Hi, I've had a Polaris 65 for 3 years now and it is still going strong. The cotton balls are a must in my opinion and are inexpensive and effective. The Polaris still won't get all the fine stuff but does a good job of scooping up most common debris. One note: There is a valve on the return connector that has to be fine tuned somewhat, this controls the amount of pressure to the unit. Too much and it will bounce around and flip over, not enough and it will get stuck sometimes. Also you may have to cut the hoses per the instructions to fit your pool. This is pretty important as you don't want too much excess hose to get tangled up in.