New EVO 614i Robot Pool Cleaner Review

[finethreads]

A little late to the thread; how do these robots deal with sun shelfs? I Ave a 10x10 sun shelf that drops down two steps to the shallow 3’ end of my pool. Do they hang up on the shelf?

 

[Jimrahbe]

FT,

Most robots do not go up on sun-shelfs as the water is not deep enough.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[ifunlisted]

A little late to the thread; how do these robots deal with sun shelfs? I Ave a 10x10 sun shelf that drops down two steps to the shallow 3’ end of my pool. Do they hang up on the shelf?

I have the Evo 614. It handles the shelf the same as my S200 did... climbs from the pool bottom up to the level of the shelf, then reverses back down as if it reached the top of a wall. I've also had a couple other bots in the past but I don't think any of them ever went all the way on top of the shelf.

 

[Schwimmbad]

I have the Evo 614. It handles the shelf the same as my S200 did... climbs from the pool bottom up to the level of the shelf, then reverses back down as if it reached the top of a wall. I've also had a couple other bots in the past but I don't think any of them ever went all the way on top of the shelf.

Mine goes up on the sun shelf fine but it doesn’t go over the entire surface. It makes a pass, turns, runs another direction and does that until it falls off the shelf. I have about 10” of water depth.

 

[MikeTX]

Bought mine yesterday, delivering tomorrow from Marina for $799 out the door. First robot and thanks to everyone here for your insights! I’m hoping that Jim will report in 5-8 years from now that his needs to be replaced.

 

[Jimrahbe]

@MikeTX

So far, so good... I really like it, but only time will tell..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[adridimo]

About a month ago I needed a new robot pool cleaner and I contacted Margaret at Marina Pool and Spa. My initial goal was to buy another S200 "style" robot as I have been happy with them so far.

Margaret suggested that I might want to look at a new line of robot cleaners that Marina is now carrying, the Aqua Products EVO. I was intrigued and so I opted for the EVO instead of the Dolphin robot. I have been using the EVO for about a month now and here are my initial thoughts...

The New Robot in Town​

I recently had the opportunity to use an AQUA Products EVO 614i Robot Cleaner. It looks like they are under the Zodiac Pool system brand.

I have been a faithful Dolphin robot user from many years, but I thought I’d give the EVO a chance to show me what it’s got.


View attachment 495237

On the surface it appears that both the EVO and the Dolphin S200 are about equally matched. In this initial review, I point out some of the notable differences. Not really a good and bad situation, just where I noticed different engineering.

1. Dual Drive motors. The EVO has a left and right drive motor. These drive motors can run forward or reverse. This means the EVO can spin on a dime, when the two motors are going in opposite directions. You notice this instantly when the robot makes its first turn.

2. Two Active Brushes. The EVO has Dual active brushes, while the Dolphin has one active brush.

3. Large Brushes with wear indicators. The EVO’s brushes are larger and appear to be much more robust than the ones that the Dolphin uses. Because there are two drive motors the brushes are split between the left and right sides. The brushes in the front are the same size as the brushes in the back. The Dolphin has a smaller brush in the back.

View attachment 495238

4. Filter basket. The EVO’s filter basket is about half the size of the Dolphin basket. It has a one-piece screen-like filter vs. the Dolphin which has a 4-piece pleated filter. I initially thought this would be an issue, as I have always used the pleated Dolphin filters. But, after many cleaning cycles, I’m beginning to like the screen filter better. I think my dislike of the screen filters is because I used them on the Dolphin and they lasted about a month before they got holes in the them and became useless. As much as I like the Dolphin’s pleated filters, the EVO’s screen filter was much easier to clean. Although the Dolphin has a much larger basket, I am not sure it matters as I doubt the Dolphin can fill the basket due to its inlet design.

View attachment 495239

5. Water Inlet Differences. The Dolphin sucks up debris into the center of their basket, through an open-ended cloth bag. The bag is to prevent the debris from leaking back into the pool when you pull the robot out of the water. It certainly helps contain the debris, but it does not stop everything. It has a negative side in that it can get clogged with large debris and then nothing can get sucked up into the basket. The EVO does it differently. It sucks up the debris through a tube and into the top of the robot and then drops the debris into the basket. When you pull the EVO out of the water, none of the debris go back into the pool.


View attachment 495243


View attachment 495246

6. Filter Area Design. The EVO has an almost water-tight area with the suction motor and impeller along with the filter basket. Not sure if this a plus or not. It does make the EVO harder to sink as it acts almost like a boat. You lower it into the water with the rear brushes pointing down. Where you can just throw the Dolphin in the pool, and it just sinks on its own. Edit.. To be clear the EVO sinks on its own, it just take a little longer than the Dolphin.

7. The Power Cord. The cord on the EVO is much larger in diameter and stiffer than the Dolphin’s cord. I had great hopes this would mean that the cord would not tangle. I was wrong. I have not had it long enough to know what will happen as it gets broken in, but running the EVO several times in a row, without removing it from the pool, induced the same basic tangle that I have seen in all my Dolphin robots. Edit. If I run the robot, like I normally do, and clean it after every run, the cable does not tangle.


View attachment 495247

8. The Swivel. The EVO has a much more robust looking swivel compared to the Dolphin. The EVO combines the cable float and the swivel in one device. Neither swivel seems to swivel enough to keep the cable from tangling.

View attachment 495248

9. The Power Supply Connector. The only thing on the EVO that appears a little out of place and rather cheap is the connector on the power supply end of the cable. It just plugs into the Power Supply with two little snaps. Maybe I’m just used to military cannon plug style connectors, but I like the Dolphin’s connector better. The EVO’s connector does appear that it could be replaced easier, while the Dolphin is more molded in place and does not look to be easily replaceable. Not sure I have ever seen bad one.

View attachment 495249

10. DIY Repair. I have some experience with the assembly and disassembly of the S200 style Dolphins and it is very easy. At first glance I don’t see how to disassemble the EVO or if repair parts are even available. Not something I plan to investigate until the EVO is out of warranty.

11. Water Line Cleaning. When cleaning the water line tile, the Dolphin moves sideway because a gate turns and causes water to shoot out of a vent on the sides of the plastic housing. This forces the robot to move along the tile line for about 2 or 3 feet at a time. The EVO does not have any directional vents, but does move along the tile line. It appears to me that the robot floats at a slight angle and while the brushes clean the tile line, they also cause the robot to move along the tile line.

12. The Power Supply. The EVO’s power supply allows you to select either floor only, or floors and walls/tile line. The cycle time is 1.5 hours for floor only and 2.5 hours for everything. Both the EVO and Dolphin power supplies are water resistance. The EVO’s power supply has a Power Light that is on anytime the power supply is plugged into AC power. You would assume when you pushed the Start/Stop button that it would light up, but it does not. The Power light flashes once when you push the Start button. I find that odd as it is hard to tell if the Robot is on or off. If you have the EVO 614i, then the Power supply has a Wi-Fi button. Edit.. It appears the idea is to use the app to start or stop the robot.. It works fine from the power supply once you understand the start stop button does not light up.

View attachment 495251

13. Wi-Fi Control. The EVO 604 and 614i are the same basic robot, but the 614i has Wi- Fi control. Not that it actually controls much. I am not sure what the App is for other than when you sign up for the iAquaLink app you need to give them just about everything including location of any birth marks. Quite invasive for what you get. The plus side is that it came right on line and connected once I entered the 80 pages of personal info. The app lets you change the cleaning mode from floors to floors and walls, and lets you start or stop the robot, but it does not allow you to ‘drive’ the robot around. It appears the drive mode is an option for the more expensive models. The app displays a big spinning clock showing how much time is left in the cleaning cycle. I pushed stop and it stopped. I pushed start and it did not return to work, it just started over. It does give you some info on the robot itself, like how may total hours run, S/N, F/W installed and other such info. I don’t see the value in what the app does, but it came with the unit. Edit... I'm told that the app for the 614i will be updated in the next few weeks to include the ability to drive the robot and to make it drive itself to the surface at a wall so it is easy to remove from the pool. I guess time will tell if this happens or not.

14. Warranty... Both the EVO and the Dolphin have a Two-year warranty.

15. Unknow life expectancy. Dolphin 3 to 5 years. Edit. This is key in my mind, but we won't know how reliably the EVO is for several years...

16. Main Drain Hang Ups. So far, I have run the EVO for about 50 hours and it has never hung up on the main drain. The Dolphin would hang up on the main drain about 10% of the time. I believe that because of the dual drive motors, that the EVO will not have this issue, but time will tell.

17. I did not find anything that would keep me from buying this unit again. See #18

18. I assumed you could run the unit on weekly schedule, but I now realize that is not an option. For me that is not an issue as I normally only use the robot two or three times a week, but it will not work for a lot of pool owners. You’d think it would be an easy App fix. I also do not see where you can control it from an automated electrical outlet. Edit. The app is supposed to be update (automatically) but my understanding is that the timer option is not part of this update. This makes no sense to me, but we will see.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Nice review! I've got the same last year here in Italy and works very fine.

In Italy they sell it as ZODIAC, here the website: CNX 50 iQ

 

[jnorin]

Has anyone figured out how to disassemble the 614iQ impeller housing? I'm getting an error of high power draw and it appears to have material wrapped around the impeller shaft. I've tried to pull it out with needle nose pliers, but keep getting the error after a few minutes of operation. It is not obvious how to take it apart, unlike my previous robotic cleaners. Service documentation would be great. Thanks for the help!

 

[Jimrahbe]

John,

Does it not just unscrew?? I'll have to double check on mine..

Takes about 10 turns... Righty tighty and lefty loosie..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jnorin]

John,

Does it not just unscrew?? I'll have to double check on mine..

Takes about 10 turns... Righty tighty and lefty loosie..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Yes, thanks. It took a lot more muscle than I anticipated to get it to initially move. Thought I was going to break it, but finally it started to rotate.

 

[ckmo]

I am looking for desert dweller (i.e. significant fine dust) opinions on the Polaris filter vs fine filter vs the Maytronics pleated paper filter? My Active 20 succumbed to water in the motor housing after 3.5 years, and with other looming problems (including the power supply touch pad), I have decided to bite the bullet and purchase a new robot. Based on my call with Marina Pool, there is not a pleated paper filter for the Polaris similar to the Maytronics. Has anyone in a dusty region with the Aqua Products robot had any issues with dirt not being stirred up enough by the robot to be removed by the primary pool filter? I have been using the Active 20 as a type of additional dust filter which I rinse out every time I run the robot, but would be ok if the Aqua Products robot stirs up the dust enough to allow the pool filter to capture it. Also, does the Polaris fine filter make any real difference with fine dust (the Marina rep didn't think the fine filter would really catch fine dirt and dust)? Right now the Active 20 is $100 more than the Evo 604, but the Polaris fine filter is an extra $50 - so no material cost difference between the two, I am just happy about giving Maytronics more of my money given the motor planned obsolescence. Any experiences or opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Keith

 

[redhawk76]

Just ordered an EVO 604 from Marina and got it for $699. Should have it in a few days. My S200 only lasted a little over 3 years, but I ran it almost every day (probably over kill) and left it in the pool most of the time. Will see how long this one lasts for with running it every other day (give or take) and taking it out of the pool more.

 

[RamenLover]

Howdy all, I received my EVO 614iQ a few weeks ago from Marina and so far I must be doing something wrong because it doesn't really do much. Previously had a Dophin I think? It was amazing, cleaned everything, filled up the basket with leaves and dirt.

I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. When I run the EVO, at the end of the 2.5 hour cycle, there is very little dirt captured and no leaves. My Dolphin would have something like 10x the amount of dirt and leaves from a 1 hour cycle.

The EVO just kind of moves around kicking up dirt.

I've tried contacting Marina but no response.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Jimrahbe]

RL,

Almost impossible for you to be doing something wrong...

Sounds like something is wrong with the EVO..

Marina does not open until 10 am Colorado time.. Calling about 10:01 is the best time to call..

They are sometimes hard to get a hold of.., but they have never failed to take care of a problem..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[CTFocusST]

Howdy all, I received my EVO 614iQ a few weeks ago from Marina and so far I must be doing something wrong because it doesn't really do much. Previously had a Dophin I think? It was amazing, cleaned everything, filled up the basket with leaves and dirt.

I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. When I run the EVO, at the end of the 2.5 hour cycle, there is very little dirt captured and no leaves. My Dolphin would have something like 10x the amount of dirt and leaves from a 1 hour cycle.

The EVO just kind of moves around kicking up dirt.

I've tried contacting Marina but no response.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Does the spring loaded door close for you when submerged horizontally? I have had a similar experience though not to that extreme. Mine doesn't change at all. No idea if that's the issue yet as I have a new door to install but won't be able to test for a few months due to the weather (pool is a block of ice at moment)

 

[redhawk76]

Howdy all, I received my EVO 614iQ a few weeks ago from Marina and so far I must be doing something wrong because it doesn't really do much. Previously had a Dophin I think? It was amazing, cleaned everything, filled up the basket with leaves and dirt.

I wonder if I'm doing something wrong. When I run the EVO, at the end of the 2.5 hour cycle, there is very little dirt captured and no leaves. My Dolphin would have something like 10x the amount of dirt and leaves from a 1 hour cycle.

The EVO just kind of moves around kicking up dirt.

I've tried contacting Marina but no response.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Must be defective. Just got mine yesterday and it got everything on one cycle after not vacuuming the pool for about two weeks. I’m very impressed so far. A lot better than my dolphin was so far.

 

[GDN]

Another first day positive review for the 614iq

First - the pool was more of a mess than I realized. I knew it was dirty, but I hadn't done anything to it in about 3 weeks, back before our cold snap and 9 degree weather. However, both skimmer baskets had floated (rarely happens in this pool), the skimmer boxes had leaves in them and hence the basket at the pump was packed full. Got that cleaned up and made sure both skimmer lines were clear and got to work with the new robot.

The old Pentair Racer (pressure side cleaner) had not been doing a good job of cleaning in months, maybe a couple of years. It didn't cover the whole pool, would get stuck near the steps, needed a new brush and the pump started making a noise so I knew it was time. To be fair the pool is going on its 10th season and I've had to do very little to it. I should also note I don't own a vacuum of any kind. The cleaning has been the Racer and an occasional brushing.

I brushed the deck and put the new 614iq in and let it go to work. It got every leaf in the pool the first 2.5 hour cleaning. That was impressive. As others note it won't clean the tanning deck (7" of water) but it has climbed up on the "Seat" that is built in at about 18" deep. So it has the capabilities if your seats and steps are wide enough for it, or if the tanning ledge were likely 12-14" I think it would climb up and clean.

To say the least I'd wondered if shutting the pump off to let things settle to the floor would be the way to go while it was cleaning and I did so for the first cleaning. I've already decided against that for the future. After dark and with the pool lights on I could see all of the fine debris it had stirred up, but not captured, I was very surprised at how cloudy the water was and what was stirred up. So I know running the pump while that is stirred up with help filter it out.

I was going to put the "Fine" filter in today and run a couple of cycles with the pump on to get the water back to crystal clear, but unfortunately opening the fine filter, it was broken during shipment. I'm sure Marina will take care of me tomorrow for that fix.

Emptying the cleaner basket I was once again impressed. All the leaves, but then also the fine debris it had picked up was impressive. The pic below shows about half of it. I had already tapped the basked to empty and about half of it fell out. I didn't realize so much silt was below the leaves when I first looked in.

As others note, the bot is slow to respond to app commands. I'll likely learn to not press the buttons too long and be able to control it to face the wall and then climb for removal. That's not the end of the world, but with today's technology you'd expect a little quicker response. My old Roomba vacuums didn't do much better in the house.

If it will perform like this for many years to come and I get the fine basket in it, I'd say I'll be a happy camper.

 

[Newdude]

As others note, the bot is slow to respond to app commands.

For fun, see if it works better standing near the power center with an unobstructed line of sight between your phone and it.

It makes way more sense to have the remote sensor above water and send those signals down the power cord underwater.

Maybe everyone is standing between the remote (phone) and sensor (power center) when at the pool edge trying to see the robot, and their body is blocking some of the signal.

 

[GDN]

For fun, see if it works better standing near the power center with an unobstructed line of sight between your phone and it.

It makes way more sense to have the remote sensor above water and send those signals down the power cord underwater.

Maybe everyone is standing between the remote (phone) and sensor (power center) when at the pool edge trying to see the robot, and their body is blocking some of the signal.

Interesting, but I believed since the power center and my phone are both on wifi that would be fast communication as long as they are connected, and both are, regardless of where you are in relation to the device. Then it sends the commands down the power cable to the robot, which also I assumed it would since the power center has the physical buttons on it. Both of these should be light speed fast.

I will do some testing as you note, but don't see how it should change much. The bluetooth appears to only be used for the first connection to get it set up on wifi, after that should be fast no matter what.

 

[GDN]

Excited to see my new 614iq had a firmware update today (maybe it had been there since I got it last weekend - I didn't have notifications turned on), but does Aqua / Evo list their features and updates for each release? I've scoured their web site and missed it if they do. The control box is on firmware V21C25 and the robot is on V21E24.