Blue Pearl Robot - anyone know anything about them?

[jimwnola]

Well, I took the plunge and went for 2007 Blue Pearl from pooldoctor. After talking to Water Tech, they did confrim 2007 is out and has an improved drive system in addition to autocutoff (I still don't know whether other company might have been selling 2007 model, but just didn't realize it.) Any way, the free extra filter bag is worth 44$ regardless.

Also, form questioning, it sounds like main difference between nonremote Blue Diamond and 2007 Blue Pearl woudl be the extra 2 year warranty and the cart.

[beary]

Well we have used our Blue Pearl twice so far since we recieved it last week and and we are very happy with it. We have a 38x18 roman shape pool and the only part of the pool it didn't get is the shallow tanning areas. I was surprised how fast it works. It is on a 3 hour timer, but I felt it was done in 2 hours. So far so good.

[cleancloths]

Well, I took the plunge and went for 2007 Blue Pearl from pooldoctor. After talking to Water Tech, they did confrim 2007 is out and has an improved drive system in addition to autocutoff (I still don't know whether other company might have been selling 2007 model, but just didn't realize it.) Any way, the free extra filter bag is worth 44$ regardless.

Also, form questioning, it sounds like main difference between nonremote Blue Diamond and 2007 Blue Pearl woudl be the extra 2 year warranty and the cart.

I'm sure you will have good luck with it, mine works great!

[jimwnola]

It will be few days more before it arrives. I got a 33,000 gallon ig plaster pool, that is sort of between the shape of somewhat widening rectangle, and a Lazy L with harldy any "L". Should be good test. I was using an old Aquabot Mark V, with a taped together power box. Sometimes, it did a quite decent job, just took forever and I was sick of using taped together item.

As said in prior posts, I had lost a new pool rover plus in Katrina, which had problems with prior oval pool of old destroyed house.

I was leaning at first to a bottom only type cleaner, that would work fast. However, no one had any reports on the Orion (and the problems with its manufacturer have been detailed here), and I couldn't trust whether a pool rover plus or aquajet might also have problems with shape of my new pool.

I wanted something with good coverage, clean fast and not cost arm and leg. I do believe that the less time the cleaners are in the water, the less opportunity to break. I looked at various refurbished models, but the price of brand new Blue Pearl was of interest. It was still 200$ less than refurbished or used Turbo T's and T2's.

I really hate cleaning filter bags and had interest in Tiger Shark for that reason. However, it is clear that the Tigershark was pretty slow moving and might take along time to clean my pool. I never could find out to what extent the filter cartridge would be much easier to clean from anybody who had done it.

I strongly suspect from my questions on phone and answer to emails, that the Blue Pearl from poolclick.com for $75 less would likely have been a 2007 because I believe they just forward the order to the manufacturer and do not independently stock it. However, I had no redress if they sent me a 2006 because they never claimed it woudl be a 2007. Not willing to take that chance, after months of toying, I went with pooldoctor to make sure of 2007 model.

The 900$ Blue Diamond on ebay seemed like good deal but wasn't that comfortable buying it in that manner.

I debated alot about the issue of getting a cleaner with a remote. I decided against that because of both price, and hating to clean bags. I figuered I wouldn't want to do a quick spot cleaning because you still have to clean filter bag. So, I'm hoping to wait until needs a full cleaning and that it will clean the whole pool sufficiently. We shall see.

I still wonder about whether rubber brushes might have some advantage over pva for plaster, especailly if also with jets cleaning like Turbo T. However, I wasn't convinced Turbo T had any sophisticated steering computerization, and probaby works like other aquabots. The T2 might, but costs much more.

I'll report back. I just went through all my thought process in case it might be any use to others.

[jimwnola]

Well, my Blue Pearl arrived last night. My overall review would be incomplete. My pool wasn't very dirty and I have some questions about the robot.

It is fast and light. It kept popping wheelies crossing my 18 X 43 plaster pool. That had me concerned about its scrubbing. Also, it didn't spend much time around the tiles. Usually, it turned around before climbing most walls. When it did climb walls, it spent little time on tile before going back down. The manual says it is important that the handle be parallel with the water when it reaches the surface. It wasn't. It also recommends that the handle be set 1 less than the last slots diagonally. I tried that, the one before it and last slot to see if it made any difference. Didn't notice anyway better than the manner suggested.

I can only compare it to the pool rover plus and the aquabot mark V, that I have owned. It has much more sophisticated steering than both. Preliminarily, it appears to do a good job cleaning the pool floor fast. Its method of turning all the time, changing speeds, appears to really minimze any chance of getting stuck or in a rut. Like posted here before, it didn't remove all of my algae, but did seem to get most dirt and leaves in a cycle that lasted about 90 minutes. For experimantation, I ran another cycle. Pool was clean afterword but pool wasn't dirty enough to be a good test.

Compared ot the mark V original Aquabot, it cleans and moves much faster. As such, it should be in pool for about 1/3rd the time, which means it shoudl go 3 times longer before maintenance issues develop. Mechanically, they are similar. However, that speed might be at some cost. The scrubbign of the aquabot is probably better, given it so slowly moves over and over the pool. Also, although the Aqubot tends to "waste" alot of time on the tiles, the Blue Pearl barely touched them.

As for the Blue Pearl versus the pool rover plus, I can't do much of a comparison since they never did the same pool. However, I still question the pool rovers very basic steering system covering a whole pool floor if the pool has any irregualrities. The Blue Pearl does seem to have good steering, and neither really cleaned the tiles.

For $749 including delivery, brand new, with 2 year warranty, it's probably as good of deal as any. I'd be interested in it how it compares to Aquabot Turbos, especially the new Turbo T's and Turbo T2's. However, those models, even refrubished or blmished run over $100 more.

[cleancloths]

Regarding your observation of it cleaning the water line, I think if you read carefully you will see something about it only coming up out of the water to do that every third time it comes up from the bottom - or something like that. I have seen it do that in my pool and it is normal. I must have missed the part about having the handle in the next to last position, as I have had mine in the last slot and have not noticed any problem.

What do you mean when you talk about wheelies.

[jimwnola]

"What do you mean when you talk about wheelies?"

Driving forward only on its back wheels, with the front raised.

[Jinx32]

I ordered my new Blue Pearl today. Hope it cleans as well as they advertise.