Any concerns with a Dolphin in a vinyl pool?

[leejp]

I had an Aquabot Turbo but got rid of it for the Pool Rover Plus.

Both made by the same company:

http://www.aquaproducts.com/apsite/index4_22_05.htm

While other folks have found the Dolphin/Aquabot effective and trouble free, My experience with the Aquabot Turbo was less than ideal. I have a 26Kgal vynil liner pool. (L shape with stairs on the "foot" of the L). For my pool, The Aquabot Turbo was far from drop it in overnight and forget it:

It would climb the walls to the waterline, eat it's own cord and get tangled up
get stuck in the corners, stairs, ladders
get stuck and spin on top of the main drain (there's an $80 cover for the main drain that allows the robotic cleaners to navigate it).

After futzing with the cleaner for ~2 months, I gave up and got the Pool Rover Plus (at ~60% of the cost $475 shipped) after a reading review posted on this forum prior to it going down. I absolutely love this cleaner. It's just so ridiculously simple (just makes timed K-turns). No microprocessors, No cicuit boards in oil bath, no tracks/brushes... SIMPLE! And since it's the same impeller/filter bag design (in fact the same filter bag as the Aquabot Turbo) you get all the "water polishing" benefits. Plus it's a 2 hour clean cycle NOT an 6~8HR overnight cycle. If I really want the water to sparkle, I run it 2~3 cycles for a deep clean. It's pennies/cycle to run this cleaner. I actually don't think I need to run the pump/filter ($1~2 for an 8HR cycle) on days I do the deep clean. You should see the stuff it pulls out of even the cleanest looking pool

Now it doesn't scrub or climb walls to the water line (it'll climb the hopper ramps and almost go vertical). With a plaster pool perhaps the scrubbing/water line cleaning is a big benefit. But with a vynil liner I personally think NOT scrubbing is a PLUS! Why prematurely wear out the liner? I much rather run the brush manually over the walls at the start of the cleaning cycle.

The additional benefit over the pressure side cleaners is that if your pump/filter is broke or down for maintenance, you can drop in the robot and at least filter the pool until repairs can be made.

I should mention that some folks have had trouble with coverage (not enough K-turns in a pool with round floor to wall transitions) but if you have a vynil liner pool with ramps, check out the Pool Rover PLUS (Plus is for IG pools).

Your pool dealer is naturally biased... He sells you the pressure side cleaner, the booster pump, the plumbing, the labor and the service... I think the folks at Dolphin and Aquabot are asleep at the wheel. The Polaris guys have worked into a lucrative niche for themselves by aligning with installers/dealers so booster pumps and plumbing are built into new pool installs. The pool guys install electrical for lighting so all they would need to do is to design a waterproof deck/floor outlet with a remote on/off switch (for the power supply/control unit) and a power supply/control unit that's weather tight. I think anyone would rather deal with this setup vs booster pumps and more plumbing.