I have an older Dolphin Diagnostic which is on its 3rd power supply and for the aggravation of getting it to work reliably and the pain of keeping it clean (bag clogs quickly) I'm thinking it's the year to upgrade. When the Diagnostic worked consistently it worked well so I'm leaning toward the new Premier, mainly for enhanced feature set and 3-year warranty. Expensive but if it means less hassle in maintenance then I'm all for it. Am I making the right choice?
Thinking about 2016 Dolphin Premier
- Thread starter Geebot
- Start date
I have two Dolphin Diagnostics at rent houses and a Premier at my house. If you are buying the Premier just because your current unit's bag clogs too quickly, you will be very disappointed with the Premier. It works great, but I can get three times as much in the older bag models. And... it takes me twice as long to clean the cartridge-like filters as it does the bag version. You can throw the bag in the washer, something you can't do with the cartridge filters. My Premier came with three filters.. Screen, pleated filters, and a bag.
The bag is not like the older Diagnostic's heavy bag. It is thin cheap POS. It will pick up leaves and stuff but does not really filter anything. The Screens pick up stuff, but leaves any dust/fine dirt behind, but they don't pick up much at one time. The pleated filters do a great job of picking up any dust/fine dirt, but are a real pain to clean.
I love the way the Premier runs, but I really wish it had the same heavy bag system the original Dolphins had.
YMMV.. Jim R.
The bag is not like the older Diagnostic's heavy bag. It is thin cheap POS. It will pick up leaves and stuff but does not really filter anything. The Screens pick up stuff, but leaves any dust/fine dirt behind, but they don't pick up much at one time. The pleated filters do a great job of picking up any dust/fine dirt, but are a real pain to clean.
I love the way the Premier runs, but I really wish it had the same heavy bag system the original Dolphins had.
YMMV.. Jim R.
Given that my Diagnostic needs to be cleaned out after it collects a half-dozen leaves (it's showing its age) sounds like it would still be a step up. However, I'm reluctant to shell out the money for a machine that doesn't give me great performance. There are just too many models out there is no consensus whatsoever on the reviews. They're advertising a 30-day trial period for the 2016 Premier, so that might be the better option (unless I can get some reliable guidance).