Critter Paint Sprayer Review

Hello again! I know it has been a while! We decided to get out of the cold weather and took a wonderful vacation on a Royal Caribbean Cruise (yes I know, not Disney!  Shhhh!!!) We had a fantastic time and met some great people that I know will be lifelong friends. 🙂 If you read my year in review {2017} post, I had talked about wanting to do a home improvement series to show all the renovations we have done to our house. However, before we get into the home improvement series, I want to highlight a product that you absolutely NEED to buy! This little Critter paint sprayer was an essential part of our renovations. So much so that I felt it needed it’s own post. This is not a sponsored post so the opinions in this Critter paint sprayer review come solely from how happy we are with this product. This sprayer is gold! Gold I tell ya! 😉

*There are links to products in this post that I use or are similar to products I use. If you buy something from one of these links, I may make a small commission (with no additional cost to you) from the purchase. I will not recommend anything that I would not buy myself. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Keep in mind, we have had this sprayer for several years so the pictures in this post are of a well used and loved sprayer. Yours will look much better when you get it brand new out of the box! 🙂 But you can also be assured that we have lots of practice using this sprayer and it has stood the test of time. It works just as good 3 years later as it did brand new even though it is covered in paint chips and splatters!

When we decided that we were going to take the plunge and paint our trim and cabinets, we knew we had to get a paint sprayer. Mr. Wonderful is kind of a perfectionist and brushing them was out of the question. We wanted a professional finish if we were really going to do this. We looked around at some different sprayers but were also on a budget because we were renovating our whole main floor at the same time. Most of the sprayers that were recommended to us were around the $200-$300 price range. That was a little more than we wanted to spend.

So I did a little research and ran across this Critter Sprayer on Amazon.  It was only $40!! We thought there was no way this could compare to the $200-$300 sprayers. But in the end it was only $40 so we decided to give it a shot. After all, that is all we would be out if we did not like it. Plus, the huge amount of good reviews on Amazon also helped in making our decision.

This spray gun is a siphon sprayer meaning you need to hook it up to an air compressor to run it. It does not take a huge compressor to run it, it requires at minimum a 3/4 hp compressor. It only needs to spray at 90 psi. Luckily we already had a couple of compressors so we were in business. If you don’t have one, you could always get one of those smaller portable compressors.

The Critter uses standard 16 oz mason jars which makes it so easy to store different colors of paint or polyurethane. You can get several jars ready ahead of time so you don’t have to take time to fill one in the middle of spraying. We just use some painters tape to label the mason jars which paint/primer is inside.

The Critter is a breeze to clean between uses. All of the products we have used have been water based so simply washing it out with soap and water afterwards has kept it clean. We use an old toothbrush to get in any crevices and use a needle to get any dried paint out of the nozzle if we forget to clean it right away. But that never happens! 😉 You can also use oil based products with the Critter, you would just need to clean it with turpentine at that point.

There is a jar gasket provided to be used between the spray gun and the mason jar. In doing our research, we found several instances where people did not even make use of the gasket. We opted to go the same way, and not use it. We have had no issue omitting use of the gasket. There is an air inlet on the top of the sprayer so the gasket is not used to keep anything air tight. Mr. Wonderful feels it is to be used to prevent leakage of whatever you are spraying however we have not had issue with that either.

We have used this sprayer for countless projects including spraying trim and baseboards, cupboards, doors, furniture and finishes (like poly on wood projects and even counter tops). The brand of paint we used for our trim and cupboards is Benjamin Moore Advanced Paint. It is the best! It is a water based paint that acts like an oil based paint. For this paint, we found that we did not have to thin it out. But when we have used thicker paints and primers, we have thinned them out with a little water for water based paint (for instance about 1-2 Tbsp per 16 oz mason jar) and they have sprayed great. It really depends on the thickness of the paint you are using so play around with it adding a little water (or mineral spirits for oil based paint) at a time.

We used a paint strainer to pour the paint into the mason jars, this will help eliminate any particles getting stuck in the nozzle. The spray zone with the Critter is smaller (like about 3 inches) than some of the more expensive sprayers so if you are planning to spray a large project like your house, I would not recommend this sprayer for that.

Mr. Wonderful and I are both researchers and like to be prepared for a project. For this he found that the Critter specific videos on You Tube covering spraying techniques and methods were invaluable in achieving the professional look that we were aiming for. Some of the best tips he got from the videos were to never start or stop spraying on the piece you are trying to paint. Try to move at a a steady pace while maintaining equal distance between the sprayer and your work. With each stripe that you spray be sure to overlap slightly your previous stripe. This maintains what is called a wet edge and helps your finish to be seamless.

Make sure to practice first on something other than your project. You want to get used to the sprayer and make sure your spray pressure is correct. And of course, safety first! Make sure you use a paint respirator mask when spraying and spray in a well ventilated area! Also have lots of plastic drop cloths on hand to section off the areas you are working on!

The finish that we got with the Critter is amazing! Because the spray zone is smaller and Mr. W sprayed at a steady pace, drips and runs were almost non existent. Also, you do not get an orange peel effect using this sprayer. We feel that our finish is on par with hiring a professional painter. We also took other measures to ensure this however. Those tips will be coming in the upcoming home improvement series. 🙂 Here are just some examples of the finishes we have achieved with this sprayer:

Doors

Tabletop – poly finish

Cabinets and Counter Top Finish

Closeup of Painted Oak Cabinets

If you are a DIYer, this spray gun is a must to add to your collection. We could not be happier with it. Amazon also offers a maintenance kit for spare pieces if you need to replace the nozzle or something which is nice so you don’t have to buy the whole spray gun assembly again.

Let me know if you have any questions! Happy spraying!