Best Pool Vac for spa?

[jbailey895]

Haggling got me nowhere; from Aiper:
"Thank you for getting back to us and supporting our products.

Please understand that the coupon is used for the product pricing at least $150. And we could see that the price for handheld vac is not enough to redeem the coupon code.
Thank you very much for your understanding. If any other questions we could help you with, please let us know.

$129 is about $15 cheaper than Amazon, I guess. . .

 

[iamtexmax]

I bought this a few weeks back (used coupon and got it for $79)......do not like it....hardly picks up anything....have a problem pushing this thing around with the pole (maybe if i get into the pool may work better).....head is really small....plan to return it

PS: It may be ok for spa use (I dont have a spa) so YMMV...thinking about getting the Pool Blaster from Amazon or the Volt FX

 

[jbailey895]

I buckled under and ordered the Aiper. There was a $10 off coupon for signing up for a newsletter, so OTD was $119. Hopefully it is worth it.

 

[CVAL44]

I buckled under and ordered the Aiper. There was a $10 off coupon for signing up for a newsletter, so OTD was $119. Hopefully it is worth it.

I did as well. Works decent for the attached spa.

 

[jbailey895]

So my initial review of the Aiper handheld vac: meh (at best.) Build quality is suspect. Mine only came with one "sock". The handle shaft, as others mentioned, is a bit too thick; I had to file it down just to get a pole to fit.
Assembly was easy, but while using it for 5 mins cleaning my spa, not only did the head not roll (it has recessed wheels but they don't seem to make contact); the bag fell off, spilling the contents. Then the suction head fell off (I had to fish them both out.) Suction is just OK (nothing to compare). The head is only about 5" wide; I can't imaging cleaning anything more than a small spa, and that took more time than it should have.

I "only" paid $120 for it, but so far I am not impressed. Will update after some more time.

Cheers.

 

[Ahultin]

So my initial review of the Aiper handheld vac: meh (at best.) Build quality is suspect. Mine only came with one "sock". The handle shaft, as others mentioned, is a bit too thick; I had to file it down just to get a pole to fit.
Assembly was easy, but while using it for 5 mins cleaning my spa, not only did the head not roll (it has recessed wheels but they don't seem to make contact); the bag fell off, spilling the contents. Then the suction head fell off (I had to fish them both out.) Suction is just OK (nothing to compare). The head is only about 5" wide; I can't imaging cleaning anything more than a small spa, and that took more time than it should have.

I "only" paid $120 for it, but so far I am not impressed. Will update after some more time.

Cheers.

Fyi, there is a "rubbery" seal on the head that seems to soften with use which then puts the wheels on the surface.
I also only received one sock filter but emailed them and they shipped the "fine" one (though I'm sure it came from China as it took almost 2 weeks)

 

[Tres Gatos]

After wasting money on some of the expensive rechargeable vacuum toys I went and bought a Vevor pond vacuum available on Amazon for $125. It's a high quality shop vac except it is designed for ponds/spas. 120 volt 1400 watt very powerful it will suck up everything the first time.

 

[jbailey895]

To follow up, the Aiper died after one use. I recharged until the charger turned green. Tried it this morning and nothing. Totally dead.
I just emailed customer service. I am interested to see their response. Will update.

 

[Ahultin]

To follow up, the Aiper died after one use. I recharged until the charger turned green. Tried it this morning and nothing. Totally dead.
I just emailed customer service. I am interested to see their response. Will update.

I'm sure you have but just in case, there is a switch under the clear suction chamber. Remove the chamber and make sure you clean any debris then re-seat it

 

[jbailey895]

Thanks A; I can rotate but cannot remove the clear chamber from the body. Not sure what to do at this point (without potentially breaking it), guess I'll wait to see if Aiper replies.

 

[Ahultin]

Thanks A; I can rotate but cannot remove the clear chamber from the body. Not sure what to do at this point (without potentially breaking it), guess I'll wait to see if Aiper replies.

It is a quarter turn, once you rotate 90 from level , pull.
The two white pins in the bottom are the switches

 

[jbailey895]

Thanks. I finally got the clear chamber off and checked the seal. Those two buttons need to be depressed to allow the motor to run; but my clear chamber does not seat correctly on the rubber grommet; it either spins or sticks and is not in the right place. It could be my clear part is warped? Does your unit work consistently? Its pretty frustrating where either the clear chamber or the "sock" thing are constantly falling off. Nothing seems to be engineered well, at least with my unit.

I appreciate your response.

 

[Ahultin]

Thanks. I finally got the clear chamber off and checked the seal. Those two buttons need to be depressed to allow the motor to run; but my clear chamber does not seat correctly on the rubber grommet; it either spins or sticks and is not in the right place. It could be my clear part is warped? Does your unit work consistently? Its pretty frustrating where either the clear chamber or the "sock" thing are constantly falling off. Nothing seems to be engineered well, at least with my unit.

I appreciate your response.

Those buttons are impacted by the seal, when the seal is new, you need to align the arrows and push relatively hard so that you get the side pins into the track on the clear piece. Once the seal is worn in after a few removals, it is much easier
Mine works consistently and I've been using it thus far exclusively as my pool vac (waiting for a robot)

 

[Ahultin]

As an update to this thread I had an interesting revalation today. I had ordered the handheld to tide me over until I got another robot and then planned to use the handheld for spot duty. I ordered the aiper seagull pro combo that came with another handheld (the promo at the time made the combo cheaper than the standalone)
The battery on my handheld was dead today when I went to do the spa (I have not charged it in probably the last month of uses as I probably use it 10-15m at a time) so I opted to open the new one and use it. To my surprise the new one is in fact different. My initial order was for the "h1" but it appears I got the "p111". External difference are minor but the "h1" i opened today came with the fine filter. With my first one it did not come with the second advertised fine filter so I emailed aiper and they sent what I thought was the fine filter. Turns out it was not, the actual fine filter is significantly different and for my use case works much better. I do not get the small cloud of dust as I'm picking up that would sometimes happen with the first one.
Moral - if you bought one of these and did not receive the actual "fine" filter sock, email and ask for one.