How to choose a robot cleaner

[mjc123]

I’ve been looking to get a robot cleaner for 2 years (on and off) and have yet to come to anything close to being ready to buy one. I don’t mind spending a bit but if I’m going to spend $1-2k (CAD) on a pool vac I don’t want to regret my decision.

Here’s the issue- I go to the various vendor sites and I honestly can’t tell the difference between the various models based on the descriptions. I mean, Bluetooth/wifi enabled vs not is obvious, but which will work best in my pool, which I’ll be happiest with, remains a problem. Plus, most vendors have lines that are only available through brick and mortar pool shops- are they better? I don’t know. One of the best reviewed online on Amazon is the dolphin nautilus cc plus (at $1400 CAD) but is it best for my pool? Idk.

Open to any thoughts/recommendations people can offer. FWIW, my pool is vinyl and somewhat kidney shaped- so the walls are about 4-5’ tall, vertical and continuously curved with both concave and convex arcs. The 9’ deep end slopes in linearly from the base of those vertical walls, and there’s stairs in the shallow end

 

[Mark IT]

We have had our pool and Dolphin robot cleaner for a couple of months now. I was going to buy the robot online until I saw a few reviews on Amazon complaining about how the local pool store will NOT do warranty maintenance on their robot. I checked with my local pool stores and they confirmed they will not perform maintenance on robots that were not purchased from them. They informed me I would have to ship the robot for warranty work. These machines are large and heavy. The reviews complaining about the shipping said they paid $60 plus just for the shipping to get warranty work done. Check with your local stores and ask them about warranty work. For example, the local Leslies stores only do maintenance on Polaris. BUT they sell Dolphin and other brands. The store said they have to ship the other brands to get warranty work performed. If getting local warranty work is a priority to you, then check the local stores and ask them what brands they actually do warranty work.

I wanted a Dolphin and went with a store called PoolWerx because the local store had staff trained in Dolphin Repair work.

 

[reggiehammond]

I have a Pentair Warrior SE (a rebranded Maytronics) - but any Maytronics/Dolphin/Pentair/etc is good.
It doesn't really matter - they all work well. I'd only tell you the Nautilus line baskets are annoying and too small.

You want any of the options with the large, single basket. (Examples) As for bells and whistles, I don't think they're necessary. I've never used the bluetooth on mine, so I'd just get the cheapest one you can find.

 

[jedigrover]

I've been considering a robotic cleaner, and then I went looking online. I was stunned...STUNNED...by how many variants everyone has. Even accounting for the private labeling, Maytronics (Dolphin) alone has dozens of models & for the life of me I can't figure out how you need that many models in your product line. It is confusing as all get out to a potential customer, especially when there is no really useful comparison tool to show me why I might want one versus another.

My guess is this is to enable their dealers to upsell you to whatever they think they can pull out of your wallet. It's just crazy how many models there are.

I guess the good thing is going by comments I see online, it seems like the Maytronics (by any brand name) S200 / S300 style robots are kind of the "Polaris 280" equivalent--the universally agreed benchmark.

If I can keep my 280 going a while longer, I think I will & see what happens with battery operated cleaners like the Pool Blaster 77000RR CX-1 (what kind of a model name is THAT?)