Wooster Avalon Roller Cover RR656

To say the Wooster Avalon has shed-resistant fabric, provides superior coverage and finish, and can be used to spread all flat & satin paints is to describe any number of roller covers on the market today. The fact that the Avalon costs under four bucks only pushed more similarity.

And yet, the Avalon is different from other roller covers in its class in one significant way. Its Green™ double-thick polypropylene core is punched with proprietary gray-green fabric providing superior coverage and finish quality that you’d expect from a white woven cover. As a result, shedding is reduced by 50% in comparison to leading high-production (knitted) covers.

The Avalon out performed a handful of white woven roller covers in load capacity. Not surprisingly, however, the Avalon is no match for a Wooster 50/50 when it comes to square ft of coverage per load. While the Avalon was greatly superior to a handful of white woven covers, it lacks that ultra smooth finish you get from a Wooster Pro doo z.

The thing is, are you buying a roller cover of this class more for finish or for general rolling? If you’re leaning towards the latter, there's really no contest.

The Wooster Avalon reminds me a bit of how SuperFabs were years ago with a similar characteristic and feel when you roll. The RR656 resists matting but that comes at a cost of some paint spatter. The paint spatter coming from rolling Sherwin-Williams Cashmere was not bad, in fact, very little but nonetheless, evident. Some would call it trivial but for me, I cannot have paint spatter because that means I would need to apply masking tape and use drop cloths to use this cover.

The bevels are fairly decent straight out of the packaging, but I INSIST all covers should be cut back and re-shaped but I also understand why Wooster cuts them the way they do. You can roll tight to casings and baseboard as it keeps a nice edge. My test runs covered 27 sq ft per load. That's a 9’ ceiling height by 3’ wide over top a previous coat of Sherwin Williams Builder Solutions Flat wall paint.

KEY FEATURES:

• Proprietary gray-green fabric provides superior coverage and finish quality
• Reduces shedding 50% compared to leading high-production (knitted) covers
• Extremely smooth, fast results with all flat and satin paints, stains, waterproofing
• Green™ double-thick polypropylene core resists water, solvents, and cracking

SIDE NOTES:

If you have fairly bold or multiple colors to complete in a day, consider buying a cover for each color. There is nothing fast about cleaning an Avalon roller cover and your time is worth far more than the cost of these covers to clean.

PROS: shed-resistant, good for flat paints, excellent load capacity, fair release, long runs

CONS: spatters and lengthy to clean cover

Make no mistake. The Avalon is a great cover, it simply does not meet all criteria to get a higher rating. Are you ready to try one for under $4.00?