Time to replace the Dolphin Dynamic

[beantown]

Got 7 years out of my Dolphin Dynamic.

In the market for a new robot.

Want to keep the price closer to $1,000 than $2,000.

Things I liked about the Dolphin:
1. It last 7 years.
2. It cleaned the pool very well.

Some of the things I didn't like about the Dolphin and would like to avoid in my next purchase:
1. Had new tracks on it when it broke. ;-)
1. The cord needs a swivel on it dang nabbit. Really would like a swivel cord to avoid twists.
2. The remote is nice, but I barely used it.
3. Takes a bit too long to git r done. 1-2 hour unit is preferred.

Looking at the Blue Diamond and Aquabot T2.

Am very open to any other unit that will fit the bill.

Thanks for any input.

Cheers.

[CarlD]

Awesome! I had two dolphins in 3 years--the second under warranty after I fought with them.

Blue Diamond's warranty service is awesome--far better than Dolphin's.

Leisureliving was discounting them with remotes for 1k. I don't know if they still have them. The Blue Pearl lists for less than 1k, I think.

[beantown]

Does the Blue Diamond have a rotating cord connection point at the vac?

Or is it similar to the Dolphin Dynamic?

Even changing the angle of the float bar each time....I still had annoying twists.

[CarlD]

It's the same as the Dolphin. The float bar controls the direction it moves when cleaning at the waterline.

All the robots, Dolphin, BD, Aquabot, etc, all use the same fundamental design. But the BD motors are 3x the size of the Dolphin's, yet the unit weighs less.

[beantown]

Still researching here...

I called Pool Solutions and they are out of the remote control units they had discounted for 1K. Bummer.

So, I still am a little unsure on a few things regarding the Blue Diamond.

Half the pictures I see show a split brush pad, the other half show a single brush pad that extends across.

Also, still unclear if the cord connection point to the unit has a swivel to relieve twists.
Again, half the people say no, half say yes. Confused.

Double brush here:
http://watertechcorp.com/products-BlueDiamond.htm

Single brush here:
http://www.pooldr.com/Categories.bok...+Pool+Cleaners

Which is it?

[beantown]

Watertech responded to my questions...

Adding here in case it may benefit someone else:

There is a swivel on the end of the floating cable (plug end) that will help remove twists and kinks in the cable. How it works:
Hold the swivel in your hand and walk away from the machine in a straight line, the the cable will turn inside the swivel and the cable will straighten out; with the cable completely straight and no slack, give the cable a couple of shakes.

To avoid the cable from tangling in the first place, always switch the direction of the unit's handle (mirror image) every time you use it.
What causes the cable to twist on any robotic machine (this is true for Dolphins, Aquabots, etc.) is the machine running the same pattern every time it's used. Switching the direction of the handle causes the machine to run it's pattern in the opposite direction.

There are two different residential Blue Diamond models, a standard machine and a remote control machine:
The R/C model uses two drive motors and a split wheel tube so the machine can turn one set of wheels one way and the other in the opposite direction to make turns, so this unit has four brushes/rollers.
The standard machine uses only one drive motor and navigates turns using a completely different method; this machine only has two brushes/rollers, on on the front, one on the back.