I have owned a couple of cheap ones ($100 to $200) and they were not worth it. Always plugging up. One broke down in the middle of painting a house and they gave me a replacement. It broke down. I rented a commercial grade sprayer and it was like the difference between night and day.
It goes back to the old saying, you get what you pay for.
I went with a spray tech Apex series medel 1720 build by Wagner and sold by Lowles. Yes, it was pricey and perhaps I could have gotten by with a $250 or $300 unit, but even at $561, I still saved thousands of dollars over the "professional" quotes I received. I also will be building a new house in a year or thereabouts, so I fugure I can use it there as well.
In short the sprayer was fantastic and I would buy it again. The special stucco paint is thick and it sprayed it all day for 4 straight days without a hiccup.
Clean up is a bit#!, but I guess that is true about all airless sprayers.
I will snap some photos of the house and post Friday, BEFORE I head down to the boat for the weekend...YES I earned it!