There are minimal maintenance and part replacement costs on these devices over time. While regular automatic pool cleaners rely on your pool’s skimmer system or a dedicated suction line, robotic pool cleaners connect to their own power supplies and have onboard filtration. This makes them a good choice for a pool lacking a powerful pump to propel the pool cleaner. They can also be handy if you don’t want to worry about frequently backwashing your filter system to remove the debris your pool cleaner suctions up.
It’s user-friendly and easy to clean, but you won’t get the bells and whistles other models provide. First, you should skim the water with a pool skimmer to remove leaves and other debris floating on top of the water. Using a pool brush, brush the walls, floor and steps of the pool to dislodge algae and stuck-on debris. All debris is suctioned into the unit’s reusable, easy-to-clean filter bag to save time and money, too. Its reusable, extra-large filter bag is easy to clean — a feature worth applauding. We most enjoyed using this robot’s corresponding app to keep up with its cleaning progress and to track its location in the pool.
The wheeled caddy was easy for us to set up as it snaps in place and doesn’t require any hardware. Plus, the caddy allows the unit to sit upright, which may end up saving you space depending on where you store it. Check your pool’s filter routinely to ensure that there isn’t anything clogging it and preventing it from doing its job. Its makes quick work of even the biggest areas, but you’ll probably need a different vacuum to capture dirt and small particles, which will simply pass through this unit’s bag. It’s compatible with any single, two-speed, or variable-speed pump, and does a solid job picking up small- and medium-sized debris.
The hose is connected to the vacuum head at one end and the water intake nozzle on your pool skimmer at the other. With the vacuum head submerged and against the pool surface, once the hose fills with water, it creates suction that will hold the vacuum head tight against the pool floor or walls. Pool owners who prioritize ease of storage and portability may want to consider a battery-operated pool vacuum in lieu of, or in addition to, a traditional above-ground pool vacuums. Efficient as it is, a passive pool cleaning filtration system is not an end-all-be-all solution to keeping water free of leaves, twigs, bug carcasses, etc. In our latest round of testing, we tested 7 robotic, 2 pressure-side, and 4 suction-side pool cleaners in our home pools and evaluated them on the same criteria explained above.
This rechargeable pool cleaner requires no hoses or cords, and its battery delivers up to an hour of runtime per charge—enough to clean even the largest pools. It has a 10.5-inch vacuum head for large areas, which also makes it easier to maneuver than traditional wider rolling vacuum heads. It’s also a great option for cleaning pool stairs and other hard-to-reach features thanks to the head’s arrow shape. It only has one cleaning setting, and a full charge gives it about 90 minutes of running time, which was sufficient for fully cleaning our testing pool. We did empty it several times during the cycle because we noticed that it would slow down as the filter filled up.
After two months of regular use during the summer, we’re still impressed with this robot cleaner’s suction power and user-friendly settings. The app is easy to navigate and understand, and we’ve found this model is completely worth the investment. We have noticed there’s a slight delay on the app’s manual steering function, so you do have to wait a few seconds for the cleaner to turn or head in the direction that you input on the app. After using this vacuum for over a month, we came to the conclusion that it was better for spot cleaning rather than cleaning an entire pool. It doesn’t quite have the same suction power as a standard pump pool vacuum, and we found the head too small to efficiently navigate a standard family pool. However, we think this model is a great choice if you only need to quickly refresh your pool between uses and don’t feel like hooking up a vacuum to your pump system.
This inexpensive cleaner is designed especially for leaves and other larger debris, and it’s a great option to use as a secondary cleaner. While this vacuum did not perform well at picking up extremely large debris, such as branches, it easily picked up mid-size leaves and twigs in our testing pool. Declared to be the “Ferrari of pool cleaners” by our testing team member, the Dolphin Explorer E50 Robotic Pool Cleaner did not disappoint during testing. It required no setup other than removing it from the box, and it was easy to pair to the corresponding smartphone app. We tested this cleaner in a 40- x 20-foot gunite in-ground pool and found the power cable to be more than sufficient, even for the 10-foot deep end. However, we do wish this robot pool vacuum came in a cordless version as that would better suit larger in-ground pools.
