I was sucked in by the TV advert, it looked so simple, and to be honest if I had had a clear room with flat wall, it probably would have been. However I had a new room, with new wooden walls, oh and a nice new stained wood floor. I had done the cutting round my sockets and things, put the PaintPod on a sheet of newspaper, and laid a drip cloth on the floor up against the wall, and off I went.

Half way through my second wall I noticed the paint was not coming though the roller much any more. The paint was supposed to cover 70m² in a single coat so it couldn’t have run out already??? I took a look over at the machine and noticed that delivery tube had come away from the dip pump thingy (which is supposed to be a single unit according to the instructions and the replacement part box) and the flipping thing had proceeded to pump half a litre of Dulux Pure Brilliant White matt emulsion all over itself and the previously mentioned newly stained wood floor.

To say I’m unsatisfied with the product is this years understatement of the year. If I’d of had my lump hammer or fubar to hand I would have a nicely painted room (including the floor) and a Dulux PaintPod in about 7 million pieces embedded with the paint. Instead I am going to attempt to take the unit back to B&Q for a refund. This may be my last post for 7 to 10 years as if they don’t refund the unit I may have to drag the guy over the counter and use him to beat the thing into 7 million bits.

Oh, and while I’m critiquing this piece of garbage the “self clean system” is really anything but as well. I put the unit back together and pressed the drain button… since the walls of the tube are covered in paint you don’t really know it has done it… but I followed the instructions. I then put the roller in the cradle thingy, filled it up with warm water and pressed clean… 5 excruciatingly noisy minutes later it had used half the water and done very little except stop. The roller was still covered in paint and it was tricky lifting the used water container out without spilling painty water all over my kitchen – which, like my previously mentioned newly stained wooden floor, does not need painting! The next 2 cleans used up all of the water but were still surprising loaded with paint. I ran the process three more times – a total of 5 and a half clean cycles – and gave up and washed the roller under the tap for another 15 minutes.

When this thing was first released a couple months ago it was retailing at about £90. Some places are still selling it for up to £80 so I thought I had a bargain at £60. Turns out it’s gonna cost me another hundred quid or so to sand and restain my previously mentioned newly stained wood floor – and I still have to paint the flippin walls and ceiling!!!

The doctors rating for this piece of crap:

STAY AWAY FROM THIS PIECE OF CRAP