Smart Roller from Bunnings. Even bought a spare/extra roller cover thinking this was going to be great and save some time. Fiddly thing to use, but it did work for a while and managed to paint the lounge and dining area. Did not save much time as I have painted a lot over 50 years and am pretty fast at cutting in and using a… Read more

normal roller and the Wagner did not really save much time. I though it would suit to finish the rest of the house, until it started leaking and dripping paint everywhere (luckily I used good quality canvas drop sheets).

This thing takes time to clean (compared to just cleaning a tray and wrapping a normal roller in plastic for the next day). What you save, on not refilling your roller using a tray, you lose by having to spend a lot of time cleaning the thing and you still have to fill the Wagners tube frequently anyway.

Have gone back to using the original rollers as I find it easier and less convoluted and far less to clean at the end. The money spent on the Wagner Smart Roller would have been better saved and a little spent on a few extra roller covers and trays.

No real regrets, tried it and found it a little convoluted and not as efficient compared to normal roller and brush work, does not suit me at all, but may suit others. Have put it in the bin rather than trying to clean it or fix the leaks, lost money but sometimes you pay for experience.

Just be careful and make sure you really want to try this, if you can paint with a normal roller then do that, don't waste your time or money.

Good product - but NOT for ceiling painting! Very heavy! Good for Wall and that’s all! Over all OK value – I am glad I purchased. But found very fast it’s not for ceiling painting!! It’s only good for wall painting ! When the unit is full of paint very heavy! Would I buy a replacement NO!

Great results – I used this to paint an office ceiling (80m2). I got away with no protective sheets. I did not use a drip catcher. Had an initial problem sucking air - but this was because I had not pushing the suction tube fully home (Guys - if all else fails try reading the instructions). Worked like a dream! Ceiling done in 2 hours. Cleaning was not an… Read more

issue. the roller slides off and can be discarded or cleaned separately. Then flush with clean water several times. Saves messing around with roller trays and all those drips! Paid for itself in one job!

Can save heaps of time but it has to be understood for best results – Ive used my roller a number of times and over a few years. I found that it can suck up some air, but you need to have the tube placed well into the unit. Cleaning takes a bit longer than if I only used a roller, but I would suggest reducing paint time is preferred even if cleaning takes a bit longer. I tend to store the tube without the plunger at… Read more

full depression. A click of the trigger breaks the 'seal' formed during storage, allowing the plunger to move freely. I tend to store the roller, after cleaned, in a water filled plastic container. First use after that is a bit tricky, having to dry the roller as much as possible, the prime the roller well. It's different, and can be blamed for poor finishes. Me...I found it to be pretty good.

the single greatest painting tool EVER! – I have used many of these on a bunch of houses. The other reviews that said they sucked air were not doing it right...it will suck air until the roller itself is full of paint....just keep pumping and rolling until the roller is full. saves SO MUCH time and near zero mess....also great for ceilings using the spray guard. I have bought these for… Read more

friends just to make sure they use them to paint their houses.

Seriously.....its a super great product.

ONE huge downside....the replacement rollers are too damn expensive....so when i start to paint i make sure i have a lot of walls to do.

clean up is a pain....I just do it outside with the hose.

Great tool but doesn’t last long – 1st use was great but I couldn’t use it again as paint was coming out of the suction valve instead of going in roller. Noticed valve had a split. Wasted my money.

It does what it says – This one is a quick review, ad there isn’t too much to say. I use it to paint ceilings, I have a good result and uniform application. I have a couple of issues with this product but it’s mainly a user problem. First use, I spent a few minutes trying to suck the paint but then go it to work properly without having air. There is a trick to… Read more

it and it’s not obvious at first.

Second, the small paint catcher, a bit flimsy and sometimes in the way.

Last the cleaning isn’t super easy. It takes a good amount of time to clean.

Other than that it works great and you have a good finish on the ceiling. I don’t use it on walls as I don’t like the finish it leaves on them but no problem for a flat ceiling paint.

This was a life-saver for me! – I had to re-paint some walls after accidentally damaging them. Now, I'm disabled and can't stand up and use my arms at the same time, so I always got my partner to do it for me, which resulted in many grumbles and a cranky partner afterwards, not to mention uneven paint jobs. I wanted to try and see if I could use an extension pole on a roller and… Read more

do the job myself sitting down. I told my Dad (who was a professional painter) about this, and he said it would be difficult as you have to continually re-fill the roller. In the next sentence, he said there were rollers out there that did the paint filling for you. All I had to do was fill and roll on, and, because it has an extension pole in it, I could reach the top of the walls. Intrigued, I Googled and found one at Bunnings. We went and bought one that night, I used it this morning, and holy moley, I'm impressed. I was able to paint the wall all while sitting down. No huge mess, no pouring paint into trays, just put her together, fill her up with suction, squeeze the trigger a few times, and roll on. I'm pretty amazed really.

Having raved about all that, there are setbacks. The roller itself is quite heavy and is both a wrist, arm and shoulder workout, and it practically eats through the paint. We had a 4 litre paint can, and it went through almost half of it for one wall. So, my recommendation is that, if you're going to buy this (which you definitely should!), make sure you have enough paint on hand. Everyone else here has complained about the cleanup, but I honestly found it okay. Sure, it's a lot of rinsing parts in soapy water, but it's not that bad in my opinion.

Fantastic product, does what it says on the box but cleaning is extra work – Great product, able to complete a high quality finish quickly and easily with reduced mess. I gave this 5 stars rather than 4 after reading the poor reviews given by people who operated it incorrectly and that one guy who rated it 2 stars after he broke it dropping it!?! Ever heard of taking responsibility for your own actions buddy? Anyway… Read more

strong 4 or weak 5, only real drawback is the amount of work cleaning it, still way better than standard painting but lot of your time saving is lost packing it all up at the end.

wagner roller – it could not suck the paint in so it would not paint. I was terrorbily disappointed so I bought a bosch spray painter which I found to be a very good investment

Painting made easy – Such an easy tool to use!no mess no drips and a smooth finish! Wish I had heard of this tool sooner. Follow the instructions or better still watch the you tube demo! Pity others who have left a bad review about the “sucking up of air” didn’t follow the instructions to avoid this, I’ve never had that problem.

Waste of $50 – This item sucks more air than paint into its tube, followed directions and lubed all seals and was totally useless, could not even be bothered cleaning it to get a refund, in the bin!!!!!!!!

Works really well until you drop it – I bought the Handi-Roller to paint the outside of my house. I had just finished 3 of the 4 walls when I accidentally dropped my Handi-Roller on its roller arm. This broke off the small plastic clip that held the roller on to the arm. I tried several types of glue including epoxy resin to re-attach the broken clip. Nothing worked. I contacted… Read more

Wagner who were prompt and professional with their replies. Unfortunately, the clip is part of a molded plastic piece so there is no way to repair it. The replacement roller arm will cost AU$15 and has to be imported from Germany; a 2-week wait!

I am really disappointed because the Handi-roller worked really well and did a magnificent job until it broke. I will order the part (or buy another Handi-Roller) eventually, but as I live in a rural town and had to order then wait a week for the unit to come in, I simply didn't have the time to waste as I wanted to get the painting finished. The old manual roller is reliable and cheap, but not as fast or as easy as using the Handi-roller. I had to rate this review as 2-stars because I am concerned about the lack of robustness of this product for DIY house painters.

I really hope Wagner send this back to the designers to improve the quality of the parts as I believe this system to be the best way for DIYers to paint and to have fun doing so.

Fill system does not work – The design of the fill system means you suck more air than paint so you can not fill it. Paint every wear! except on the ceiling. The "duck bill" valve simply does not work.

Great idea but it just doesn't work – This is a fantastic idea...but it simply doesn't work. It says it holds 500ml of paint but the fact that it sucks up more air than paint means it not only holds a lot less than that but you also go back to the tin more often than you would go to the tray with a normal roller.