Thinkly said:
Does anyone here have any real world experience with the pool blaster? I am considering getting one and have read tons of online reviews. Like normal they are split down the middle, one guy loves it the next guy says it is junk. It seems like it would be ideal for my small fiberglass pool and save me tons of time dragging out the vac hose.
There are several here who have a Pool Buster (Blaster). I love mine. I use it in the shallow end of pool after the doggies have finished swimming (dragging in loads of sand and silt) and in the stand alone spa. I use the pool pole for the pool and a smaller expansion pole for the spa but one would do. I, also, sometimes use it while I am in the spa sans pole.
Don't pay for a separate, expensive fine bag. Women's stockings, hose, etc., work great. You just slip the hosiery over the rubber edge of bag and it secures well. The more robust/tightly woven the hosiery the finer particles will be caught but the faster the liner hose fills up. For my very fine silt I use women's heavy tights. That catches much of it. Many people's silt is not as fine as mine, though.
You will read many reviews complaining about the battery life. The simple solution is to not over charge the PB as there is no charge controller built in. Proper storage and position while stored helps to keep water out of the unit motor area.
The instructions for mine did not instruct to only charge for an a certain time and then remove from charger. I recently saw an online manual that did add that to user manual. I don't ever charge mine for over three hours.
If I am remembering right I think I was getting over 20 minutes per charge. I haven't yet used up a whole charge even cleaning up several bags worth in my pool. I don't charge it till I hear the pump slowing down or unless it has been stored for a while.
It does a better job at picking up finer debris than leaves but leaf sizes do vary so that has to be taken into consideration. I purchased mine at Costco. With their liberal return policy you can take it back if it doesn't work for you.
The main complaint I have is that it is hard for me to turn the knob that functions as on/off and also as a cover for the charger port. I keep a little adjustable wrench near me when using the cleaner to move the "switch".
Mine is not the Max version. With Max you should get longer operating time but you do pay for that as the price difference is significant.
PB was a great addition to my arsenal of cleaning "tools".
gg=alice