Wagner SMART Edge 3 in. W Plastic Mini Paint Roller Kit

I bought this last year for my old house. I had it painted for me but provided the tools to get the jobs done (painted many colors including a 20' cathedral area). My guy absolutely loved it. We were using Valspar with the primer already in it. My daughter's room was painted in shiny acrylic (never again with the acrylic paint!): purple, teal and a really blue blue. He used it around the walls and along the trim. I came up and saw the job and was quite pleased. I moved and wanted to get rid of the orange walls. I decided to do all of the edging and have my guy do the painting. I could not use it next to the ceiling because I have a bumpy plaster ceiling. We used 2 gallons of Home Depot paint + primer and had the majority of the job done in a little over 5 hours. It's not a perfect tool, but I have to say it cut down work by half, maybe even more, the time it took to paint this pretty larger room (wtih higher than normal ceilings again). Sometimes, yes, you can see the previous color right next to the trim. I had a small paint brush with me for that purpose. And if I made a mistake with the brush, I also had a damp washcloth with me. I didn't have any giant messes, but then, I didn't pump a lot of paint into the roller either. If I did (rare), I used a super soft touch. I also didn't have any problems with the pump. We used a brush to wipe off excess paint, just like we used a brush when pouring paint into the roller tray. I haven't yet changed the roller. Maybe that's a problem. For me, it's nearly worth it to go out and buy a new Smart Edge Roller, if I had to get a new roller. Because I loved this product <b>that</b> much. This is my first review (positive; I did complaint about a different product once). LJ

If you value your time and appreciate good tools do not purchase this. I had high hopes this would make edge-painting/cutting in easier and faster, but it was a massive failure. Essentially, this tool has a paint reservoir tube to which you attach a small roller that has a plastic disk on one side with small brushes that are supposed to get the paint right up against the trim/edge. The roller covers the area adjacent to the edge to be painted, and because the texture of the roller is like the roller you are using to paint with, you don't get a texture mismatch in the paint. That is the working theory of the tool. Here is the reality. You load reservoir by exchanging the roller assembly for a nozzle, dipping it in the paint and pulling a rod at the end of the reservoir that sucks the paint into it. That works fine, but the nozzle will drip after you remove it so you need to hold it over your paint until it drains. You might even need to rinse it out if you are only expecting to use just the paint you just loaded up. You then attach the roller assembly and use the trigger on it to suck paint out of the reservoir and into the perforated roller to initially load it. The fun started immediately when the trigger started leaking paint after a few pulls. Cleaned that up, followed the instructions to paint a W on the wall surface with the roller and run the little brushes through the paint to load them. That did not work too well, because the brushes barely picked up the paint. I also noticed that on my tool the brushes were not attached parallel to each other on the disk. Anway, try as I might, barely any paint transferred from the brushes to the surface I was painting. At that point I gave up on this tool. The icing on the cake was when I went to clean it. What..a...pain. They have an attachment to use with a garden hose to clean the roller assembly, but I live in the northeast and my garden hose was put away in November. Then, you are supposed to lubricate the seals when you store it, using Vaseline. If the tool had done what was advertised and actually painted along the trim, I'd have given it two stars. This thing simply does not work. I switched back to using my Shur-Line paint edger and a brush. The Shur-Line has its own problems and is not perfect - you have to know how to use it to get the best results without getting paint on the trim, but it does save time. It's also much easier to clean than this useless Wagner tool. I have other Wagner products that work fine, but this is a real disappointment. Do not buy this. It's poorly made and does not do the job it was intended for.

This is the second Wagner smart roller I have purchased. The first one leaks and leaks and thus useless. I thought I would give it another try and try this baby one - maybe it's better built or easier to handle - nope! Same thing. Leaks from every joint! I have tried both multiple times - thinking maybe its me. My husband, who is very good with tools - a mechanic and technician and he got the same result - leak, leak, leak. I read all the lovely reviews and watched the youtube videos that say it is so easy and so fast and so "neat". That is BS. I really do not see how that is possible at all. So I have wasted money twice. And it wasted a lot of paint. made a huge mess. Sometimes manual is just so much better. What a rip-off. I trusted the brand. I will not trust this brand ever again.

This has a number of shortcomings, as well as some advantages. The three little "microbrushes" that do the edging don't work all that well and don't give a consistent, clean edge. Even the instructions tell you that a brush will be needed for corners. Also, the thing is pretty messy and you are going to end up with paint where you don't want it. Finally, the roller does not last long at all before it has to be replaced. It took two rollers to do a one bedroom apartment. Now for the good side. The paint feed works really well and is a lot more convenient than using a regular roller and a paint tray. For going around and doing an edge strip (after masking and using a brush for the very edge), this works very well. Also, you can use this for painting a small room or hallway and never have to break out a paint tray and regular roller.

It is slow on the uptake of paint so it takes a little bit to get going. Then for a while it works great but after a bit it starts to leak and get messy. I wear latex gloves so it wasn't a big deal. It only dripped on the floor one time, but it slowed me down as I kept checking for drips. Washing it was a little time consuming. Overall it saved me time but I would only use it for bigger jobs. The effort to start and clean up wouldn't be worth it for a small task. I was doing a small room but it wasn't a square room so I had a lot of corners. This did save me time. I'll be doing a hallway with a foyer which I'll use it again. It was good not great.

Wow this is the best tool I've got to help with my work as a apartment maintenance tec is a very lone time. I don't do reviews but I have to on this one. It made my job so fast and easy and mess free when doing baseboards, doors, trim! No mess , no stopping to roll the roller in the paint tray! Wow! 100% worth my money. I got the small one for that stuff and the big one for walls and I'm so impressed...

Painting: Fail F - coverage of paint is ridiculously bad. Edging: Fail F - Does not get to the edge (even after edging about 50 feet along base board, ceiling and call corners.) F - edger plastic gets paint on it when trying to correct uneven paint. Small Spaces: Fail F - Could not get in the corner where the closet door is < 4" from the wall. Easy to clean: Fail F - there is about 1/3 of a tube of paint in the paint head. Wasting paint: Fail F - 1/3 of tube in paint head is wasted with every use. F - trigger leaked paint profusely (see photo). Coverage: Fail F- might need about 5 coats to get a coverage coat (see photo). F- Roller leaves an edge on the far side (see photo) F - When you go to clean up the roller drip line, the edger cuts a line in the middle of the paint (see photo). Quality: Fail F - With first use the trigger leaked paint profusely. This product was insulting -- a slick ad to sell junk.

Bought this as a teen friendly way to help paint a small bedroom ceiling edges. Length is actually and weight are the only good points of this product. It's construction is very cheap and directly out of the battered box the smart edges never worked. No matter the amount of pressure or additional lubricant added to plunger it NEVER fills. Thankfully I am near home improvement stores with late hours and could get an actual manual edger that works. I gave two stars because well if we dip it in the paint tray liner we can still use the cover.