I'm in the process of fixing up my house to sell - funny how it never occurred to me to fix it up to live in it - and there's a fair bit of painting that has to be done. I recall my parents having an old Black & Decker compressor set that came with a powered roller attachment back in the 70s/80s and my recollection was that it really sped up the hated painting process so I prowled around on Amazon and found the Duet. I was iffy since the reviews seem to be pretty evenly split between "wonderful" and "suck-tacular", but I found one for $25 including shipping and figured at that price if it worked just once I was still ahead of the game.
It showed up on time as promised and with all parts intact. A few days later - after obsessively reading and re-reading the instructions - it was painting time. I started on a ceiling using Zinsser Ceiling Paint & Primer which to my not even a little experienced eye seems to be noticeably thicker than regular interior house paint, so it seemed like a good acid test. The room is about 11 x 12 and it took about 25 minutes to get the main part of the ceiling. The roller has a drip tray which means there's a half inch or "dead zone" where the roller won't reach so there was another few minutes of edging to be done which I did later with a regular edging pad.
Even though the hose was completely filled with paint, it took a little while for the paint to completely fill the roller so for the first couple of minutes I just zigzagged back and forth over the same spot until I started getting full coverage.
As another reviewer mentioned pressing the trigger when pushing the roller then releasing it when pulling helps keep the amount of paint from getting out of hand. I completely forgot the dial on the handle which permits you to change the amount of paint, but found the press and release method worked great, and also helped prevent hand fatigue which another reviewer mentioned.
The entire ceiling needed less than a quarter gallon of paint and has dried nice and evenly. Being an utter feeb when it comes to painting I don't know if that's good or bad. There was minimal spillage - there would have been less if I hadn't stepped on the pain can lid... Does that count as a spill though?
Another reviewer mentioned that there's no mechanism for an extension rod - which is a minor annoyance for me in my ranch style house with ranch style ceiling heights, but I can see where it would be a big problem for people not living in the 1950s.
Then came the clean up - dun dun DUNNN!
Oh settle down, it's not THAT bad, and subsequent use of the Duet has honed my cleaning skills to fourth - maybe fifth dan levels. The main thing is to have an empty paint can which - since I was using water soluble paint - I filled first with hot tap water and a squirt of Dawn dish soap, then a second time with just hot tap water. If you're using oil based paint the instructions suggest a couple of specific products and since there are who knows what parts inside which will react in who knows what ways with the guts of the Duet, I'd follow those instructions like I was reading the operating instructions for a parachute as the ground is approaching.
I taped the trigger on the roller handle down with a couple of looks of masking tape and let it slowly run the can empty into an old 5 gallon bucket. While that was happening I cleaned the roller like any other paint roller.
The only tricky part was ensuring that the - for lack of the proper term - "paint applicator panel" was clean. This is a slightly curved panel that rests against the roller. It's got a number of small holes running down its length which are where the paint comes out and onto the roller. To clean it I just held one end under warm running water for a couple of minutes until the water ran clear, then did the same from the other end.
Total clean up was about 15 to 20 minutes.
I've used the Duet three times since then and it's worked great each time.
| Manufacturer | Ryobi |
|---|---|
| Part Number | FPR200 |
| Item Weight | 0.01 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 12 x 12 x 14 inches |
| Item model number | FPR200 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Size | 1 count (pack of 1) |
| Item Package Quantity | 5 |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
