Seeking opinions on the best inground auto pool cleaner

[raebrown63]

I live in AZ and have a salt water, inground 20,000 gallon pebbletec pool with a pop-up in-floor cleaning sytem. Shallow end is 3' and deep end is 6 1/2'. I've NEVER been happy with the in-floor system because it just pushes the dirt and leaves to the shallow end of the pool regardless of how often I brush it to the drains.

I'm going to supplement the in-floor system with an automatic pool cleaner - my thoughts are to run this once a week to get the weekly dirts and leaves (there aren't many leaves) out and the in-floor system can take care of the rest of the week.

My pool guy is pushing the Navigator Pro, but I keep reading it has repair issues after about 2 years. Also, I want something that's going to easily maneuver the steps and possibly get the walls as well.

Suggestions?

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Does yours push it all to one place, or over a wide area? One thing I've considered doing (but so far haven't) is just letting the in-floor system push everything to one area then vacuum it up manually every once in a while. Mine just gets pushed into a couple piles here and there, always in the same couple spots.

 

[raebrown63]

The dirt is evenly distributed over the entire shallow end (1st 1/3 of the pool). It's the same every day and it looks like I never sweep the shallow end but the deep end looks fine. Even when I brush the pool every day, it's there. Part of the problem is that the dirt gets stirred up while brushing and when it settles the pop-ups push it back to where it started. Running an automatic pool cleaner once a week will remove the dirt rather than stir it up. That should eliminate the issue of where the pop-ups push things.

Just need to get the right automatic cleaner - too many on the market and I don't know what I need.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Another question: are you sure the system is working correctly? Does it cycle through all the zones, and all of the heads pop up and go down each time? I only get a thin layer if there's an area where a head is jammed.

 

[raebrown63]

Very good question - I maintain my own pool, but have a professional come once per year to do a thorough inspection and change out the gaskets, etc. He also does any major repairs so he's familiar with my pool. He was the first person to suggest I "supplement" the pop-ups because they are cycling and working correctly, but not doing the job.

That was last year and I spent the next 12 months trying to work around his suggestion and talking to other people. My conclusion is that I'm going to suck it up and get the auto cleaner because I'm sick of the pool looking crappy even though I'm brushng it constantly.