Traditional Robot vs Polaris Quattro Sport

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Tatino80

Active member
Apr 1, 2020
26
Dallas, Texas
Hi everyone - My family’s first pool built just got started last week and based on the advice of this forum, we have declined the included standard cleaner offered by our builder. I’ve been looking at different robot options and saw that Polaris offers a robot that uses pressure side power with a booster pump.

The few reviews I’ve seen of the Quattro are positive, but does anyone here have any experience? Seems like if you have a booster pump already that this gives you the cleaning capabilities of a robot without having an electric cord laying on the deck.

Am I missing a downside to this type of cleaner?
 
That pressure side cleaner is still not a robot. Robots only need a GCFI outlet. Saves having to buy and run a separate pump just for them, and saves electricity along with working far better. AND the robot will climb the wall and scrub your water line. WiN!!

Maddie
 
The downside is that you need a booster pump. It would probably be a good upgrade if your polaris bit the dust, but I read that you are doing a new build.

I'm sure both will clean your pool just fine, you just need to decide what you want. For me, I put my robot in the pool about once a week to clean for a 2 hour cycle. The rest of the time it is stored out of sight and not in the way. I prefer that over something with older technology that is always going to be in my pool.
 
I have a Polaris pressure side cleaner (not sure of exact model). I’ve had it for 13 years and it works great for me. It does a good job of picking up even pretty fine debris. I used to have it programmed to run every day, but now I just run it ad-hoc as needed. I really like the convenience of the whole setup.
 
I just noticed that you’re in Dallas. You probably had thunderstorms like we did last night. Our pool is surrounded by trees and my pool bottom was covered in leaves this morning. I walked back inside, pushed a button to turn on the cleaner and 2 hours later, pool was clean! I didn’t have to pull the cleaner out of storage and the debris bag is large enough to handle a good sized amount of leaves.
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And yes, I realize that I should have the black bag to match the cleaner. White replacement bag was cheaper. 🙂
 
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I cant comment on the Quattro, but the general sentiment on here is that robots are better at cleaning than pressure side cleaners. I'm sure both will clean just fine.

To me, the main differences are:
Power
  • Robots need a power cord nearby
  • Pressure cleaner require you to run the pump and can require a booster pump. That means they are more costly to run, and that is another pump to buy down the road.
Appearance/convenience
  • To me, the advantage is a robot can easily be stored away from the pool. That means you can swim without a cleaner or its cord getting in the way.
  • When you are using a robot, there will be a visible cord on the decking. I would take that vs something that is always in my pool, but I wanted to point that out.
  • Both can be programmed to run on a schedule and many people leave their robot in the pool so to me convenience is a wash. If you are like me and want the cleaner out of the pool the majority of the time, then you do have to physically lift them out of the water, but you have to do that on both to empty them anyway.
 
I don’t have any personal experience with a robot, but from what I’ve heard, they clean the surface better. Makes sense, given that most have some kind of brushing mechanism. If true, that’s the real advantage, at least to me. An in-wall unit can be stored as easily as a robot, so there’s no advantage to either one in that regard. When we have guests, I just unhook the cleaner from the wall and put it behind the fence partition that hides the pool equipment. Otherwise, it remains in the pool for convenience.

I looked into getting a robot several years ago and there were 2 things that kept me from doing it: 1. smaller debris bag, as we often have days where we need to get lots of leaves off the bottom; 2. the units I was considering required storage out of the pool when not in use. I didn’t want to have to haul something in and out of storage whenever I needed to clean the pool. Granted, I already had the in-wall cleaner and was just looking at the robot as a potential upgrade, but it didn’t fit my needs.

Things may have changed since then.
 
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One other huge advantage of a robot... it is much easier to manage the power cord when removing the cleaner, than to manage the hose that attaches to the suction side cleaner.

My last pool had a Polaris suction side with a booster pump - while it worked well, it was a pain in the Rear to pull out when it finished. I ended up leaving it in most of the time and only pulling it when we swam - and even then only lifted it out of water, then put it back in. It was an eyesore, but I took the easy way out :)

For my new pool I have a Dolphin 200 robot and it couldn't be easier to get in and out. Now the cleaner is only in the pool when it cleans, then I put it away when it's done. It also does a better job of cleaning the pool.
 
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I have had my Quattro for 1 year 3 plus months. I have a Pebble Tech pool ( rough ) so the only thing I have replaced is the tires ( on my dime ) and the 2 side brushes that help it climb ( warranty ). This past week I noticed the cleaner moving REAL slow and appeared to m,be spewing water from around the hose that connects to the cleaner. Upon further inspection I found the actual water pump inside the cleaner had split open at a seem in the manufacturing process thus losing water pressure. I called Polaris Warranty and they are replacing the hose connection to cleaner and to the wall and sending me a new water pump ( warranty ). So I have had some issues but all cleaners have issues from time to time. When cleaner is at 100% it cleans excellent, climbs walls, and even picks up golf balls on bottom of pool :). I like a cleaner that can stay in pool 100% of the time. I do take it out when kids come over to swim but that's not that often.
 
rphpool said:
I have had my Quattro for 1 year 3 plus months. I have a Pebble Tech pool ( rough ) so the only thing I have replaced is the tires ( on my dime ) and the 2 side brushes that help it climb ( warranty ). This past week I noticed the cleaner moving REAL slow and appeared to m,be spewing water from around the hose that connects to the cleaner. Upon further inspection I found the actual water pump inside the cleaner had split open at a seem in the manufacturing process thus losing water pressure. I called Polaris Warranty and they are replacing the hose connection to cleaner and to the wall and sending me a new water pump ( warranty ). So I have had some issues but all cleaners have issues from time to time. When cleaner is at 100% it cleans excellent, climbs walls, and even picks up golf balls on bottom of pool :). I like a cleaner that can stay in pool 100% of the time. I do take it out when kids come over to swim but that's not that often.
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And is it the Quattro Sport that you have?
 
I know this is an old thread but I’m considering buying the Quattro. I really like the benefit of keeping electrical cords off my decking and since I already have a booster pump powering my Polaris 280 it’s an easy transition.

@Tatino80 did you end up getting one? If so how has your experience been so far?

@rphpool any other issues since your last post?

does it climb well and scrub the waterline?? How about stairs?

Thanks
 
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The Quattro is robot-like. At least I imagine it is because I've never owned a robot. Unlike other pressure-side Polaris cleaners, it has rubber scrubbers in front and on the bottom.

It climbs the walls very aggressively. Mine literally spends more time on the walls than on the floor. The walls are clean, yet debris remains on the floor after 2 hours.

I am in the process of experimenting with weights to reduce climbing. Without being weighted down, Quattro climbs up under my closed auto-cover and its scrubbers remove the thread from the cover.

See also this thread: I hate my new vacuum. Polaris Quattro
 
Rocket J Squirrel said:
The Quattro is robot-like. At least I imagine it is because I've never owned a robot. Unlike other pressure-side Polaris cleaners, it has rubber scrubbers in front and on the bottom.

It climbs the walls very aggressively. Mine literally spends more time on the walls than on the floor. The walls are clean, yet debris remains on the floor after 2 hours.

I am in the process of experimenting with weights to reduce climbing. Without being weighted down, Quattro climbs up under my closed auto-cover and its scrubbers remove the thread from the cover.

See also this thread: I hate my new vacuum. Polaris Quattro
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Did you try and reduce the pressure(flow) from pump? Maybe that will help.
 
joboo7777 said:
Did you try and reduce the pressure(flow) from pump? Maybe that will help.
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Yes, I replaced the blue disc with the red one to reduce flow. It didn't seem to make much difference. But I don't want to reduce cleaning effectiveness too much, which is why I'm trying weights instead of reducing flow further.
 
I did finally have to reduce flow by opening the pressure relief valve a bit. Nothing else worked well enough to reduce Quattro climbing.
 
Rocket J Squirrel said:
I did finally have to reduce flow by opening the pressure relief valve a bit. Nothing else worked well enough to reduce Quattro climbing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the update. When you reduced the flow do you know if the number of tire rotations went below the Polaris recommended? I believe it’s around 30 rotations per minute.
 

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