Instapark Betta review

[tcat]

Mine started acting up recently. Starts running in circles, then I turn it off and back on and starts doing ok. Seems to not run as long lately, and it's been mostly sunny. Going on a year and a half in 100 degree Texas sun, can't be too good for battery backup.

 

[blazer58]

My new betta came yesterday
Put her in the water around 5 pm
Slightly cloudy and rainy now but she ran all night and still running

 

[Holydoc]

Next update... First day I got the Betta SE, I took it out of the package, turned it on, placed it in the pool at 3:30pm, and it ran all night. It was so surprising to see the little green headlights flashing in my pool in the middle of the night telling me it was cleaning. My pool surface did not have a single beetle (it is beetle season in Florida) or anything else floating on the surface when we went swimming yesterday. So far this robot gets two thumbs up! Now if it will just last.

 

[tcat]

It's odd, when I got mine back (B2) it ran all night. A few weeks later it's barely running as soon as clouds hit. It's like they fully charged it, but once that charge runs out, sun power isn't nearly as good. That or battery life and heat have degraded it quickly. Will be interesting to see how the SE's hold up.

 

[Holydoc]

Just registered it and bought the 3 year warranty from the Betta site. I should be ready to rock.

It is so NICE to not have to push the beetles with little waves into the skimmer when I get in. Go Skim Jim, Go!

 

[tcat]

Customer service is great! I filled out a warranty repair (today, Sunday), and an hour later I received an email of things to try. They suggested place in sun for 3+ hours with switch on, then put it in pool. So far that did the trick. It appears if battery runs to zero, it takes much more sun to get it out of red blinking led mode and/or circle mode. They claim it should run 24 hours if it gets that much direct sun. So far so good.

Edit: 1.5 hours later, red lights.

 

[Holydoc]

Tcat,

Good luck. Keep us informed on how it goes. So far, I have not seen anything but blinking green lights on my Betta. Cleaned it out and checked the pool skimmer yesterday. Hardly anything was in the pool skimmer. That's a great sign. That basically means that I can go on a week to two week vacation and have the pool skimmer turned completely off and let the Beta clean the top of the pool. This is a huge relief since I worry that I will go on vacation and something will clog the pool skimmer and burn out the pump. Now that worry has been eliminated.

Just wanted to say it has been wife approved as well. She got into the pool before me yesterday, and went over to Skim Jim, lifted him out of the pool, and switched him off. To me that is a major win since she has never even thought about removing the bottom cleaning robot. The Beta is small enough and light enough that she has no qualms about it.

 

[rjb1211]

They suggested place in sun for 3+ hours with switch on, then put it in pool.

That is strange as the manual has several warnings to avoid leaving it in the sun while out of the pool.

 

[tcat]

That is strange as the manual has several warnings to avoid leaving it in the sun while out of the pool.

I thought it strange too. Maybe that's how they can tell it's no longer holding a charge, before they pay to ship it back.

 

[HermanTX]

That basically means that I can go on a week to two week vacation and have the pool skimmer turned completely off and let the Beta clean the top of the pool. This is a huge relief since I worry that I will go on vacation and something will clog the pool skimmer and burn out the pump. Now that worry has been eliminated.

I assume you have a bottom drain and will circulate the pool for chlorination. Just want to ensure that you don't leave the pool without circulation for 1-2 weeks. Do you have an autofill? Although if you have your skimmer valves off then a drop in water level may be ok as not to affect the pump but you do not want the plaster to be exposed to direct sunlight.

 

[Holydoc]

Herman,

You are correct. I have bottom drains that will take care of the circulation. With the skimmer off, drop of water level will not affect the pump. No, I do not have an autofill. However I cannot imagine that in two weeks, I would have a drop of water level enough to warrant having to worry about the plaster. If my water level was to drop that much, I would have serious problems. Thank you for your reply.

 

[Katodude]

In Florida at this time of year, you worry more about having an auto drain rather than an auto fill.

 

[Orion7319]

For those who wondered if this is legit advice, I pulled the basket out yesterday, and sprayed the motors from the front and back. It did stop the noise. Two thumbs up to Orion7319 for this tip!

Thanks! Yeah I know why they fail.. hopefully the SE units fixed this issue. Also they tell you to spray the motors down with WD-40 sometimes.

 

[entropic]

Happy to see this thread. We got our Instapark Betta in July of 2021 and had issues where it had to be sent back in Jan '22, Mar '22, Aug '22 and Nov '22. In the Aug '22 repair, they sent us a refurb unit, I believe it was a refurb Betta 2.0, an upgrade from our original order. Since that Nov '22 repair/replacement, no issues, the unit runs great, well into the night, sometimes all night in the summer. I sort of suspect it's slowing down a little but it could be my imagination.

For a unit that has had so many problems, their customer service has been excellent. I felt very much like I'm testing the product along with them early on, but they have made it right each time, so it just is what it is. I got the sense early on that we were overheating the batteries or maybe some other component, or perhaps water would seep into some component over a matter of 6-8 weeks. I should add that we use the unit very often: it was basically in the pool and running so long as the robot wasn't in there, no matter the season.

I was really desperate for a top-skimming robot because our built-in skimmer struggles to pick up the debris on the water (I've long suspected it's because of the older, smaller piping) and we get a lot of really small leaves and pollens in the pool, blowing in from wherever, tedious to skim manually. The Betta does a good job on these, and really makes the pool feel more "ready to go". If it disappeared tonight, I'd probably order a top-end SE and definitely the 3yr warranty tomorrow.

 

[grunky_peep]

Has anyone else had a problem with the on/off switch not working, and unit not taking a charge ?
Seeing as thy let me keep the old one, I think I will take it apart and mess around with the switch.
It might of stuck/broke in the off position thus reason it will not charge

I had an issue with the switch not working. It wouldn't turn off at all, alongside being stuck in stranded mode. They sent me a replacement unit.

 

[Holydoc]

In Florida at this time of year, you worry more about having an auto drain rather than an auto fill.

Now that you mention it... We had some really bad rain here that basically turned my pool into an infinity pool. To my surprise, the Betta SE did NOT like working in this new infinity pool. It would constantly just get stuck on the sides because I assume the avoidance sensors could no longer see the coping. So I started the excess water drainage to determine how high the water can be in the pool and still have the Betta SE work correctly. Currently it is at an inch down but still having the same problem with the Betta getting to the edge of the pool and not knowing what to do. I will update once I determine what the correct height is for the Betta to work correctly.

 

[tcat]

They received my B2 on the 20th, I got it back today, the 24th! That was the fastest repair ever! (CA>TX) Both LEDs green! My guess is they replaced the electronics and even the solar panel (looks new). So happy, since cottonwood cotton is falling.

 

[grunky_peep]

Welp, my second unit is toast. One motor will spin for 20 secs, stop and sit in one place for an hour. Both will randomly turn on for 10 secs then stop dead again for 6 hours. Time for another call. Sigh.

 

[MiguelACA]

I sent mine out once, got back quick and worked great for a few months. Started getting loud, hosed it down and it helped...but its gonna go back after the summer. Glad I got the extended warranty, kept the box, and there is a UPS store down the road from me. Any other product I would be way more upset...but that little robot sure helps A LOT to keep the pool clean. Once the warranty is over and it gives up the ghost, I will for sure buy another one lol

 

[Ahultin]

Once the warranty is over and it gives up the ghost, I will for sure buy another one lol

It is both impressive and frightening for a product to receive this type of testimonial. It's almost like this is Betta's version of a subscription model