Doheny's Discovery, S200, Active20, Triton owners club

[elight]

Well, after a few months, my refurb Doheny's Discovery's power supply bit the dust. Tried to turn it on this morning before a pool party, and got nothing. Called Maytronics and they are sending a replacement. Pretty disappointing considering I keep it on a covered lanai (about 10' from any potential rain).

On a side note, I found a method to assist with cord tangling. Since my robot lives in the pool, every week when I go in, I lift it up underwater, and give it a series of counter-clockwise turns. I had essentially been doing this on the pool deck with the cable previously, but it's much easier to do under water.

 

[bbrock]

Just ran some figures/costs after going out to the smart meter to see how much energy my Polaris 280 uses. It looks like it needs an extra 1.19 kwh. So, if I run it at 1.25 h/d x $0.32 (PG&E approx peak price)/kwh x 1.19 kwh then it is about $0.48/d to operate my Polaris. A year is at ~$174. In 4 years I will have approx paid for a Doheny Discovery for $699 with the energy savings. And this is only accounting for the savings from not having to run a booster pump pb4-60. If I add in the savings from the low speed I can run my Hayward MaxFlo 1.5 vsp at for ~1/2 the year in winter, then the cost savings are even more; pay back period even quicker. Payback is about 3.5 yr if I went the refurb route at Pool Partz for the Active 20.

My question is does the Active 20 have a weekly controller option like the Discovery? I have looked at pics online and attempting to search the owner's manual but I am striking out finding this info. I guess the Discovery allows over a week/7 day period the option to run every day, every other day, or a couple times over the 7 days. For those Active 20 owners, is it the same on that model?

The other thing I see is that going with the Discovery I can pay ~$100 extra for peace of mind w/ a new one, and a 2nd year warranty. My credit card will extend manufacturer's warranties of 1 yr or less up to 1 additional yr. Thus on a Discovery I could get 3 yr of warranty. The Active 20 refurb from Pool Partz would only get me 2 yr (1 from the manufacturer and 1 from my credit card). What do you think... is ~$100 for 1 extra yr of peace of mind worth it?

- - - Updated - - -

To post #701 thebombardier:
On this page (Dolphin Active 20 - Refurbished) Pool Partz is making the claim that warranty issues on the refurb'ed Active 20 are handled by the manufacturer, and the warranty is directly from them. I would hope that would be so and the buyer would not get hosed by either Pool Partz or Maytronics.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Just ran some figures/costs after going out to the smart meter to see how much energy my Polaris 280 uses. It looks like it needs an extra 1.19 kwh. So, if I run it at 1.25 h/d x $0.32 (PG&E approx peak price)/kwh x 1.19 kwh then it is about $0.48/d to operate my Polaris. A year is at ~$174. In 4 years I will have approx paid for a Doheny Discovery for $699 with the energy savings. And this is only accounting for the savings from not having to run a booster pump pb4-60. If I add in the savings from the low speed I can run my Hayward MaxFlo 1.5 vsp at for ~1/2 the year in winter, then the cost savings are even more; pay back period even quicker. Payback is about 3.5 yr if I went the refurb route at Pool Partz for the Active 20.

My question is does the Active 20 have a weekly controller option like the Discovery? I have looked at pics online and attempting to search the owner's manual but I am striking out finding this info. I guess the Discovery allows over a week/7 day period the option to run every day, every other day, or a couple times over the 7 days. For those Active 20 owners, is it the same on that model?

The other thing I see is that going with the Discovery I can pay ~$100 extra for peace of mind w/ a new one, and a 2nd year warranty. My credit card will extend manufacturer's warranties of 1 yr or less up to 1 additional yr. Thus on a Discovery I could get 3 yr of warranty. The Active 20 refurb from Pool Partz would only get me 2 yr (1 from the manufacturer and 1 from my credit card). What do you think... is ~$100 for 1 extra yr of peace of mind worth it?

Did you factor in the power draw from the robot ? It's about 250W when you run the unit. Standard cleaning cycle is 2 hours.

As for warranty, well, if you buy new you get to bring it in to any authorized Dolphin service location (some refuse to work on bots they don't sell). If you go with the refurb on PoolPartz then you can only send it back to them for service.

There's only 3 components on the bot that get replaced in case of failure - power supply, cable and motor assembly. Each of those is hundreds of dollars to replace (I think the motor is like $400). So three years of worry-free service plus local repair options is definitely worth $100 in my book.

 

[bbrock]

Just reading further about the Discovery and the Maytronics. On a tangent I wanted to see the reviews for the high starred Aquabot Turbo. Here (Aquabot Turbo In-ground Pool Cleaner For Sale | Doheny's Pool Supplies Fast ) someone stated that the Maytronics are foreign made whereas the Aquabots are made in the USA. Can anyone substantiate this claim?

 

[bbrock]

Great points Joyful Noise. I didn't consider the fact of being able to bring it local for a fix vs. having to mail in to Maytronics. That is a huge + for new then.

I did not factor in the cost to run the Discovery, etc. I keep reading about $0.05/h, $0.15 to run, etc. Based on your numbers if it uses 0.250 kw, for 2 hr at $0.32/h then that is $0.16. Running at about 0.25 kw is much less than my Polaris 280 at 1.19 kw. So, factoring in the run cost of the Discovery will then lengthen the back some. Assuming I have to run it 3 h/d then I'm looking at ~$0.24/d savings vs. my Polaris. Thus, looks like about ~7 yr pay off for the refurb'ed Active 20 and ~8 yr pay off for the Discovery. Hope I would get 8 yrs out of it.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Maytronics is an Israeli company but I believe the robots are assembled in Georgia and distributed from there. Not sure about Aquabot.

 

[thebombardier]

Maytronics units are all made and assembled in Israel. Aquabots, depending on the model, have either USA or Israeli assembled motors but are assembled in Cedar Grove, NJ (the actual motors themselves are Chinese though). I've been to Aqua Products in NJ it's a big plant.

Honestly though, get a Dolphin. Aqua Products got bought out by some big European conglomerate like 6-7 years ago and haven't made a single good, reliable robot since. I don't know what their failure rate in the first year is per capita, but to give you an idea I've repaired somewhere between 5-600 robots so far this year. Aquabot warranty claims make up ~10% of that (I'm at 55 claims as of Wednesday). Maytronics claim count so far for 2017 is 5. Aquabot parts have gotten way cheaper in quality and I'm seeing stuff that should never wear out like wheel tubes have to be replaced in 4 years. I could keep going but my opinions of Aqua Products get very non-family friendly very fast.

Overall, as both a service technician and an engineering student, Dolphins are superior to Aquabot in just about every way. They're better designed, have less parts to fail, and all the parts are better. Aquabot fell behind the curve big time.

As for the Pool Partz refurbs, maybe there are Maytronics authorized refurbished units? I've certainly never seen one but elight was taken care of it's possible and I'd say it's legit, they're pretty strict with warranty claims. I've had an "authorized refurbished" Dolphin come to my shop before and Maytronics literally had no idea what they guy was on about, and said they'd never even heard of the seller.

 

[bbrock]

"...elight was taken care of it's possible and I'd say it's legit, they're pretty strict with warranty claims. I've had an "authorized refurbished" Dolphin come to my shop before and Maytronics literally had no idea what they guy was on about, and said they'd never even heard of the seller."

Thebombardier, can you please re-explain what I quoted above? I don't understand the first sentence about elight. Not to mention, you state that it could be legit, but then go on to discuss an authorized Maytronics refurbished unit thelat came to your shop and Mayronics questioned it.

Tx for the inside info about Aquabot vs. Maytronics.

 

[thebombardier]

Sorry that was stream of consciousness 7 am rambling. As far as I was aware there were no Maytronics warrantied refurbished units, but elight's experience says otherwise. Maytronics is straight with warranties and if they approved it then Pool Partz must be legit. I have had one guy in the past bring me a Nautilus that was refurbished but the warranty was only through the seller, not Maytronics, which lead to some confusion on the customers part when he needed to buy a new power supply.

My word of advice then is find find out if the warranty on refurbished units is from the seller or Maytronics.

 

[bbrock]

Oh, I forgot, just learned, that Elite referred to a Maytronics dealer.

I am gonna call Pool Partz now.

 

[elight]

Although it's a "Doheny's Discovery", they don't try to hide the fact that it's made by Maytronics and "powered by Dolphin". When I bought it, it came with Maytronics warranty and registration information. When I called, they asked for my name, looked me up based on my product registration, and the entire call lasted maybe 5 minutes at most. No trouble whatsoever.

Now, if I needed a repair (as opposed to a part replacement), I don't know if they would have made me ship it to them or referred me to a local dealer.

 

[waterl0gged]

I purchased a S300 refurbed unit from PoolPartz a few moths ago, and it came directly from the Maytronics factory addressed to me. Nothing about PoolPartz on the box. It was a brand new Dolphin box.
The shipping label says it was shipped from .............
Maytronics
1790 Corporate Dr., Suite 300
Norcross, GA 30093 USA

I would say it was definitely a factory refurbished unit that was shipped out to me (the customer) from Maytronics / Dolphin, and PoolPartz is just a middle man .

My warranty paperwork says it must be shipped back to Maytronics for any warranty (thats why I kept the factory box!).

 

[thebombardier]

That would explain it then. They must recondition the "bad out of box" units and sell them as refurbs. Wasn't aware of any factory refurbished robots out there. I've only dealt with ones that were refurbished by a seller.

 

[waterl0gged]

That would explain it then. They must recondition the "bad out of box" units and sell them as refurbs. Wasn't aware of any factory refurbished robots out there. I've only dealt with ones that were refurbished by a seller.

Mine was definitely slighty used at least. Had a few light scratches on the robot and control unit. Filters were brand new though .
I ordered from PoolPartz , and it came from Maytronics direct ...........go figure . Oddly enough , the included directions were from an E-10 ???? Right from Dolphin !

Working fantastic so far , btw.

Just wish I ordered the 300I , or the 200 . The 300 is kind of awkwardly in the middle of both, with poor choices in filtration options (1 or 2 hours ONLY) , and a higher cost than the 200 . Has the remote control feature, and the dual filter baskets ..........thats about it over the 200.
Still happy with it !

 

[bbrock]

waterlogged, I guess I really don't know what the main differences are b/w the 300 and 300i (or Active 30 and Active 30i). Through researching them further yesterday, I am under the impression they both have bluetooth and they both have advanced programming modes. Besides maybe a different cleaning mechanism or navigation pattern, I just seem a price difference b/w the two. Also, maybe it was the 300i version that you can isolate cleanings to floor, wall, or de-select waterline tile from the regular cleaning. Can anyone clarify this murky water I'm in understanding the differences b/w the 300 and 300i.

For me, I just don't know if I ever see myself sitting poolside for 2 hr watching the robot clean and going on my phone to override the pattern so it can clean a missed area. I mean if this wasn't available on my Polaris 280, then do I really need it now? YMMV, but for me I just don't know if it makes sense. For that extra $, I could buy a caddy in the future if I ever needed it.

Thus, it seems like a keep circling back to the Discovery, 200, Active 20. Are all of these 3 versions the EXACT same? Same features, same 7 day controller, same cleaning pattern technology, same powerstream jet vectoring or whatever it has? The Maytronics site is helpful.

thebombardier, I thought you had mistyped elight. I thought you were referring to the Elite dealer program, but did not know you were referring to a fellow TFPer named elight. So, elight, you bought a Doheny Discovery from the Doheny site? For the 2 yr warranty, do you have any further info? Do you have to send it back to the manufacturer or can you take it to your nearest authorized dealer if desired? I think you said you were not sure on the 2nd question.

 

[bmoreswim]

As an A20 update, I bought ours refurbished from PoolPartz in March for $499 (that price made the refurb decision easier). It had a few small scratches but was packaged like mentioned a few posts above, which is to say perfectly. Functionally its been perfect. Practically speaking it has beached itself a few times on a bench. And does get 2-3 twists on the power cord each use. No issue though as I remove each time and un-twist.

It's tremendous at removing fine debris - and also the few pieces of mulch, leaves and bugs I get. I will never be without a robot.

 

[waterl0gged]

waterlogged, I guess I really don't know what the main differences are b/w the 300 and 300i (or Active 30 and Active 30i). Through researching them further yesterday, I am under the impression they both have bluetooth and they both have advanced programming modes. Besides maybe a different cleaning mechanism or navigation pattern, I just seem a price difference b/w the two. Also, maybe it was the 300i version that you can isolate cleanings to floor, wall, or de-select waterline tile from the regular cleaning. Can anyone clarify this murky water I'm in understanding the differences b/w the 300 and 300i.

For me, I just don't know if I ever see myself sitting poolside for 2 hr watching the robot clean and going on my phone to override the pattern so it can clean a missed area. I mean if this wasn't available on my Polaris 280, then do I really need it now? YMMV, but for me I just don't know if it makes sense. For that extra $, I could buy a caddy in the future if I ever needed it.

Thus, it seems like a keep circling back to the Discovery, 200, Active 20. Are all of these 3 versions the EXACT same? Same features, same 7 day controller, same cleaning pattern technology, same powerstream jet vectoring or whatever it has? The Maytronics site is helpful.

thebombardier, I thought you had mistyped elight. I thought you were referring to the Elite dealer program, but did not know you were referring to a fellow TFPer named elight. So, elight, you bought a Doheny Discovery from the Doheny site? For the 2 yr warranty, do you have any further info? Do you have to send it back to the manufacturer or can you take it to your nearest authorized dealer if desired? I think you said you were not sure on the 2nd question.

The 300 has just BASIC blue tooth capabilities . Back on page 29, I linked some pictures of what the 300 blue tooth screen and options looked like. Basically, its just the remote control feature, and manufacturer owners manual stuff. NO options to control the cleaning cycles , only shows you what its running in after you select it from the control unit.
The robot itself is the same as the 300i , brushes, cleaning filter panel options with baskets and all .
The difference is in the complexity of the blue tooth features , AND the VERY limited cleaning options for the 300.
The 300 ONLY has 2 cleaning options.......
1 hour cycle for just the floor , and a 2 hour cleaning option for walls AND floor . THATS ALL !!

Thats why, if I had known ............I would have went with the 300i , or saved some $$$ and went with the 200 .
Shame on Maytronics/Dolphin for not providing enough details on the differences in their products !
In the end , if I had known, I would have surely spent a few more $$$ and gone with the 300 ..........so by not providing enough details on their products, I spent LESS money than I would have by choosing the 300 over the 300i . Not the best marketing for Maytronics, I would say !

 

[bbrock]

So I checked out this site [Dolphin Automatic Pool Cleaners : Go Robotic with Maytronics (recommendations of mas985) and found that the A20 does have the weekly controller fx. In the video, it looks and fx just like what I saw for the S200. Thus, it looks like an exact duplicate.

Thus, I am now really thinking perhaps it may be worth gambling on the refurb'ed A20 from Pool Partz ($599) vs. the Discovery at Doheny ($699). Difference again is the 1 yr warranty for the prior, 2 yr for the later. My credit card extends either by 1 additional year.

Plan and the decider will be to call Maytronics tomorrow and discuss their warranty process for refurb'ed models vs. new models. Planning to ask if units have to be sent back to them, or if I have option/they approve warranty repairs for customers to go to their local authorized dealer.

 

[bmoreswim]

These have been posted earlier or elsewhere but they are the warranty commentary and Dolphin CPO (refurb) program documentation that come with such a purchase from PoolPartz.com.

For warranty you have to call Maytronic's first then proceed as directed regarding where to ship/take it for repair.

 

[ProStreetCamaro]

Well I feel like I can give my praises at this point. The back side of our pool is just dirt/new grass all the way up to the coping. If we get a hard rain it splashes red clay into the pool which the kreepy krawly legend II refused to sick up. The discovery scrubs and sucks it up no problem. Sometime I will run two cycles to make sure it gets everything if it's really bad but it generally gets 98% of everything! We love a sparkling spotless pool and now it's clean all the time! Well with the current $700 price tag!