Dolphin Premier vs Dolphin Nautilus Plus

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Dr. Hops

Dr. Hops

0
Feb 8, 2015
32
Canton, GA
I have a 14 foot by 33 foot fiberglass pool and am considering buying a robotic cleaner to replace the pressure side cleaner. I found a Dolphin Premium (s300i) for $700 refurbished and a Dolphin Nautilus Plus refurbished for $600. Those of you with either one, is it worth the extra $100 to get the Premium? I’ve looked on this forum and online and seems the only real advantage is to the Premier is the Bluetooth.
 
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From Poolpartz.com I presume? I see the prices you listed. They are differently designed machines. The Nautilus Plus is an older model which has two separate and smaller debris collection areas, versus a single larger one on the Premium.

That's a very good price (for a refurb.) for that model - Premium. Every now and then there is a model on there that is more discounted than other models relative their full retail price. My Active 20 was $499, whereas now it is shown at $699.

Personally if you are OK with the refurb. I'd get the newer tech Premium at that price.

One item to note, those models are not current year, so won't have the newly added 2018 swivel cord to reduce/eliminate cord twisting. But hardly worth hundreds more to get that one feature.

For others, here's the link.

https://www.poolpartz.com/dolphin-premium-refurbished
 
Doc,

Not to be picky but the Dolphin Premier is an older unit and not at all like the S300i... The link is for a much newer unit the Dolphin Premium....

I have the Premier, and it works great, but I'd trade it for the Premium in a heart beat... :p

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
 
So when u say premium which one in the line? The m series build or a s series (active) build. Cause dolphin labels premium for the top of the line for each line. M500 premium. S300 premium.

Its so confusing.
 
It’s the same as an S300i. The link above will give you the visual. All of the S’ twins have an identical profile, just different color schemes.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Doc,

Not to be picky but the Dolphin Premier is an older unit and not at all like the S300i... The link is for a much newer unit the Dolphin Premium....

I have the Premier, and it works great, but I'd trade it for the Premium in a heart beat... :p

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.
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why in a hardbeat? It seems like ur model with 3 brushes and how it collects waste is more functional than the 2 brush design of the s line active line. Ya bigger basket for collecting but less brush for cleaning. Also I think the pressure movement to climb looks awesome but don’t know how it would handle in real life. The nice thing is the s300 or active 30 is a lot cheaper it seems compared to the M500 or even 400.

im just trying to learn.
 

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jimim said:
why in a hardbeat? It seems like ur model with 3 brushes and how it collects waste is more functional than the 2 brush design of the s line active line. Ya bigger basket for collecting but less brush for cleaning. Also I think the pressure movement to climb looks awesome but don’t know how it would handle in real life. The nice thing is the s300 or active 30 is a lot cheaper it seems compared to the M500 or even 400.

im just trying to learn.
Click to expand...

My Dolphin Premier only has two brushes and relatively small "baskets"....

Here is a link to mine... Dolphin Premier Robotic Pool Cleaner | PoolExpress

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
I thought all those designs had 3 brushes. I thought that model was just a M400 pretty much so 3 brushes. I didn’t know.

Why does dolphin make these diff named models. And make the littlest changes in them. It makes no sense. 1 line to all deals. Why same pieces with diff lines to diff dealers. It’s actually stupid I think.
 
GM did it for years with 5 brands and we see how that turned out. Maytronics produces them for different sales avenues. Just marketing folks trying to keep themselves busy and create more sales. You can argue if it is a good strategy but it does seem to give some better prices if one looks carefully versus if there was just one model to choose from. But, yes, very frustrating and confusing. That and marketing material could be clearer for sure. They also have no real incentive to compare them for you.
 
I ended up getting the Dolphin Premium and couldn’t be happier! The first cleaning and the pool looked great. I took other people’s advice and brushed everything off the steps, the ledge and the benches and brushed it all away from the walls. The pool was immaculate afterwards. If the water wasn’t so cold I could have gone swimming! What used to take me several hours and hundreds of gallons of water took Hydra (my son named it) a few hours and zero water while I sat in the house and watched tv. I just wish I would have bought one years ago!
 
Dolphin/Maytronics does not sell directly to consumers - it would require far too much infrastructure and resources poured into a very small market making it an unprofitable business for years and years. So, in order to sell their product in the US market, they use wholesalers and retailers as their distribution channel. As such, those wholesalers and retailers demand certain restrictions, features and warranty items that forces Dolphin/Maytronics to fracture their product line and create competing units that are essentially equivalent. If they did not do this, then retailers would refuse to sell them as there would be no or little profit to be made. This is one reason why online sales are so restricted - retailers could never compete with equivalent units being sold on Amazon or eBay and so there has to be a huge disincentive to buying them through those channels. This has the unfortunate effect of keeping prices artificially high and, unless a competitor comes in with a similar product that is equally well-engineered, consumers will simply bear the cost.

Monopolies are terrible unless you’re the guy that owns the monopoly....
 
JoyfulNoise said:
This is one reason why online sales are so restricted - retailers could never compete with equivalent units being sold on Amazon or eBay and so there has to be a huge disincentive to buying them through those channels.
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I'm thinking about buying a Dolphin this year, what's the disincentive to buying one online?
 
lightmaster said:
I'm thinking about buying a Dolphin this year, what's the disincentive to buying one online?
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Unless otherwise stated by Dolphin, all online sales void the warranty.

If you’re thinking about getting a robot, check out Marina’s Pool & Spa or Doheny’s. You can see what they have online and then order over the phone which counts as a “brick & mortar” sale. If you’re willing to buy a refurb, then the site mentioned above is one that is used a lot for refurbs. Think about buying locally of you want access to a local repair shop. Some shops will refuse to repair (even under warranty) robots that they do not sell directly.
 
Unless otherwise stated by Dolphin, all online sales void the warranty.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about the no warranty online? Amazon listings show a 12 month warranty. I did notice that a local pool store that he was selling the ECHO and it has a 24 month warranty on the brochure. Dolphin has so many models its confusing. Online for the same money it looks like you get more features with a shorter warranty for the same price for something in the store.
 
bonubby said:
Are you sure about the no warranty online? Amazon listings show a 12 month warranty. I did notice that a local pool store that he was selling the ECHO and it has a 24 month warranty on the brochure. Dolphin has so many models its confusing. Online for the same money it looks like you get more features with a shorter warranty for the same price for something in the store.
Click to expand...

I believe Dolphin has one model that they allow for online sale and it’s a very basic, no frills unit. If you do purchase it online, I’d call up Dolphin and confirm. Sometimes you can extend it with a Square Trade warranty or a credit card warranty program. The Echo is essentially the S100 with minimal features. None of the higher order models are allowed to be sold online. eBay and CraigsList definitely voids all warranty.
 

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