what paint gun do i buy?

i've used Sata's for 10 years now and swear by them. They are only double what u are looking to spend. I actually bought a $100 Matco tool spray gun just for an extra gun at work and am surprised how well it sprays both base and clear, might be an option if your not planning on doing multiple spray jobs.

I like the Sharp Cobalt, but then again it's personal preferance.  I had a $20 gun from NAPAA I used for years.

painted with a 150 gun

I spray with a sharpe cobalt at work because my shop buys all the guns but at home i use a sata nr3000 and a iwata lph400 both great guns,but for 250 you can get the sharpe with 3 tips and they are a lot less expensive to replace if you mess up the tips

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by IDROPEMDont mean to steal the thread but how bad would a paint job look if the base and clear were sprayed through a 1.5 nozzle?

--------------------------------------------- Its more than just runs to be concerned with. You will have atomization issues. Your paint wont properly distribute on the panel, and with metallics, and pearls thats a big issue. Also the same with your clear, every brand recomends a specific tip size, that affects sprayability, flowout, and atomization. I spray my primer with a 1.7 tip, however my current primer I am using recomends a 1.3 tip, and I can tell the differnence from one to the other when it comes to sandability, and holdout. -Brad

      I sprayed the blue truck in my profile with a cheap Husky Home Depot gun, I did however spray the Clearcoat with a Satajet digital. Very nice guns. Worth the price if you only casually spray? No, but if you plan to spray 2-3-4-5 projects over the years, I would recommend making the investment.

it comes down to the quality.  im in the this months minitruckin for best builds 09, and it shows that i sprayed a graphic with kandy with a harborfreight gun.  ill use a harbor freight from time to time and ill use my iwata. i can get the same results from both guns... but it comes down to the quality and the reliability. u might have to spend another 200 to 300 to get a top gun that might only be a 10% difference from a gun thats hundreds cheaper, but its worth it in the long run to get that extra quality.

I prefer sata and iwata myself.

Sata...

i use the devilbiss plus, i also liked the devilbiss rp,