Dolphin Diagnostic Review

I went to Leslie's in Atlanta the other day to buy a whale brush. While I was in there, all the times I've wished I had an automatic pool cleaner came to memory like a flood. I liked the looks of the Dolphin Diagnostic the best and the store manager said it was by far the best of the cleaners he sold. He also offered a two week "trial" period and for any reason, I could return the unit for full credit.

After assembling the cart wrong for about an hour, I finally got it right and thought, while kinda flimsy, should serve the purpose. The instructions for the cart were all drawings of what goes where and were just plain difficult to read.

The manual for the Dolphin was also difficult to understand since you have to pick out the English sentance from the multi-language pages. I might also add the outer cover for the manual was upside down from the pages. Anyway what the heck, the rain cleared and it was time to put it in the water.

It just worked beautifully, the first time. (Don't stop reading yet) It didn't miss a single spot and even scrubbed the walls all the way up to the copping. I even invited my best friend over to "see this thang", he, a Polaris owner. Well that's the last time it worked "beautifully".

Now for the next time, it cleaned a back and forth swath in the deep end for about an hour and a half, then shut off. After restarting it, it was doing the same thing when twice I caught it hung up on the bottom drains. It never went to the shallow end. The next day, it looked like it would take off and do right, however after only a few minutes, it got back on it's deep end OCD and just cleaned that one place the whole time.

I started reading about the Diagnostic on several forums and quickly came to realize, I'm darn glad I got this somewhere with a return rather than my usual shop for it then buy it on eBay. This company apparently doesn't have a very good reputation for customer service.

Yesterday, I decided that before taking it back, I'd try it one more time. It started cleaning the whole floor, but wouldn't touch the walls. After about 20 minutes it floated to the top and turned it self off.

The two things that I noticed particularly were there is no rhyme or reason to how long the cleaning cycle is, one time about an hour and a half, the next about 20 minutes, then once I just finally had to turn it off.

If it would do like it did the first time, I'd be as happy as can be, but this thing is like a 13 year old child with ADHD trying to study while the TV is on and three more days till the test.

To you happy Dolphin users, am I missing something? Based upon what I'm seeing now, it's going back.
Herb:confused:

The device is a POS! I had one briefly last year that I bought and returned to Costco under their great return policy. Mine did many of the same things you report.

The good news, I replaced it with a Blue Pearl which does a great job. Best machine I have ever seen. I was a former Polaris owner as well.

Just search for posts by me and Dolphins from last year...they actually ended up sending a whole new unit, cart and all.

I use a Blue Diamond with remote control instead and it works just great!

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Originally Posted by HHead

After about 20 minutes it floated to the top and turned it self off.

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Once my Dolphin is in the pool and running I've never seen it float? Maybe you've got trapped air somewhere in the machine...??

Regardless, I'm sorry to hear about another bad machine. I've had nothing but great luck with mine and timely help from SmartPool for a snapped locking clasp... which was my fault. I know CarlD had a nightmare time with his machine and with the company trying to get some support. I'm not justifying the machine as a whole, or the company, just reporting my experiences. I'm very happy with it.

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Originally Posted by korinian

Once my Dolphin is in the pool and running I've never seen it float? Maybe you've got trapped air somewhere in the machine...??

Regardless, I'm sorry to hear about another bad machine. I've had nothing but great luck with mine and timely help from SmartPool for a snapped locking clasp... which was my fault. I know CarlD had a nightmare time with his machine and with the company trying to get some support. I'm not justifying the machine as a whole, or the company, just reporting my experiences. I'm very happy with it.

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Sure did. The first year and 1/2 I had it, it worked great and I loved it. But early last season the trouble started. The ONLY possibility I can come up with is clogged bags--where the weave gets clogged and won't allow the suction to happen. Maybe. Whack the bag, when it's dry against something or get an old-fashioned rug beater and see if you can free up the pores. Maybe.

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Originally Posted by CarlD

Sure did. The first year and 1/2 I had it, it worked great and I loved it. But early last season the trouble started. The ONLY possibility I can come up with is clogged bags--where the weave gets clogged and won't allow the suction to happen. Maybe. Whack the bag, when it's dry against something or get an old-fashioned rug beater and see if you can free up the pores. Maybe.

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I have had my Dolphin for a year now. No troubles yet. BUT the one thing I did notice, is that when it acts a little slow or erratic you need to clean the impeller - because stuff can get caught in there. It is easy to take the top off of it and clean it. No troubles yet - we love our Dolphin.

I do clean the bag after each use - I hose it and then put it in the washing machine and then hang to dry. It always looks like new.

I also have a Dolphin and am pretty happy with it. I've had it for two full seasons and while it doesn't work perfectly, it does a pretty good job. Mine has also never floated.

I want to jump on the badwagon and defend my Dolphin, but as it ages the Honeymoon is coming to an end. Granted, I still love it, would repeat the purchase, and am in no hurry to scrap it. BUT, for the purposes of providing info for those who may browse this thread to make a purchase, I want to leave some feedback.

I have a regular Diagnostic, no remote that is 2.5 seasons old. It will spend 60% of its time cleaning the same area of the deep end of my 16x32 Vinyl IG. If I don't rinse the bag after every use and turn the handle to the opposite side, it will do this. Only when the impeller and bag are spotless will it cover the entire pool without doing this. Doesn't make sense to me, none of those things should matter, but its what I see happening. Maybe if I had the remote I could program it differently. As is stands now, I have to yank the cord and redirect it.

Still, sure beats manually vacuuming. :) I'd be interested to know if the Blue Pearl does the same thing as it ages.

Uhhhh.... I'd like to change my opinion :o . Apparently, this thread was the kiss of death for me. My Dolphin stopped working this week. It runs for about 10 minutes and stops. What’s odd is that I can still remotely “drive” the unit around the pool, but the propeller on the top is not spinning. I tried running the unit without a bag in it to satisfy their support people. The same thing happens. I called SmartPool to get an RMA and I’ll box it up and send it back this weekend. I’m having visions of CarlD’s Dolphin nightmare :eek: . We’ll see what happens.

My friend got talked into buying a Dolphin last year. This year it stopped working, took it back to the pool store, was told it was the power cord, and they could not open it because it void the warranty. She sent it back to them, and they told her it would cost $600.00 to fix it - it needs a new cord and box:eek: She is really mad, she knows it was getting power, so it needs just the cord - she is in the process of fighting with them right now. I wish I could have told her about the Dolphin before she bought it.:(

The handle is more important than you think...it's a float so when the unit is on the wall it "walks" whichever way the handle is angled for that cycle--to the right or to the left. That's why it "untangles" the cord to switch it each cycle.

But the techs at SmartPool ALWAYS start by telling you that, and to set your pool chemistry to a ridiculous level, like pH at 7.1 and FC below 3, water temp over 65 but below 88 "or it won't work". Nonsense.

I wish Dolphin would replace SmartPool as their US rep with someone who could actually diagnose the thing.

If the impeller on top isn't spinning then a belt must be off the pulley or broken.

I'm now in my second season using the Blue Diamond and while it has its idiosyncracies, I find it much more effective. I just have to pull the ladder out before I start. The bags filter just as well as the Dolphin's but are a single thin layer and much easier to clean--you don't have to launder them.

I got my Dolphin with remote, unfortunately, just before reading of Carl's problems. It worked great for a few weeks, then started just going back and forth across the pool bottom. I change the program, changed the wall I put the base on so the cord went through the jets in different places, shut it off and restarted it, cleaned it fiendishly, even tried it without the bag.

Sometime it was great, sometimes it just screwed around going back and forth.
That was season 1.

Season 2 started of the same way but soon deteriorated. The clutch that drives one side started slipping or not engaging so it would go in circles. Then it died completely. I send two emails about getting it repaired with no response.

It was great when it worked but it's just too expensive to repeat the purchase every 18 months.

They don't deserve the business either.

Next year I'll be shopping for another make.

Anyone out there got one that has worked for 3 or 4 seasons ???

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Originally Posted by brent.roberts

They don't deserve the business either.

Next year I'll be shopping for another make.

Anyone out there got one that has worked for 3 or 4 seasons ???

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Not to raise the dead thread, but I did get 4+ seasons with my Dolphin before it started taking lazy left turns due to many teeth wearing off the drive side track, which I replaced (should have just swapped them, Doh!) and made it another season before it started to just randomly quit after between 0 and 10 minutes for some reason. Took it apart (tracks & pulleys) no jams, impellers clear.
I assume the motor is overheating, or the power supply, and it's shutting down, but I doubt it's worth replacing since Maytronics is such a ripoff. I want to get another Dolphin since I have a complete set of spare parts, but hate to give them my business due to profit-hungry repair policy...

I do admit I leave it in the pool when I don't have time to clean the bag (no need to launder it btw, just lay it flat and hose it down, flip, repeat.) which increases wear and tare, but they are so rigid with parts and support....

\DOS

I'm glad someone out there had luck with their's. Mine was great the first season. Started going crazy early in the second season.

Several emails to the distributor to get it fixed never got an answer.

Never again.

My hypothesis is that the motors are too small. The 3 motors on the Dolphin are the size of ONE motor in the Blue Diamond. Consequently the suction ability, which is one of the keys, is easily limited and that messes up performance, particularly wall-climbing.