Aiper Scuba S1 Review

[setsailsoon]

Question for the group. Have most of you kept all the boxes that your bot came in just in case you had to return it? I have 3 big boxes for the S-1 and 2 for my Betta Plus taking uo a lot if space in my basement and the wife wants them gone. For those who had to return theirs, did you still have your original boxes to use?
I’m thinking I have to keep them until the warranty period expires.

I kept the original box. The replacement was inside an outer cardboard box that I used for the return using the old box that I had kept. Store it in attic with Christmas stuff.

Chris

 

[piezon]

I kept the original box. The replacement was inside an outer cardboard box that I used for the return using the old box that I had kept. Store it in attic with Christmas stuff.

Chris

The box is bigger than the access panel to the attic, lolol

 

[Janhillatx]

I have owned 2 Seagulls just over 2 years. We are very careful with the charging port. Regardless of our caution one post breaks at the base and renders the unit unable to recharge. A fine working unit turns worthless. The second time was just outside the warranty period. The S1 charge port appears to have a larger cover than the seagull. Moisture on these posts is not our friend. Kinda silly that the posts need to go into the water. The redesign would have made sense if the posts were in the recharge side out of water. Opportunity seemingly missed!

 

[setsailsoon]

I have owned 2 Seagulls just over 2 years. We are very careful with the charging port. Regardless of our caution one post breaks at the base and renders the unit unable to recharge. A fine working unit turns worthless. The second time was just outside the warranty period. The S1 charge port appears to have a larger cover than the seagull. Moisture on these posts is not our friend. Kinda silly that the posts need to go into the water. The redesign would have made sense if the posts were in the recharge side out of water. Opportunity seemingly missed!

On the S1 I keep a dry rag right next to the charging station at the wall receptacle to dry it off thoroughly before inserting the charger. Not sure how helpful this is but I do it anyway.

 

[Janhillatx]

On the S1 I keep a dry rag right next to the charging station at the wall receptacle to dry it off thoroughly before inserting the charger. Not sure how helpful this is but I do it anyway.

Here’s a review on S1 right on Aiper website. Have any of you S1 owners found a good work around?

“The only gripe I have is that the charge port doesn't seal properly to be 100 water tight. I had to blow water out of the charge port before connecting the charger. I'm a bit worried this might not last long if water is constantly getting into a non-waterproof area of the electronics.”

 

[grunky_peep]

Yeah when I open my charge port, I always have water pouring out lol

 

[setsailsoon]

Yep, I notice it's definitely not water tight so I keep a small rag close to the charger and dry it off well. Seems to work fine and I guess since the posts are isolated from each other water short can't happen very easily if I've dried it off. Have also thought about putting some silicone grease inside the cap.

 

[Janhillatx]

Yep, I notice it's definitely not water tight so I keep a small rag close to the charger and dry it off well. Seems to work fine and I guess since the posts are isolated from each other water short can't happen very easily if I've dried it off. Have also thought about putting some silicone grease inside the cap.

The broken charge post was located in water proof cap. Fished it out and packed it into the appropriate side of the plug leaving a small protrusion. Cleaned up corrosion around charge post stub and post that remains. Slid charger down until contact with protruding post and post stub. Unit charged! In retrospect if corrosion is observed on either charge post it should be managed. q tip and vinegar might prevent post degradation. Spraying with canned air might also help. Getting a few more runs out of unit.

 

[grunky_peep]

My Scuba Pro has started to not charge unless I plug it in and jiggle the connector a bit. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the waterproof seal on the charge port isn't waterproof at all.

 

[piezon]

Well, my bots are now sleeping in the basement for the next 6+ months. When I put them back in the pool next April, they will be a year old but will have only been in use for 4.5 months. Hoping the warranty doesn’t need to come into play in 2025.

 

[domshort]

Well another Scuba S1 death after 6 months. When I plug in, it flashed red twice and then won’t charge. Assuming a battery issue though I remove after charging and keep in the shade. Contacted Aiper and they said they want to send a refurbished replacement. Is this standard or has everyone been getting new replacements under warranty?

 

[setsailsoon]

Well another Scuba S1 death after 6 months. When I plug in, it flashed red twice and then won’t charge. Assuming a battery issue though I remove after charging and keep in the shade. Contacted Aiper and they said they want to send a refurbished replacement. Is this standard or has everyone been getting new replacements under warranty?

Mine was replaced under warranty with a new unit. I had it about 2 months. You might actually be better off since I think they have a defective seal that keeps water out of the motor. Seems to fail a lot but nowhere near all the time. When you get a rebuilt unit it would seem to me they would either test to be sure it's good or address the assembly process defect.

Chris

 

[Buggs]

Well another Scuba S1 death after 6 months. When I plug in, it flashed red twice and then won’t charge. Assuming a battery issue though I remove after charging and keep in the shade. Contacted Aiper and they said they want to send a refurbished replacement. Is this standard or has everyone been getting new replacements under warranty?

Just a quick comment regarding refurbished equipment. Earlier in my career, I was responsible for the department doing failure analysis and refurbishment of Micron Technology's computer & printer memory add-in cards and video cards. We used the F/A results to drive improvements in our production testing, but in addition, I can tell you that the refurbished units got a LOT more rigorous testing and personalized attention than the new production units going out the door. We did not want any refurbished units in particular coming back from a customer. If we could not re-create the problem and find a definite fix, the product was scrapped. The return rate for refurb product was very near zero.

I can't be sure that every company handles refurb units like we did, but I gotta admit, I am now a bit biased in favor of refurbished stuff over new.

 

[sd122]

I love my scuba s1.just ordered the surfer and I’m not completely sold. It keeps getting stuck on the Baja ledge. Always saying “failure” device is stuck.

 

[lvanpelt]

Home Depot is offering Scuba N1 for $399 currently with option for a 3 year All State warranty for $60. Is warranty worth it? What is standard Aiper warranty?

 

[setsailsoon]

Depends on what model you are buying the E1N1 only has 12 mo warranty. The S1N1 has 12 months. Not sure how much the All State is worth. A lot of those have ways of getting out of paying anything. Some are better. My way of looking at this is if I can get 3 years out of any robot that costs less than $200 per year it's worth it!

 

[Janhillatx]

Home Depot is offering Scuba N1 for $399 currently with option for a 3 year All State warranty for $60. Is warranty worth it? What is standard Aiper warranty?

I was looking at the Scuba S1 and the standard warranty is 2 years so you are adding a year for $60. I think the N1 is a S1 repackaged for retail, not sure. Given water intrusion in recharge port I would think an extra year is worth it. Depends on where exactly you get the warranty service from I suppose. Price sounds very good to me.

 

[setsailsoon]

Aiper warranty after 30 days was pretty easy. Mine was working fine but their tech support indicated I had lights that indicating it may have water intrusion. So they replaced it for free. Sent me a shipping label and let me use my unit 'till the replacement got here. No credit card needed to guarantee I'd send mine back. The whole process was via email that responded withing 24 hours. I'd prefer a person to talk to but I have to say this worked better than other warranties with a person.

Chris

 

[sinotech]

Trying an experiment. A neighbors pool got algae (pool service, will rant in another thread). Anyway been cleaning it up for him, and it’s mainly just cloudy now from the dead algae (and he has a crazy small filter). So I stuffed some Polyfill in the S1 and threw it in there. Let’s see if that helps. Might be a good way to deal with finer dirt.

Do they make pleated filters that fit the S1 for this? I'm considering purchasing, but have a lot of algae,

 

[Katodude]

The Pro has a pleated filter. However, I would go to the Algae section of this forum. The robot is not going to fix your algae problem. Algae is a chemical problem.