Polaris 9350

[shingles]

When our pool got built, the contract included a 9350. To be honest I have never researched pool robots. I frankly thought it was cool enough to have one. Ha.

I know Polaris is not as popular here and I haven’t looked into the issues. But I did want to just give a quick review of it, in case others are looking at it.

We have had a lot of storms here in the last few weeks. Unfortunately it is accompanied by very strong wind. Because the pool is a new build, a lot of sand and dirt was brought in grade after construction. Well all the wind pushed a lot of the dirt, grass, leaves and more into the pool. I changed out the filter to their fine silt version. The standard one does a decent job for dirt but it was not getting the finest silt.

This version of the robot has two cleaning modes, bottom only and side+bottom. I use the bottom only setting. One thing that’s a bit annoying is that the timer is not adjustable. When you hit go, it runs for a while and then stops. It’s almost never enough to clean my pool, so I have to manually kick off a couple of more cleaning sessions.

So here’s what the robot has been doing:

As you can see the robot does a good job cleaning.

There are two annoying thing about this robot.
1) the cord is annoying as heck. It’s doesn’t tangle but it likes to be coiled up only one very particular way.
2) the auto lift is annoying. I have not been to able to successfully deploy it each time.

Again I am not sure what the longer term issues of the Polaris are but so far it’s doing ok for me.

 

[Jimrahbe]

s,

Thanks for the feedback..

How often do you run your cleaner?

How often do you clean the filter?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[shingles]

Jim, thanks for moving the post.

I normally only run the cleaner on need. The last week though it’s been in the pool for 3-4 days. I normally clean it about once a day. It can obviously go longer, but given how easy it is to clean (when I finally get it out of the pool), I just get it cleaned up and dropped back in.

 

[Jimrahbe]

s,

I can't tell from the pics, but does the 9350 have a top loading filter basket?

What makes it so hard to get out of the pool?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[shingles]

The filter is top loading.
The main issue with the "lift" process is that you are suppose to press and hold the "Lift" button, let it rotate to the wall of your desire, then let the button go. The robot will then come towards the wall, climb it, stay on top, and you can then pull it out. Thing is, when I do the process, it's about 50/50 chance that it'll work. Could just be mine, or me, but it's sort of annoying.

 

[Jimrahbe]

s,

OK, I just watched a video on your unit and the "lift" technology.. that looks kind of cool...

I have three Dolphins.. two really old ones at rent houses and a somewhat newer one at my house. But, they all work about the same when taking them out of the pool.. Drag them over by the cord, bring them up to the water level and then muscle them out of the pool. The main problem being the weight of the water inside..

So, my question to you is... When your lift button fails to work, I assume you do the same "drag and pull" routine I do with mine, but I am curious if your 9350 still knows to evacuate the water like it does in the video I was watching???

I would think your RF remote does not transmit through the water, but rather down the cable... You might try pointing your remote at the power supply and see of that helps at all. Just guessing here, so it might make zero difference..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[shingles]

Jim since mine is the lower end it actually doesn’t have a remote. It’s got a button on the caddy. I was messing with it this morning and I think i might know the trick. Usually when I go out it lift, it has already stopped. So I normally then start the robot again and try the lift procedure. I think I need to let the robot go a bit before trying the lift. I suspect the first moments of starting it up it’s doing some sort of start up procedure/checks.

On the water evacuation- the good news is that as soon as you drag the robot out of the water it starts to evacuate water, even if I use the tug on the cord method.

The 9350 is 2WD. I asked the PB about going up to the 9450 since it’s AWD. He said he didn’t see the need and I am Inclined to agree. I haven’t really seen any performance issues.

 

[Jimrahbe]

s,

I think you are correct on waiting a couple of minutes after initial start up, before trying the lift process.

Sounds like a cool robot to me..

Thanks again for the info,

Jim R.

 

[jstephens24tx]

I have the 9450 and I just have to press lift once. not hold down. it drives up to coping and waits til I pick it up. Then when I lift it out of water it purges all the water out for it to be lighter. I haven't had it stuck yet. I use the bottom/wall cleaning (2.5 hours) and iv seen it flip upside down once but it flipped back over by itself. I love mine

 

[shingles]

Thought I would post a few pics of the unit.

 

[JeanZ1]

Hi shingles, I also have a Polaris 9350 and love it. I think your problem with the auto lift may be that you are trying to operate it while the Polaris is running. I normally go out after my Polaris is finished, push the lift button to initiate the lift "sequence", and then push again this time holding it down til it rotates to the wall I want. Never had an issue with it.

 

[Sweep49]

I've had the 9550 model for 2 years. I like it a lot. It does a great job cleaning the pool and excels at gathering the leaves into the big collection box. It just went out of warranty, so I am holding my breath based on problems with some of the older models. If it lasts 5 years total I'll be really pleased.

 

[mhosborn]

According to the Polaris site, all their 4WD robotic cleaners now have an "available tangle free swivel". Not sure if this is option or what, but it's one of the reasons their 4WD models are back on my radar.

 

[bigkevj]

I have a 9450, last summer was my first go-round with it. It does a pretty good job for the most part. I have a custom shaped tile pool with 90 degree corners all around the pool btwn the floor and walls, and it doesn't get into that corner well. It also doesn't climb tile walls well. It does a wonderful job of keeping the bottom clean.

My biggest pet peeve is the cord. I can have the cord untangled and straight, and as soon as I drop the robot in the water, the cord starts to twist up. After one cleaning cycle, the cord is so twisted up it will pull the carrier to the pool to where the electric cord is at max tension before the plug is pulled out of the outlet. It doesn't matter how much I keep the cord untwisted and in the hot sun, it twists immediately. I have no idea how to correct this....but it drives me crazy. I spend more time un-twisting the cord/hose than I spend in the pool!

 

[PoolGate]

I have the 9650iq and love it. The cord never gets tangled but I unravel it before I put the robot in the water. I twist it on the deck until it is straight. I then turn it as I coil it when done. Mine has the smartphone remote so I can steer it easier to the edge of the pool for easier retrieval.

Also you mention it stops before it is done. It looks like the filter is getting full and it is stopping because of this (mine has a full basket sensor not sure this one does).

Just as an aside: The robot and control panel look identical to mine. When I got mine no one knew how to setup the wifi and so hence thought the console was broken and sent me a new one. They did not want the old one back. There is nothing wrong with it and I am wondering if you connected it to yours if you would then get smartphone control of the robot. If you want to try, I have no use for the extra control console. PM me.

 

[athflying]

I also have a 9350 that I acquired in trade. I used to fix smartphones in my "spare time" and someone offered me a demo unit in exchange for a $150 screen repair. After looking up MSRP I figured even if I got a year out of it, would be worth it. That was about 3 years ago and it's still going strong. I am having to replace the basket "door" because I put it in at an angle or something one day and managed to damage the bottom part, other than that been issue free. It amazes me how much fine sand it picks up. My only annoyance is keeping the cord untangled and when this one goes, I will definitely look in to one with the swiveling cord. It realistically takes less than 5 minutes though to untangle it and it saves me far more time in vacuuming duties.

- - - Updated - - -

I just posted in a different thread, being that it is 3 years old....any preventive maintenance you guys are aware of?? I always hear about o rings rotting out and damaging components so if there is a way to stay ahead of the curve, would like to.

 

[miles267]

Those of you with Polaris robots. Do you have any issues with your 2WD or 4WD models getting stuck on your drain covers? Or does it drive over them consistently?

Would appreciate your feedback. Am close to buying a 9650IQ.

 

[PoolGate]

Those of you with Polaris robots. Do you have any issues with your 2WD or 4WD models getting stuck on your drain covers? Or does it drive over them consistently?

Would appreciate your feedback. Am close to buying a 9650IQ.

No issues at all accept it has flipped itself over like 1 time. You also need to slowly let it sink with the front facing down to allow all the air to escape or it tends to be a bit too buoyant. It can do stairs and has on occasion made it on my sundeck but for practical purposes I just brush anything in that area into the main part of the pool and don't rely on it getting up there everytime. Drains are no issue it doesn't even notice them.

 

[bigkevj]

No issues at all accept it has flipped itself over like 1 time. You also need to slowly let it sink with the front facing down to allow all the air to escape or it tends to be a bit too buoyant. It can do stairs and has on occasion made it on my sundeck but for practical purposes I just brush anything in that area into the main part of the pool and don't rely on it getting up there everytime. Drains are no issue it doesn't even notice them.

I would agree with this. It doesn't do stairs or my pool wall as well as I had hoped, but no issues with drains at all. My biggest issue is the cord getting tangled up pretty quickly after starting it.

 

[miles267]

I would agree with this. It doesn't do stairs or my pool wall as well as I had hoped, but no issues with drains at all. My biggest issue is the cord getting tangled up pretty quickly after starting it.

Thanks for your response. Which model do you have and does it have this alleged 2018-model cord swivel mechanism?