About a month ago I needed a new robot pool cleaner and I contacted Margaret at Marina Pool and Spa. My initial goal was to buy another S200 "style" robot as I have been happy with them so far.
Margaret suggested that I might want to look at a new line of robot cleaners that Marina is now carrying, the Aqua Products EVO. I was intrigued and so I opted for the EVO instead of the Dolphin robot. I have been using the EVO for about a month now and here are my initial thoughts...
The New Robot in Town
I recently had the opportunity to use an AQUA Products EVO 614i Robot Cleaner. It looks like they are under the Zodiac Pool system brand.
I have been a faithful Dolphin robot user from many years, but I thought I’d give the EVO a chance to show me what it’s got.
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On the surface it appears that both the EVO and the Dolphin S200 are about equally matched. In this initial review, I point out some of the notable differences. Not really a good and bad situation, just where I noticed different engineering.
1. Dual Drive motors. The EVO has a left and right drive motor. These drive motors can run forward or reverse. This means the EVO can spin on a dime, when the two motors are going in opposite directions. You notice this instantly when the robot makes its first turn.
2. Two Active Brushes. The EVO has Dual active brushes, while the Dolphin has one active brush.
3. Large Brushes with wear indicators. The EVO’s brushes are larger and appear to be much more robust than the ones that the Dolphin uses. Because there are two drive motors the brushes are split between the left and right sides. The brushes in the front are the same size as the brushes in the back. The Dolphin has a smaller brush in the back.
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4. Filter basket. The EVO’s filter basket is about half the size of the Dolphin basket. It has a one-piece screen-like filter vs. the Dolphin which has a 4-piece pleated filter. I initially thought this would be an issue, as I have always used the pleated Dolphin filters. But, after many cleaning cycles, I’m beginning to like the screen filter better. I think my dislike of the screen filters is because I used them on the Dolphin and they lasted about a month before they got holes in the them and became useless. As much as I like the Dolphin’s pleated filters, the EVO’s screen filter was much easier to clean. Although the Dolphin has a much larger basket, I am not sure it matters as I doubt the Dolphin can fill the basket due to its inlet design.
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5. Water Inlet Differences. The Dolphin sucks up debris into the center of their basket, through an open-ended cloth bag. The bag is to prevent the debris from leaking back into the pool when you pull the robot out of the water. It certainly helps contain the debris, but it does not stop everything. It has a negative side in that it can get clogged with large debris and then nothing can get sucked up into the basket. The EVO does it differently. It sucks up the debris through a tube and into the top of the robot and then drops the debris into the basket. When you pull the EVO out of the water, none of the debris go back into the pool.
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6. Filter Area Design. The EVO has an almost water-tight area with the suction motor and impeller along with the filter basket. Not sure if this a plus or not. It does make the EVO harder to sink as it acts almost like a boat. You lower it into the water with the rear brushes pointing down. Where you can just throw the Dolphin in the pool, and it just sinks on its own. Edit.. To be clear the EVO sinks on its own, it just take a little longer than the Dolphin.
7. The Power Cord. The cord on the EVO is much larger in diameter and stiffer than the Dolphin’s cord. I had great hopes this would mean that the cord would not tangle. I was wrong. I have not had it long enough to know what will happen as it gets broken in, but running the EVO several times in a row, without removing it from the pool, induced the same basic tangle that I have seen in all my Dolphin robots. Edit. If I run the robot, like I normally do, and clean it after every run, the cable does not tangle.
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8. The Swivel. The EVO has a much more robust looking swivel compared to the Dolphin. The EVO combines the cable float and the swivel in one device. Neither swivel seems to swivel enough to keep the cable from tangling.
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9. The Power Supply Connector. The only thing on the EVO that appears a little out of place and rather cheap is the connector on the power supply end of the cable. It just plugs into the Power Supply with two little snaps. Maybe I’m just used to military cannon plug style connectors, but I like the Dolphin’s connector better. The EVO’s connector does appear that it could be replaced easier, while the Dolphin is more molded in place and does not look to be easily replaceable. Not sure I have ever seen bad one.
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10. DIY Repair. I have some experience with the assembly and disassembly of the S200 style Dolphins and it is very easy. At first glance I don’t see how to disassemble the EVO or if repair parts are even available. Not something I plan to investigate until the EVO is out of warranty.
11. Water Line Cleaning. When cleaning the water line tile, the Dolphin moves sideway because a gate turns and causes water to shoot out of a vent on the sides of the plastic housing. This forces the robot to move along the tile line for about 2 or 3 feet at a time. The EVO does not have any directional vents, but does move along the tile line. It appears to me that the robot floats at a slight angle and while the brushes clean the tile line, they also cause the robot to move along the tile line.
12. The Power Supply. The EVO’s power supply allows you to select either floor only, or floors and walls/tile line. The cycle time is 1.5 hours for floor only and 2.5 hours for everything. Both the EVO and Dolphin power supplies are water resistance. The EVO’s power supply has a Power Light that is on anytime the power supply is plugged into AC power. You would assume when you pushed the Start/Stop button that it would light up, but it does not. The Power light flashes once when you push the Start button. I find that odd as it is hard to tell if the Robot is on or off. If you have the EVO 614i, then the Power supply has a Wi-Fi button. Edit.. It appears the idea is to use the app to start or stop the robot.. It works fine from the power supply once you understand the start stop button does not light up.
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13. Wi-Fi Control. The EVO 604 and 614i are the same basic robot, but the 614i has Wi- Fi control. Not that it actually controls much. I am not sure what the App is for other than when you sign up for the iAquaLink app you need to give them just about everything including location of any birth marks. Quite invasive for what you get. The plus side is that it came right on line and connected once I entered the 80 pages of personal info. The app lets you change the cleaning mode from floors to floors and walls, and lets you start or stop the robot, but it does not allow you to ‘drive’ the robot around. It appears the drive mode is an option for the more expensive models. The app displays a big spinning clock showing how much time is left in the cleaning cycle. I pushed stop and it stopped. I pushed start and it did not return to work, it just started over. It does give you some info on the robot itself, like how may total hours run, S/N, F/W installed and other such info. I don’t see the value in what the app does, but it came with the unit. Edit... I'm told that the app for the 614i will be updated in the next few weeks to include the ability to drive the robot and to make it drive itself to the surface at a wall so it is easy to remove from the pool. I guess time will tell if this happens or not.
14. Warranty... Both the EVO and the Dolphin have a Two-year warranty.
15. Unknow life expectancy. Dolphin 3 to 5 years. Edit. This is key in my mind, but we won't know how reliably the EVO is for several years...
16. Main Drain Hang Ups. So far, I have run the EVO for about 50 hours and it has never hung up on the main drain. The Dolphin would hang up on the main drain about 10% of the time. I believe that because of the dual drive motors, that the EVO will not have this issue, but time will tell.
17. I did not find anything that would keep me from buying this unit again.
See #18
18. I
assumed you could run the unit on weekly schedule, but I now realize that is not an option. For me that is not an issue as I normally only use the robot two or three times a week, but it will not work for a lot of pool owners. You’d think it would be an easy App fix. I also do not see where you can control it from an automated electrical outlet. Edit. The app is supposed to be update (automatically) but my understanding is that the timer option is not part of this update. This makes no sense to me, but we will see.
Thanks,
Jim R.
