Which robotic cleaner to choose?

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dconner

0
Jul 30, 2013
33
Oklahoma
We have a 16' x 36' inground pool with a 6' deep end. Currently we have a Polaris 380 and, although it does a great job of cleaning up large debris it leaves a ton of dust patches throughout the pool. We have wasted a ton of water over the past two years by constantly needing to vacuum the bottom to get it cleaned. And with water restrictions now becoming the norm in our area, it has gotten expensive just to clean our pool.

That being said, I have convinced the wife to save not only money in water, but also to save me from wasting several hours a week to get our pool cleaned is to get a robot to help us out. I have read reviews of various cleaners, but now I come to the experts for advice. As stated above, its not a huge pool, but my only hold up is the fact that the floor is angled in the deep end and I am worried about choosing a cleaner that won't be able to climb the angle.

We have looked at an Aquabot and a Dolphin. I am leaning towards the Dolphin Deluxe 3 due to cost ($499), but worry if it will climb the angle and clean the deep end well. We are not looking to break the bank, just want something that will work effectively. Any advice appreciated!
 
I would think that either of them will climb the angle easily enough.
Couple things you might consider before making a final decision which in my decision making process, were important factors in making a selection.
1. Do you want your robot to climb and clean the walls?
2. Do you want your robots cord to be tangle/ kink free?


dconner said:
We have a 16' x 36' inground pool with a 6' deep end. Currently we have a Polaris 380 and, although it does a great job of cleaning up large debris it leaves a ton of dust patches throughout the pool. We have wasted a ton of water over the past two years by constantly needing to vacuum the bottom to get it cleaned. And with water restrictions now becoming the norm in our area, it has gotten expensive just to clean our pool.

That being said, I have convinced the wife to save not only money in water, but also to save me from wasting several hours a week to get our pool cleaned is to get a robot to help us out. I have read reviews of various cleaners, but now I come to the experts for advice. As stated above, its not a huge pool, but my only hold up is the fact that the floor is angled in the deep end and I am worried about choosing a cleaner that won't be able to climb the angle.

We have looked at an Aquabot and a Dolphin. I am leaning towards the Dolphin Deluxe 3 due to cost ($499), but worry if it will climb the angle and clean the deep end well. We are not looking to break the bank, just want something that will work effectively. Any advice appreciated!
Click to expand...
 
Why not try the sand/silt filter bag for the polaris? Save yourself $400, it's a good model. They make all kinds of bags for it...

Add a tail sweep pro if you don't have one. It stops the water from shooting out of the pool and helps stir up the sediment so the pool filter will get it.
 
zimm said:
Why not try the sand/silt filter bag for the polaris? Save yourself $400, it's a good model. They make all kinds of bags for it...

Add a tail sweep pro if you don't have one. It stops the water from shooting out of the pool and helps stir up the sediment so the pool filter will get it.
Click to expand...

I have a sand/silt bag, but it doesn't pick up the dirt that gets in our pool. I can watch it drive over the top of the dirt and the watch the dirt blow though the top of the bag. I have read about people putting pantyhose in the bag to help with filtration. I haven't tried the tail sweep pro, but my current tail pushes the dirt around pretty good, but for some reason it never gets far enough to get filtered out before settling back down to the pool floor.

- - - Updated - - -

Divin Dave said:
I would think that either of them will climb the angle easily enough.
Couple things you might consider before making a final decision which in my decision making process, were important factors in making a selection.
1. Do you want your robot to climb and clean the walls?
2. Do you want your robots cord to be tangle/ kink free?
Click to expand...

The only thing I am concerned with really is the floor to be cleaned. The walls would be nice, but I can brush and clean those off every few days with no problem. And I would prefer a tangle/kink free. Basically you are telling me to go up to a Deluxe 4? I just don't know if I can justify spending over a grand on a pool cleaner. Any other models recommended that would be more in the $500 price range?
 

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http://epicpoolsupply.com/dolphin-nautilus.php
http://www.poolsupply4less.com/Hayward-SharkVAC-RC9740-p/rc9740.htm

both of these have pretty good reviews on Amazondotcom and are wayyyy less than 1000 dollar ones.

I originally bought a sharkvac. it worked great IMO. I liked it a whole lot. My friend came over to see it and he loved the thing too and wanted one, but he dont do internet because he wants to see and touch it first. So after him bugging me, I sold him my sharkvac and got me the dolphin nautilus which I considered a slight upgrade. Have only used the dolphin a few times so far, and it works great too.

The sharkvac does climb the walls a bit, even though Hayward says it doesnt. The cord is a nice one, but its not 100 percent kink free. Overall though, its a good machine IMO.
The Really Nice thing about the sharkvac, which for me over-rode the kinkless cord, is you dont have to turn it upside down to remove the filters, and dirt doesnt spill back out when its pulled from the water. The filters remove from the top, which is a awesome feature.

I would recommend either of these cleaners.



dconner said:
I have a sand/silt bag, but it doesn't pick up the dirt that gets in our pool. I can watch it drive over the top of the dirt and the watch the dirt blow though the top of the bag. I have read about people putting pantyhose in the bag to help with filtration. I haven't tried the tail sweep pro, but my current tail pushes the dirt around pretty good, but for some reason it never gets far enough to get filtered out before settling back down to the pool floor.

- - - Updated - - -



The only thing I am concerned with really is the floor to be cleaned. The walls would be nice, but I can brush and clean those off every few days with no problem. And I would prefer a tangle/kink free. Basically you are telling me to go up to a Deluxe 4? I just don't know if I can justify spending over a grand on a pool cleaner. Any other models recommended that would be more in the $500 price range?
Click to expand...
 
bobodaclown said:
I've got a Smart Pool Nitro NC22 can be had for about $400. You might find it on sale for $300.
I've done a review here:
http://www.troublefreepool.com/thre...o-SmartKleen-Universal-Review?highlight=nitro

and here's a link to a movie I made while it cleaned the pool
http://www.troublefreepool.com/thre...-Hour-run-time-movie-compressed-into-1-minute
Click to expand...

Do you think this unit would work UNDER a solar cover ?

Also, is this the same unit ?

http://www.yardandpool.com/smartpool-4i-robotic-pool-cleaner-pt4i?gclid=CMv46O24jb4CFQmSfgodfWMABQ
 
toofast said:
I am in the same boat as you....struggling to spend $1K - been looking at these models...what do the experts think ?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CA4U4ZU/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2ON7PO0OX6HN9&coliid=I1MST14A7JZJM8

This one says above or in ground - plus I like the price point

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002B8W3HW
Click to expand...


I'm returning the Aquabot Pool Rover Hybrid Robotic Pool Cleaner to Amazon. It would stay in the deep end most of the time and leave the shallow end dirty. The filter bag passes dead algae and silt leaving me with a cloudy pool. I tried the several remedies suggested, to no avail.

Guess I'll try a cleaner with a cartridge filter so I don't need to backwash my sand filter as often.

Martin
 
I'm about to do a post on it, but I just got a Dolphin Supreme M5 this week and I am highly impressed. As luck would have it, my brand new pool got trashed with a huge dust storm, and high winds for several days following the initial fill. This, coupled with dirt all round my pool really did a real number on it.

I knew dust would be an enemy, and this is the reason I got the M5 with cart filter options. The first run of thirty or so minutes filled the carts more full of dirt than this picture that was taken after two full cycles. After about three of those cycles, I can hardly find dust in the pool. Strangely, the dirt seems to just stick to the bottom and not vacuum up easily at all. We kept brushing to the main drains with some result, but the M5 swept things right up. How well it worked is simply amazing to me. I am so glad I went with this instead of a pressure cleaner setup I was originally planning.

The advice I offer is the same that was given to me. A robot is better than a pressure cleaner for more than one reason, and $$$ equal cleaning power. This may be the single best piece of advice I got for my entire pool build and it wasn't from my builder either.

DolphinM5rs1_zps89f56576.jpg


DolphinM5rs2_zps956aacd4.jpg
 
I have the dolphin nautilus but only for a few weeks now.
It works great. What it doesnt "exactly" do, is crawl sideways along the water line very far. It might go about a foot or so, but it tries hard. The fact that the nautilus doesn't have the float handle is why it wont do that. As far as I can tell, the Only difference between the nautilus and the Dolphin Triton is the float handle.
This is a very good price point for this cleaner IMO.

You can get this cleaner and Epicpoolsuppliesdotcom for 599.

toofast said:
I am in the same boat as you....struggling to spend $1K - been looking at these models...what do the experts think ?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CA4U4ZU/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2ON7PO0OX6HN9&coliid=I1MST14A7JZJM8

This one says above or in ground - plus I like the price point

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002B8W3HW
Click to expand...
 
man thats a lot of dirt! I have been there too! The robot sure makes keeping the pool clean just sooo easy! Put it in, sit back and let it do all the work! I love my Dolphin!

Brushpup said:
I'm about to do a post on it, but I just got a Dolphin Supreme M5 this week and I am highly impressed. As luck would have it, my brand new pool got trashed with a huge dust storm, and high winds for several days following the initial fill. This, coupled with dirt all round my pool really did a real number on it.

I knew dust would be an enemy, and this is the reason I got the M5 with cart filter options. The first run of thirty or so minutes filled the carts more full of dirt than this picture that was taken after two full cycles. After about three of those cycles, I can hardly find dust in the pool. Strangely, the dirt seems to just stick to the bottom and not vacuum up easily at all. We kept brushing to the main drains with some result, but the M5 swept things right up. How well it worked is simply amazing to me. I am so glad I went with this instead of a pressure cleaner setup I was originally planning.

The advice I offer is the same that was given to me. A robot is better than a pressure cleaner for more than one reason, and $$$ equal cleaning power. This may be the single best piece of advice I got for my entire pool build and it wasn't from my builder either.

DolphinM5rs1_zps89f56576.jpg


DolphinM5rs2_zps956aacd4.jpg
Click to expand...
 

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