REVIEW – The Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer beats the heck out of brush painting in certain applications. The timing was perfect to review the Worx Nitro Paint Sprayer. My wife wanted a couple of paint jobs done and here came the Worx Nitro Sprayer for review. Last month I primed my under-deck lattice with multiple brushes (since the job ruins them) and I still bear the emotional scars. The job was long, slow, and tedious. The Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer made me forget all about that priming job and helped me do the finish coat in 3 hours instead of two days.
What is it
The Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer is a hand-held, rechargeable-battery operated paint sprayer for light to medium duty jobs.
What’s in the box
(1) – Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer
(4) – Nozzles (1.5mm, 1.8mm, 2.2mm, 2.6mm)
(1) – Viscosity Cup
(1) – Wire Brush
(1) – Declogging Needle
(1) – Garden Hose Cleaning Adapter
(1) – 4.0Ah Battery (WA3012)
(1) – Quick Charger (WA3881)
Hardware specs
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- Voltage: 20V MAX
- Max Pressure: 22 kPa
- Volume: 34 fl. oz.
- Run Time: 17 min.
- Maximum Spray Angle: 45°
- Viscosity Max: 110 din/sec
- Flow Rate: 1000 ml.
- Machine Weight: 3.7 lbs.
I thought this exploded view of the battery was cool so here it is.
Design and features
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- Worx NITRO tools are engineered to provide greater power, performance, and run time.
- Compact, cordless design provides flexibility to paint anywhere, anytime.
- Speed control allows you to evenly dispense the flow of paint and minimizes over-spraying.
- Choose from wide or narrow spray patterns to tackle a wide variety of projects.
- Four nozzle sizes to select from for materials like stains, primers and latex paints.
- Large capacity paint container holds up to 34 fl. oz. (1000 ml).
- Easy to clean with the included garden hose hook-up. All accessories and paint cup detach for easy cleaning.
- Same Battery, Expandable Power – The same battery powers over 75+ 20V, 40V, and 80V lifestyle, garden, and power tools in the Power Share family.
- Higher capacity battery – 4Ah
- 2A Charger – Charges the 4Ah battery in 2 hours.
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These are 3 of the 4 included sprayer tips with the Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer. The white one comes mounted and has the smallest caliber.
Installation and setup
I’m late to the game of paint spraying. The Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer was my first experience using any paint sprayer. This was a clear case of a manual that needed to be studied. I charged the batteries while I read. I also practiced making all of the possible settings and adjustments on the sprayer, changing spray tips and how to do cleanup.
I practiced using water. My neighbors wondered why I was varnishing a pine tree but I fended off their concerns. I got a lot of spray in the face but water is lighter than paint and my practice day was too windy to paint, yet fine for practice.
Testing and observations
My wife and I have an arrangement that has worked great for 40 years. She’s the color committee, and I’m labor. The color committee decided the under-deck lattice needed to be brick color, like our deck treaders. I do think it’s a better look than white.
Last summer I used a water seal product on the lattice so now I had to use an oil-based white primer that accepts latex finish paint. $60 per gallon! Ugh.
I don’t mind painting. It’s the prep and cleanup I hate. I’ve painted the exterior of our 2 story home, twice, using brushes and a 32-foot ladder. I’ve used rollers and brushes on rooms, trim, a shed and decks. The Worx Nitro Sprayer was a pleasure to use, minimized the tediousness of the task, and was easy to clean afterward.
I got this amount of painting done on one battery. The white area shows where it gave out. I put the battery in the charger, inserted a fresh battery, and continued work. Or Worx.
The rough under-deck lattice looked great when I was done but my result on the chest of drawers indicates I need more practice. It is a ‘sacrifice piece’ we’ll donate soon so anything would have improved it from its 30 year old, rough, yellow, brush job.
Some say the Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer ‘doesn’t have enough pressure so it takes longer to do a job’. I was very glad to see minimal over-spray which saves me paint, spousal trouble and clean up, so the pressure was no problem for this rookie painter. I didn’t increase the pressure from the factory setting.
I admit I don’t know how to choose a sprayer tip width beyond the obvious. Thin paint or other material probably goes best with a small diameter tip and thicker material benefits from larger diameter tips. I used the red tip for both my jobs but wonder if the chest of drawers might have looked better if I’d used a larger diameter tip, and/or increased the spray pressure. The paint viscosity was similar for both my jobs which is why I didn’t change the tip for the chest.
The main thing I knew but learned even better is, steady sprayer sweeps at proper distance make for a more even appearance of finish coats after drying. That’s probably on an ancient stone carving somewhere.
Clean up is only a matter of getting paint off of the exterior surfaces of the Worx Nitro sprayer and getting all paint out of the internal workings. For my two jobs, I washed off the internal parts with a garden hose then soaked all parts, except the handle assembly (which should not be immersed) in a water bucket for an hour or so, then did a final cleaning of the parts.
I think it’s nearly impossible to keep the exterior of any paint sprayer factory pristine. There was some very fine paint spatter on the external parts of the sprayer of both the colors I used. The paint jar comes completely clean but I didn’t waste effort cleaning tiny specks from the sprayer body. If they don’t scratch off with a fingernail after an hour soak I’m calling them ‘experience evidence’.
This cleaning attachment screws to the sprayer body like the jar does and cleans out paint from the internal works.
The brick colored paint stained the foam paint jar top gasket pictured here. It seals the paint jar when the jar is screwed into the sprayer. Here it was totally clean but still showed some brownish markings. Worx support said that doesn’t matter and gaskets can be purchased later if necessary.
For some reason, the white paint stuck to interior sprayer surfaces more than the brick color did. The paints were from the same brand but were different products. With a toothbrush, I got the Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer clean and ready for storage.
What I like
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- Easy to use once you get the hang of it
- Easy to clean
- Lightweight, until you add the paint, then still not super-heavy.
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What I’d change
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- I have no recommendations except to recommend everyone buy one or two extra batteries unless you’re doing really quick paint jobs.
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Final thoughts
I’ll still use rollers and brushes for interior painting jobs, mainly because I’m not a pro with a paint sprayer. But I have 250 feet of new backyard picket fence that’ll need staining or painting soon and I plan to take a couple of days with the Worx Nitro 20V Cordless Paint Sprayer to get that job done – As soon as the committee decides on the color.
Check out all our other Worx tool reviews too!
Update 8/12/22
I just completed the ‘big job’ I mentioned in the review. I stained the 225 linear feet of our backyard fence we installed in February. The Worx Nitro Paint Sprayer worked great during this 3 day job.
It took 3 days due to hot, humid weather. I could have worked more hours per day in cooler times. The job took 6 gallons of good quality stain, and I had about 12 ounces of stain left when I finished. My brand-name paint store guys would have let me return unopened cans.
We had estimates of $1000 if we hired the job out. Thanks to the Worx Nitro Sprayer I did it for $350.
Surprisingly I was able to work ‘all day’ (~6 hours per day) without having to switch batteries. When I painted the deck lattice pictured in the review I had the trigger pulled more continuously so had to switch the battery 4 times during the project.
Sprayer cleanup took longer after the fence job but that’s mostly on me. At the end of a job I want all possible paint or stain out of the internal parts and off of the internal parts of the sprayer. This stain claimed to clean up with water, but stuck like crazy to all parts of the Worx Nitro Sprayer. But the parts come apart easily and are cleanable by soaking and brushing.
This time I snapped off the back cover to clean the 2″ foam rubber air filter at the back of the sprayer. The filter cover and filter attracted a fair amount of aerosolized stain during the 3 days of use. The filter came fairly clean but it’ll probably need to be replaced after 3-4 more large projects. It won’t be hard to make a DIY foam rubber filter when the time comes. The foam material is a common density.
The Worx Nitro Paint Sprayer continued to impress. The quality and durability of the plastic used in its construction, the battery performance and the ease of disassembly / reassembly are its strong suits.
I initially viewed the Worx Nitro Paint Sprayer as best suited to small jobs. My fence job moved it up to the category of a ‘semi-pro’ tool.
Price: $199.99
Where to buy: Worx and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Worx.
