I too was an original owner of the solar breeze & nx(2) versions and was generally satisfied with their performance so I did upgrade to Ariel version but was very disappointed in it's run time as compared with previous versions. So I was very interested in reading all betta 2 reviews. I have a large 835 sf surface area to clean so it's important to me that a skimmer robot investment performs to save me the manual labor of cleaning the pool surface more than the skimmers can provide. Based on others here that reviewed the betta 2, I decided to give the betta 2 a trial.
As mentioned earlier, I had a missing or loose propeller screw that cause the betta right propeller to come off. customer service responded really fast and sending me replacement screw but i was able to find a small enough screw to reattach it myself. So I put betta to work for the first time today. in calm morning waters it seemed to be pretty fast and intelligent navigating my pool, although , as with ariel, the sensors that allow it to avoid obstacles ( my pool edge is about 50% rockscape) doesnt let it grab debris that clings to the pool wall surfaces as much as my previous solor breeze nx(2) units, but at least they didnt get stuck in the waterfall rock areas. Betta 2 had no problems with my skimmers or steps, so I was happy about that.
Later in the day when the winds started to pick up I noticed the betta 2 struggling a bit navigating the turbulent water , so I put Ariel in the pool too. Ariel's paddle drive design seems to cut through the turbulent water better than betta 2's propellers but not by a great deal. At one point , they were side by side,pretty even with each other ,but Ariel did edge out betta 2 in forging through the headwind water flow. As I type this , the wind speeds are predicted to increase as the day goes into night. I know Ariel will die out shortly after nightfall. I anxioulsy wait to see how long betta 2 will last and how my pool surface looks in the morning after overnight winds. will report back. sorry for the long post....also as previously reported, betta 2 propeller navigation much quieter than ariel's paddles