Water Tech Blaster Pool Max Reviewed
But seriously... I actually enjoy the process of vacuuming my pool (yes, I'm weird), and I think this comes partially from having a little bit of OCD when it comes to crystal clear water. However, the act of getting the hose out, submerging it, and hooking it all up is a bit of a chore. Add to that the fact that I usually have to clean out my big filter once a month due to my pool-noob move about 6 months ago which saw me lay sod and plants next to the pool - every time there's the slightest breath of wind, I get dirt, grass, and leaves in the pool. Yes, it will be going soon, and replaced with evergreen trees and astro-turf!
Anyway, I digress... I happened to receive one of those gadget-mailings, which my wife flicked through and came across something interesting. A vacuum for the pool. 'So what,' I hear you say, but this is a vacuum like you'd use in your living room, except for pools. You don't plug it into anything; it simply collects everything in its own 'bag'. I was skeptical, but went on to Amazon to see what the reviews were like, and there were about 3 different types, all of which had a minimum of 4-out-of-5 stars in the reviews. One had pretty much 5 stars across the board, and was only $150... I decided to give it a shot (I'm not going to mention the name in case anybody thinks I'm trying to sell my own product or something, but they're easy to find - search for 'hoseless vacuum').
One of the marketing Unique Selling Points was that it allows the lady of the house to effortlessly clean the pool when the man of the house isn't there. Now, this is a staggeringly sexist thing to state, but I must confess that there is some truth to it. When I'm away for a few days on business, I get home and the pool is filthy. It's not that my wife can't hook up the hose and vacuum it, it's just that there are more pressing things to be doing, such as looking after the kids, and so on. It's a sexist statement, but the truth of the matter is, vacuuming the pool is a time-consuming thing to do if there is only one of you home. This gadget promised to solve that problem.
And did it?
It arrived while I was, ironically enough, away on business. I arrived home to a pool that was utterly spotless for the first time ever. The device is lightweight, and has excellent suction. Because there's no faff involved with getting the hose out, it takes literally minutes to shove it on the end of your existing pool pole and suck up any bits of stuff that have sunk to the bottom. It's excellent, and I don't care which make or model you get, I highly recommend getting one. It also means I don't have to clean my big filter so often.
It also has a handle on the top of it so you can swim to the bottom of your pool and use it as a hand-vac, which is great if you're in the pool and spot a patch of dirt you missed! A full charge will give you an hour of vacuum time, which is a lot.
One of the best purchases I've made for the pool.
Re: Vacuuming sucks.....Water Tech Blaster Pool Max
Hi. I got the Pool Blaster Max in August of this year after seeing it on display at Leslie's pool store (although they were selling it for over 200 dollars, whereas I picked it up on Amazon for about $140 or $150). It worked very well for me during the swimming season for daily pool cleaning.
I have a large in-ground that's surrounded by vegetation too, so pulling out the vacuum every other day wasn't fun, to say the least. Getting large leaves with it was easy, and on most days I could clean the entire 40x20 pool without cleaning the filter bag, or only cleaning it once. Of course, I cleaned out the filter bag thoroughly after every use so it was always empty when I started cleaning everyday (it strikes me as a bit odd that some people wouldn't preform such easy maintenance on a fairly expensive product, all you have to do is knock the leaves out and spritz it with the hose for a few seconds). I also charged it after every use, but that said I had no trouble with the PB Max losing charge during clean up. To be fair to the people who don't clean their filter bags though, I did accidentally leave it on the charger overnight a couple of times (the manual says not to charge it in excess of 12 hours, if I remember correctly), though as far as I can tell this didn't have any negative effect on it.
Larger jobs are a bit much for the Max, though. After big storms, and during the very end of the season when lots of leaves were falling, the jobs became too much for the Pool Blaster and I still needed to pull the vacuum out. I also still used the vac every couple of weeks to get out larger particles, like sand and dirt, that the blaster wasn't so great at picking up. I didn't have any algae issues between when I got the Max and the end of the season, but I don't think it would be much help cleaning up a major algae problem (like a bad spring opening, for instance). But, hey, I guess if you have an extra pole to attach it to you could get a buddy to man it while you take on the vacuum; every little bit would help in that situation I guess!
So, sorry if I've been a little long-winded, but I saw this thread and figured I should weigh in since I have a Max and had a good experience with it. It seems like an expensive tool at first glance but I'd say it's worth it, especially if your pool has a lot of vegetation around it like mine does and you find yourself pulling out the vacuum more than you'd like. Plus, it's pretty cheap compared to an aquabot, and easier to use (at least compared to the last aquabot I had to deal with, which was from the early 90's).
Oh, and many of the negative reviews at Amazon seem to be saying that the Max would poop out in it's second season on the job. I've only had it for part of one so I can't comment on that. However I am keeping it's box indoors, not in the pool shed with the other supplies.
Re: Vacuuming sucks.....Water Tech Blaster Pool Max
Well, folks, the day has finally come. I have had my Pool Blaster for 10-ish months, and it has finally given up the ghost. HOWEVER, I only have myself to blame for this.
To turn on the vacuum, you screw in a little plastic waterproof cap that completes the connection to the battery and fires the thing up. To turn it off, you unscrew it half a turn but, obviously, this breaks the waterproof seal. A few months ago we had a torrential rainstorm, and I totally forgot that I'd left the Pool Blaster outside (ironically to allow it to dry off!). The next day when I saw it, my heart sank, and when I picked it up, water poured out of the part where water really shouldn't be - inside the electronics. A few days later I could see the green corrosion begin to appear around the charging socket, so I gave it as good a clean as I could, and gave it a blast with some WD-40. It was reluctant to start the first few times, but I have to give the build quality some credit - it continued to function for over 2 months after this. A few days ago, however, it just could not be coaxed back to life after it conked out halfway through me vacuuming. I've re-charged it a few times, but still no luck. Peering inside, there is a lot of corrosion and rust, so I figure it had a good run, but is now pushin' up the daisies.
The interesting thing, though, is that I am just about to order another one. I have no qualms about it at all - it was incredibly useful over the past year (and I used it a lot). My only decision now is whether to go for the same one, or the slightly more expensive 'professional' one (I think it's called the CG) on the basis that perhaps the bag might be a bit bigger or perhaps it's more powerful, or something, but I've noticed a few threads with that exact question, so I'll have a read and see what people think of each. Anyway, I digress!
I hooked up the good ol' hose vacuum today to give the pool a quick once over (the first time since I bought the Blaster) and, I have to say, once the hose was hooked up, the actual vacuuming part is much quicker with the hose vacuum. There's less size to it, for one, so it glides through the water much easier, the surface area vacuumed at any one time is larger, and the wheels really help mobility. I got the sense that the suction was better than the Pool Blaster, too.
So, I figure, moving forward, I will probably now use both: the hose vacuum for when there's a lot of muck to pick up, and the Pool Blaster for spot cleaning when needed. To make a very long and waffly post short: there's room for both in my pool equipment! :-)
I hope this has been useful to anyone considering buying a hoseless vacuum. I promise not to mention the subject again! LOL. :-)
Cheers,
Matt.
Re: Vacuuming sucks.....Water Tech Blaster Pool Max
Re: Vacuuming sucks.....Water Tech Blaster Pool Max
I'm gonna have to update my post as well. My PBM conked out just a few days after taking it out of storage this year. I'm a bit torn on what I'm going to do; on the one hand, it is a great tool for day-to-day cleaning and my pool looked much nicer because of it. On the other, I'm not completely sure that I want to support a company that makes a product that won't last more than a year in many cases...but, it is true that I miss not having to pull the vacuum hose out once a week. Like Matt said above, the hose vacuum is better at vacuuming, if you ignore the setup time involved, but at the same time the Blaster also keeps a lot of junk out of the filter. I treated it well, and stored it properly, yet still it broke. I'm thinking I might open it up and see if I can't replace the battery, since I think that's what bit the dust.
Does anyone know if Pool Blaster has any competitors I could look into?
Re: Vacuuming sucks.....Water Tech Blaster Pool Max
Thx -- I'm hoping this thread will reveal whether we should recommend the Water Tech products or not. Right now, they seem to be the best available alternative to manual vacuuming.
Re: Water Tech Blaster Pool Max Reviewed
@PoolDoc: My brother was using it at the time that it broke. He said that it was getting poor suction for a bit before it completely conked out, which could be either a motor or battery problem, but I believe it is more likely to be the motor (which, I've read around the 'net, is what usually goes kaput on these units). Either way, I'm unfortunately not very handy and didn't have much luck tooling around with it.
I did end up buying another Pool Blaster not long after making my last post in this thread. So far so good, but if it only lasts the season like the last one, I'll be done with Water Tech. I did some research into alternatives, which mostly consist of various pool 'robots', which I'm not too fond of and are comparatively very expensive. At the moment, it seems, Water Tech is indeed the only game in town when it comes to non-robotic vacuuming alternatives.
I appreciate your hesitance to recommend the product, Pooldoc. I'm a bit torn myself. On the one hand it has made caring for my pool much more of a pleasure. On the other, the manufacturing quality is questionable at best. I'll have to see how my new PBM makes it through the off-season before giving my final verdict. Hopefully Water Tech is listening and tightens up their manufacturing process; I'd gladly pay a few bucks more for a more reliable product.
