9 Reasons to switch from SATA to C.A. for your Automotive HVLP Guns
By: Andreas Lopez
Tags: Automotive Repair, Paint Spray Guns, Automotive, Ca Technologies, Cars

#1 — You Don’t want to Overpay for Expensive Imported Spray Guns

The biggest issue I hear day in, day out with SATA is the overpriced price tag when discussing the best spray gun. While everyone in the automotive paint industry knows the SATAJet 5000, or its predecessor the 4000, it is up to par with guns half their price. The awareness of the closing quality gap is growing every week and it will be only a matter of time until we see the SATA guns replaced by C.A. Technologies CAT-X guns in body shops.

Especially as we look towards American products that are not only superior but also more affordable in every step of manufacturing, service and repairs — it becomes a clearer choice to go with C.A. Technologies. Speaking of painting cars…

#2 — You Finish Cars, Trucks, Aircrafts, Boats or other Vehicles

C.A. Technologies (Coating Atomization Technologies) has the best Paint Spray Guns in terms of finishing quality for automotive and other vehicle applications. Their price is great too, typically being 30–50% cheaper than competing models to SATA, which makes switching to C.A. for your air-spray guns even more attractive when trying to decide your next HVLP air-spray gun.

For example, if you look at the top-of-the line CAT-X Spray Gun for Automotive Finishing which retails at $510.95 in a Gravity Feed PPS setup that is very similar in features & finish quality to the SATAJet 5000 and even the newer SATAJet X 5500 which retails for $979.

On top of that the CAT-X gun can be changed between Compliant, also known as Reduced-Pressure (RP), and HVLP. To get both a RP and a HVLP gun from SATA, you would need to buy two separate SATA air-spray guns which totals to about $1,958.00. With this money you could buy 3 CAT-X guns from C.A. Technologies and still have $425.15 spare change for repair parts, cups, paint, coveralls and other automotive paint accessories.

#3 — Your SATA Gun maintenance Costs $300+ just for the Nozzles

Leaving paint in a gun overnight without cleaning it will ruin it for sure. But normal wear and tear will eventually break the gun, too. All it takes is one mistake in one day and a whole gun is ruined and needs to be rebuilt. The nozzles alone retail for the SATA X 5500 for $300. That is before any repair kits would be required which easily gets you at or above half the gun cost.

For the C.A. Technologies CAT-X gun you are looking at a total of $163.80 for a total rebuild including the repair kit, fluid needle, fluid nozzle and HVLP air cap. That means that you could almost three times completely rebuild your CAT-X gun for the same price of one rebuild of a SATA X 5500. This makes the rebuild about 66% less expensive for the C.A. Technologies equivalent.

#4 — You need specialty guns for special applications

C.A. Technologies offers versatile guns that can do every job from a CAT-X gun that can spray as a Reduced Pressure or a HVLP gun by switching the Air cap. But if you look beyond the automotive and vehicle market you will find that C.A. Technologies is the leader in Contact Cement / Adhesive & Wood Finish spray applications.

From excellent starter and apprentice guns for a new painter in the shop — the Tomcat general purpose gun — to the Panther 200G glue application gun, you will only find guns that excel in what they were made for to suit your application the best.

SATA guns only offer a great application in the automotive industry but lack features outside of that market, making it a very niche-oriented gun that sadly is not excelling in any significant way. Their carpentry and airbrush guns are not quite up to par with C.A. Technologies in the former or market leaders of airbrush guns such as Iwata in the latter.

For example, there are no SATA guns that can spray any adhesives reliably that are easy to clean like the Panther 200G. There are no SATA guns that are designed for water-based materials on wood surfaces like the H2O-CPR. In the meanwhile, you can choose from a plethora of C.A. Technologies guns to fit your purpose based on desired finish, paint, surface you are spraying and budget. And all the while the CAT-X will match the quality of a SATAJet 4000, 5000 and even the newer SATAJet 5500X.

#5 You need Higher Capacity Sprayers because the Cups are too Small.

SATA offers gravity feed guns almost exclusively with few exceptions of pressure feed setups. This tends to make them good for automotive jobs, small touch up jobs or individual pieces of furniture but very unsuitable for high production environments where someone might want to make dozens of cabinets a day without having to refill constantly a small cup.

C.A. Technologies on the other hand realized very early on the various applications and preferences a painter might have and offers most guns in a gravity, siphon and pressure feed version. For example, the Lynx L100C comes in either Pressure or Siphon feed — If you want it as a gravity feed version, simply buy its cousin, the Jaguar J100C.

This allows you to spray from anything like a 600ml cup over 1- or 2-quart pressure cups all the way to 15-gallon pressure tanks or straight out of 5-gallon buckets and 55-gallon drums via Air-Assisted Airless Systems like the OC14 Wall Mount for $2,299.95.

#6 — You need a Pressure Cup or Pot

C.A. Technologies has not only the most affordable clamp-down Pressure Cups & Pots, but also the most favored. A SATA 48 liter (about 12.7 gallons) Pressure Pot which is nearly impossible to find in the USA lists on European sites for €2059 (Euro) which translates roughly to $2361.34 (USD). A 15-gallon pressure pot from C.A. Technologies lists for $1,161.95. That is less than half and a higher capacity. That is more than $1,100.00 in savings for not only a comparable, but superior, more readily available, pressure pot. On top of that, C.A. Technologies Cups & Pressure Pots are completely rebuildable from the Lid to the gaskets. The price advantage plus the available repair parts are a sixth good reason to switch from SATA to C.A. for your Air-Spray guns.

#7 — Excellent Tech Support

Our tech support is highly trained in HVLP, Conventional & Compliant Air-Spray applications. Both of our teams are working closely together to ensure that you get the best finish out of your gun, material and surface. There are many different factors to consider, and we will help you navigate to the best solution — not the most expensive one. And on top of that, the Tech support in-house at C.A. Technologies is readily available, too. But what excels us even further is the fact that C.A. Technologies takes the time to fly in trainers for 2–4 days of in-person training of our entire staff.

#8 — Made in America & Availability of Parts

C.A. Technologies is not only an American company, but most of their products are manufactured domestically in Louisville, Colorado. On top of that, we at J.N. Equipment have one of the largest stock ready to ship of C.A. Technologies not only in the US, but across the globe. We proudly supply these American-made products domestic and internationally which beat more expensive imports not only in price, but also quality.

Most items typically ship the next business day. SATA has more global components and are mostly made in Germany which increases cost unnecessarily without justifying a much better product and often causing supply chain complications. This makes C.A. more compelling to switch to in order to support the American economy.

#9 — Premium Packaging & Shipping

After serving contractors for decades, both J.N. Equipment and C.A. Technologies learned the various ins and outs of logistical problems and expected quality. That is why a lot of spray guns come in foam-filled shockproof cases versus cardboard boxes and the Air-Assisted-Airless Pumps on pallets. We are here to solve your problem which is not having the right spray equipment ready at hand. Receiving damaged goods is not aiding your solution, so we make sure you get what you need in the expected made in America quality the first time around.

To browse all C.A. Technologies Pumps, Spray Guns, Parts & Accessories — Click Here.

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Disclaimer: Prices are as of November 2020. This Article was last updated 11/13/2020