Instapark Betta review

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Interesting. Wonder if they'll offer a trade up deal, or at least trade up to the new motors. The motors almost seem fine on mine, but the bore they go in has rust and bumps. Be nice to change out each motor assembly! Already paid for the 3 year warranty and I know these motors won't last that long!
 
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The unit look identical to the Betta2. I cannot seem to see any differences. I guess they may have just upgraded the electronics and the motors. At this point I am less than a year into a 3 year warranty and I pretty much know my motors are going to fail. I would guess for their own preservation they would upgrade the motors on a warranty swap, but who knows.

One of my green leds has failed I could just try and do a warranty repair for that and see what happens.

I still have a brand new in a box replacement Ariel that I could run temporarily.
 
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Katodude said:
The unit look identical to the Betta2. I cannot seem to see any differences. I guess they may have just upgraded the electronics and the motors. At this point I am less than a year into a 3 year warranty and I pretty much know my motors are going to fail. I would guess for their own preservation they would upgrade the motors on a warranty swap, but who knows.

One of my green leds has failed I could just try and do a warranty repair for that and see what happens.

I still have a brand new in a box replacement Ariel that I could run temporarily.
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It looks like they are calling the new one, Beta SE. All I can see is they somehow changed the electronics and the motors. I hope that they are way more robust now. Hopefully we all get the new motors when our beta 2s inevitably fail this summer and we send them in under warranty for repair.
 
From what I have read here they do not seem interested in self repair. I think they just have it baked in that you will send the unit back. I have the original box and am pretty to send it back when it fails. Thats why I buy the warranty. I just look at this as a 3 year consumable. I might get 4 years out of it with the credit card purchase but who knows.

Yes I would buy it again. It does a very good job of skimming. Just dont think you can buy it and get 7 years of life out of it. It’s not that type of purchase. It lives in my pool 24/7 and is exposed to the sun and the elements all the time. It is just going to fail.
 
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I would but it again because it gets all the little stuff I can't see (pollin, gnats). Considering it's a $150-$200 per year investment, it's worth it here in Texas with a 9 month year ($20/mo). If I was younger, I think I'd just use a silt net.

Not sure how my robot lasts 9 years with no issues, and Betta can't make 2 motors last a year or two.
 
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Whoa! Thanks for the great reviews. Once I realized that the Houston pollen attacks are beginning early this year, I started internet surfing for a solution. Of course, I immediately found the Ariel and Betta 2, so I came over here to see which ones the Trouble Free crowd likes. After a few hours of reading TFP posts, I purchased a Betta SE last night. A couple of minutes ago I received notice that it is on the way! It will receive a trial by fire once it arrives.Pool pollen.jpg
 
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RedScare said:
Whoa! Thanks for the great reviews. Once I realized that the Houston pollen attacks are beginning early this year, I started internet surfing for a solution. Of course, I immediately found the Ariel and Betta 2, so I came over here to see which ones the Trouble Free crowd likes. After a few hours of reading TFP posts, I purchased a Betta SE last night. A couple of minutes ago I received notice that it is on the way! It will receive a trial by fire once it arrives.View attachment 475443
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ariel has updated model too.
 
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Wow, the SE actually looks cheaper too. I didn't think anything would get cheaper in this day and age. I paid $490 for mine and it's currently listed at $470, and another $30 sale off it for $440.

And yeah, I'm fully expecting mine to break well before my 3-year warranty is up. Again. But it's been running a couple months without issues so far. The only thing that sucked was my oak was dumping leaves like crazy and it was cloudy for a few weeks, so I still had to manually skim like a caveman.
 
grunky_peep said:
Wow, the SE actually looks cheaper too. I didn't think anything would get cheaper in this day and age. I paid $490 for mine and it's currently listed at $470, and another $30 sale off it for $440.

And yeah, I'm fully expecting mine to break well before my 3-year warranty is up. Again. But it's been running a couple months without issues so far. The only thing that sucked was my oak was dumping leaves like crazy and it was cloudy for a few weeks, so I still had to manually skim like a caveman.
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Definitely have to manually skim a few times a year if you have oaks! Can't wait for the Catkins...☹️ My water is a bit cloudy because we just had a wind storm that blew all kinds of crud into the pool. Dust on the bottom that's normally not there. Running my Aquabot a couple times a day that's getting most of it.
 
Well my B2 is doing CCW circles again. It's only been a few weeks since I oiled the motors which temporarily fixed the issue. One motor is definitely "dragging". The problem with them just putting a new motor in, is they only replace the removable part, and not the outer bore. The bore on one side is rusted and very rough. Guess I'll send it in again and see if they change the whole thing. Will wait until oaks stop dropping crud
 
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tcat said:
Did you get the SE? Will be interesting to see how it does for the season.
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I did. I've had it in the pool for 2 weeks now. The first day, since it had a full charge, it ran all night. Ever since, it will peter out sometime during the night. My pool is partially shaded, so it does not get a full charge. Still, it does a very good job of skimming things off the top of the water so that much less ends up on the floor. And less organic matter on the floor means noticeably less algae.

No buyers remorse whatsoever!
 
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Welp, threw mine in the pool this morning - and it powers on and off randomly. Both motors work, and it will putter around for anywhere from 1sec to a full minute before eventually dying with led lights flashing back and forth between green and red.

Thankfully still under warranty and their customer service was VERY quick to respond to both my email and warranty claim form. They should be sending me return label today.
 
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atom519 said:
Welp, threw mine in the pool this morning - and it powers on and off randomly. Both motors work, and it will putter around for anywhere from 1sec to a full minute before eventually dying with led lights flashing back and forth between green and red.

Thankfully still under warranty and their customer service was VERY quick to respond to both my email and warranty claim form. They should be sending me return label today.
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Yep, alternating red and green is the dreaded "stranded mode." Same thing happened to mine. Godspeed on getting a quick repair or new unit. It took me almost 2 months :(
 

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