The booster pump motor for my pool cleaner seems to have gone out - again. Just buying the motor is not that much more than buying an entire rebuild pump assembly - which is about $250.

OR

I can go ahead and buy a robotic pool cleaner. Quieter, less electricity and works better (allegedly) than the pressure side Polaris cleaner I have now.

Leaning towards the Aiper Scuba S1 which is on sale for about $500. Pool is simple oval shape with two tanning decks and one set of stairs. No ladder or other obstructions to work around.

What are y'alls thoughts on these things? I do have quite a few leaves in the fall.

I don't have a pool anymore, but I'd go with the robot. I had a top of the line Polaris and it never worked all that great. And my pump went out too. PITA.

I have a new robot vacuum/mop indoors and a robot lawn mower. The advances in robotic is insane.

Robotic cleaners work a lot better. I wouldn't ever go back to the dumb pump powered ones. That particular model I have no experience with. At that price point I'd check reviews closely.

I have a Dolphin Active 2000 which works much better than the Polaris pressure side cleaner we had before. It does well with leaves but like any cleaner, the capacity is the limiting aspect when we have our huge leaf drop.

I'd be leery of any cordless models. When I was researching different models, it seemed that they were generally not as powerful as the corded models. Marina Pools and Spa carries a lot of different models and was really helpful. Would highly recommend giving them a call. Also, if you call, they have some of the best prices I've seen.

I recently abandoned my Polaris pump driven cleaner and went with a robot. My pool guy recommended a Gosvor LiteVac G-1. Works pretty well. Only little quirk i have with it is that while it's Bt there's no connection while it's in the water.

I bought a Polaris Warrior SE corded cleaner from Marina Pool & Spa about 5 years ago, replacing my Polaris 280. Been happy with it but it started acting up after it was in the pool full time and was nearly shot. Gave it to my SIL and bought a Beatbot Sora 30 about 3 months ago. Been very pleased with it although I definitely don't have a ton of debris that hits my pool. Not going back to a hose or cord cleaner.

Note, I also looked at the Aiper. Similar price point but the Beatbot has a 3 year warranty. Also Aiper had a major recall after one caused a house fire while charging.

Check out the website troublefreepool.com.
A bunch of current and former pool people that provide guidance and don't accept advertising $$$.

We bought a Beatbot Sora 10 cordless pool vacuum for $500 from Amazon a couple months ago. I was really skeptical given we had a Dolphin that cost three times more. That said, the Beatbot works better than the Dolphin (imo). In spite of the fact it's cordless, it works better than the Dolphin plug in.

If you get leaves in it, I would highly recommend a solar skimmer as well as the robot. We just installed our pool this summer and went with the Aiper combo robot and skimmer. The skimmer skims 24/7 and does a good job catching the leaves before they sink.

So I went ahead and got the Aiper Scuba S1. Thought about the skimmer but I just don't get that many leaves - AND my pool skimmer works pretty good. Aiper also gave me a $100 trade in on my old Polaris 280.

thanks for all the input.

Next question - did you just leave the old pump sitting there with the power cut off? I guess I could remove the hoses and install plugs.

I did. It doesn't really matter if it's there or not, but who knows, maybe at dome point a better pump driven cleaner comes out I'm already set up.

If it were me I would at least disconnect the wiring from your controller. Ultimately I'm the type that I would remove the pump, install plugs as necessary and free up a little more space in my equipment area.

I have a Dolphin Premier and it is great. It cost a lot when I bought it but I wanted something with a large leaf capacity. I have a couple of live oaks that dump a ton in the pool in the spring.