Instapark Betta review

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LOL! Looks.like you have a freeloader there! Is that the Betta 2 or the original? I thought that the 2s only came in white is why I ask.
 
Well it's been 48 hours since receiving my Betta 2 and I haven't skimmed once. Surface looks better than it ever has.

We had a small storm roll through last night with the potential for hail, so I took him out of the pool beforehand and threw him in this morning. There were a fair amount of leaves and sticks in the pool, I removed the bigger ones but left the smaller ones in. Didn't seem to have any issues gobbling them up into the basket. Often small debris gets stuck on the sides of my vinyl liner which I was a bit concerned that Betta wouldn't be able to properly get, but I think the small rubber bumper wheels did their job as after a few hours I checked again and almost all were gone.

I think the biggest thing for me is the Betta's ability to pick up the very fine organic matter than you generally don't see unless you're close or swimming. Would normally spend a solid ~15min skimming with a fine mesh net in order to get the same effect.

Unless something goes horribly wrong in the next few weeks he's a keeper. Now just need to come up with a name...
 
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Can someone share why you bought one of these? I understand it's a solar powered skimmer that cruises around and sucks up surface debris, but I'm not sure about why anyone needs one of these. Does your pool not already have skimmers? Are your skimmers not effective so this augments them? Does this allow you to always run your pool pump at a low speed and thus save energy? Is it just a cool device that is actually redundant, but so what? Just curious. Thanks.
 
SDor said:
Are your skimmers not effective so this augments them? Does this allow you to always run your pool pump at a low speed and thus save energy?
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Pretty much this. These probably aren’t for everyone. In my case, my pool is surrounded by trees, an oak tree and a bunch of pine trees. The pine trees dump a ton of pine straw into my pool constantly. I can’t cut them down as they are my neighbors. Add to this I have only one skimmer, and it can’t keep up at all. Yes I can run my pump at a lower speed for longer as this takes over a lot of the skimming.
 
SDor said:
Does your pool not already have skimmers?
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Yes but only 1.
SDor said:
Are your skimmers not effective so this augments them?
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Yes, but see above.
SDor said:
Does this allow you to always run your pool pump at a low speed and thus save energy?
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Yes
SDor said:
Is it just a cool device that is actually redundant, but so what?
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I don't really consider it as redundant as you might think. By the time a lot of surface debris falls, it sinks prior to making it to the skimmer. We get some pretty high winds here in the spring and summer and it's just another line of defense. As one ad says "clean your pool from the top down". Also I travel a lot so manual skimming as an augmentation to my pool's skimmer isn't always an option.
 
SDor said:
Can someone share why you bought one of these? I understand it's a solar powered skimmer that cruises around and sucks up surface debris, but I'm not sure about why anyone needs one of these. Does your pool not already have skimmers? Are your skimmers not effective so this augments them? Does this allow you to always run your pool pump at a low speed and thus save energy? Is it just a cool device that is actually redundant, but so what? Just curious. Thanks.
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The skimmers on my pool catch a lot, but not everything and my pump doesnt run 24/7. The bot runs 24/7. The skimmers rely on either the current or the wind to push things to them, if the current is one way and the wind blows elsewhere, its not great. The robot gets everything the skimmer doesnt, it gets stuff well before its close to the skimmer, plus the super fine mesh on it catches the tiniest things
 
SDor said:
Can someone share why you bought one of these? I understand it's a solar powered skimmer that cruises around and sucks up surface debris, but I'm not sure about why anyone needs one of these. Does your pool not already have skimmers? Are your skimmers not effective so this augments them? Does this allow you to always run your pool pump at a low speed and thus save energy? Is it just a cool device that is actually redundant, but so what? Just curious. Thanks.
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Yeah only a single skimmer and return over here, and historically doesn't do a great job pulling in surface debris.
 
MiguelACA said:
The skimmers on my pool catch a lot, but not everything and my pump doesnt run 24/7. The bot runs 24/7. The skimmers rely on either the current or the wind to push things to them, if the current is one way and the wind blows elsewhere, its not great. The robot gets everything the skimmer doesnt, it gets stuff well before its close to the skimmer, plus the super fine mesh on it catches the tiniest things
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Bingo. My only skimmer is on the west side of my pool, but the prevailing winds here are westerlies :(. If I only knew. So when the wind blows Crud into my pool, at the same time it blows it away from the skimmer.
 
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SDor said:
Can someone share why you bought one of these? I understand it's a solar powered skimmer that cruises around and sucks up surface debris, but I'm not sure about why anyone needs one of these. Does your pool not already have skimmers? Are your skimmers not effective so this augments them? Does this allow you to always run your pool pump at a low speed and thus save energy? Is it just a cool device that is actually redundant, but so what? Just curious. Thanks.
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One skimmer here, a small leaf can pass 1" in front and not get sucked in. Bought a Poolskim for one of the jets that catches 500% more. Still not good if the wind is blowing the wrong way. 5 overhanging oak trees... need I say more. Manual skimming went from 15 minutes a day to 2 minutes a day with Betta2. 13 x 30 = 6+ hrs per month saved to swim, drink beer, grill steaks....
 
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SDor said:
Can someone share why you bought one of these? I understand it's a solar powered skimmer that cruises around and sucks up surface debris, but I'm not sure about why anyone needs one of these. Does your pool not already have skimmers? Are your skimmers not effective so this augments them? Does this allow you to always run your pool pump at a low speed and thus save energy? Is it just a cool device that is actually redundant, but so what? Just curious. Thanks.
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Pretty much as the rest have said...
My custom pool was built with no real attention to maintenance. Much to my annoyance! (If I ever build a pool again... I have a list of fixes.)
The wind tends to blow stuff AWAY from my skimmer to the swim step area. And we have a significant amount of particulate that blows in from cottonwood style trees/weeds. End result was wife complaining about having to skim for 15-30 minutes before she would get in...
Robot solved that nearly overnight.
 
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kadoro said:
End result was wife complaining about having to skim for 15-30 minutes before she would get in...
Robot solved that nearly overnight.
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Happy wife, happy life!

In fairness the only time I have to skim manually is when the leaves attach themselves to the sides of the pool. The Betta can't get close enough to the sides to gobble them up. And the leaves tend to stay stuck to the sides once there -- I think it has to do with surface tension or something the smart folk would know about.
 
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So I broke down and get the Betta in dark blue.
First time putting it in the pool wife ask whats that ?
New robot I replied, her giving me the look.
After it ran awhile she thought it was the best thing I have bought.
My skimmers are plumbed together and on wrong side of pool, so they do not trap much and I am always hand skimming.
The betta cleared the pool in no time, (right now i am dealing with the helicopters from the maple trees), and the cotton wood is not far behind.
 
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blazer58 said:
My skimmers are plumbed together and on wrong side of pool, so they do not trap much and I am always hand skimming.
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Makes you wonder how many pools out there don’t have adequate skimmers. These skimmer robots seem to be the cheapest workable solution to that.
 
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Orion7319 said:
Makes you wonder how many pools out there don’t have adequate skimmers. These skimmer robots seem to be the cheapest workable solution to that.
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Cheapest is a Poolskim on a downwind jet, but this is much more attractive, and easily removable.

Amazing, when I think not much is falling in the pool, and this is a normal daily haul. Texas beetle lower right.
 

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rjb1211 said:
Has anyone else run into a problem placing an order on the bettabot website?

I entered cc info and submitted the order. I immediately got a message that the credit card had been declined, and at the same time I got a message from the bank that they had declined it. I had just placed some other orders on the card without a problem so I checked its status and everything looked fine. This charge wasn't there. I just used a different card and the order went through.

I called the bank and asked why they had declined it. They told me it looked like suspicious activity. A few hours latter the card that I wound up using contacted me to make sure this purchase was legitimate. They were also flagging it as suspicious.

I hope the website hasn't been hacked or worse.
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My concern about being on a spoof website was unfounded. After I got the order to go through everything has gone smoothly. It is now out for delivery.

Something I haven't been able to find in the manual are instructions regarding using it after shocking the pool. Will high chlorine levels damage it?
 

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