Instapark Betta review

[Geebot]

Worked beautifully ---- at first. Currently being repaired for the second time. For the price they're charging it's a fairly flaw-prone drive system. Like a child's RC toy boat with a basket and paddle impeller. If I paid a fair price for it then I wouldn't have high expectations, but at nearly the cost of my Maytronics robot they need to improve durability.

 

[Orion7319]

Worked beautifully ---- at first. Currently being repaired for the second time. For the price they're charging it's a fairly flaw-prone drive system. Like a child's RC toy boat with a basket and paddle impeller. If I paid a fair price for it then I wouldn't have high expectations, but at nearly the cost of my Maytronics robot they need to improve durability.

Which one do you have? The original beta or the beta 2 with the different motors? I went though 3 of the original betas in a year. The beta 2 we only know of one failing so far.

 

[rjb1211]

I received my replacement Betta 2 but there was a snafu. My original unit was white; the replacement they sent is blue.

I really don't care as I basically flipped a coin on which one to purchase but I was afraid I would have problems with warranty claims down the road. Before unboxing the new unit I contacted them to ask if there would be a problem and they sent the link to register the extended warranty on the new one.

I am a bit apprehensive about this purchase. Yes, I got the 3 year warranty but that won't do me any good if they go out of business. I have my fingers crossed.

 

[tcat]

I received my replacement Betta 2 but there was a snafu. My original unit was white; the replacement they sent is blue.

I really don't care as I basically flipped a coin on which one to purchase but I was afraid I would have problems with warranty claims down the road. Before unboxing the new unit I contacted them to ask if there would be a problem and they sent the link to register the extended warranty on the new one.

I am a bit apprehensive about this purchase. Yes, I got the 3 year warranty but that won't do me any good if they go out of business. I have my fingers crossed.

That's my greatest fear, too many new companies go out of business. I just bought a Smorobot, could have that same issue. Most things can be fixed one way or another...

 

[tcat]

My B2 started getting noisy. Left motor sounds like bad bearings. Right rotates freely, left "clicks" as you manually rotate it. Sent it back yesterday for repair. Service is great, prepaid return label, they claim 7-10 days. Didn't realize how many bugs it picks up each night looking at the pool this morning! . Gonna miss it!

 

[grunky_peep]

Strongly considering one of these since I have a 45-foot oak that overhangs my pool. It drops acorns for 3 months, starting now, and then of course the massive amount of leaves in the fall/winter. This thing looks like it could save me a ton of work, but the amount of "yeah I had to ship mine back 3 times in the first year" in this thread is giving me pause. Is the quality control and reliability that bad?

edit: not sure why I mentioned acorns since those are sucked up by my Polaris, ha!

 

[Katodude]

The quality issues seem to be more around the first generation. The Betta 2 has been pretty solid so far. There have been a few failures, but not many. Also their service is really good. Make sure you buy the 3 year warranty

 

[Newdude]

Strongly considering one of these since I have a 45-foot oak that overhangs my pool. It drops acorns for 3 months,

Oaks are their own beast. You need a Betta 3

 

[grunky_peep]

Oaks are their own beast. You need a Betta 3

Lol. As much of a PITA as my oak is, it's an incredible tree. The previous owners had an arborist trim it out so it's a gigantic umbrella that shades 2/3 of our back yard, including our whole deck. It's an amazing tree that provides tons of shade, but is a massive pain 10 month of the year. We would never want to chop it down, but also our city protects them and requires us to pull a permit to even trim the thing....................... which I totally do when pulling out my DeWalt pole saw every other year.

 

[tcat]

Yep, PITA, but provide great shade keeping our water below 86 with 2 months of 100+ degree days. Robot and Betta2 help, but 3 or 4 months a year the old net comes in handy.

 

[grunky_peep]

Yep, PITA, but provide great shade keeping our water below 86 with 2 months of 100+ degree days. Robot and Betta2 help, but 3 or 4 months a year the old net comes in handy.

Keeping the pool BELOW 86?! Are you crazy?! My wife won’t touch the pool unless it’s 86+, haha. I have to gas it to 88ish in the early summer or she just chills in the spa.

That’s an awesome tree you have!

 

[tcat]

Keeping the pool BELOW 86?! Are you crazy?! My wife won’t touch the pool unless it’s 86+, haha. I have to gas it to 88ish in the early summer or she just chills in the spa.

That’s an awesome tree you have!

My heat pump is set at 86, but hasn't run in a month or so, but pool never goes above that. Anything warmer is not refreshing! Yeah my wife would prefer 88, but once in for 2 minutes she's fine.

 

[Orion7319]

Yep, PITA, but provide great shade keeping our water below 86 with 2 months of 100+ degree days. Robot and Betta2 help, but 3 or 4 months a year the old net comes in handy.

We have a large water Oak that shades the pool most of the day. My water temp hasn’t gone above 86 all year. It also lets me keep my CYA at 50 and I rarely loose less then 1ppm of chlorine a day (unless it rains really badly). It’s also one of the main reasons we have the Beta 2…

 

[grunky_peep]

We have a large water Oak that shades the pool most of the day. My water temp hasn’t gone above 86 all year. It also lets me keep my CYA at 50 and I rarely loose less then 1ppm of chlorine a day (unless it rains really badly). It’s also one of the main reasons we have the Beta 2…

Well I bought one (and the 3-year warranty) for our oak, so hopefully this thing saves me a ton of time.

 

[Bam Bam]

Well I bought one (and the 3-year warranty) for our oak, so hopefully this thing saves me a ton of time.

When it works it will save you more than a ton of time! Despite its problems I love my Betta.

 

[Orion7319]

Well I bought one (and the 3-year warranty) for our oak, so hopefully this thing saves me a ton of time.

Lol, it’s going to save you a ton of time.

 

[Bam Bam]

With Betta’s return I rigged up another skimmer diverter. The net end (without net) of a small surface skimmer is shoved into the skimmer, a polaris hose is tie wrapped to the skimmer pole stub, and a plastic hanger is shoved into the skimmer as well to prevent Betta from attacking in both directions. It’s important that the hose be angled because if it lays flat Betta will roll on top and stay put. So far so good!

Except for Betta and 360 doing what they do best when they decide to hang out - annoy me! See photo. Good thing 360 goes into reverse after a while and jars Betta back to doing what it does best - make me happy and skim. This hang up wasn’t happening as much before Betta went back to CA. Turns out I made some changes to 360s hoses due to pinhole leaks, etc. I guess the tolerance for change in Bot world is pretty narrow.

Am I the only one who obsesses over pool robots? Could it be the randomness of their existence? Am I trying to de-randomize them?....

 

[Bam Bam]

My B2 started getting noisy. Left motor sounds like bad bearings. Right rotates freely, left "clicks" as you manually rotate it. Sent it back yesterday for repair. Service is great, prepaid return label, they claim 7-10 days. Didn't realize how many bugs it picks up each night looking at the pool this morning! . Gonna miss it!

My returned Betta (original) makes more noise than it did before. I never observed the props before but I snorkeled the other day and noticed them turning for a while then stopping briefly then spinning again. Seemed like they spun in the opposite direction. I can hear the change at the surface. I don’t recall it doing this before it went back for repair “updates”. I’ve also noticed the battery seems to be running down more often. Perhaps this update drains it more. The sun has been blazing for days - no shade pool temp is 91. No reason Betta should conk out but it does. For instance, last night it stopped. I went out this bright sunny mid-morning to restart and it was skimming away.

I know exactly how you feel about missing Betta. Crepe myrtles are snowing now and pine straw is picking up. I’m glad Betta’s back!

 

[Orion7319]

Houston we have a problem.

So I came home from work the other day to find the beta 2 flashing red and green. That’s no good! I took it out of the pool only to discover that one of the propellors was completely seized up and wouldn’t move at all. So I call instapark to initiate a return. When I spoke to the rep however they told me they wanted me to try to fix it myself first… umkaayyyyy….. they told me to take the propellors off and flush the motors with fresh water. If that didn’t work, then to use WD-40 to soak the motors to clean it out. They also told me that they have seen a few where the lubricate in the motors had completely caked up. So as instructed I took off the propellors. I also took off the caps that cover the ends of the motors, they came off easily with some gentle prying, but be very careful not to break the clips if you decide to take them off. Once I removed the propellors and the caps, I completely soaked the motors in WD-40 and just kept working it and spinning the shaft. Eventually that unsized the motor and it worked fine, but it wasn’t spinning as freely as the other motor.


The next part is “theoretical“.

If your motors are completely seized up, in theory if you remove the c-clips from the shaft the shaft they should simply slide right out. If one did so, one might find that the magnets in the motor and the shafts are lubricated with PTFE lubricant. You know the exact same stuff that we all have on hand for O-rings.

I wouldn’t recommend taking these apart because everyone knows how much of a pain those stupid C-clips can be, how they like to fall off and into things… seriously you need to be prepared to go magnet fishing whenever your dealing with tiny C-clips.



At some point, these motors are going to seize up.
That is if we don’t perform a simple basic maintenance step with these. It looks to me that it would be a good idea to give the motors a good soak every now and then with WD-40 to keep them lubricated and to flush grit out of them. This should keep them clean and running long term without much fuss. Also while I was at it, I used the magic lube on the propellors as they were getting a bit chalky. Seeing as to how I was one of the first to buy the beta 2, I would expect quite a few of you to run into the same thing shortly. After this experience I would recommend that you all consider soaking your motors with WD-40 regularly. You shouldn’t need to take off the caps and probably not even the propellors. Just spray them down well with WD-40 and let them soak and work them a bit. Also when they say use WD-40 they really mean use WD-40… don’t use anything else, to clean them out with. I would like to see the next design to incorporate motors that are easily taken apart so that users can clean and lubricate them easily.

 

[Orion7319]

He feels happy now! He wasn’t ready to go on the cart…..