Active 30i vs Warrior SE

[Rodex]

Hey all - I took the advice to call Marina and they’ve been helpful, but I’m still undecided. Do those of you that have the Active 30i actually use the caddy, remote, and control features? It’s about $300 difference. I see some posts hinting that they are not useful after the initial novelty, and others that love their Active 30i (and one that hated it ). Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Rod,

I have the S200 because I have no use for the caddy or all the bells and whistles that the more expensive units have.. They will not make it clean better..

I keep my robot either in the pool or sitting on the pool deck under the eve of my roof.. I have my power supply mounted off the ground and against a wall, also under the eve of the house.

That said it depends on you, your pool, and how you plan to use it.. As an example.. If you wanted to put your robot away in say a garage, and only use it every few days, than a caddy would be a good investment. No matter where you store it, if you have to continually move it back and forth, then I would buy the caddy.

Some "extra" features can only be used if you have a remote.. I have no use for them, but others do.

There is no right answer here..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[omayhemo]

I can't imagine why anyone would hate the A30i. As for the caddy, I find it necessary. I like to remove mine from the water between uses, I keep the power supply mounted to the caddy and plug in as needed. I was mounting the power supply to a wall and leaving it always on, but I found it dropped wifi frequently and needed reboot anyway. I didn't get any remote with mine, instead there's a mobile app that works ok. I've controlled the bot several times directly to focus on spot cleaning. I'm very happy with mine.

 

[Rodex]

Thanks for the opinions. @Jimrahbe I have a GFI outlet under an awning about 30 feet away from the farthest edge of my pool, and I would definitely keep the robot in the pool or very close if that is an option. I would probably just mount the power supply on the side of the house if it can stand to get a little wet, or I can run it to my covered patio which isn’t that much farther from the pool.
@omayhemo I probably would use the spot clean function, if that’s only available on the A30i and not the A30 (-$100) or Warrior SI (-$250).
Sounds like the caddy might not be super helpful for me but the A30i comes with it...

 

[dschlic1]

I have the A30i also. I use both the caddy and the phone app to select different cleaning cycles and cycle times depending on pool condition. For example last weekend we pulled the covers off of the pool for the first time in several months. Lots of dirt and leaves. So I set it for a deep cleaning cycle with a 2.5 hour cycle time. I also occasionally set it to do the walls only to give them some extra attention.

 

[Rodex]

Update: Marina was great, as everyone already knows, super friendly folks. Opted for the A30i. The bottom and sides of the pool definitely seem to be much cleaner than I could ever get them, even when I was spending an hour vacuuming and brushing. The app isn’t great but isn’t as bad as some others have mentioned - mostly we have issues logging in. It doesn’t do much for the stairs - I’ve noticed that it starts to climb them and then decides to turn around, or sometimes it’ll just flip over instead of getting on the step. Might just be an effect of the size of the steps? We have had to untangle the cable every now and then, but I was expecting that and it hasn’t been all that often. So overall I am pretty happy with it and has already saved me a ton of time. Now for the SWG

 

[omayhemo]

Now for the SWG

You and me both. Regret not getting it when the pool was built.

 

[Rodex]

You and me both. Regret not getting it when the pool was built.

Our pool has some sort of flagstone all the way around and these mossy boulders around the waterfall. Hoping I can find someone with similar stones to see if SWG caused issues. Searching this forum, seems like there are plenty of folks who were told they were going to have issues but didn’t. So that got me pumped!

 

[Rodex]

Lately it seems like the robot’s cable is getting twisted every time it runs, which prevents it from cleaning about half the pool. Anyone else seeing that issue?

I specifically asked Marina about it when I bought it but they said the issue had been resolved for a while now with the addition of the piece that allows the cable to rotate.

 

[mknauss]

The cable on my Active20 (with swivel) still gets twisted, but not to the point it restricts movement. The swivel does move once enough force is applied. After every run, I gently pull on the cord to make the twists come out via the swivel.

There are threads here on the forum about disassembling the swivel and lubricating it. Do at your own risk but other members have done it.

 

[Rodex]

The cable on my Active20 (with swivel) still gets twisted, but not to the point it restricts movement. The swivel does move once enough force is applied. After every run, I gently pull on the cord to make the twists come out via the swivel.

There are threads here on the forum about disassembling the swivel and lubricating it. Do at your own risk but other members have done it.

Gotcha. I don’t think I’ll go to the extent of disassembling quite yet. I’ve been untangling it every other run, maybe if I keep up with it a bit more it’ll be a little less stiff and prone to the tangles. Thanks!

 

[bmoreswim]

My Active 20 with no swivel comes out of the pool after use. But when I do run it on several back to back runs, it lasts about 3 times before it's got a lot of twists.

 

[imrodee]

Our pool has some sort of flagstone all the way around and these mossy boulders around the waterfall. Hoping I can find someone with similar stones to see if SWG caused issues. Searching this forum, seems like there are plenty of folks who were told they were going to have issues but didn’t. So that got me pumped!

We have flagstone around the pool, rock waterfall from the spa and the grotto is made up of moldy boulders. When I used the SWG I didn't have any problems with the stone or rocks. However, the underside of the grotto roof had some shedding (shale like pieces). It doesn't get wet unless it gets splashed on, and I can't say it's from the salt. I heard you can put a sealer on the stones - we never did that. We were told we could have issues, but we haven't noticed any.

Good luck!!

 

[imrodee]

My Active 20 with no swivel comes out of the pool after use. But when I do run it on several back to back runs, it lasts about 3 times before it's got a lot of twists.

Before I drop mine in the water I unroll the umbilical cord across the deck. So far it hasn't twisted up. Maybe try that..?

 

[bmoreswim]

I feel pretty comfortable that there aren’t many or any twists on it when it gets deployed. Does your robot remain tangle free after multiple runs without removing?

 

[imrodee]

My Active 20 with no swivel comes out of the pool after use. But when I do run it on several back to back runs, it lasts about 3 times before it's got a lot of twists.

Before I drop mine in the water I unroll the umbilical cord across the deck. So far it hasn't twisted up. Maybe try that..?

I feel pretty comfortable that there aren’t many or any twists on it when it gets deployed. Does your robot remain tangle free after multiple runs without removing?

So far, I haven’t had any problems with the cord getting tangled.

 

[Rodex]

I’ve been leaving mine in the water, so not a lot of opportunities to untangle unless I think about it

 

[imrodee]

Do you run your robot every day?

 

[Rodex]

Do you run your robot every day?

Every other day right now, we are getting lots of those pollen clusters dropping from the oak.

 

[Rodex]

I feel pretty comfortable that there aren’t many or any twists on it when it gets deployed. Does your robot remain tangle free after multiple runs without removing?

This has become pretty untenable lately. The robot can barely reach a quarter of my pool because of how bad the tangles are. I untwist it all the time but the jacket has memory and tangles back within an hour. I can see stress marks forming in the jacket as well, which coke right before cracks. Maybe it is a while off, who knows, but it doesn’t look good.
Pretty expensive robot for not a great result.