I was able to get 3 years out of the Warrior SI we purchased from Marina Pools. When it died earlier this year I was kicking buckets.
Given the price increases, thought we’d switch back to manual vacuuming until either something on sale came along or technology for solar advanced.
Took about a month for us to realize the robot had us spoiled and manual vacuuming was for the birds!
Decided to give the Wybot WY3312 and a Betta SE (2023) skimmer a try (both from Amazon). Betta turned out to be a good purchase! But the Wybot was disappointing.
Wybot couldn’t climb the floor to get to the walls in our deep end (around 10’), but neither could the SI (it had a remote though and we were able to steer it to clean as needed. The Wybot did not).
But the Wybot also refused to clean some of the flat (no incline) areas of the pool despite probably 15 cycles.
Add in the pain of lugging it out of the pool for recharging it every day, and there were just too many negative items to say it was worth even the low price.
After returning it to Amazon and them holding the refund hostage for 28 days I happened to notice yesterday that Leslie’s had the JCRX (made by Jacuzzi) on sale for $999 (usually $1259). Wasn’t able to find a whole lot of reviews on it outside of the Leslie’s website (only a few here) but decided to give it a try.
Put it in the pool today and first impressions:
1. Wish they had an option to purchase it without the caddy. We don’t need it and would have preferred to not spend the extra $100 on it.
2. Unboxing and setup was easy.
3. Put it in the pool and straight away it climbed the floor and wall of the deepest end of our pool!
4. Shortly after, it went to our wedding cake steps. The robot is too large to be able to effectively clean the steps, but the Warrior couldn’t even make it up the first step. The Wybot was able to get to step 2, but would get stuck and it too was too big to really clean them. The JCRX made it all the way up to the top step, then descended back down to the pool floor.
5. After about an hour of cleaning the robot stopped. Not sure why as it Should have been about 2.5 hours for the cycle.
I used the retrieval button on the base to get it to circle to the wall I wanted it to climb. It went straight to it and climbed the wall as it should have. It was relatively light weight and I pulled it out, dumped the filter basket, and put it back in. Pressed start and it’s back on its way doing its thing.
Note: if you have a need for a remote, the retrieval button on the base of the unit might suffice for you! Not the most efficient means, but if you have a difficult area or a specific spot to get, it’ll do the trick.
I prefer the collection basket over that of the Warrior. The Warrior had pleated filters and it required you to take it to the hose to get them clean. The JCRX has a mesh type filter. Once you dump it, you can dunk it in the pool and the remaining debris gathers in one area, remove it, repeat.
One BIG reason we decided to give the JCRX a chance is because if you sign up to be a Leslie’s rewards member (free) they extend to warranty on the unit for an additional year. Since I got it on sale, this makes the cost of the robot (worst case scenario) $333 per year if it only lasts 3 years. To me, that’s a price I’m willing to pay. Not sure when the sale ends, but might be worth a trip to Leslie’s or ordering online.
Wybot:
WYBOT Robotic Pool Cleaner for In...
Amazon.com
Beta Skimmer: Betta SE (2023 Model) - Solar Powered Automatic Robotic Pool Skimmer with Enhanced Core Durability and Re-Engineered Twin Salt Chlorine Tolerant Motors (White)
Amazon.com
JCRX:
https://lesliespool.com/jacuzzi-jcrx-robotic-pool-cleaner/63658.html