I thought I would write a quick review now that I have played with my new to me cleaner for a little bit. It is a little over 2 years old but did end up with the swivel cable that the current models have due to warranty replacement.
I honestly see the swivel cable doing nothing, same as my assumption was with my dolphin that has a swivel. I'm hoping I will be proved wrong, but the amount of force to turn this swivel is simply too much. If the cable was completely stretched out then the swivel would probably work, but in my case, the cable is just twisting because that is the easier path versus using the swivel. The smartpool cleaner had a swivel that swiveled very easily and also floated on the water in a rectangular design so it had to use the swivel.
The Lift feature is impressive. The robot stilli isn't light, but its nice to have it drive to the side and when you grab it have it shoot the water out. The biggest problem with this is you hold the button until it turns to the correct wall and then release and it will climb that wall for you. That doesn't work so well when the control panel is out of view of the robot. It should be able to do it from the remote as well although I haven't figured that out yet.
The remote works fine. I've never been a huge fan of remotes, but if the dollar amount isn't very much then I would get it just for the ease of cleaning that one spot that might be missed.
The cleaning appears good. I'd say maybe it isn't quite as thorough as the other models, but it may also be my pool, its a small pool and weirdly shaped. So far the drain issue has been a non issue and that was the main reason for picking this cleaner. My previous smartpool cleaner started getting stuck on the main drains. This cleaner every once in a while will put itself centered on top and within 15 seconds is off the drain. I tested with and without the main drain going. That was very important as I mentioned previously its a small pool with 2 main drains. If the cleaner gets stuck, thats pretty much it for the cleaning cycle.
I did see it end up on its back once so far and not be able to get back over. I'm hoping this is not a trend. Overall its a pretty impressive cleaner and I haven't seen any other cleaners that consistently review after review say they don't get stuck on the main drains besides the 4wd Polaris and the Dolphin 3 brush models.
I honestly see the swivel cable doing nothing, same as my assumption was with my dolphin that has a swivel. I'm hoping I will be proved wrong, but the amount of force to turn this swivel is simply too much. If the cable was completely stretched out then the swivel would probably work, but in my case, the cable is just twisting because that is the easier path versus using the swivel. The smartpool cleaner had a swivel that swiveled very easily and also floated on the water in a rectangular design so it had to use the swivel.
The Lift feature is impressive. The robot stilli isn't light, but its nice to have it drive to the side and when you grab it have it shoot the water out. The biggest problem with this is you hold the button until it turns to the correct wall and then release and it will climb that wall for you. That doesn't work so well when the control panel is out of view of the robot. It should be able to do it from the remote as well although I haven't figured that out yet.
The remote works fine. I've never been a huge fan of remotes, but if the dollar amount isn't very much then I would get it just for the ease of cleaning that one spot that might be missed.
The cleaning appears good. I'd say maybe it isn't quite as thorough as the other models, but it may also be my pool, its a small pool and weirdly shaped. So far the drain issue has been a non issue and that was the main reason for picking this cleaner. My previous smartpool cleaner started getting stuck on the main drains. This cleaner every once in a while will put itself centered on top and within 15 seconds is off the drain. I tested with and without the main drain going. That was very important as I mentioned previously its a small pool with 2 main drains. If the cleaner gets stuck, thats pretty much it for the cleaning cycle.
I did see it end up on its back once so far and not be able to get back over. I'm hoping this is not a trend. Overall its a pretty impressive cleaner and I haven't seen any other cleaners that consistently review after review say they don't get stuck on the main drains besides the 4wd Polaris and the Dolphin 3 brush models.
