I may also look into this. Other than the Salt Chlorine Tolerant (SCT) Motors, what other improvements have they made? Is the Betta 2 working better for you?
It works about the same in terms of performance. It does seem to start working again after it runs out of battery a lot more quickly with a lot less light. This is probably a software change as it’s probably keeping a higher reserve on the battery, when it shuts down. If it lasts longer that will be the major thing.
No idea if it will work that long! All I know for sure is that they offer a 3 year warranty now for an additional $60.00 and so far they have been great at honoring their warranty. I went though about 4 or 5 of them in the first year with its 1 year warranty. They never gave me an issue, they would just send me out a brand new one each time. They must feel confident about it now because they are willing to offer a 3 year warranty. Hopefully they continue to honor it and keep up their excellent customer service. That’s the only reason I didn’t demand a refund after the second one of their first gen ones died. When it works it can manage all that debris your getting, I get a ton of it myself.
I inquired about trading in my original for a Betta 2 today. Looks like the price is $289, not $200. When I poked further, the $200 is a credit against the $489 cost of a new one, making the net cost $289. If desired the 3-year warranty can also be purchased for $60.
Interesting! @stormook and I both managed to get one when ours broke the last time for $200.00. Not sure if they just decided to count it as a new one due to them breaking or what? Maybe he can chime in here. All I know is I asked that instead of being sent another original beta under warranty, could I get the new one for a discount instead and they charged me $200.00.
Sorry about the delay, I do not check in too often. As Orion said, I got the Betta 2 for $200. When I called about my last Betta 1 failure Vivian just said they would sell me the Betta 2 for $200 even. After I got it and before thirty days had passed I did purchase the 3 year warranty also. While it has only been two months the Betta 2 has been operating flawlessly. The new motors are much improved and do not scale up like the previous motors did on all the Betta 1's that I went through.
That’s exactly what my last one did when I sent it back for the discount on the beta 2. As a matter of fact I think I had 2 or 3 of them fail like that.
Keep us posted on how that goes. I'm thinking of upgrading but my original Betta is still ticking.
I called them and Ged instructed me to fill out the online warranty claim for documentation purposes. I got a response and they suggested I let the Betta charge up more in the pool while turned on. I let it sit in the pool for a full day and it never started up (still flashing red). I emailed them back that it still doesn't work and they offered to repair the unit under warranty or upgrade to the Betta 2 with a $200 discount. I'm going to respond asking if I can get a greater discount if I opt for the 3 year extended warranty. Wish me luck!
I think you should upgrade to the beta 2 even though they haven’t been around enough to get an idea about their long term durability. We all know for a fact that the original betas aren’t reliable at all. I bought the 3 year warranty because my experience with instapark has been nothing but positive so far in regards to their customer service and willingness to honor their warranties. I do see some concerning signs though from other users experiences posted here that don’t quite match my experiences with them.
If I upgrade I will get the 3-year, for this reason alone.
On a side note, I have had my beta 2 since April 18th. It’s still running fine after 2 months. In contrast my first original beta died right at a month after I purchased it. I had one last 10 months however it was in storage for 5 to 6 months over the winter.
