Dolphin Active 30i review

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How is the Active 30 / Active 30i / Active S300 / Quantum / XXXXXXX / XXXXXX2 / ad infinitum / etc with respect to getting stuck on drains? I nearly bought a Triton Plus, but some people say it gets stuck on drains. The design of the Active *30* led me to believe that I would not have to worry about my drains.

I'm not worried about losing money, since I'd be able to return it (believe me). I just don't want to deal with the hassle of having to.
 
tempestuous said:
How is the Active 30 / Active 30i / Active S300 / Quantum / XXXXXXX / XXXXXX2 / ad infinitum / etc with respect to getting stuck on drains? I nearly bought a Triton Plus, but some people say it gets stuck on drains. The design of the Active *30* led me to believe that I would not have to worry about my drains.

I'm not worried about losing money, since I'd be able to return it (believe me). I just don't want to deal with the hassle of having to.
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Mine doesn't get stuck on my drain. I could see it getting stuck on one high enough though.
 
I have had an active 30i for about a month now, It is my first and only robot that I have ever had or had access to, so I can not compare it to anything but manual vacuuming. However, it does not live up to the claims of the company and customer support is very poor. First of all the cord tangles all the time I untangle it before I put it in the pool and the cord will lay there without ant twists, once through the cycle 3-4 twists in the cord. twice through the cycle 10 or more twists. It does not clean the entire pool on 1 cycle, 2 cycles I have not seen it miss any dirt on bottom. So what I usually do is run pump 8 hours during the day, then start the cleaner before I go to bed and have it on a timer to start at 4:00 am but many times the timer turns off and I have to manually start it. If I am not swimming a day I leave it in pool as I assumed (may be a poor assumption) it was made to stay in water since it has a 7 day timer even if the timer is pretty useless. the bluetooth has difficulty connecting on a consistent bases even though I am standing next to it and if I leave the pump shed where the electrical outlet is and go the nearest edge of pool, bluetooth disconnects. So remote control of robot is useless to me. I used to untangle the cord and starting at base run the cord through my index and thumb untwisting the cord but the turning of the cord started to chaff the plastic buld near the end of the cord that plugs into power pack twisting on the concrete. I put electrical tape around it to protect from further damage and now I place robot on diving board and while holding the other end in my hand and slightly stretch it out across the pool to untwist the cord, works fairly well but this thing needs a swivel. I do not run it any more with pump on because it hangs up on bottom drain and can not free itself even when I use the bottom drain turn off ( but it does not shut the suction off completely secondary to the Hayward system used to build my pool) with pump off I have seen it hang up but usual frees itself after a few minutes. not crazy about this because it sits there and runs and I am afraid that it may prematurely where out the liner but I have not found a bottom drain that I know will not do this. Customer service said they know of problem and I should get and aftermarket drain cover that will not do this, but they do not provide that or any modification to this unit. I have seen this unit use the bottom jet to actual pick itself off the floor to turn on a dime, I do not know why it could not be programmed to do this when it senses no movement. Also I wish time could be programmed to start multiple times per day. I feel many of these problems could be fixed with upgraded software but company does not seem interested yet. Also it should also have WiFi so you could remotely program away from pool, and in my case poolside. also cord a little short for my my 40' long pool since it plugs in 10 ' away from pool edge. It does not climb my steps so I do brush them. I have seen it sit upright as pictured in posts above, but after a few minutes it moves itself with the jets and I have never found it stuck in that position. I have also seen it flip onto its back and I waited a few minutes to see if it would upright itself it did not so I did. But I never found it upside down at the end of a cycle so I assume (and we all know what happens when I assume) if it ever did that again it up-righted itself. I see scuff marks on side and top of cover and can only assume it is from trying to clean around ladder. When it gets to the top of water line it only goes laterally for 3-4 feet then down again but I figured that was programming as it needs to do all the sidewalls, not just at the water line, so to do that it should get the entire water line eventually. I do not have a ring or stain at the waterline so I do not know how well it is cleaning sides. Now with all the negatives, I would buy a robot again as it beats manual vacuuming and does a better job than I would ever do. The question is which model would I buy? But without trying them I do not know. Overall this has the potential to be a great unit if company would take time to do a good program and have a decent wifi card in it. the unit could be updated through bluetooth, and by the from a review of the Active 30 it has the bluetooth in it the company chooses to just not allow it to be used, which means it is not cost related but marketing related which does not endear me to Maytronics but they are the big boy on the block, but when decent competition comes along I will have no loyalty to them.
 
tempestuous said:
Awww... So cute! It's taking a widdle nap.

I came across this during my season in h*** (read: robotic pool cleaner purchase research). I was leaning towards a Dolphin Quantum which is the latest iteration of the Active 30 (I guess) but there are no reviews to be found, and they do not make clear what has changed, other than the name and colors.

They state on the main page that the Quantum's cycle time is 2 hours, yet on the specifications page, they say it's 2.5 hours. Bluetooth support is not mentioned at all, so maybe they've removed that feature. No remote or caddy is mentioned, either.

Today I received and tried a Hayward TigerShark QC, and found it gets caught on my drains both with and without that little plastic piece they give you to snap on underneath to increase suction. That piece of junk is going back.

I have no idea what to do at this point, and I'm tired of the marketing games and confusion.
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I think the Quantum is yet another version of S 200/ Active 20 / Doheny Discovery and now Quantum. If you compare the features with any of those models, you will see they are similar.
 
Pool Amateur have you laid the cord out in the sun? Once it warms you can run it through your hand and straighten it out nicely. Maytronics suggests that you do it every few weeks.

I don't have a tangling issue with mine since doing that a few times.

Also, have you tried force closing the app in the background before starting the app? I have found that it will connect quickly if I do that.
 
Hi Chrissykr, Thanks for the tip, I have never laid it out in the sun to warm, but used to take the twists out of the cord by hand until I found it scraped the bulb near the end of the cord, so I wrapped the bulb in electrical tape to protect it and stopped doing it that way. And I can get the twists out of the line so when I put it in the pool the cord does not twist on itself but as I run it through cycles the twists come back. All this trouble could be avoided with a swivel similar to other high end dolphin cleaners.

Also in my review I said:
I have also seen it flip onto its back and I waited a few minutes to see if it would upright itself it did not so I did. But I never found it upside down at the end of a cycle so I assume (and we all know what happens when I assume) if it ever did that again it up-righted itself.
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Yesterday I let a friend, who is in the market for a cleaner, use it. We set it up turned it on and when we returned 2 hours later the cycle was done and it was on it's back. we started it up again and watched it for a while and it went on its back 3 times and would not upright itself. So I assume if it goes on its back it will not upright itself. His pool is a plaster free form pool with many curves and a few shelf seats. 2 of the times it fell backward is when it went up the side to the shelf it did not make the 90 degree turn onto the shelf and fell backward onto it's back. Hence he will be looking at a different model.
 
The cord swivel on the older M4 and M5 Dolphins is an outstanding feature which effectively prevents cord tangling. I assume they have eliminated it on the newer models to cut costs. Sounds like that may not have been such a hot idea as cord tangling is a major pita.
 
I've only recently received my S300i and on the first cycle it got stuck on the drain and the wedding cake steps. However, both times it figured it out and corrected itself within 20 seconds or so. In subsequent uses I've just set the cycle and walked away. In all cases it completed the cycle without issue and I saw no evidence of cord tangling.

I strongly recommend what others have said about winding the cord when done. As simple as it seems, unplug the cord from the power supply and gently loop. I can't imagine it makes that much difference but I start the cycle with the caddy near the shallow end. The cord is unwound on the patio and it takes the slack as it makes its way to the deep end.

I really like the S300i so far.
 
Here is a picture of the cord before I start.


Here is a picture of cord after 1 cycle, If I run multi cycles without untangling cord it get much worse.



Hopefully you can see cord in pool, after it twists when it goes toward the steps which is farthest from where it is plugged in, it seems to pull on the cord as it is twisted and alters the course of the unit. Maybe I have a defective one thinking of taking it back to see if they have any idea.
 
I used mine again and one part of the cord did get a twist in it like your picture. Fortunately for me there is still plenty of slack available despite the twist and it didn't affect the overall cleaning cycle. It will be something I start watching a bit closer but so far it isn't an issue. I'm still able to easily wrap it (slowly) after the cycle is complete.

I'm pretty sure it's going to get temporarily stuck on my walk-in steps each cycle; it has occurred each time I've watched it but it has righted itself in every case. It has yet to need rescuing.
 

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I bought a 300i last week and we've used it 3 times so far. The cord wrapping is a minor pain, sort of like dealing with a garden hose. I haven't seen it tangle while in use yet though. I'll keep any eye out for that.

Haven't found it upside down or stuck anywhere yet. It initially got stuck on the drain with 10 minutes during the first use, and after seeing that, I decided it might be better to run it with the pump/filter off. It seems like the ongoing suction and water movement could possibly affect its ability to climb the wall near a return or navigate a drain, and it might even affect the robot's trajectory or the movement of the cord. It did a really nice job cleaning the floor and surprisingly did well on the liner seams where we usually have silt build-up. The basket is very easy to clean. I like it so far. It fits in nicely in my yard . . . the first time we used it, a bird pooped on the power supply so it would feel at home with everything else out there.
 
cbb77 said:
Just picked up the Dolphin Active 30i which is a new model for this year. It is the equivalent of the S300i model but just rebranded for different market, so I am told. Anyway, got an amazing deal that I couldn't pass up ($995).
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What is the name of the store you bought it from?

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syntax53 said:
Just picked up an Active 30i myself. I got it for $795 through a distributor. Friend of a friend deal.
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Does the distributor sell direct to customer? Obviously not at the friend price.
 
That is a really great price for an Active 30i. Thank you Steve for posting that information! I just ordered one from Margaret. She also has equally good pricing on the Active 30 and Active 20.
 
I just bought a Pentair Prowler 920 today (same as Active 20). Got what I thought was a good price but I'm guessing yours is better :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Wow. I paid $100 more locally for the Pentair. I actually prefer the aesthetics of the 920, but I love saving money!

That being said, its maiden voyage was unbelievable! I can't believe how much it picked up!
522ae5775d3373063954fa6ca8fdb084.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

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