Blue Diamond vs Dolphin Dynamic. My review

Hi All,
Trying to buy a robotic cleaner is a difficult task. Very little info and lots of cash involved make hitting "add to cart" a tough commitment.

I had a Dolphin Diagnostic that was about 3 years old and I gave it to my Dad last year when I got my Dynamic from Costco. My Dad's ran about 10 feet before it quit this year. Not good. My Dynamic wouldn't climb the walls anymore and the suction seemed poor despite a clean filter. Luckily I bought it from Costco so it's going back. I was a huge Dolphin fan until I used the Blue Diamond. When working both do the job but an analogy would be comparing a K-car to a Lexus. YEah they both get you from point a to point b but which would you rather drive? Even that isn't accurate though. in order to be accurate the Lexus only cost 30% more than the K-car.

Based on my previous service history (excellent) with Watertechcorp I decided to buy the Blue Diamond from pooldr.com. I think the website is difficult to navigate and a little cheesy but they delivered promptly so I can live with it. They have an OK return policy of 2 weeks and free shipping. Still, at $1300 it isn't cheap. The blue pearl is about $400 less with a cart. The difference being cleaning time of 3hrs vs. 1 hr and the warranty of the Pearl is 1 year as opposed to 4 years. Apparently the Blue Diamond also uses better internals.

The Blue Diamond is a very similar concept to the Dolphin although it is much lighter and maybe a little wider. The cart rolls easier but I don't think it looks as good as the Dolphin cart. I also don't like the fact that the power supply is under the unit where water can drip on it but it is waterproof so I guess it doesn't matter. It aso has a clever handle that allows for easy untangling of the power cord. Quite handy.

The unit started right up and the first thing I noticed is that it is much more powerful than the Dolphin. It created quite a wake on the top of the water surface. It also has a very random pattern. Where the Dolphin (when set to floor only) would stop and turn, the Blue Diamond turns while moving making arcs in the pool. This is a much better method and it was able to cover my entire pool without any problems. It also clombed the walls with ease but didn't spend much time at the water line while I watched it (only about 5 minutes). That's OK though, I clean my waterline manually anyway. It could have done the whole waterline though I just didn't see it. It must have a sensor in it that tells it when it begins to climb a wall because as it goes to vertical it reverses in the other direction.

The filter bag is much less cumbersome and easier to clean than the Dolphin.

I have only used it a few times but so far it's just a much better unit that functions far better. I can say it cleans better but wether or not it will last longer without any repair issues only time will tell. A 4 year warranty is really good though.

Pro's
Lighter
Faster - 1hr vs 6-8 hrs
random cleaning pattern
more thorough cleaning
more powerful
better wall climbing
easier to clean filter bag

Cons
Price
Cart could be designed better but it is functional
reliability unknown - although can't be worse than the Dolphins...

I hope this helps someone else make their decision. Any questions feel free to ask.

J.

How is cleaning the bag easier?

I have a Dolphin Diagnostic which was performed well for me, but cleaning it is a pain in the neck even using the bucket technique. I couldn't find any pics on the site for Blue Pearl/Blue Diamond's cleaning process to compare.

I just flip it inside out and hose it off. It's easier because the dirt doesn't seem to stick to it as readily as the Dolphin's filter. It's also a lot lighter and doesn't hold nearly as much water.

I agree 99% with the assessment of the BD vs the DD.

The DD bag is multiple layers, like a heavy jersey. The BD bag is a thin, single layer, but very, very fine. So the DD bag requires rinsing, then laundering. The BD bag only needs rinsing.

I have the same pros, so why repeat them?

The cons I have with BD that weren't listed are:
1) I have to pull out my ladder every time or it gets stuck under it. Takes a minute, no more, but still a pain.
2) I have to grab the remote and reverse the BD once to get it to climb walls--it's documented that that's how you do it--no permanent programming available.
3) It doesn't have a joy stick, just cheesy arrow buttons.
4) The BD remote only is designed to work on rectangular pools, unlike the DD. Since I have a rectangular pool, that's OK. BD's answer to an odd-shaped pool is control it manually with the remote.

The cons I have with the DD are:
1) It's not reliable (do I need any others?)
2) The company's US rep is terrible.
3) It weighs a metric tonne
4) It's not reliable.
5) Filter bag is hard to remove and harder to clean.
6) It takes 8 hours to run a cycle.
7) It's not reliable.