The Wagner FineCoat runs betwwen $169 - $179. I have been very happy with it. The only complaint I have with it is that the cap on the gun has started to leak a little bit. I have sprayed stain and water based top coat finishes with it. It has worked well in both cases. As an aside, it is my understanding that there are two kinds of stains.
1. Dye stains that actually stain the wood. These can be sprayed.
2. Pigment stains have pigment particals which make it more like paint. These should not be sprayed because they will really clog up the spray gun.
You can tell which are pigment and which are dye stains when you stir them. Pigment stains will have settiment at the bottom and dye stains won't.
Wagner has also come out with a FineCoat pro or something to that affect. I think it is more in the $300 range. I think it is basically the original FineCoat with a better spray gun.
Some updates on my original post. I have found out that Hydrocote's clear finish is actually a water based laquer. I also found out that my unhappiness with the finishes is because I wasn't using enough. I was spraying on 3 coats of finish. Well, while I was finishing off some doll beds for my kids for Christmas I realized I had been rather careless between coats so I decided to hit them with some steel wool and apply a fourth coat. Low and behold the finish looked pretty good. So while finishing up
some other presents I really took my time and applied the finish a little heavier than I had been. The results were a much better looking finish.
If anybody has any more questions on the FineCoat I would be happy to answer them. If anybody has comments about other HVLP's I would be interested in hearing them.