Oly
Gold Supporter
Testing for chlorine from an underground leak is a plumber's diagnostic tool. I learned this last week in a mountain cabin tract.
New EVO 614i Robot Pool Cleaner Review
- Thread starter Jimrahbe
- Start date
Matt,
I never tested it, but it appears to be clear...
I really should capture it and use it to water my plants. But, I'm lazy and water is not a problem here.
Thanks,
Jim R.
I never tested it, but it appears to be clear...
I really should capture it and use it to water my plants. But, I'm lazy and water is not a problem here.
Thanks,
Jim R.
- May 23, 2015
- 25,693
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Hahah.
Yeah, as a desert dweller, when I hear about magical underground springs of water, I’m thinking “That’s liquid GOLD!!”
Considering the shallowest water well around here is around 250ft down, your magical spring water would be considered a miracle.
As promised, they have updated the EVO app and I got to try it out today.
At first it would not work for me and then I found out you can't just update the app, you have to delete the original app and then download the new app. How do they expect people to know that???
The new app allows you drive the robot around and it allows you to tell it to drive to a wall and come up so you can take it out of the pool.
And just like all the other robots that you can drive, there is huge amount of latency in the system so it is like controlling something in the future.
If you want it to stop doing what it is doing, you need to tell it to stop about 10 seconds before you really want it to stop.
The jump out of the water option is kind of cool, but let's be real. It takes me about half as much time to pull it across the pool by the cable and then bend down and pick it up.
Unless there was a weekly timer on the app, I would not waste the extra bucks for something that you are likely only going to use the day you open the box.
Keep in mind that I normally buy the robots that do not have the extra options.. I just want them to clean, I do not want to play with them. If you are into more techie stuff, then it might be worth it for you.
Thanks,
Jim R.
At first it would not work for me and then I found out you can't just update the app, you have to delete the original app and then download the new app. How do they expect people to know that???
The new app allows you drive the robot around and it allows you to tell it to drive to a wall and come up so you can take it out of the pool.
And just like all the other robots that you can drive, there is huge amount of latency in the system so it is like controlling something in the future.
If you want it to stop doing what it is doing, you need to tell it to stop about 10 seconds before you really want it to stop.
The jump out of the water option is kind of cool, but let's be real. It takes me about half as much time to pull it across the pool by the cable and then bend down and pick it up.
Unless there was a weekly timer on the app, I would not waste the extra bucks for something that you are likely only going to use the day you open the box.
Keep in mind that I normally buy the robots that do not have the extra options.. I just want them to clean, I do not want to play with them. If you are into more techie stuff, then it might be worth it for you.
Thanks,
Jim R.
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Thanks for the update Jim!
Does it send a notification when the cleaning cycle is done, and give the option to "jump out" at the end of a cycle? I want to say the Liberty or one of the other cordless have this "come get me" function, which seems like a practical way to reduce the wear and tear of reeling it in by it's cord.
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I'm literally typing this from the after life. I lol'd so hard that my ribs went to orbit.
Z,
Even before the latest app upgrade it would notify me that the robot had completed its cycle.
It obviously will not actually jump out of the pool, but it does let you turn the robot to face the wall you want, and then it will drive over to the wall and climb to the top and sit there, like it was cleaning the water line tile. This lets you bend down and pull it out of the pool.
It is just something I will never use..
Thanks,
Jim R.
Really interested to see the workings of this cleaner. Interested because I have become a whizz at replacing S200 drive gear parts.
TMI warning: Although I am on pool #3 of as we had one built in every house we've been in, on the current one I (stupidly) went with the "natural" look with sort of a flagstone coping and similar natural looking rocks for a waterfall - basically a sandstone I have come to find out. The problem is that in the 20+ years here, is that these natural rocks naturally erode like crazy which results in sand - lots and lots of sand and grit like material the robot has to deal with. You are lucky if you don't ever have to deal with this as this causes a Maytronics to wear-out the two white nylon gears and the main drive wheel and bearing in a month or less where they won't drive the robot any more due to gear slippage. I just had to change the motor drive gear, the brush drive gear, and wheel bearing, and RF wheel yesterday.
Next pool will be bullnose brick coping and a waterfall of granite or similar.
The good thing is that these S200 parts are a) reasonably available b) cheap-ish and c) easy to replace. Marina is on speed dial.
While I am still not a fan of having to do this, I will be interested in seeing how this is handled on the EVO. Marina has no parts resources online for the EVO and the mfg site shows no parts manual either.
TMI warning: Although I am on pool #3 of as we had one built in every house we've been in, on the current one I (stupidly) went with the "natural" look with sort of a flagstone coping and similar natural looking rocks for a waterfall - basically a sandstone I have come to find out. The problem is that in the 20+ years here, is that these natural rocks naturally erode like crazy which results in sand - lots and lots of sand and grit like material the robot has to deal with. You are lucky if you don't ever have to deal with this as this causes a Maytronics to wear-out the two white nylon gears and the main drive wheel and bearing in a month or less where they won't drive the robot any more due to gear slippage. I just had to change the motor drive gear, the brush drive gear, and wheel bearing, and RF wheel yesterday.
Next pool will be bullnose brick coping and a waterfall of granite or similar.
The good thing is that these S200 parts are a) reasonably available b) cheap-ish and c) easy to replace. Marina is on speed dial.
While I am still not a fan of having to do this, I will be interested in seeing how this is handled on the EVO. Marina has no parts resources online for the EVO and the mfg site shows no parts manual either.
Last edited:
- May 23, 2015
- 25,693
- Pool Size
- 16000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Hi Jim. I know it's only been about a week since your last update, but are you still feeling the same way about the 614i? Our 5yo S300i seems to have bit the dust over the weekend and I'm mulling our options...
entropic
I really like it so far, but the main turn-off for many users will be the lack of a weekly timer. If you normally used the Dolphin's weekly timer, that is not even an option for the EVO.
The unknown Lifespan, is another issue, but I can't see into the future..
At this moment in time, I'd but the 604, which is the same robot without the WiFi. If they added a weekly timer to the app, then I would recommend the 614i.
Every time I clean the EVO's screen filter, it makes me smile.. It is so much quicker than the pleated filter my dolphin's have. I had 'assumed' that I would not like the screen filter, but I was wrong.. (Again!!
)Thanks,
Jim R.
Thanks Jim! Much appreciated. I do use the weekly scheduling feature of my current unit, sometimes, but I don't think it's a must-have for me. It's funny that it's not there.
E,
It is not funny, is plain stupid.. I can see Marketing and Engineering discussing the issue.
Marketing says, "Hey engineering, what can we do to reduce our EVO sales by about 75%??" Engineering replies, "Well, we could just do away with our weekly timer as we hear that no one uses it anyway."
Sigh!!!!
Jim R.
Have you come across a mechanism for owners to request features? Given that it sounds like they continue to roll out functionality to the app, I would think that's something that can be software-controlled. Side question - do they have a blog or something where they discuss future releases? Where were you able to hear about the feature for pulling it from the water? Marina?
Z,
Everything I know, or don't know, about the EVO, came from Marina... I have not tried to look anywhere else.
The robot works fine for me, so I'm not too concerned about the timer, except that I suspect many TFP members would be.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Everything I know, or don't know, about the EVO, came from Marina... I have not tried to look anywhere else.
The robot works fine for me, so I'm not too concerned about the timer, except that I suspect many TFP members would be.
Thanks,
Jim R.
Oly
Gold Supporter
I have no need for a robot timer. The one button works fine.
A pleated filter in a robot is a must have for me and having the only option a screen filter is a hard no sale. There is a reason pool filters don't use just a fine screen filter. Would it be slightly quicker to clean, sure because all the fines and dust are still on the pool bottom building up.
I'm thinking of sprinkling in a tiny bit of DE into my S200 pleated filters after the next time we get a big wind storm during almond harvest.
A pleated filter in a robot is a must have for me and having the only option a screen filter is a hard no sale. There is a reason pool filters don't use just a fine screen filter. Would it be slightly quicker to clean, sure because all the fines and dust are still on the pool bottom building up.
I'm thinking of sprinkling in a tiny bit of DE into my S200 pleated filters after the next time we get a big wind storm during almond harvest.
Saturn94
Bronze Supporter
- Mar 11, 2015
- 1,864
- Pool Size
- 20000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Hayward Aqua Rite (T-15)
BMeeley
Bronze Supporter
Just ordered my 614iq from Margaret at Marina. She's terrific and helpful. $150 less into Bezos' pocket. Thanks to Jim and the TFP community for the usual robust and insightful discussion. My 6+ year old Doheny's Discovery powered by Dolphin gave up the ghost (and I'm a DIY-er but not interested in a resurrection in this case).