Chapin International Stanley 61804 Professional Backpack Poly 4-Gallon Sprayer

After running around with 1-2 gallon tanks and having my arm almost falling off (on a relatively averaged size lawn, 10,000 sq ft) I thought about backpack sprayer and was compelled to buy this one, thanks to other positive reviews. I used it once so far, but - BOY - does it make a difference!!!? First of all - it had adjustable straps and the back of it is profiled so it does not hurt your back. The pump is strong and couple strokes is enough to have a strong spray. In fact, spray is very strong and attached brass nozzle does distribute liquid very efficiently. In fact, I had my lawn done in 10-15 minutes and it was actually fun and pleasure! I enjoyed the speed of doing it so much that rather than spot treating, I walked the lawn systematically and sprayed the whole thing (which used the 6 gallons, by the way), but at least I know I covered all of the bad and potentially bad spots. The advantage over the concentrate hose sprayer is when you (like me) have a veggie garden or ornamental/fruit plants and bushes and you don't want to cover them by accident (which is easy using hose), you control it in this case. The advantage over hand-held 2 gallon tank sprayer is self-explanatory - you save yourself a lot of fatigue, do job faster and more efficiently and in an ergonomic fashion. This tanks sprayer does the job like a pro!!!

Update: Don't buy this sprayer!!!At least don't buy it if you have over 5 minutes of spraying to do.I finally bought the Chapin pro model 6200 of this sprayer - it has a padded harness that is incredibly more comfortable than having the hard plastic of this Stanley sprayer against your back.Spend the little extra money and give your back a break by buying either the Chapin Pro 6200 (brass wand) or the 6190 Pro (stainless steel wand).[Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon, so walking around with 24 pounds of liquid + the 9 pound weight of this sprayer on your back is too heavy not to get the better backpack harness in the Chapin 6200 or 6190 sprayers.]Twice I've had to replace the rubber piston collar (really the rubber cylinder head) after very extensive use.So if you have this sprayer and notice that despite pumping that no internal pressure is produced, then you may have to replace this worn rubber part. (It makes sense that it eventually wears out, as this collar sits on the end of the piston, and rubs on the side of the piston cylinder every time you pump.)Indeed, I would recommend you order part Chapin 6-8180 Piston Pump Repair Kit, available on Amazon, at the same time you order this sprayer, as it is likely you will need the part, and it is convenient to have it on hand. (You have to order the kit that also contains some gaskets, although it seems likely the it is the rubber cylinder collar that is most likely to eventually wear out.Replacement is fairly easy - see my comments for the Chapin 6-8180 Piston Pump Repair Kit.

I bought one of these Stanley model 61804 sprayers a few years ago. It saw use 3-4 times a year and has been great until... this year it seized up. No problem, I thought, I'll just rebuild the pump. Wrong. Even though this sprayer is sold by Chapin they don't have parts to repair it. They show a kit for this sprayer but it only works on newer versions of the sprayer.This makes my sprayer obsolete. Compared with my 20 year old Solo sprayer, which I can still get parts for, this is terrible.I'd recommend a Solo sprayer over this one. Not much more for one that has a history of great product support.

Having read reviews about leakage at the hose, I was pleased to see the manufacturer was using a metal hose clamp instead of plastic, and it was tight. Loaded up and went spraying, only to end up with pesticide leaking down my back (sprayer leaked from bottom of tank)Also the harness that comes with it is worthless - straps would not stay tight, kept slipping.Overall a complete waste of time and money.

I agree with other reviewers that this is a good sprayer with a lousy wand tip. I have used hand-held sprayers with one to three gallon capacities. They gave me a back ache, from leaning over to one side to make the short wand reach the ground while carrying the load of the sprayer in one hand. The low capacity of the one or two gallon sprayers ran out so quickly it was frustrating to use them. This sprayer is comfortable to use because the weight is centered on your back and the wand is long enough that bending down isn't necessary for me (5'10" tall).My complaint is that the bronze wand tip sprays in a "doughnut" pattern, making it nearly impossible to direct the solution accurately to the targeted spot. If I am aiming at a weed in my lawn with a herbicide solution, I end up spraying a circle all around the weed, needing to sweep the wand around to hit the targeted spot, and wasting a good deal of solution. When I try to adjust the spray pattern to fill in the "hole in the doughnut" the pattern becomes much more coarse, with large droplets, again causing the solution to be used up much faster than necessary.I switched to the plastic "fan" pattern spray tip and found this satisfactory for sweeping larger areas, but I miss the design of my much-less-expensive hand-held spray wands. They allow me to adjust the spray pattern to a much more accurate and efficient level that gets the solution where I want it without using it up so fast.The sprayer is great - the bronze wand tip needs a re-design.