After my Dolphin S300i died and after looking into many different replacement options, I decided to risk a newcomer with promising features - the Seauto Shark. I communicated a couple of times with their support contact via email and received response within 24 hours each time so I was encouraged. Here's my review...
Friday, 9/1: I received, unboxed, and charged the Shark. It was triple boxed with robust packaging. All parts were in the box and no shipping damage. Charging went well - it was cute how the robot talks. So far there's a lot to like about this unit... good looks and seemingly solid construction, and I was excited about having a unit with brushless motors. I downloaded the app and was underwhelmed (crashed a couple of times and lost connection easily), though it did successfully update the robot firmware and I wouldn't need it for much else. The app does not have the ability to navigate - you can only select the cleaning modes which is easily done on the Shark itself.
Saturday, 9/2: There are four cleaning modes to choose from: Waterline only, Walls only, Floor only, or All-Cover. The maiden voyage was yesterday morning and I chose the All-Cover mode. To my surprise, the All-Cover mode was simply a successive running of the other three modes. So it cleaned the waterline first for about 30-40 minutes, then the sides for about 30-40 minutes, then the floor for the remaining 100-120 minutes. It was a three hour cycle overall.
Unlike my previous Dolphin S300i, the Shark actually does work it's way around the pool cleaning the waterline - fun to watch! There are two thruster impellers on the top and when one switches off, the unit moves the opposite direction. After Waterline mode, it went into Wall mode and did a respectable job moving twice around the pool. It stuggled a bit in the corners and with other irregularities like the sitting shelf in our deep end, but again it was better than the Dolphin did. The ability to turn in place by opposing rotation of the tracks is a major plus. So far I liked what I saw and was impressed with the design! My Dolphin was helter-skelter around the pool in seemingly random directions. The Shark had deliberate patterns and was able to maneuver somewhat methodically.
Next came the Floor only mode which started about halfway down the slope to my deep end. In no time the Shark was in the deep end cleaning away. As it touched a side wall it stopped, reversed, and went a new direction. Unfortunately, this is where the navigation story ends. The Shark never made it out of the deep end
. Every time it approached and touched the upward slope towards the shallow end, it stopped and reversed. My hypothesis is that the angle sensitivity for Floor only mode is too low and it thought the slope was a wall. I watched it for almost an hour do the same thing over and over again.
After it finished, I used the provided hook to fish it out of the deep end. It wasn't difficult, but I quickly noticed some dirt/debris escaping the unit as I lifted it out of the water. Not a ton escaped but it was dissappointing nonetheless. Upon examination, I believe the flap design in the bottom of the basket is prone to getting build up of debris and then not closing fully to block backflow of debris. As you can see in this photo, it looks like the flap and water flow pushes debris to one side of the basket where it builds up. On the plus side the robot was super great at cleaning the areas it hit! It got a lot of junk I didn't even know was down there (we've been without a cleaner for over a week). The basket screen feels a bit flimsy but did it's job. It also comes with a sponge-like "deep clean" insert for the basket which I haven't tested.
I documented the issues in an email and sent it off yesterday to Seauto support. My hope was that the Floor mode navigation issue could be quickly addressed with a firmware update. The basket flap design is unfortunate, but I decided to wait and see if it gets worse. Then I plugged in the Shark to charge again.
Sunday, 9/3: I decided to run the Shark again in Floor only mode to test the deep clean filter insert and see if it would stay in the shallow end for a while. To my extreme shock and surprise...
my brand new Shark would not turn on - it's DEAD!! 
It's a brick. I thought maybe it didn't charge properly yesterday so I plugged it in again. Nope! No lights, no cute voice, not charging, nada, zilch. Dead.
I sent a follow up email to Seauto support today informing them of the situation. I expect I'll see a reply tomorrow. However, after reading some of the one and two star reviews of the Shark on Amazon which describe slightly different, but still troubling electrical and firmware issues, I'm inclined to call this a failed experiment. Even if they send me a new unit, I'm now nervous they have underlying/unresolved quality issues. I don't mind being a beta tester if the unit is free but not if I'm paying. It seems they should have done a bit more testing before releasing this for sale.
In closing, this Seauto Shark unit actually gives me hope that manufacturers can build good features into a robot. I was excited yesterday, and then dissappointed today. I'll post a follow up if there are any new revelations but as it is now, I'm sending this one back.
seautorobots.com
