Re: Dolphin pool cleaners
I just purchased a Dolphin cleaner (the Deluxe 4 - I think it's Leslie's variant of the Diagnostic) a few weeks ago after a lot of research here and comparison on various sites.
A few things convinced me to buy it:
- The folks at Leslie's admitted that they have had problems with support for previous Dolphin models but said that the vast majority of those problems were due to
"outsourced" support - Maytronics had outsourced all support for the Dolphin to SmartPool. Recently, because of the all the problems with SmartPool, Maytronics
is now providing the support themselves. I think CarlD's problems were mostly SmartPool's fault (Maytronics certainly bears part of the blame for outsourcing
support to a lousy provider).
- Leslie's performs some service themselves on the cleaners.
- The Deluxe 4 comes with a full 3-year warranty (many others are either 1-year or prorated 3-year).
- If it breaks and Leslie's can't fix it, they ship it to the nearest Maytronics service-center...which is ~40minutes from my house .
So far it's worked flawlessly - but all cleaners do initially. This is actually my fourth try at a robotic:
- the first Aquabot kept eating the floating cord; returned to Costco after 4 months;
- the second Aquabot Pool Rover plus died with a motor failure after 1.5-2 years; ~$300 to fix - I decided it wasn't worth it;
- the third was a RoboKleen; it lasted almost a month then just quit - I about expected this based on the reviews; returned to Costco
I'm really, really hoping this one lasts. I like the idea of a robotic but I'm almost at the point of believing it's not possible to make a decent one that can withstand the
environment at a reasonable price. Hopefully the Dolphin will change my mind...if it lasts 3 years and doesn't cost me an arm and a leg in parts/repairs then I'll
consider it worth it.
18K gallon free-form gunite pool, Sta-Rite S7D75 DE filter, 2-speed Sta-Rite Max-E-Pro pump, Pool Pilot Digital SWCG, Heat Siphon SX3.25 heat pump, Dolphin Deluxe 4 robotic
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