I had a Dolphin Dynamic for about 15 years. Worked great, it was a bottom loader that used a fine micron cloth bag. After it was done cleaning, we turned the bag inside out, sprayed out all the icky stuff, and then washed it on delicate in the washing machine and hung it up to dry. It always did a great job of cleaning. Never needed service in all those years. The end of the season last year while cleaning the corners of the water line, it would get stuck. I had to get out my joy stick remote to bring him down from the corners. I tried moving the weights around on the top handle at the suggestion of Maytronics, but it did no good. Then this spring, the day we opened, Donnie died. I think the motor wore out or the tracks needed replacing. We definitely weren't going to spend money on replacing a 15 year old machine.
I just assumed we'd get another Dolphin but it seems like robots, no matter the brand, just don't last like they used to. I demoed a Dolphin Active 30i over a weekend. It worked ok but whereas I only had to run my old Dynamic for one session, I had to run the Dolphin 2 or 3 times as long to get near the same job. I did like the basket very much and it was easy to use, except one problem. I found the app to be buggy and the reviews of the MyDolphin Plus app weren't very good and it seemed like Maytronics wasn't doing anything about it. From reading it seems the S200 or Active 20 would be the one to get since no app to have to play with. This was my experience anyway.
A lot of people had really good experiences with Marina Spa and Pool so I gave them a call. They were super nice, good prices, and knew their merchandise, but my problem was there was no service center close by me for Maytronics, which meant in the future if I had a problem I would have to pack the Dolphin up, and send it to Maytronics at our expense.
So......I happened to come across a great price on a Polaris 9550 and a local place I could take it to if it ever needed service. We also have a friend who has one and has been very happy with it. We've only had it for 2 weeks but so far I'm really impressed. I like the large size basket because we get a ton of leaves later in our season. It also works great on pollen and dust which helps since we live on a dirt road. The 9550 I got has the newer cord with the swivel and I haven't had any problems with it tangling. It has a nice caddy, and a remote if you wanted to guide it, and the basket is very easy to clean.
Now if it only lasts as long as Donnie the Dolphin did, I'll be thrilled.
Meet Paulie:
