Recommend a robotic cleaner

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dschlic1

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Oct 5, 2007
755
Valrico, FL
My last two cleaners are/were suction side cleaners. My current unit is a Pentair Great White. Unfortunately it is suffering from advanced age and will soon need to be replaced. I have been thinking of going with a robotic cleaner as I believe that setup and take down will be simpler. Some qualities that I would like to have:

Brushes so that I don't have to manually brush the pool as much.
Clean bottom and also the walls.
High reliability and durability.
Timer so that during the week I can leave the unit in the pool and will operate only enough to clean the pool once over.
Don't really need a remote control.
My pool has wedding cake steps and also a spa bench. It is also a free form pool, in the shape of an "L". In ground with PebbleTech finish.

I am willing to pay more for a better quality unit that will last longer and do a better job. Can anyone chime in with some recommendations?
 
I'd look at the Maytronics S300i which allows you to control the device via your phone. Also has a "fast" cycle and a "normal" cycle.

I personally have the Maytronics S200 which is fabulous albeit it has just one length of cycle and does a great job but no ability to direct it to a particular patch of dirt or control it such as the 300i.

Maddie :flower:

Addendum- Check this thread out by a great resource guy here The Bombadier-

A Breakdown of Dolphin's 2017 Lineup
 
If you are happy with Suction, Zodiac MX-8 Elite is really good at scrubbing, but if you have large debris, long stringy stuff would not suggest it, sand and fine debris it devours.

If you have a high end budget for a robot, I would consider the Polaris 9650iQ or if you want the White Version, Leslie's has the P965iQ, same thing different color scheme or for less without the remote and smart phone option, Polaris 9450 Sport has a 7 day programmable timer in the control box so you can leave it in and is less $.
 
I have been doing some studying off form, and have a short list of models which appear to find my needs:

Polaris 9550
Dolphin S200/S300
Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus/Premier
Aquabot Breeze IQ/SE

The Maytronics Dolphin S200/S300 can only be purchased in a retail store which is an issue as there are none close. The Dolphin Premier and Polaris 9550 are maxing out the budget. Anyone has anything to say about the rest? Some of the units claim to be able to clean the tile line. Any experience with that?

Thank You.
 
dschlic1 said:
I have been doing some studying off form, and have a short list of models which appear to find my needs:

Polaris 9550
Dolphin S200/S300
Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus/Premier
Aquabot Breeze IQ/SE

The Maytronics Dolphin S200/S300 can only be purchased in a retail store which is an issue as there are none close. The Dolphin Premier and Polaris 9550 are maxing out the budget. Anyone has anything to say about the rest? Some of the units claim to be able to clean the tile line. Any experience with that?

Thank You.
Click to expand...

Find a Dealer - Maytronics

Have you checked the above link. I put Valrico, FL and it appears it is around Tampa, FL. I saw one in Plant City, which looks to be about 9 miles away. There also some in Lakeland and Lutz, FL.
 
YippeeSkippy said:
Dolphin Discovery is the Maytronics S200, but labeled for Doheny's (and perhaps others) and that is where I purchased mine.

Dohenys Pool Supplies Fast

Maddie :flower:
Click to expand...
I second this cleaner. I've had it two seasons now and I would recommend it to anyone. It fits your needs and can pick up and store a large volume of debris. I get crushed with acorns by two large oaks behind my pool and it handles them without any issues.
 
dschlic1 said:
I have been doing some studying off form, and have a short list of models which appear to find my needs:

Polaris 9550
Dolphin S200/S300
Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus/Premier
Aquabot Breeze IQ/SE

The Maytronics Dolphin S200/S300 can only be purchased in a retail store which is an issue as there are none close. The Dolphin Premier and Polaris 9550 are maxing out the budget. Anyone has anything to say about the rest? Some of the units claim to be able to clean the tile line. Any experience with that?

Thank You.
Click to expand...

The Polaris has a lot of features you won't find other Robots, the Easy Lift system is really nice when retrieving the cleaner to empty to canister. Also can program it for water line only scrubber if you just want to hit those areas.

The motion sensing remote, like a Nintendo Wii is great for spot cleaning areas and not wasting a lot of time trying to move your robot with a pole.

Check for rebates too, I know there is a $100 rebate right now, but if you time the purchase right you may get one for less.
 
MannyT said:
Find a Dealer - Maytronics

Have you checked the above link. I put Valrico, FL and it appears it is around Tampa, FL. I saw one in Plant City, which looks to be about 9 miles away. There also some in Lakeland and Lutz, FL.
Click to expand...

I have gone by the nearest store in Plant City and called the nearest "Elite" dealer. The demo units that they have are the Dolphin Echo lowest end units. I will try and demo one of them and see how it works.
 

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Well I tried out the demo unit, a Dolphin Echo, this weekend. I am not impressed. My existing cleaner does a very good job where it goes, however there are several spots where it never goes. One is a corner where the suction port is, and the others are a ledge and some wedding cake steps. I let it run one full cycle, and it looked like it did not clean any of those three areas. I then put some dirt in the pool :eek: and ran the Echo for a second time. I placed the dirt in areas where it should not have issue getting to.

The unit went over the dirt, but did not pick up all of the dirt. I could clearly see tread tracks through one of the spots. So at this point I don't know how to proceed. I don't know if there is a problem with the demo unit, if going to a more advanced unit would help, or go with a different manufacturer. Here are some pictures I took of the dirt left. They are not very good:
IMG_0368.jpgIMG_0369.jpgIMG_0370.jpg
 
I think of the E10 series as being more for above ground and vinyl pools since it only has one brush. The others folks like best have at least 2 brushes. So I don't think you can get a good idea of the cleaning ability of the Maytronics.

Maddie :flower:
 
dschlic1 said:
Well I tried out the demo unit, a Dolphin Echo, this weekend. I am not impressed. My existing cleaner does a very good job where it goes, however there are several spots where it never goes. One is a corner where the suction port is, and the others are a ledge and some wedding cake steps. I let it run one full cycle, and it looked like it did not clean any of those three areas. I then put some dirt in the pool :eek: and ran the Echo for a second time. I placed the dirt in areas where it should not have issue getting to.

The unit went over the dirt, but did not pick up all of the dirt. I could clearly see tread tracks through one of the spots. So at this point I don't know how to proceed. I don't know if there is a problem with the demo unit, if going to a more advanced unit would help, or go with a different manufacturer. Here are some pictures I took of the dirt left. They are not very good:
View attachment 85938View attachment 85939View attachment 85940
Click to expand...

The corners should be clean, steps and shelf's are often a challenge for any cleaner.

Not sure if you can find a demo Polaris unit, but you should give it a try.
 
if i have 7500G pool would try Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus...
if pool size was over 10K or 15K Gallons you would try expensive one's but i believe this model should be OK for you. Check it out.
But if you really want good one, M500 or S300i.
 
Found a dealer with a S300 demo unit. According to the pool guy where I picked it up, none of the Dolphins will work with an "L" shaped pool. I managed to do one test late yesterday, it it looks like that is correct. The S300 cleaned the long side of the "L" fine, however missed the short side. I will run further tests this afternoon, but it looks like the Maytronics is out for my pool.

I noticed that most of the Aquabot cleaners are said to work with "L" shaped pools. Anyone have experience with them?
 
The fact that the pool is an L-shape is inconsequential....we have pool owners with far more complicated pool shapes than a simple L and their S series robots work fine. The Echo has a single brush and makes turns by climbing up a wall and then falling down. The process typically achieves a close to 90 deg turn. That's how all older model units used to do it when there wasn't a split-track drive (like the M series). The S200/300 series has two brushes and uses both wall climbing and PowerThrust technology to use a directed stream of water to make the unit do a "wheelie" in the pool and turn 90 degrees. Now with an L shaped pool, you might require a longer cleaning cycle time than what the Echo does (1.5 hours only). The S300i lets you select 1.5/2/2.5 hours for the cleaning cycle and the App gives you access to various cleaning modes - Standard mode, Floor-only, Tile-line clean, Fast mode and Ultra Mode. The standard cleaning mode uses an algorithm to achieve an 80/20 split, that is the unit spends 80% of the cycle cleaning the floor and the other 20% cleaning the walls and tile. Floor-only is obvious as is Tile line. Fast mode sets the robot to Floor-only and the cycle time to 1 hours. Ultra Clean mode drives the internal motor at a higher speed to give greater suction that would probably have worked on your "sand test". The App also allows the user to manually drive the robot over to a problem area and then releases the robot to finish it's cleaning cycle.

If you are looking to clean those ledges and steps, no robot, no matter the manufacturer, will do that well. That's what a pool brush is for. I have the S300i and a freeform shape pool and my robot does a better job cleaning it than any other cleaner has.

If you really desire to have a robot get to those ledges then you'll need to step up to the M-series which has two motors and a split-track design. It also has a 3rd center brush.
 
S300/200 or M500 as far as I am concerned. S series for easier to clean (one basket) lighter weight. M series if you want a beast with a 3rd extra rotating brush. Pretty sure the M series will go everywhere in you L shaped pool, but that is just a guess based on how I see mine react.
 
dschlic1 said:
Found a dealer with a S300 demo unit. According to the pool guy where I picked it up, none of the Dolphins will work with an "L" shaped pool. I managed to do one test late yesterday, it it looks like that is correct. The S300 cleaned the long side of the "L" fine, however missed the short side. I will run further tests this afternoon, but it looks like the Maytronics is out for my pool.
Click to expand...

I've never heard that before. And, I most certainly don't agree with it. We have a relatively large L shaped pool and our S300i makes it all around the pool. No issues with the L at all.

Now, the drain is another issue. It does get stuck on the main drain. If the drain is off, it can free itself quickly where it's not much of a problem. However, if I forget to turn it off, it will not be able to escape.
 
dschlic1 said:
Found a dealer with a S300 demo unit. According to the pool guy where I picked it up, none of the Dolphins will work with an "L" shaped pool. I managed to do one test late yesterday, it it looks like that is correct. The S300 cleaned the long side of the "L" fine, however missed the short side. I will run further tests this afternoon, but it looks like the Maytronics is out for my pool.

I noticed that most of the Aquabot cleaners are said to work with "L" shaped pools. Anyone have experience with them?
Click to expand...

Try to get a Polaris demo.
 

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