Robot for Fiberglass Pool

[NJ pool girl]

Sorry if this is a repeat post, but could not find a search tool to search the older posts...

Anyway, got a brand new fiberglass pool. It is a freeform shape and has a "shelf" all the way around it as well as stairs. 18x44 and about 21,000 gallons.

My research has resulted in conflicting and non-specific recommendations on a robot for this type of pool. I am not interested in anything with a booster pump. I just want a bot that I can plug in and have it do the entire pool. (Local dealer trying to sell me on an Aquabot Extreme that can only do the bottom. I am not interested in this).

Can anyone recommend a unit or a style? (tracks vs. jets , etc?)

Thanks.

NJ PG

 

[NJ pool girl]

P.S. I just found the search tool and reviewed some of the older posts. My question still stands. I'd love to hear from owner's of fiberglass pools and their opinions of the robots they are using.

 

[NJ pool girl]

My research has me looking at EcoJets, Aquabot Turbo T and Hayward Shark. Heard varying opinions on the EcoJets regarding their ability to climb the walls. Am also confused between the different Turbo models.

I just want a cleaner that will do it all (is that too much to ask????). Want to drop it in and have it clean the whole thing-safety shelf, stairs, waterline and bottom. I don't care how long it takes. Pool is 18' x 44' with a deep end.

If you have any recommendations, would love to hear them.

 

[cbb77]

Well I ended up NOT buying a robotic unit but did do quite a bit of research on these. I had narrowed my search to the Polaris 9300, Aquabot Turbo T, Hayward Tigershark QC and Dolphin Pro. I had been leaning toward the Polaris due to good online reviews and ease of cleaning. Tigershark was my second choice. I was like you looking for something that I could simply drop in and go. In the end I shyed away due to the reliability I had been reading about on all of these units. It seemed none were perfect and all had some maintenance ($$) after a while. I just couldn't get myself to spend that kind of money and have to continue to invest more shortly there after. Of course everyone's experience is different and it's possible you could have no issues for years. I just didn't feel like taking that chance at this time. In any case I went a different route and picked up the Zodiac MX8. Its a suction unit for only $300 after rebate. It works extremely well. You might want to check it out. If not the unitsvi mentioned above were amongst the most popular and better units out there. Good luck

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk

 

[NJ pool girl]

thanks for your response. based on many posts, I've seen many people say things like..."my xx robot cleans the bottom but not the sides..." or similar. My concern is that most people do not have fiberglass pools and I have no idea if robots will behave differently for FB than liner or gunite.

My pool manufacturer recommends a Hayward Phantom but that is also the one that they sell so I take that with a grain of salt...

 

[robl45]

robot not going to do the shelf or stairs, walls it could climb fine, but its just not feasible to have it get on a little shelf and clean it, stairs don't work well either. might get up a step if you lucky.

Sorry if this is a repeat post, but could not find a search tool to search the older posts...

Anyway, got a brand new fiberglass pool. It is a freeform shape and has a "shelf" all the way around it as well as stairs. 18x44 and about 21,000 gallons.

My research has resulted in conflicting and non-specific recommendations on a robot for this type of pool. I am not interested in anything with a booster pump. I just want a bot that I can plug in and have it do the entire pool. (Local dealer trying to sell me on an Aquabot Extreme that can only do the bottom. I am not interested in this).

Can anyone recommend a unit or a style? (tracks vs. jets , etc?)

Thanks.

NJ PG

 

[NJ pool girl]

To follow up on this post, in case anyone is interested, I actually wound up going with an Aquabot Viva. I was sold on the Brava at first but came across an awesome deal on the Viva that was too good to pass up.

It does (so far) exactly what I wanted: I drop it in and it cleans. It has an option for a 1 or 2 hour cycle as well as bottom only. Very easy to use. It cleaned the safety step as well. It even picks up small rocks (I don't have a patio yet).
There is a remote control that I haven't yet tried to use but I can see where it might come in handy.

If anything changes, I'll repost. :-D

 

[robl45]

To follow up on this post, in case anyone is interested, I actually wound up going with an Aquabot Viva. I was sold on the Brava at first but came across an awesome deal on the Viva that was too good to pass up.

It does (so far) exactly what I wanted: I drop it in and it cleans. It has an option for a 1 or 2 hour cycle as well as bottom only. Very easy to use. It cleaned the safety step as well. It even picks up small rocks (I don't have a patio yet).
There is a remote control that I haven't yet tried to use but I can see where it might come in handy.

If anything changes, I'll repost. :-D

god bless, I hope it has a good warranty. those remotes are a fortune to fix

 

[georgewever]

To follow up on this post, in case anyone is interested, I actually wound up going with an Aquabot Viva. I was sold on the Brava at first but came across an awesome deal on the Viva that was too good to pass up.

It does (so far) exactly what I wanted: I drop it in and it cleans. It has an option for a 1 or 2 hour cycle as well as bottom only. Very easy to use. It cleaned the safety step as well. It even picks up small rocks (I don't have a patio yet).
There is a remote control that I haven't yet tried to use but I can see where it might come in handy.

If anything changes, I'll repost. :-D

I have the same pool you do. It has some weird curves in it and i calculated it at about 18k gallons but it might be as many as 21k. I have not bought a vacuum yet for all the same reasons your describing. The shelf is about 3' down from the waterline all the way around the entire pool? I will follow up with this aquabot viva and maybe give it a shot... Thanks for the info!!!

 

[kenandshari]

Just adding a recommendation to the mix here. Our pool is freeform fiberlgass and also has a safety ledge about 40" down all around the deep end. We have a Nitro wall climber and it works really well in our pool. I will say that most of the time is stops at the shelf in the deep end (does not climb above it) but this is no big deal to us since it takes about 10 min a couple of times a week to brush the top part of the deep end walls before we throw Nitro in. Other than than, it really does a great job. Here's an example from 3 days ago. Our youngest and her little friend dumped about 10 lbs of beach sand in the pool Thursday afternoon with their little buckets. (They have a big beach sand pile in the back yard to play in) They did this because it looks really cool when the sand clouds the water---who knew?? We brushed it and ran Nitro for 4 of the 3 hour cycles and that got about 98% of it up. Of course Nitro's bag had to be rinsed clean after each cycle, but it got all of it out of the pool for us. Perhaps the other cleaners all clean this good or even better, but we only have experience with the Nitro so far. It does a good job and ours does everything they show in the youtube promotional video as advertised. We have no affiliation with Smart Pool, we're just very happy with our Nitro and recommend it based on personal experience. That's all.