New Pool Cleaner

[spthomas]

I'm on by third Polaris 360 in 25 years, so they've been pretty good to me. I do seem to have problems regularly with them not going, or floating to the top, or generally just getting stuck for a while. Right now, this one doesn't want to go (But will if I take it out and spin the wheels a bit by hand), and the top of the case broke off completely so I can see inside it! I don't know if that hurts anything or not, or how expensive or difficult that will be to fix.

I am considering a new cleaner. I've heard lots of great things about the Dolphin S200 on here. My pool doesn't have a booster pump, the Polaris 360s just run on a return line. So, I'm looking for opinions here:
1. Is it worth trying to fix/rebuild this 7 year old Polaris 360?
2. If I go to a new cleaner, should I plan on installing a booster pump and how hard is that?
3. What's a good unit to go to, with or without a pump?

Steve

 

[the_sphynx]

I love my Dolphin M500. I went from a suction side Pentair Rebel to the M500 and never looked back. It is so nice to be able to clean the pool without the use of the pump or running the pump at a higher RPM. I live in SoCal and energy costs are high here. it takes about 300W to clean my pool so that's still like 20cents or so. With a cleaner that depends on a pump running I can guarantee you will use more energy and then it costs more per cleaning.
My Rebel also just stopped going to the shallower end. Replaced gears, wheels, etc. Just never got it back right. This Dolphin is a set it and forget it type of thing almost. In the 1 year I have had the Dolphin I did have to replace the foam rings on the brush bars but that takes 15 minutes and it's back in the pool.
The S200 has gotten great reviews and it is rare to hear any complaints about it so I can't imagine you could go wrong with that choice.

Good luck with your choice but I just can't see why anyone would want any cleaner that is dependent upon a pump running nowadays.