Dolphin M500 Review

[daemonic3]

Ok, I'm returning my Premier and special ordered an M500, so I will be joining you guys at the "adults" table for thanksgiving haha

A few things:

1) In talking with tech support/chat, the maytronics control box does not store pool information across runs. The first hour or so of the run it is doing the pool mapping, and then spending the rest of the run trying to hit every spot. Don't know if this is true, but I only asked the question because I wanted to know if it lost all mapping if I unplugged it to store.

2) The Premier had 2 styles of filters (with the underside access): One was the big white leaf bag, which also did a good job collecting a ton of silt in my case, and the other is the cartridge style. There are 2 cartridges, with 2 filters each, set up in a leaning together A-frame style. I ran some experiments on it. First, I tried all microfilter. It got a ton of algae, but not too many leaves, surprisingly. Then for the heck of it, I only replaced one cartridge with 2 mesh filters. So one cartridge was micro, the other mesh. After it ran, the mesh had a ton of leaves, but the micro had very few. I believe that the porosity of the mesh allows more suction through it, making it stronger for leaves, and also less likely to give a "filter full" indicator. My next experiment was going to be a "hybrid" style. Has anyone tried this? Have 1 of each type of filter on each cartridge. I'm thinking this may collect more leaves, while also trapping a lot of the dust/algae in the micro side.

Lastly, I wanted to ask about how well your M500's clean concave-curved walls. Does the robot only try to clean all walls vertically? Or does it every try an angle, or completely sideways altogether? My problem is that my problem spot for algae (due to sun angle) is in my deep end, on a concave curved wall. Due to the width of the brush (on my Premier, and my previous Polaris), the robots when climbing the wall vertically, only makes contact with the wall at the wheels or edges of the brush. If only it tried cleaning this wall sideways, the brush can make full contact! What I'm crossing my fingers for is that the added center brush on the M500 makes all the difference, or that the extra modes allow for more angled wall cleaning.

Any feedback appreciated. I will be getting my M500 in a few weeks.

Thanks!

 

[bmoreswim]

Welcome to TFP D3! I'll be curious on the M500 cleaning walls at an angle question. I have never heard anyone mention that it does. Only the waterline seems to get scrubbed at an angle to my knowledge. But I have a less expensive Dolphin so I can't say for sure.

Taking a step back, you may want to look at your pool's chemistry. You should not have any visible algae in a properly chlorinated pool. Doesn't mean brushes contacting the wall isn't necessary for good hygiene, but...

Do you have a recommended test kit to provide test results? https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/124-pool-test-kits-comparison Personally I'd recommend the TF-100 XL option with Speedstir.

How are you chlorinating your pool? Pucks, bleach, salt water chlorine generator? We are not against any method so long as you know what your pool needs and how to supply it and nothing else.

Don't feel put off by my answer with a few questions. It is quite common to hear people who are genuinely frustrated with pool ownership looking at mechanical issues when the answer very frequently lies in the water chemistry side of the equation.

I'd recommend completing your profile signature so all can see your pool specs. This is very helpful for providing the most accurate answers to your questions - even the questions you haven't asked sometimes!

 

[daemonic3]

Not offended by the questions at all. Been a pool owner since 2012 when we got the house and I knew absolutely NOTHING, so we hired a pool service. They only did "chemistry" and not scrubbing and I had a suction line sweep. All our friends said it is so easy to do yourself, why pay people, and when we went on a 3 week vacation once and came back to a green pool, that was the last straw and I decided to do everything myself.

Long story short, now I use Insta-link strips and App to check most factors, and use Leslie's for full testing since they do it free. I use tabs, a chlorinator, and have the basic buckets of stuff to keep things regulated. I try to keep chlorine on the high range. My problems have always been high nitrates and phosphates. I use Phosfree and Poolperfect but sometimes I can't keep up. Since my nitrates are high again, I decided to just wait until the rains and do another 1/3 drain which will take care of the nitrates and reset my phosphates again (fingers crossed). These always seem to be high because we regularly let our 2 labs swim for exercise and fun (even though I know the side effects).

Anyway, I don't *constantly* have an algae issue, but when I do it is always worst on the same curved wall, so I just want something that can take away all the manual intervention

 

[bmoreswim]

Not offended by the questions at all. Been a pool owner since 2012 when we got the house and I knew absolutely NOTHING, so we hired a pool service. They only did "chemistry" and not scrubbing and I had a suction line sweep. All our friends said it is so easy to do yourself, why pay people, and when we went on a 3 week vacation once and came back to a green pool, that was the last straw and I decided to do everything myself.

Long story short, now I use Insta-link strips and App to check most factors, and use Leslie's for full testing since they do it free. I use tabs, a chlorinator, and have the basic buckets of stuff to keep things regulated. I try to keep chlorine on the high range. My problems have always been high nitrates and phosphates. I use Phosfree and Poolperfect but sometimes I can't keep up. Since my nitrates are high again, I decided to just wait until the rains and do another 1/3 drain which will take care of the nitrates and reset my phosphates again (fingers crossed). These always seem to be high because we regularly let our 2 labs swim for exercise and fun (even though I know the side effects).

Anyway, I don't *constantly* have an algae issue, but when I do it is always worst on the same curved wall, so I just want something that can take away all the manual intervention

There is a better way to maintain your pool. I can see there are some red flags to me in your process that will likely, and repeatedly cause you to trip up on your pool water chemistry. We see so many folks come here at their wit's end and then, after a while, it's Shangri-La.

If you are or become frustrated with your pool ownership experience, I encourage you to consider spending some time here learning the Troublefree Pool Care (TFPC) method of maintaining your pool in Pool School. This article is a good starting point. https://www.troublefreepool.com/content/122-what-is-tfpc-bbb The Just Getting Started or Testing and Balancing your Water sections of the forum would be good places to post questions if you have them.