Questions for Dolphin Robot Cleaner Owners

[les_garten]

I am thinking of getting a Dolphin Active 30, or M600 cleaner.

For you owners of the Dolphin cleaners, have you had any issues with them?

Do you wish you bought something else?

If so, what should you have bought in Hindsight?

Any reliability issues?

How do you like the cleaning quality?

If you have an M600, what issues/bugs are remaining in the software?

I talked with Margaret at Marina Pools today and was very interested in them.

 

[mknauss]

I have an Active20.
Purchased May 2017. Has run flawlessly since. It is run a couplet times a week in the spring/summer/fall and weekly or so in the winter.
I would purchase another in a heartbeat.

 

[scdaren]

I have the Pentair Warrior SI, which I believe is the same as the Active 30. It's a great robot, only issue was the bluetooth did not work when I received it, but they sent me a replacement. Turns out the bluetooth function is pretty lame. If I had to do it again, I would either get the Warrior SE (Active 20), or go up to the model that includes the caddy, because I ended up buying one of those later.

 

[Jimrahbe]

les,

I have been using Dolphin robots for over 10 years... I original bought two old and used Diagnostic models.. I replaced the tracks, brushes and track bearings and used them for rent house pools for about 4 or 5 years.. Keep in mind this were already 5 years old when I bought them.

For my house I bought a Dolphin Premier that worked great for over 7 years..

I have since replaced all three units with Dolphin S200 (style) robots.. I have zero use for all the bells and whistles.. The extras cost more but don't really clean any better.

The S200 (style) robots are built with DIY repair in mind.. Not cheap repair, but easy to do..

When my older Premier died, I had a new S200 (style) robot on my door step two days later.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[les_garten]

I've been reading a lot about these and the feedback has been pretty positive that I can see.

 

[les_garten]

Do you guys know how the internal mapping on this gadget works? I was told there were no cameras or anything like that. Does it have sensors that know it's attitude and wheel sensors that track distance accurately? It has to make a map of the pool somehow to know where it's been and where it hasn't been. How does it do that?

 

[FnC80]

I have the M600, and it’s been flawless with zero issues for the year or so I’ve had it so far. It cleans better than my old aquavac and much easier to empty and rinse the baskets. It also holds a ton of debris and powerful enough to suck up small diving toys the kid leaves in the pool. It also does a really good job cleaning the walls and waterline. Typical run time is 2 hours and it never misses an inch or ever gotten stuck, aside from where it beached itself on the sun shelf one time.

It spends a majority of the time in the pool, only really pulling it out when we swim. I admit I don’t use a lot of the fancy features, like driving it around with my phone, but I do turn it on from my app and the latest feature on the app is telling Alexa to clean my pool and it starts cleaning. My son also gets a kick out of the light show it does when it cleans once it’s dark.

The only complaint I have is you have to purchase with the cart which I never wanted or intended to use. I’d rather have saved the $100 off the price.

 

[les_garten]

I have the M600, and it’s been flawless with zero issues for the year or so I’ve had it so far. It cleans better than my old aquavac and much easier to empty and rinse the baskets. It also holds a ton of debris and powerful enough to suck up small diving toys the kid leaves in the pool. It also does a really good job cleaning the walls and waterline. Typical run time is 2 hours and it never misses an inch or ever gotten stuck, aside from where it beached itself on the sun shelf one time.

It spends a majority of the time in the pool, only really pulling it out when we swim. I admit I don’t use a lot of the fancy features, like driving it around with my phone, but I do turn it on from my app and the latest feature on the app is telling Alexa to clean my pool and it starts cleaning. My son also gets a kick out of the light show it does when it cleans once it’s dark.

The only complaint I have is you have to purchase with the cart which I never wanted or intended to use. I’d rather have saved the $100 off the price.

What were the features that made you purchase it over the next lower model?

I do not think the Maytronics site does a very good job of delineating the differences in the models. They also don't show the utility and feature set of the phone app very well.

 

[panic_button]

Save yourself some money and skip the M600, get an Active 30 or 40. I'm on my 2nd M600 in less than 18 months, 9 repairs on the 1st one (constant water intrusion) and failed power supply out of the box on #2. Maytronics support is terrible.

The M600 does not have mapping, just random patterns to clean, like the old Roomba. The Dolphin iO3 version that was announced in 2018 was the unit that had the camera and did 3-D mapping, but it's not in production yet.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Les,

The only real mapping robots do is via the marketing department... I love them and they work great, but to say they "map" your pool is not an accurate description of what they actually do.

It is not like it knows your pool and saves that info.. Every time you fire it up, it starts all over "learning" your pool.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[FnC80]

The phone app is pretty good and you can set up cleaning schedules, start times, delay, lights, manual drive, and voice control. Setup was really easy as well.

I started looking at new robots when my old aquavac quit and had to drop it off at the pool store for warranty work. They had a M600 in stock and after talking a bit about it, I just bought it. I’d say the thought of going a month or so manually cleaning my pool justified the extra cost of the M600 to me.

 

[Thom53us]

Love my DolphinM400 started with Polaris 360 had aquabots nothing as easy as the dolphin scrubs and easy to clean.

 

[les_garten]

Les,

The only real mapping robots do is via the marketing department... I love them and they work great, but to say they "map" your pool is not an accurate description of what they actually do.

It is not like it knows your pool and saves that info.. Every time you fire it up, it starts all over "learning" your pool.

Thanks,

Jim R.

That's kinda what I thought, but to cover the pool in 2 hours, I would think it would "learn" the pool in some way other than just random patterns. I had heard it relearns it each time it is powered up. I'm trying to manage my expectations of how it works.

 

[les_garten]

Save yourself some money and skip the M600, get an Active 30 or 40. I'm on my 2nd M600 in less than 18 months, 9 repairs on the 1st one (constant water intrusion) and failed power supply out of the box on #2. Maytronics support is terrible.

The M600 does not have mapping, just random patterns to clean, like the old Roomba. The Dolphin iO3 version that was announced in 2018 was the unit that had the camera and did 3-D mapping, but it's not in production yet.

Can you describe how the warranties were handled? Local dealer to you? I talked with Maytronics on the phone today and that conversation and outcome was useless. I would agree with you there. I was only asking some pre sales questions and trying to get information.

I know it may be tedious, but could you describe in detail the problems you had?

Did you get yours when it first came out? It sounds like you were an early adopter on this particular unit.

 

[les_garten]

The phone app is pretty good and you can set up cleaning schedules, start times, delay, lights, manual drive, and voice control. Setup was really easy as well.

I started looking at new robots when my old aquavac quit and had to drop it off at the pool store for warranty work. They had a M600 in stock and after talking a bit about it, I just bought it. I’d say the thought of going a month or so manually cleaning my pool justified the extra cost of the M600 to me.

How long have you had it?

 

[KJB1]

Don’t get a black robot with a white plaster pool. I have a Dolphin nautilus and it made marks all over. Haven’t found out how to remove them. Amazon reviews have a lot of the same complaints. I wish I saw those first.

 

[les_garten]

Don’t get a black robot with a white plaster pool. I have a Dolphin nautilus and it made marks all over. Haven’t found out how to remove them. Amazon reviews have a lot of the same complaints. I wish I saw those first.

Wow, small world. I saw your same post in another thread! I have Caribbean Blue Pebbletec

 

[panic_button]

Can you describe how the warranties were handled? Local dealer to you? I talked with Maytronics on the phone today and that conversation and outcome was useless. I would agree with you there. I was only asking some pre sales questions and trying to get information.

I know it may be tedious, but could you describe in detail the problems you had?

Did you get yours when it first came out? It sounds like you were an early adopter on this particular unit.

The issue was constant water intrusion into the motor. The first 3 times, the unit had to be sent back to Maytronic I had to pay the shipping to them @ $60 each time. After that they would issue a FEDEX label. There were 5 more failures for the same water intrusion within the first 15 months. This April after repairing the unit 3 times since January 2021, the LED lights failed and it stopped working again. Maytronics finally replace the unit with a new one. That unit's brand new power supply did not work and took almost 3 weeks for them to send out the replacement.

 

[A.O.]

I have an M500 that I've had about 5 years now. About 3 years in it quits working, talked with the lady at Maytronics , did a little diagnostic over the phone and ended up sending it in for testing. Seems the motor got goofy and only a few days after my 3 year warrantee ran out.. They honored my warrantee anyway, they replaced the entire power unit and sent it back! Skip ahead a year, lightning struck my house and killed it again (along with my hot tub, a couple computers, and a bunch of other stuff) Anyway I sent it back in they replaced the power unit again at a nominal price and I had it back in a week.
In my opinion customer service there is great!! Would not hesitate to buy another! My only thing is I bought the M500 over the M400 because it has a remote, I can drive it o a dirty spot or whatever.. I NEVER USE IT, wish I had saved the extra $100!

 

[FnC80]

How long have you had it?

I’ve had my robot since just before Christmas in 2019, so it’s going on about 18 months now of continual service. Again, it lives in the pool pretty much 24/7 without issue and I run it probably 4-7 days a week. Right now he’s on a programmed schedule for 5 days a week. The baskets so big I only need to empty it about once a month as we don’t get a ton of debris in the pool, mostly just a bit of blown dust and dirt and mulch from the flower beds when the landscapers do the trimming.