Robot recommendations needed

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LarryInSanDiego

LarryInSanDiego

0
Mar 4, 2017
11
San Diego, CA
Ready to pull the trigger on a robot, but would like some recommendations. I have a 20' by 50' in-ground plaster, 3' -8' deep with baja shelf. I'm in coastal SoCal, so this is a year round pool. I'm looking for something that has a finer filter and doesn't have crazy expensive wear parts, but is a solid performer. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
 
I found a refurbished S300i for $799 on Pool Partz here at: Dolphin S300i - Refurbished , but don't know if the power supply comes with it. Add edit: according to their online chat, it does. Also, the caddy needs to be purchased separately. Then this place offers a 2 year warranty if purchased in store but zero warranty if purchased online: Dolphin S300i Pool Cleaner 99996225-US | Pool Supply 4 Less How does that work - a manufacturer offering no warranty whatsoever???
 
LarryInSanDiego said:
I found a refurbished S300i for $799 on Pool Partz here at: Dolphin S300i - Refurbished , but don't know if the power supply comes with it. Also, the caddy needs to be purchased separately. Then this place offers a 2 year warranty if purchased in store but zero warranty if purchased online: Dolphin S300i Pool Cleaner 99996225-US | Pool Supply 4 Less How does that work - a manufacturer offering no warranty whatsoever???
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Dolphin is VERY specific about warranty coverage. Most of their robot lines can only be sold through brick & mortar shops in order to have warranty coverage. This is to avoid robots being sold through 3rd parties and/or Craig's List / eBay. If you buy a robot "online" chances are you have to call the shop and give them your payment info over the phone. That qualifies as a "brick & mortar" purchase. Repair work is at the sole discretion of the shops that provide it. Some will repair any robot and others will only repair ones that they sell.
 
LarryInSanDiego said:
That seems like a shaky practice for a manufacturer to warranty a product.
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It's how it's always been done and Dolphin fully stands by its products. If a warranty issue comes up during the warranty period, Dolphin covers the repairs 100%. I specifically purchased mine from a local shop because I wanted drop off service if needed. Shipping the robots out for repair can cost a lot of money and I did not want to have to deal with that headache. That said, one our mods had to have his Discovery (S200) repaired through mail service and there were zero complications.

Honestly, I would not buy a refurbed unit even with an extended warranty because it seems like it's more trouble than it's worth on the repair side of things. Buy local is my mantra, but that's just my opinion. Many on TFP have purchased refurbed units and are happy with them.
 
So am I correct that Dolphin will cover repairs as long as I ship to them but many shops won't repair them in-house if I did not make a brick and mortar purchase? If that's the case, that's understandable, as long as the mfr itself stands behind it (realizing I'll have to cover shipping costs).
 
LarryInSanDiego said:
So am I correct that Dolphin will cover repairs as long as I ship to them but many shops won't repair them in-house if I did not make a brick and mortar purchase? If that's the case, that's understandable, as long as the mfr itself stands behind it (realizing I'll have to cover shipping costs).
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Not really. There are units that Dolphin designates as Brick and Mortar Only (BMO), meaning they can only be sold in a physical store and not over the internet. If you purchase a BMO unit online (meaning you give your credit card information through the website and don't talk to an actual person, and/or your receipt says ".com" anywhere) the warranty from Maytronics is voided. Maytronics will not cover any warranty repairs if you ship it to them and if you take it to a service center they will either deny your warranty repair right up front or if they send a claim to Maytronics with the proof of purchase (which is required), Maytronics will deny it.

Maytronics does this to protect its dealer/service center network. If there was no distinction between online and BMO units there would be no reason for any stores to sell units simply because they couldn't compete, the overhead for stores that sell maybe 50 units a year is way higher than a shipping warehouse that can move thousands. So Maytronics makes BMO units to keep stores competitive, and so service centers can stay open to take repair load off themselves.

On top of this, though, a lot of stores will not do warranty work for any units not purchased through them. This is at the discretion of the store so there's nothing you can really do about it. Most stores find it's not worth their time or hassle. I do a ton of warranty repairs for Aquabot and it makes up about 25% of my work. Both Aqua Products and Maytronics are terrible about their warranty work payouts to the point where I essentially make nothing for my time. The only benefit is I get to slap my sticker on the robot and hope I gave them a positive enough experience that they come back for non-warranty repairs.
 

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I bought my Maytronics S200/Doheny's Discovery from Doheny's. It had a motor failure within a few months and I had it repaired under warranty at a local pool store. One was closed, one said they only repair robots they sell and one said they would be happy to repair it. Maytronics also has service centers that you can send it to for repair. Different stores sell different colored/branded robots and have different warranties.

I will definitely be back to that pool store and I will make them my first stop when I need a new robot.

More here, Doheny's Discovery, S200, Active20, Triton owners club - Page 30 and in my pool thread, link in sig.
 
Yeah, B&M is the way to go....to me, buying a robot "online" to save a few bucks is like buying a car using the classified pages from a sketchy dude in sunglasses - serious "caveat emptor" and "you get what you pay for". On a purchase nearing $1000, I definitely want to shake the hand of the guy selling it to me and look him in the eyes.

Just my personal opinion....
 
So I'm gonna jump in your thread.

It looks like there are about a thousand robots to choose from. After I vacuumed the pool a couple days ago and it's already a little dirty my wife said we should get a robot, and I'll never turn down a toy.

So just randomly I found the Doheny s200 for $450 online I think, or a Dolphin Nautilus Plus on Amazon for $650. Both seem like good prices, end of season is a good time I guess.

Is one of them superior? They look very similar. Is there another that's better for similar price?

I have big steps and a small shelf if that matters, and I'd love the few inches of tile above the water cleaned if that's a thing.

It looks like the Dolphin shows a 2 year warranty on Amazon. Not sure on the other.
 
bizzle said:
Amazon is just listing what's written on the box. My understanding is if you buy from Amazon you will get no warranty.
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Looks like they removed that language. An older warranty I saw was 30 months and had that language.

The new one at this link doesn't have that.

http://www.hydropool.com/downloads/maytronics/maytronics-warranty-card.pdf

Also, looks like the Doheny I found was actually a saturn. The Discovery is about $650, basically exactly the same as the Nautilus plus, and basically exactly the same as an S200.

Between the three are they basically the same?
 
My AquaBot Turbo T just died yesterday so I'm looking for a new robot myself. Motor's are expensive. It lasted 6 years with only minor repairs (belts/tracks) needed up to this time. Left it in the pool nearly 24/7/365 and ran it at least once a week.

I'll tear it down this weekend just in case something got sucked into the impeller and jammed it.

How does the Doheny s200 stand up over time?
 
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