Doheny's Discovery, S200, Active20, Triton owners club

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Built a caddy for my Warrior SE. Didn't end up being any cheaper than the Maytronics one but mine has a water proof case for the controller. And couldn't find any non wobbly wheels on the cheaper hand trucks from harbor freight. Makes it a lot easier to get back in the basement and was fun to build
 

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mdt0311 said:
Just ordered an Active 20 from Seth at Marina

Question that i forgot to ask on the phone - I see people mentioning 2 different types of filters. Does the robot come with both or do i need to buy the fine material filter seperate?
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It comes with both, but you really want to the 1 drop-in rough filter, not the 4 snap-in rough filters. That way you can use them both at the same time.
 
bmoreswim said:
It comes with both, but you really want to the 1 drop-in rough filter, not the 4 snap-in rough filters. That way you can use them both at the same time.
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Ahh ok - i'll probably do a run with the regular filters and then swap them out for the finer ones - thank you!!

DeanP66 said:
How much are those and did you have the option to buy the S200?
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I paid $719 flat

the s200 is the same price but I was going to have to wait a few weeks for that one to be in stock and they told me the active 20 is the same robot with different accent colors, so i went with that.
 
For you S200/A20 owners do any of you wish you have the caddy or "smart" features in the A30i/S300i?

Trying to figure out if it makes sense for me to save the cash on the S200 for my 40x20 rectangular 9.5' pool or spend a little more for a caddy/extra features. I don't particularly need to drive the thing around with my phone and I plan on taking it out of the water after each cleaning but I am interested in the "floor only" mode on the S300i to really get the floor extra clean. But if the S200 cleans the floor just fine then that's good. I've seen people post about issues with the cords on these things...does the caddy help in prolonging it's life/getting tangly?
 
Vital Signs said:
For you S200/A20 owners do any of you wish you have the caddy or "smart" features in the A30i/S300i?

Trying to figure out if it makes sense for me to save the cash on the S200 for my 40x20 rectangular 9.5' pool or spend a little more for a caddy/extra features. I don't particularly need to drive the thing around with my phone and I plan on taking it out of the water after each cleaning but I am interested in the "floor only" mode on the S300i to really get the floor extra clean. But if the S200 cleans the floor just fine then that's good. I've seen people post about issues with the cords on these things...does the caddy help in prolonging it's life/getting tangly?
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So far in the few months of owning mine I haven't found myself wishing I had the smart features. It spends most of its time on the floor anyway and at opening I just hit go again to do repetitive runs.

For my situation getting into my basement I find the caddy very useful but I built my own (few posts above). I haven't had any trouble with tangling yet. I uncoil it straight before a run and then use the over/under method to coil back up and use bungee to keep it wrapped on the caddy
 
I store mine in a shed with a plastic floor next to the pool so I have no need for a caddie. In fact it would be inconvenient because of the space available. I would purchase the same Active 20 or twin again. No need for additional features for me. It generally does all I want in one run, but I hit it a second time if needed as mentioned above.
 

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I have the Active 30i and the options are basically useless to me except I have the longer time for cleaning set as my default but with a new S200 or A20 there is an easy work around using "Automation Mode". And can remotely turn unit off and on and set a schedule, so you can have it run several times instead of longer cleaning and in my opinion is what I really want (anyone want to trade?). From what I read here on the form The Pentair Warrior has 2 models one an analogous to the S200/A20 and the other an analogous to the S300/A30. If I remember correctly, the price was $699 for one and $750 for the other. In that case I would spend the extra $50 because I believe you get the course filter that fits inside the fine filter. I use both all the time, the coarse filter grabs the bigger stuff so my fine filter lasts longer before cleaning. I find I need to clean the filter after 3 cycles because my fine filter is pretty clogged (these robots definitely clean better than anything else I have seen, you think you have a clean pool till you run it and see all the silt and dirt that you have trapped.) As far as the cord tangling, the major culprit for the tangle is the robot going in circles and causing line twists, not the user tangling, however if you do not coil it properly (over/under method mentioned above) that can add to the problem. Originally they said the robot was smart enough to prevent tangles but the robot is not very smart at all, they finally put a swivel on the line which helps but it is not the greatest swivel and still tangles, or twists may be the more appropriate word. I have the caddy but in my opinion not worth the cost. I would not store the robot sitting on a flat surface because it will flatten the brushes but a couple of 4x4s can solve that problem. If you want it to hold the control box it does do that very well but it is flimsy and does not roll over grass well. My thought is if it were used to pull over grass day in and day out it will break if not carefully used. I think a DIY would be much cheaper and function better with larger wheels. The caddy is very light though. By the way I also have a 20x40 pool and if outlet isn't positioned properly the cord would not be long enough and when the twists occur it acts like a shorter cord and won't let the robot reach the far end of my pool. Ussually after 3 cycles, but then I need to clean filters anyway. So leaving in pool for a week unattended on the timer is not so great either and my robot misses some spots in the pool and takes 2-3 cycles to get all the areas clean so it is pretty much an everyday thing for me.
 
@ Pool Amatuer, the warrior se is the same as the s200 and the warrior si has bluetooth capability, it is most likely comparable to your 30i. I think Marina Pools will do the filter upgrade for free if you ask. The snap in filters are fine in my situation. I needed a caddy but decided to stay with the warrior se; the bluetooth was not a need for me.
 
Thanks for the replies...helped convince me to get one. I ordered a Warrior SI (the S200/A20's were out of stock for a few more weeks) from Marina yesterday. Was gonna get the SE but in a last minute impulse decided to spend the extra $50 so I could have bluetooth control....which I'm sure I'll probably only use a couple times but oh well. Margaret said the SI doesn't have all the extra cleaning modes like a 300i/30i but just the driving/scheduling ability as well as the same filter basket setup, although they can do the filter upgrade on 200/20/SE's if you want.

Decided to go with this instead of a more expensive one right now because I'm really interested in the IO model with it's floor mapping but since that seems to be over a year away I thought I'd get this as a stopgap. Crossing my fingers that it does a really good job though so I don't have the need to upgrade.

Gonna store it in a plastic deckbox next to my pool so once I see and measure the brush layout I'll build a little stand for it so it's not resting on the brushes. I'll install some sort of cord holding setup too to keep it nice and orderly.

The outlet I'm planning on using is about 12' from the 20' side on the shallow end so hopefully the cord is long enough to get everything.... although there is an outlet about 15' from the 40' side near the deep end so I guess if it can't clean everything plugged into one spot I can alternate where I plug it in so it's getting the total area over a couple cleanings.

Main worry is I've got the main drain as well as three floor returns so I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't get stuck...or if it does that it can free itself after a few minutes.

Excited for it to get here (ordered in the morning and Marina shipped it out the same day!) because I manually vacuumed for the first time today and I would definitely like to do that as few times as possible going forward.
 
Vital Signs said:
Thanks for the replies...helped convince me to get one. I ordered a Warrior SI (the S200/A20's were out of stock for a few more weeks) from Marina yesterday. Was gonna get the SE but in a last minute impulse decided to spend the extra $50 so I could have bluetooth control....which I'm sure I'll probably only use a couple times but oh well. Margaret said the SI doesn't have all the extra cleaning modes like a 300i/30i but just the driving/scheduling ability as well as the same filter basket setup, although they can do the filter upgrade on 200/20/SE's if you want.

Decided to go with this instead of a more expensive one right now because I'm really interested in the IO model with it's floor mapping but since that seems to be over a year away I thought I'd get this as a stopgap. Crossing my fingers that it does a really good job though so I don't have the need to upgrade.

Gonna store it in a plastic deckbox next to my pool so once I see and measure the brush layout I'll build a little stand for it so it's not resting on the brushes. I'll install some sort of cord holding setup too to keep it nice and orderly.

The outlet I'm planning on using is about 12' from the 20' side on the shallow end so hopefully the cord is long enough to get everything.... although there is an outlet about 15' from the 40' side near the deep end so I guess if it can't clean everything plugged into one spot I can alternate where I plug it in so it's getting the total area over a couple cleanings.

Main worry is I've got the main drain as well as three floor returns so I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't get stuck...or if it does that it can free itself after a few minutes.

Excited for it to get here (ordered in the morning and Marina shipped it out the same day!) because I manually vacuumed for the first time today and I would definitely like to do that as few times as possible going forward.
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If it doesn’t get every bit, just hit the button again. Gone!

No real need for blocks to sit it on. Just turn it on it’s side and lean it against the side of the box. Also takes up less floor space that way. It rests nicely on the side of the track with the top pushing on the side of the box/shed.

You’ll have plenty of cord for that outlet on the 20’ side. I also use that setup and my pool is only 2’ shorter. But my outlet is 13’-14’ away. Mine actually used to get stuck on the shallow end bench which runs the length of the pool. So I came up with a solution to tether him by wrapping the cord around the base of the diving board with a piece of electrical tape marked at a certain point so he can get to the step but not on top of it. He never gets stuck on similar water depth benches other places but those are all in deeper water below the bench.

Mine occasionally gets stuck on the drains for up to 30 seconds I’d say. Has never remained there.
 
@Vital Signs, Congratulations on your purchase, if they really will switch course filters for free I would have stayed with SE but really not much of a difference and you can see if the timer/bluetooth works for you, if you only run it once a day it should. I will be curious as to the distance and how well the bluetooth connects, I have to stand right beside the unit and it takes 30 - 60 seconds to connect and sometimes even much longer if it has trouble. I have a bluetooth light right next to it which works much better and connects quickly when I go into the app and works to about 80 feet away, maybe they have fixed that problem. The big thing to me is the "automation mode" It will give the flexibility that my robot will not give me, namely repeated cycles during the night. I usually run my robot at night or early AM so my pump is off and it does not hang up on my bottom drain for any more than 30 sec and many times not at all. If I run with bottom drain sucking it hangs up for more like a minute but usually frees itself sooner or later. If running robot with filter on shut off bottom drain at that time and I think you will be pretty happy, floor returns may push it but do not think it will hang up on them. I have SWG so I like to run pump 10 AM to 8 PM. and then the robot but if you inspect carefully you may see a little dirt in an area that it misses on first run, usually second run gets it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the amount of dirt it dirt it gets out of a pool that looks clean. After you have it for a couple weeks check back in and give us a review. I like bmoreswim's idea of storing on it's side. I think caddy is overrated, I have seen some DIY set ups on this site for making a box to house power unit so it stores by the outlet that I would use if I had an outside outlet, but mine is inside and hangs on the wall.
 
I'm on my second week with my new Doheny's Discovery, however, I'm somewhat unimpressed with its cleaning ability compared to my old Nautilus CC Plus. The Nautilus picked up just about everything off the pool floor on its first pass without hesitation. On the other hand, the Discovery seems to blow leaves forward and away as its rolling along. I even saw it roll right over a piece of thin bark and spit it out the back. It will finish its cycle with a few leaves in the pool floor that I manually fish out. A little underwhelming to say the least considering my old Nautilus had no issues even after one cycle. I think the fact that it is heavier and sits lower on the pool floor makes it more efficient, but I'm not sure. Regardless, I had to replace it with a robot with outer tank tracks, because the CC Plus inner track design would scrape the side panels along the pool corners and would leave black marks on the plaster. Real pain to scrub off. Come on Maytronics, you can do better!
 
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Sorry to hear you aren't super impressed with your Discovery. One item to check is to make sure the impeller doesn't have anything wrapped around it. You can just reach it with your fingers but better to take a few easy screws out and you gain full access to it, just in case there is an obstruction.
 
If it is not picking up leaves and bark I would call Doheny and see if you have a bad unit, my Active unit clears leaves real well when it rolls directly over them. My unit does not do the entire floor on 1 cycle though, it will miss dirt that I saw before I started but it is because robot does not run over it. It usually gets 99% on 2 cycles although sometimes it takes 3. Where the robots really shine is getting the fine stuff that I can not see. I agree with you that the advertising and hype does not live up to the product but over the years they are doing better and this forum has a lot of hidden gems to help like bemoreswim's above. Hopefully in the future they will incorporate more of the user's suggestions.
 
I really don't think there is anything malfunctioning on it, and tbh it does a good enough job, so I'm not disappointed. Simply, my expectations were higher coming from the Nautilus. I chalk it up to a different design that may be slightly less efficient at cleaning than the Nautilus CC Plus design. But then again, there are pros and cons with both.

We have some insane winds today in Vegas. Plenty of dirt, dust, and debris collecting in the pool. I will put it to the test this evening.
 

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