Graco Mark IV Airless Paint Sprayer Review and Overview (Includes Video)
The Graco Mark IV and Mark V Airless Sprayers offer the ability to spray paint and texture materials from a single paint sprayer. This review will cover the Graco Mark IV and how it performs, common uses for the unit, and options you have to consider so you can better decide if the Graco Mark IV could be the right airless sprayer for your painting and texture spraying needs.
Graco Mark IV Model Options
The Mark IV comes in 3 different configurations, the Pro Contractor series, the Standard Series, and the Iron Man series. The Ironman series is designed to be most durable making it best for heavy volume, the Pro Contractor offers a variety of features upgrades from the Standard Mark IV Sprayer. Here are how each model differs.
Standard Series
This is the most basic of the Mark IV configurations. The Mark IV is designed with a unique fluid section that extends the entire length of the pickup tube which allows it to draw paint or texture, in comparison a standard fluid section doesn’t extend the entire length of the pickup tube and is much shorter which prevents it from being as effective at spraying texture. The unit can support up to 2 users with a 21 thousands tip or a single user with a 33 thousands tip which makes the unit a capable unit for spraying material including elastomerics, texture, fire proofing and standard house paints. The fluid section is larger than a standard airless sprayer allowing it to handle texture, the price of the basic unit is $4,109.00.
Pro Contractor Series
The Pro Contractor series offers a few additional features above the standard series. First it has a digital LED display which allows you to know exactly what pressure your spraying at. It also comes equipped with a quick change fluid section which allows you to remove the fluid section without any tools, this can be important if you rely on your airless sprayer for production, because you can keep a second fluid section on hand and rapidly change it out if your sprayer stops working correctly. The Pro Contractor also includes a fast reel which is designed to make it quicker to send out the hose and wheel it back up. Finally, it has a warning system to let you know when you are out of material to prevent the pump from running dry and a fast flush system to help clean the fluid section out in less time. The unit does cost $500 more than the Standard series which the extra cost will depend on if you want to be able to have a quick change fluid section and more efficient way to deploy and rewind your sprayer hose.
The IronMan Series
The Ironman series features a hardened piston rod and fluid section which makes it most resilient to wear. This makes the unit ideal for heavy use where it will be used for hours and hours on single job sites. Comparably the Pro Contractor unit will be best for Medium to Large jobs that you will change fairly often, in general, the Pro Contractor is the more common unit, but the hardened fluid section can be appealing if you want maximum durability. The Ironman doesn’t include the Quick reel but does have the quick change fluid section, fast flush, and warning system.
Additional information about the Graco Mark IV Airless Sprayer
The unit comes with an airless spray gun and large diameter hose made for texture spraying. If you will be spraying paint primarily it can be worth while to have a separate hose set for the paint so you do not have as much paint waste during clean up. Out of the box the unit is setup to spray paint or smooth textures, if you need splatter coat you have to purchase an air atomizer kit which requires a 15 CFM compressed air source to run the splatter gun.
Final Thoughts on the Graco Mark IV Sprayer
The Mark IV airless sprayer offers the ability to spray paint or texture making it a versatile tool. While the initial cost is expensive, the flexibility of the unit makes it a great choice for contractors that regularly perform painting work along with drywall finishing read more.
