9.9Editor's Score
The Wagner FLEXiO 590 is a great way to get a large painting project done fast. You can apply paint, stains, and urethane, and the X-Boot turbine can provide the pressure needed to spray thick fluids without using thinner. Whether you’re a home owner or a professional painter, this HVLP sprayer is well-suited to painting building interiors and exteriors, including the fine-detail finishes that other handheld sprayers can struggle with.
Wagner’s FLEXiO series of HVLP paint sprayers have a number of models to choose from, but the 590 is a solid choice at an affordable price. It features Wagner’s X-Boost turbine technology to eliminate the need for an air compressor.
With a good length of extension cord, this handheld sprayer can work wonders for both outdoor and indoor projects. Plus, the adjustable nozzle design saves time when you need to adjust your spray pattern.
The strong points of Wagner’s FLEXiO 590 design is the X-Boost Turbine and the Lock-N-Go gun design.
The X-Boost turbine produces a quality spray without the need of an air compressor. It can cover a 125 sq. ft. area with a single 1.5qt cup of paint in a matter of minutes.
The 590’s Lock-N-Go gun design makes nozzle changes convenient and avoids the mess you can end up with using other handheld spray guns.
The X-Boot Turbine has the power to cover large areas in half the time of many competing spray guns. It can spray as much as 8 gallons of fluid per hour if you’re fast at refilling the paint cup.
This goes hand-in-hand with the adjustable nozzles that Wagner has designed for this sprayer.
You can adjust them to spray horizontally or vertically and control how wide or narrow you need the spray to be.
This makes them equivalent of a whole set of nozzles and saves time that you’d spend changing nozzles with other sprayers.
Most of the dangers that you might encounter while using the FLEXiO 590 involves electricity and flammability. Wagner has designed the 590 with a grounded power cord to minimize the chance of a short circuit causing sparks.
An ON/OFF switch is also provided in addition to a trigger switch, which allows you to control when the sprayer runs. Be sure to review the safety tips for safe operation of a paint sprayer that are found in the FLEXiO 590 Owner’s Manual.
If you have the troubles with clogging check if the filters are clear and consider changing them if there are any particles.
The FLEXiO 590 and 3000 models are nearly identical. The 3000 appears to differ mainly in a slight redesign of the plastic housing of the 590.
Both models have the same X-Boost Turbine, 9-speed Power Dial, and the same size paint cups. They also share the same set of nozzles. Aside from a few cosmetic changes, the 590 is equivalent to the FLEXiO 3000. What’s not the same is the price: depending on where you shop, you can get the FLEXiO 590 for less.
We were impressed with how well this sprayer can coat large rooms and furniture in no-time thanks to Wagner’s X-Boost Turbine. We were spending as much time filling the paint cup as we were spraying paint when we tested it with a big indoor project spanning several rooms. The spray nozzles that come with the FLEXiO 590 have plenty of versatility because they are adjustable. This came in handy when we painted an entire house exterior and needed to change the spray pattern several times. There was no need to change nozzles because one nozzle did the job of two or three.
The power cord is a bit short for spray painting large areas. We found ourselves using extension cords to move around a large room or outdoors. It’s not a major issue, but something to be aware of if you’ll be using this sprayer away from electrical outlets. The FLEXiO is weighty when you hold it for hours or all day. This can become an issue because spray painting requires good dexterity and control, which is difficult if your arm is tired.
First-time buyers have been impressed with how much time they saved using the FLEXiO 590 instead of traditional brushes and rollers. For the price of a full set of manual paint equipment, the Wagner’s FLEXiO did the job faster and applied a smooth and consistent coat of paint to walls and doors. One reviewer noted that it only took 40 minutes to paint 500 sq. ft. of walls.
That’s impressive!
It does require more planning ahead to minimize cleanup compared to painting a room the old-fashioned way. You’ll need to lay down tarps and plastic over surfaces around what you’re painting. The FLEXiO does become a bit heavy with a full paint cup, so be prepared to take breaks on big projects that take over an hour. Keeping the work area well-lit will also help you to see that you’re applying the paint correctly as you go.
Wagner FLEXiO 590 Review – We’ve Tested It For You! (2020)
HVLP stands for “high volume low pressure” and refers to a technique of paint spraying that uses a low-pressure airflow that aerosolizes paint as it passes through a nozzle to produce an even coating. This is in contrast to airless sprayers, which physically push the paint through a nozzle without the use of pressurized air.
When you get the characteristic orange peel texture after applying a coat of paint, it can sometimes be tempting to blame the paint, but often it’s the result of using the wrong sprayer set up or the wrong nozzle. It happens when too much paint is applied, letting too much of the thinner to evaporate before spraying, or spraying the paint at too much of an angle to the surface.
This Wagner FLEXiO 590 review was a learning experience for us. As well as for you. We realized that we need to step our testing process up a notch after watching the 590 score highly on all of our tests.
Wagner has taken HVLP paint spraying to the next level with this efficient handheld electric sprayer. Its hefty paint cup gave our arms a workout, but it’s quick projects where this paint sprayer shines.
We recommend it to homeowners who want to put the paint brushes and rollers away for good when they repaint rooms and exteriors.
