Blue Diamond OR Dolphin Deluxe 4?

[tdfuller]

I am interested in either, which one should I consider, or none at all?

I had a Kreepy Krauly for several years that worked ok, but, did not save me that much time as I had to get it out, and hook it up to the skimmer, and get it started, etc. Then, I still had to go back and manually hit a few spots the KK would miss. I ended up selling it on Ebay a few years ago.

I am willing to pay more for something that I know is: reliable and cleans the whole pool, saves me about all of the time I would normally spend getting out the hose, setting it up and vacuuming.

I understand the only time spent with either of these units is a few minutes placing it in the pool and turning it on, cleaning the debris bag out, and every couple years replacing a part or two?

I vacuum about 35 times a year, manually, at about 45 minutes spent per vacuum. Then in the fall, I spend about two to three hours using a leaf rake to scoop out hunks of leaves. That's about 35 hours a year for manual cleaning of the pool.

If the Dolphin 4 or Blue Diamond (residential) can knock my time down to easily under 10 hours per year... I'm interested.


Thanks for any comments.

 

[swanny]

I have the Dolphin Deluxe 4. Overall I like it quite a bit, though the one thing that bothers me is the cord gets twisted up and needs to be untwisted every once and awhile. If I were to look for another cleaner I would want one with a swivel cord. I find the caddy an annoyance for two reasons 1) the cord doesn't really stay on it well if you use large loops (They should put a velcro loop on it to tie down the cord 2) I have a gravel walkway, the caddy doesn't work on gravel.

 

[tdfuller]

What about the Polaris 9300 Sport? This seems to be a newer robotic cleaner.

 

[robl45]

Swivel is a gimmick, does nothing except make it slightly easier to untwist the cord out of the water. Get a blue diamond. 939 and 75 mail in rebate with 4 years on the motors

 

[lbridges]

I'm beginning my second year with a Blue Diamond. Used at least once a week, so probably 60 times so far. My guess is it averages about 8 minutes per use (don't tell anybody, but if the pool is pretty clean already, I only clean the filter every other time). About 3 minutes to put in/remove from pool (mostly laying out/attaching cord, & after, coiling back the cord), two minutes getting the filter bag off/on after a cleaning cycle (not hard, but the way it is on the frame takes a moment to get both off & back on), the other 3 minutes spent hosing the filter bag clean.

Every few months (no record of when) I throw the filter bag into the wash along with some microfiber towels I use to dry the car, etc. Can't see that it does anything, but I'm hoping it's getting the invisible stuff out and prolonging filter bag life. Didn't put this time into the average.

 

[Wizard19]

I just purchased a Blue Diamond a couple months ago and really like it. I had the Polaris 280 or 380 for the last 12 years. Really wasn't happy with the 380. We have two large oak trees over our pool so we get leaves in the spring and fall. I am not expecting the Blue Diamond to pick up the mass of leaves in the Spring or Fall but it handles the few leaves that fall day to day. So far it has worked very well. I use it once or twice a week and it cleans our pool in about 75 minutes. We also have about 12 Crate Myrtle trees around our pool and they can get pretty messy. IT doesn't have any problem keeping up with them. It only takes a few minutes to put in or take out of the pool. I do clean the bag out every other time unless it seems abnormally dirty. It does a great job on the walls and water line tile. I would say it gets our steps about 50% of the time. The reason I went with the Blue Diamond was the 4 year warranty and I was able to get it for $799. It seemed to get really good reviews and it seemed to have a good processor for figuring out the most efficient manner to clean the pool (may be marketing hype but it seems to work well). I have not had to vacuum the pool so far since using the Blue Diamond.