recommendations: sand blasters and paint sprayers

I went looking for a sand blaster about 5 years ago and couldn't find them locally. HD, Lowes, etc didn't have them. Then I thought about Harbor Freight. I got one there for about $80 I think. I was using it on a concrete deck and it worked fine, except that it clogged occasionally. I'm pretty sure that was due to the fact that I was using playground type sand, which again, was all that I could find. Ideally you want some kind of sand that is very dry, but IDK where you find that. If you can plan ahead, buying some sand like I did and storing it someplace dry for months would probably work.

For paint spray guns, can't give you any actual experience. I looked into that a year ago and decided to buy an airless. I bought one last summer at HD for some work that later got delayed. It was a Milwaukee and they were on sale for like 50% off, think I paid like $190. It's 5/8hp. .3GPM airless and can also be used as a finish sprayer, 2 yr warranty. I checked out the reviews and they were pretty good, a lot of people liked it. One draw back to be aware of is that you can't use an extension wand with it. That can be a big issue if you need to use a wand, but for what I was using it for, I could work around it. If you want one for more than occasional use, I'd get a Graco, which is what pros use, a tougher unit, etc.