So the 11 year old booster pump for our trusty Polaris 280, affectionately named “Splash” because, well, he often comes up to greet visitors a spray from the tail sweep, seems to be done (longer story about attempted repairs that reduced a big leak but now have it seized up). While I could replace the pump for a few hundred dollars, I think it’s time to try out a robot that can do more scrubbing than Splash is willing to do (he just flicks his tail when I mention it!)
I’m looking at the S200, Active 20, or Warrior SE because we don’t need the bells and whistles of the higher models -- I plan to use automation mode with a WiFi plug timer. I have spoken with Margaret at Marina, awaiting new availability info.
I think I understand that these models by default come with a basket and 2 sets of snap-in filters, one mesh (“spring/fall” or “fine” depending on the reference), and one pleated (“ultra-fine”), but only one of these can be installed at a time. Marina usually offers a “filter upgrade” to what some higher models have -- a basket with a mesh (“rough”) filter built-in that can have the pleated ultra-fine filters snapped in at the same time. Am I understanding that correctly?
The advantage of that would be bigger debris being caught by the mesh and thus easier to clean than from between the pleats. The disadvantage might be potential flow reduction. Margaret’s thought was that if I don’t have tons of leaves falling all year round the basic setup might be better. Is there anybody who’s used both and prefers the default (i.e. being able to use the ultra-fine filter alone)?
Also, a warranty question -- while I believe these are exactly the same robot except for color and all have a 2 year warranty, the Warrior SE means dealing with Pentair’s customer/warranty support instead of Maytronics, right? I’ve seen many issues here with Pentair support, but that’s anecdotal and can’t tell if Maytronics is any better to deal with?
The Dolphin robots also seem have automation mode documented and advertised, while on the Warrior SE it works but is undocumented/unsupported.
I’m looking at the S200, Active 20, or Warrior SE because we don’t need the bells and whistles of the higher models -- I plan to use automation mode with a WiFi plug timer. I have spoken with Margaret at Marina, awaiting new availability info.
I think I understand that these models by default come with a basket and 2 sets of snap-in filters, one mesh (“spring/fall” or “fine” depending on the reference), and one pleated (“ultra-fine”), but only one of these can be installed at a time. Marina usually offers a “filter upgrade” to what some higher models have -- a basket with a mesh (“rough”) filter built-in that can have the pleated ultra-fine filters snapped in at the same time. Am I understanding that correctly?
The advantage of that would be bigger debris being caught by the mesh and thus easier to clean than from between the pleats. The disadvantage might be potential flow reduction. Margaret’s thought was that if I don’t have tons of leaves falling all year round the basic setup might be better. Is there anybody who’s used both and prefers the default (i.e. being able to use the ultra-fine filter alone)?
Also, a warranty question -- while I believe these are exactly the same robot except for color and all have a 2 year warranty, the Warrior SE means dealing with Pentair’s customer/warranty support instead of Maytronics, right? I’ve seen many issues here with Pentair support, but that’s anecdotal and can’t tell if Maytronics is any better to deal with?
The Dolphin robots also seem have automation mode documented and advertised, while on the Warrior SE it works but is undocumented/unsupported.
