Marie, like in so many specialty areas, you ask ten people how to do something and you get nine answers plus a "don't do that." There is always a convenience and service tradeoff for price when you consider local vs online/phone. You just read positive and negative reviews of Marina Pool & Spa. Clearly someone who bought from them and never had a warranty repair, is happy. They got a good price, free shipping, and in many or most cases also saved sales tax. (Shhh.) They bought a reliable product, and they're happy. Something as big and heavy as a robotic pool cleaner can be a bit expensive to ship, though, so someone who got a lemon or just had a statistical failure is going to be less happy. OTOH, I can think of many times when I've been really mad at a local store for bad customer service.
Similarly, ask about leaving a robot in the pool vs run the cleaner and take it out, you'll get people who feel strongly one way or another. Personally, I will not take a plastic, rubber, and metal $1,100 machine with an electric motor and nylon gears--and leave it soaking in salty chlorine water exposed to UV-A and UV-B all day long for days and days at a time. I look down at my Maytronics M500 (bought from Marina, by the way, for $300 less than a local dealer quoted...too late, but that's another story), and I don't see a thing on that machine that would be considered UV-resistant, much less chlorine and salt resistant.
So I run a 3.5 hour cycle "bottom and sides", once a week unless we have a big windstorm. At the end of the cycle I take it out of the pool, empty the baskets, and thoroughly rinse inside and out including the low voltage cable and especially the swivel connection, with fresh soft water. I let it dry on the caddy, then cover with a chair cover to protect from the sun, even though its stored on a covered patio. Will this excessive care make it last ten years? I don't know, but I'm not going to test the alternative. Attention to maintenance and storage never hurts.
