The guys at Yellowstone Pavement Solutions, myself included, recently purchased a Grace LineLazer 3400. After using it for around 500 hours this summer, I figured that I would have a pretty decent insight into how it worked. I’ll make it quick, short and easy, tailored for a quick skim with only relevant information.

The Pros

Overall, the Graco LineLazer was a fantastic tool for our line striping and pavement marking in Bozeman. We used it consistently for all parking lots and parking garages. I really enjoyed the versatility of the machine and how light it was to load in the back of our trailer when moving around town. 

The 4 HP Honda GX120 engine is fantastic and I can’t find enough good things to say about it. The maintenance is easy and it starts consistently with little headache. We have this same engine on both the air compressor for our sealcoating rig and the BillyGoat blower that we use daily. We usually service these engines (oil change, check air filters etc.) at every 50 hours, which I believe is the time frame recommended by the manufacturer.

As with any striper, you have to make sure that you have a decent chalk line laid out so that you don’t get off the mark. The way that the gun is positioned beyond the front pivoting wheel of the machine seems to work really well for lining it all up time and time again. We have gotten to a point where our lines are well within a 1/4″ tollerance and our start/stops are within a half an inch (we still tape just to ensure a high quality standard).

The Cons

My biggest issue with any painter is the ball valve that rests within the pump and deters paint from flowing backwards in the tube system. I know that this is a necessary component, but the way the valve is set makes it pretty difficult to clean out. Again, I get this is a necessary evil, I just hope they work on a different mechanism in future models. 

Not having a two buckets is a bit of a headache too. These come standard on their more expensive models, but for the money concious pavement pro, it sure would be nice to have a way to add an auxillary paint bucket with a sprayer. That way, changing colors with handicapped symbols would be much quicker. 

As the name may suggest to a lot of guys looking at buying one of these, no, there is not a line laser attached to the machine. This is something we at YPS have talked about rigging up but have yet to do so. I know that I used to use them all the time with commercial layout, so I would like to think that these set on the front of the striper would make a world of difference! 

Conclusion

This machine is great. For the money, its right in there with titans comparable model, and I prefer Graco just based on its widespread use. The biggest headaches that I have while line striping are, I’m sure, similar to the ones that other have. I hope that the guys over at Graco are looking in to raise the bar on their price point line striper to give it a couple more features. An additional paint hookup would be really nice, and I know that when we look for our next line striper this will be a big factor. 

We love putting paint on the ground and making lines straight, so if you have any line striping projects in the Bozeman, Montana area give us a call! (406) 595-7471 or else click HERE to be directed to our contact form.