I am quite happy that I made this purchase. I am working on a fairly large-scale project of decorating a white cotton dress entirely with fabric markers. My design has some large expanses of yellow and blue, which I was not really looking forward to doing completely by hand. I saw a commercial for this airbrush and thought "there's my solution!" It took me a few tries to really get the hang of using it, but now it's smooth sailing and I'm grateful for the time that's been saved as a result. The brush is really easy to control and the stream of color stops on a dime. At first I was covering up all of the preexisting drawings with painter's tape, but I figured out that that wasn't really necessary, as I could use the airbrush right up to where the drawings start and not worry about bleeding. The only problem (which was my own fault for not reading closely enough) is that the airbrush only works with broadline markers -- so my fine point fabric markers don't fit. But a few packs of the Crayola Bright Fabric Broadline Markers took care of that oversight. I think that I probably spend more time pumping up the airbrush than I do actually coloring with it, which is not a huge deal. Kids might get frustrated by how quickly it loses pressure though. It does tear through ink pretty quickly, but at least with the Bright Fabric markers, I've found that even once they no longer really work in the airbrush, they still have enough ink left for a good amount of hand drawing. So don't throw them out right away!

I had been hesitant to buy this because of the wide differences in reviews. My in-laws actually ended up getting it for my 10 year-old daughter for her birthday. Initially, we had the same issue as some of the poor reviews - couldn't get the spray to come out with any flow. My daughter's pumping wasn't very fast so I pumped it for her and then checked how the marker was seated. You have to push the marker pretty hard and twist a little to get it well seated in the sprayer but then it worked beautifully. With a good initial compression in the chamber by an adult and good seating of the markers in the sprayer, it works as advertised. My daughter had fun with it camping. As with all of these types of toys she tends to lose interest after a week or so. She liked it well enough though that when a friend's birthday came up a few weeks later, we got one for her friend.

Just purchased it for my kids (ages 4.5 and 6). They love it. I think it could use some improvements It seems to make a mess but I expect all art projects with my kids to be messy and the markers are washable so everything cleans up quickly.

Pros:

1 - Does not need any batteries
2 - Kids really enjoy playing with this
3 - Works with all Crayola markers not only the markers included

Cons:

1 - Needs a lot of pumping for a short amount of spray. But my kids don't seem to mind.
2 - Its a little tricky to find the perfect position for the marker so that it sprays correctly. It needs to be in just far enough but not too far.
3 - I was a bit disappointed in the cardboard stencils. I was expecting better quality plastic stencils.

I would have given this three stars but since my kids seem to really enjoy this and they don't seem bothered by the cons at all, I am rating this 4 stars.

My husband thought my daughter and I had lost our mind. This product sounds like a huge 'problem' in the hands of busy 5 yr old boy. I had read reviews that claimed the mess was minimal. It isn't like the little guy can help himself to using it any time he wants. My daughter took time punching out the stencils included and covering as much as she could with plastic and newspaper. I guess it was impressive how little mess there was, all the mess was on one hand the boy chose to paint as soon as his Mom's back was turned. Thank goodness for washable markers. I guess there are quite a few markers included as well as a compatible markers list. My grandson had a lot of fun making up his creative stories in air brush while his Mom prefers to play with the stencils. It was packaged well and arrived in good time

This toy used to be amazing. I actually have 2 that I got a few years back. My other grandson is in love with it and I decided to get one for him. They changed the tip on the nozzle and well it does work, but it doesnt spray anywhere near as good as it used to with the older models.

I ended up contacting crayola, returning it because I thought mine was defective and I got a new one that did the same thing. Meaning not spray good. While this toy shipped on time in proper condition, the toy really stinks. Its a shame, it used to be so good. Beware, cause your going to be thinking, why isn't this thing spraying good? Ummm, thats just it lol