Robotic versus other Pool Cleaners

[luvapool]

Sorry for all the questions but thanks! One last question Does using the robotic cut down on your filtering time as most claim to do?

[CarlD]

It would, but that's not how I pick the time I use. The Dolphin is VERY effective at "polishing" the water, as it's called. The Dolphin's bag (and that of most robotics) is a VERY effective filter and in 8 hours of running it seems to be a total turnover of the water.

It really glistens after the Dolphin has run!

[leejp]

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.

If you have a vynil liner pool, check out the Pool Rover PLUS (Plus is for IG pools).

[gwrace1]

I can't speak for other robotic pool cleaners. My only experience is with the Pool Rover. It does such a great job of cleaning the pool we never have to do any manual cleaning. We have a 26K gallon 33' round above ground pool. IMHO two of the best purchases I've made for the pool have been the Aquarite and Pool Rover.

I purchased our New Pool Rover off Ebay from a pool dealer last year for $280.00.

I just wanted to update this post. I've now been a pool owner for 3 years. During that time I've gone through 3 pool rovers. Two were new and one was bought for spare parts. I've had failures in the transformer controller box, two pumps on the rovers and plugs coming out of the socket on the power box. The cord also twists and tangles with every run requiring a manual unwind. When they are working they do a great job but reliability and quality leave much to be desired with these expensive items.