Selecting Auto Pool Cleaner: price is an issue

[contento]

Hi all. I've had a Hayward Navigator for a few years. At first, the thing was great....fast, cleaned well, practicaly climed out of the pool. Things went downhill from there. I've replaced pretty much every part and it still will not "go." Suction and filter pressure are fine, impeller spins fine, but stll won't go. I'm fed up with messing with it and I'm ready to replace it.

So, the question is (and I know it's been discussed at length), which cleaner?

- inground diamondbrite finish, 19K gallons, one main drain, one skimmer. I added an addtional suction port for the cleaner when we redid the pool on the builder's recommendation.

pretty sure I want to go with suction side design

I want a cleaner that is reliable, climbs walls well, "scrubs" the light algae growth we get in Florida. Most of all, I need to spend < $400 if possible.

 

[dschlic1]

Hello to a fellow Floridian! I have a smaller pool, but also with an aggreate finish. I purchased a cheap Kreepy Crawler clone on eBay. I believe that I paid $75 for it. It works great, and have had no problems with it. My thought is that if it fails, throw it away and buy a new one.

 

[Guest]

Just remember that the navigator is a 'programmed pattern cleaner' and is more likely to cover your entire pool surface while the 'kreepy krawly' and baracuda type of cleaners (with the round rubber foot) are random pattern cleaners and might miss areas of your pool, depending on water current from returns, hose length, and other factors so don't expect the same performance from these two types of suction side cleaners.

 

[duraleigh]

The size of your pool has a great deal to do with the success or failure of an auto-vac.

The size of your pool would probably be okay for a suction side but that's about max. I am drawing a blank right now but it seems there have been some really good reports on a suction side that maybe has a German-sounding name? I'm sure someone knows what I'm talking about and will chime in with an opinion.

 

[peterl1365]

I believe you're talking about poolvergnugen. I don't recall who sells it.

 

[spishex]

I believe you're talking about poolvergnugen. I don't recall who sells it.

That's the company that makes The Poolcleaner.

 

[no-mas]

I bought a Jacuzzi brand pool cleaner several months ago at inyopools.com - it is identical to the pool cleaner, for quite a bit less money. As I understand it, Jacuzzi bought the rights to the pool cleaner, then folded and sold it a couple of years later. I am much happier with the jacuzzi than I was with my navigator.

http://www.inyopools.com/cleaners_jacuzzi.aspx

 

[no-mas]

By the way, I'm in Florida also. If you haven't already done so, read up on bbb at the pool school here and you won't have that algae growth you mentioned... My Florida pool hasn't had algae in the 15 months I've been doing bbb

 

[fofa]

I used and owned the Navigator for about 6 years. Then it completly wore out and I bought a poolvergneugen 4 wheel cleaner. Have used it for almost 2 years now.
The Navigator covers the pool a little better. I would say the navigator would cover my pool in 3-4 hours, the poolvergneugen takes about 8. It is not speed as much as pattern it seems.
The Navigator climbed the walls better, but still not great.
The poolvergneugen does WAY better on medium sized leaves, acorns and small twigs than the Navigator ever thought about.
The Navigator cost me $15.00 a year for wings, and about $10.00 every other year or so for feet.
The poolvergneugen cost me $60.00 for 4 tires after a year and half.
Both stayed in 24x7x365 pretty much.
I bought the poolvergneugen because of good reviews, and it cost $100.00 less to buy new than it was going to take to rebuild my Navigator.
Over all I was/am happy with both of them, each had advantages and disadvantages, but I like the way the poolvergneugen eats leaves, acorns and twigs better.
If money was not an object, I would run the Navaigator in the spring/summer and the poolvergneugen during the fall/winter.

 

[cliff_s]

I have owned a Hayward Navigator and if you have a PebbleTec pool it will wear out the parts about every other year,
also they are very sensitive to small rocks and sticks that will stop them.

I know own a Zodiac G5. It looks weird and I was very doubtful it would work, but I tried it anyway.
It works great, chugs all around the pool and part way up the sides and will pick up almost anything,
rocks, leaves, dirt and what have you. It is a very simple device with one slightly moving part, no gears,
wheels and etc, to wear out or fail. The price is about the same as a Navigator. It comes with a kit
to plug it in to your skimmer, so if you don't have a cleaner port you can still use it.

Cliff s