Instapark Betta review

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Katodude said:
Pictures please. Need to see how this works and looks. That is annoying about its reversing feature, and just when it stops running it tends to spill stuff out.
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Pretty simple actually. Just put a handful of pillow stuffing or a couple hair nets in the filter basket. It's a two pronged fix I think. 1. The bugs get trapped in the filter material and can't come back out, and 2. The material seems to diffuse the current coming back through the Betta when it reverses.

Before doing this, the bugs in my skimmer were continuously tumbling around in the paddlewheel current. If any were near the paddlewheel when the skimmer reversed direction, they flowed right out. This seems to stop about 95% of that.

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Just returned my Betta 2 for the third time. Of course, I threw out the box back when I got my last replacement unit in January, so I took it to the UPS store for them to box up. I put it up on the counter and she immediately said "that's like the 4th one of these I've sent back in the past couple weeks." LOL

I can't even fathom how many of these in total get sent back if one single employee is seeing multiple units in a couple weeks. That wouldn't even count people who saved their boxes too. These shipping costs must be wild.

Anyway, hoping it's busted enough to just get a whole new unit back. The motors are shot. It'll sit in one spot for hours in full sun without moving, one of the LEDs is completely not functional, and it's LOUD. When I went to sleep last night, I could easily hear it from my bedroom upstairs.
 
I just received my Betta Bot yesterday and was amazed at how well it worked. We have had gnats bad for the last 2 yrs and they came back again this year so I went ahead and bought it… seems to be my favorite friend right now… I posted pictures and videos on Facebook and I already had 3 friends asking me about. I contacted the company and asked if they had a referral program. No they don’t, Maria said. But did say they could get a 5% discount. (which she never sent the code) I asked if there Was anything in return for myself since I’m selling their product for them. The email I got said only this -Again, my apologies.Best regards. So far customer service SUCKS! And I’m worried about that for the future and warranty. The pictures are only 2 hours of cleaning the top serface.
 

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Gabbybh said:
I just received my Betta Bot yesterday and was amazed at how well it worked. We have had gnats bad for the last 2 yrs and they came back again this year so I went ahead and bought it… seems to be my favorite friend right now… I posted pictures and videos on Facebook and I already had 3 friends asking me about. I contacted the company and asked if they had a referral program. No they don’t, Maria said. But did say they could get a 5% discount. (which she never sent the code) I asked if there Was anything in return for myself since I’m selling their product for them. The email I got said only this -Again, my apologies.Best regards. So far customer service SUCKS! And I’m worried about that for the future and warranty. The pictures are only 2 hours of cleaning the top serface.
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It’s the best thing that has happened to my pool when it works. Keep the box just in case you have to return it for repairs.
 
Green lights blinking but no action. Turned off, cleaned out, checked rotating parts, turned on, dropped in. Moving but going forward for a bit then backward and spilling what little collected back out. Plus very noisy. I’ll have to investigate tomorrow but noise is coming from where? Paddle or propellers?
 
Noise usually comes from motors (unless a stick is caught in the paddle). Time to spray some wd40 in there. Return for repair if acting funny after that.

Mine goes a couple days the stops, no lights or movement. Turn off and back on, goes another couple days. I'm happy with that.
 
Chip, our Betta2, started spinning in circles this week. I've read this whoooole thread 😅 and it seems like a possible temporary fix is to remove the props, spray the heck out the inside, and WD-40 things up? Anything else I'm missing? In retrospect, I feel like I noticed that he was running a bit louder than normal somewhere around the weekend of the 4th but who knows.

He's just over a year old per puchase date, just under a year old by 3 year extended warranty date. We were told to send him back for repair, but it's prime swimming season. We've got neighbor's trees to deal with and to be honest I think he does a better job than we do, haha! If we can keep him limping along until this fall when we're not swimming and send him back then I'd be real happy.
 
Vanti said:
Chip, our Betta2, started spinning in circles this week. I've read this whoooole thread 😅 and it seems like a possible temporary fix is to remove the props, spray the heck out the inside, and WD-40 things up? Anything else I'm missing? In retrospect, I feel like I noticed that he was running a bit louder than normal somewhere around the weekend of the 4th but who knows.

He's just over a year old per puchase date, just under a year old by 3 year extended warranty date. We were told to send him back for repair, but it's prime swimming season. We've got neighbor's trees to deal with and to be honest I think he does a better job than we do, haha! If we can keep him limping along until this fall when we're not swimming and send him back then I'd be real happy.
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I had to fight this mental battle as well. I opted to send it back for repair, so it'll naturally take like 3 months to get back like my first repair last year. May the odds be ever in your favor!
 

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Well it might be time for mine to go back. Over the last few days it did not work overnight as usual. Right now its been sitting in direct sun for over an hour and I still have only 1 flashing red LED. When I turn it off an on it runs for about a minute and goes red.

Both motors still working but very loud.
 
Katodude said:
Well it might be time for mine to go back. Over the last few days it did not work overnight as usual. Right now its been sitting in direct sun for over an hour and I still have only 1 flashing red LED. When I turn it off an on it runs for about a minute and goes red.

Both motors still working but very loud.
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Be sure the power of the SE is ON while it is sitting in the sun getting a charge. Remember that the SE will not charge unless the power is on.
 
Holydoc said:
Be sure the power of the SE is ON while it is sitting in the sun getting a charge. Remember that the SE will not charge unless the power is on.
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Was this changed?
The Betta 2 absolutely 100% charges when the switch is off, despite the manual saying the exact opposite. You don't really want it sitting on your pool deck with the motors going on. The summer heat could probably damage the motors, depending on where you live.
 
grunky_peep said:
Was this changed?
The Betta 2 absolutely 100% charges when the switch is off, despite the manual saying the exact opposite. You don't really want it sitting on your pool deck with the motors going on. The summer heat could probably damage the motors, depending on where you live.
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Hmm.... Grunky, you make a good argument. I was totally going off what the manual on the manufacturer's site says. Here is the exact quote copied directly from their manual today:

Note: Betta ONLY takes solar charge when power switch is ON

However I have not tested whether the manufacturer is actually lying or not. I would see no benefit to them to lie about something like this.
 
Holydoc said:
Hmm.... Grunky, you make a good argument. I was totally going off what the manual on the manufacturer's site says. Here is the exact quote copied directly from their manual today:

Note: Betta ONLY takes solar charge when power switch is ON

However I have not tested whether the manufacturer is actually lying or not. I would see no benefit to them to lie about something like this.
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I've never figured it out with my B2. Not sure if it goes green because I turned it off and on, or if it was charging in the sun while off. I've had several emails from them saying it won't charge with switch off. It should charge in the sun on or off! It should also have a charger!
 
Holydoc said:
Hmm.... Grunky, you make a good argument. I was totally going off what the manual on the manufacturer's site says. Here is the exact quote copied directly from their manual today:

Note: Betta ONLY takes solar charge when power switch is ON

However I have not tested whether the manufacturer is actually lying or not. I would see no benefit to them to lie about something like this.
Click to expand...
Yep, that's what my manual says too and in the winter/early spring months, it would die often, so I'd turn it off and set it on the pool deck to save it for days that had a bunch of junk in it. When it went back in, it had a full charge and could last all night.
 
tcat said:
I've never figured it out with my B2. Not sure if it goes green because I turned it off and on, or if it was charging in the sun while off. I've had several emails from them saying it won't charge with switch off. It should charge in the sun on or off! It should also have a charger!
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Yeah the beta 2 charges when it’s turned off. Don’t know why they try to claim it won’t in the manual. One of the green lights went out on mine, other than that it’s still working great. It hasn’t picked up anymore copperheads either…
 
foursix said:
Pretty simple actually. Just put a handful of pillow stuffing or a couple hair nets in the filter basket. It's a two pronged fix I think. 1. The bugs get trapped in the filter material and can't come back out, and 2. The material seems to diffuse the current coming back through the Betta when it reverses.

Before doing this, the bugs in my skimmer were continuously tumbling around in the paddlewheel current. If any were near the paddlewheel when the skimmer reversed direction, they flowed right out. This seems to stop about 95% of that.

View attachment 511689
Click to expand...
Are those aphids? I have similar micro bugs and no amount of hand skimming gets rid of them
 

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