Yes you do have to break down the gun to clean, but you are only looking an half a dozen parts at most and none so small that they are unmanageable. Additionally spraying them off with a hose or the sprayer in your sink makes clean up easy enough. The buy in for a cheap gun is 20 bucks or less, half the price of the critter, and if you are just learning or not a regular sprayer, then the price is right. I have never had an issue with leaking from a poor seal on any of these guns, however they have only seen light use. I have used a sprayer similar to the critter at a community center with a sp