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Rescue30 can certainly chime in with a description I am merely hosting the photos. A short video is to follow. Enjoy.
http://home.cogeco.ca/~4re/bluediamond1.jpg
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The power supply has a drop of rust by the two screws holding the cable connector ., this is my fault as it was left outside by the pool for the whole winter .The bag you see was clean when it was put in the cleaner , that's one hour's worth of dirt that was picked up making the pool spotless .the remote has 4 buttons, 1 right, 1 left, 1 forward/reverse and the program button, which makes it climb the walls ,if you don't hit the program button it will only do the bottom.The brushes do show some wear nd tear on them , I'm sure I'll get through this season with them , maybe even next .
How do you like it? I have an Aquabot Viva on the way, which is a clone of this or maybe yours is a clone of that, but I digress....
Does it really clean in an hour?
Easy to move with the remote?
Filter a pain to clean?
Any tips/tricks to share?
Similar design to the Dolphin, internally and externally, but the brushes are different.
I gather my extra Dolphin bags will work in the B/D--there's a big help!
The Blue Diamond is made by Watertech, it is owned by the son of Aquabot, my guess is he went on his own to corner more of the market,and to introduce the Poolbuster at the same time, they are not competing against each other .So I do believe the Viva is the exact same machine .I did own a Aquabot plus wireless remote for 4 years, it broke after my kids abused it too much , and thankfully it was purchased from Hammacher Schlemmer and was returned for a complete refund !! (That's called customer service !)The brushes are made of foam, they grip the walls and floor really well, which helps with climbing and the ground speed .I do notice that there are a couple of spots on the brushes that are getting "nicked" a new set of 4 is $115, I called the service center and they said if I bring it down, they'll put them on for $35 , which I though was fair considering the drive belts and pulley design inside.I'm holding off on it this season and hopefully will still get 1 more season out of these brushes , I don't think $150 for new brushes , every 4 years is not reasonable .There are rubber brushes available for the Blue Diamond , but think from trying out the Dolphin and having owned the Aquabot that the rubbber brushes put a lot of wear and tear on the liner by constantly rubbing it when it hits the wall and starts to climb.It DOES clean the pool in an hour , this is due to the Aqua smart system which really covers the pool everywhere , go to the Aquabot website and you'll see a video of the aquasmart sytem's coverage of the pool , this is the reason why the Blue Diamond beats Dolphin, by randomly turning every so often in a totally different direction!!, the Dolphin relies on climbing the wall, creeping along the waterline and HOPEFULLY coming down in a different spot and start cleaning again .The filter bag is a pain to clean, but so is the Dolphin's , I use a bucket of pool water and keep wringing it until it's clean ,You don't need any "tricks or tips' it worked straight out of the box , no floats to play with , really awesome, (and, no I don't work for watertech) I will not make CarlD's "mistake" and tell you this is the correct pool cleaner for you, it's been working great fro me for 2 seasons and this season and hopefully will work in your pool , I have a pear shaped, 30,000 gallon vinyl liner pool , your results might vary.i would only suggets buying from a place that has a trial period, ie. Frontgate, PoolDr, if it don't work ship it back!
Sorry , I forgot about your remote control question.I think the remote is better than the joystick, push on the forward/reverse button once and it goes in the opossite direction, hold right or left and it starts turning in that direction and will continue to turn until you let go of the button, easier to slip in to your shorts, robe pocket than the Dolphin joystick version.(Joysticks work better for Pacman)
Thanks for the reply! I'm currently in Boston and sadly have to wait about 10 days before I can get home and play with my new toy. From everything I've researched (and there's sadly not much online), the Blue Diamond/Aquabot Bravo/Viva is the "best" robotic cleaner and I hope I've made a smart purchase. I just wish there were more reviews and discussion online about them.
So...do you actually have to "drive" this cleaner? It's not automatic? :confused:
No, it is automatic.
It has the option of being remote controlled for local cleanups of specific areas, but it is mostly used on automatic like other robots. Roams around the pool on it's own.
It is 100% automatic, cleans the pool spotless in 1 hour, and then shuts off.You have the option of controlling it with the remote if you want to throw it in and spot clean the pool .The remote also has a program button, if you just turn on the cleaner the deafult program is that it climbs to the waterline evry seventh time it hits a wall, hitting the program button makes it climb the wall each time it hits it.