A Breakdown of Dolphin's 2017 Lineup

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Geebot said:
My old-style Dolphin Diagnostic is at least 15 years old. The new ones, like the S series, haven't been around very long to get any stats on lifespan. My S300 is great three years in, but I can't predict if it has another two years or ten years of life left.
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Thanks! I have to get one of these. I have a 15x30 oval AG pool and im trying to figure out which one is worth getting. Also i read someone claimed they arent good for my liner? Or they scratch it? If its 100% liner safe id love to order one asap. Any recommendations would be great. I was looking at the e10 and 20.... they all looking pretty awesome
 
Which one did you go with peacefulkancer? I'm also in Chandler and looking to finally get a robot cleaner.

It would be nice if they clearly defined the product lines and what advantages they have over each other. I'm leaning towards the Nautilus CC Plus, unless others have a reason against it or a better one for a similar price.
 
bacevedo said:
Which one did you go with peacefulkancer? I'm also in Chandler and looking to finally get a robot cleaner.

It would be nice if they clearly defined the product lines and what advantages they have over each other. I'm leaning towards the Nautilus CC Plus, unless others have a reason against it or a better one for a similar price.
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I just posted in the other thread that I wish I had gone with the S300 over the S200 for the quick clean feature.

Doheny's Discovery, S200, Active20, Triton owners club - Page 70
 
I have the S300. I picked it because I wanted the cart. Quick Clean has been used maybe once or twice. Mostly I just drop it in and push the button for the standard two hour cycle. If the pool is spotless two hours later, I pull it out and rise the filter, if not push the button again. Quick Clean just cuts the time down to one hour and tells the robot to stay on the floor only. I don’t really see any advantage. An S-200 would have been fine for me, if it had come with a cart. 200, 300, 300i are all the exact same robot with just a couple control buttons and some software differences. I consider Bluetooth control a gimmick, since you have to be standing right next to the controller to make it work. They could have just put directional buttons right on the controller. I just can’t really justify the price differences between the models.
 
The Class 2 Bluetooth standard (2.5mW transmitter power) is the standard for most devices. The Class 2 Standard has a range of 10 meters or 33ft. I can attest to the fact that I can start my robot up at my kitchen table which is a direct line of site distance of about 25ft from the power supply. I can also stand pool side, about 30ft away from the power supply, and drive the bot with the manual controls.

I don’t consider it a gimmick but I admit I only use the manual drive mode occasionally. Where I have found it most useful is when the robot is cleaning, if the pool is mostly spotless and I want to go chase a few leaves down in a difficult corner, I can drive the bot over to the problem area and then take it out on manual mode and let the bot proceed to clean. Manual mode takes precedence over the current cleaning cycle but then returns the bot to the current cycle when manual mode is exited.

Floor only mode is very useful in my opinion because otherwise the standard cleaning cycle is for the robot to spend 80% of its cycle time on the floor and 20% on the walls. Walls generally don’t hold a lot of dirt and can be brushed. So if the pool bottom needs a thorough cleaning, then forcing the bot to focus on the floor is pretty useful.
 
Being able to use Bluetooth from my kitchen is of no benefit. My robot doesn’t live in the pool. I need to drop it in to start it. And if I’m going to guide the robot manually, I need to be out by the pool. In both cases, I’m literally standing next to the controller. That’s why I say that I consider Bluetooth a gimmick. For me, all the buttons could just all be right on the controller. You could drive the robot manually without a cell phone.
 
The Bluetooth is useful on my active 30i when I want to change the cycle time or if I want to change cleaning modes. None of the extra modes can be selected without the app or on the power supply. Then again I like technology. Some people don’t.
 
I have nothing against tech. In fact, Alexa can control my pool lights, spa lights, turn my spa pump and heater on or off. It’s just that in this case, a couple buttons on the controller would have sufficed. I just see no advantage of the tech.
 

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I am not an expert on Dolphins, just a homeowner who made a couple of calls to Maytronics. This is what the two agents told me. The first agent (top of the chart) seemed to be consulting both 2017 and 2018 model year information, while the second gave information on 2018 models only. There are some gaps here, but I'm sharing what I have in case it would help someone.
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