Disappointed in Maytronics Dolphin Active 20 Cleaner

[richg]

So I picked up an Active 20 in Summer 2019 to replace our Blue Diamond that lasted us 12 years. Didn't run it much for what was left in 2019 and none in 2020 due to tree falling on pool. But after opening pool this season and running it a bunch, I must say, I'm really disappointed overall with it's cleaning performance as compared to the blue diamond. It simply has really poor coverage overall in our pool.

Our pool is a rectangular 18x36, in-ground vinyl with deep end and stairs in the corner. Very simple. The blue diamond would get like 90%-100% of visible debris on a single run, and if you ran it twice it would catch anything that is missed. It seems the Active 20 NEVER can get even to 90% clean (I've just ran it 3 times and it still has multiple large areas (eg, 1-3 ft sq) that are untouched). It always seems to leave large areas totally untouched. The blue diamond did such a great job I never even considered getting a remote option, but it seems like it's a necessity with this model.

Also, the active 20 seems to not be able to go up steeper slopes and walls backwards (it's treads just keep slipping and going nowhere). Is that normal? Going fwd it has no issue, it hugs the wall tight and climbs right up anything.

The one thing that I really like about the active 20, it is MUCH easier to clean than the BD. That was always a PITA.

Anyone else have similar experiences? Is there a firmware update out there maybe to alter it's cleaning program? Any tips/tricks to get better performance out of it?

 

[mknauss]

I have had an Active20 for 4 years. Fiberglass pool, albeit much smaller than yours. Mine works great. Cleans the pool really well. I assume you are using the fine or preferably the dual filter set up.

 

[easyliftn]

My inground is 32 x 16 vinyl with the corner stairs as well. Got the S200 and it kept climbing the steps to the top one and get hung up in the corner. So I returned and went to the Active 30i. Main reasoning was the floor only option. Notice the same behavior with backing up to the wall and just turning the tracks not moving. Also gets stuck under the ladder for a bit because it can't stand upright at that angle. Seems that it wont back down the wall since it fails to recognize the wall since it is not upright.

Never had a robot after 4 years of having the pool so can't compare to any other models. Was too paranoid about possible damage to the vinyl liner, but finally getting over it. It's nice to have it do the work, overall nice job. But for me, still keep an eye on it while running. Mine seems to have pretty decent coverage. Do like the extra options and control of the 30i. The manual control actually works fairly well. Happy I moved up to that model.

 

[richg]

I have had an Active20 for 4 years. Fiberglass pool, albeit much smaller than yours. Mine works great. Cleans the pool really well. I assume you are using the fine or preferably the dual filter set up.

The filter setup doesn't seem to matter. It is visible areas of sand silt that it just never travels over. When it actually travels over the dirty areas, it picks it up fine. It is more that whatever algorithm it is using to traverse the pool, it just misses areas. The blue diamond just seemed to randomly keep crossing the pool over it's 4 hr cleaning time and it was pretty amazing how thorough it would be.