Robotic pool cleaners vs Polaris

12,420 Views | 20 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by agchino
Potcake
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AG
Wife is wanting to get a robotic cleaner because our Polaris does a half-ass job and the hose has gotten pretty stiff so it just kind of knots up. Does anyone have experience with both?
GigEmAgs08
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AG
I do. I had a Polaris they didn't do any sweeping and was dying. I got the Polaris 8050 (the old white version at least). It works great. I don't keep it in the pool though so I have to wheel it in and out once per week. I pretty much never have to sweep the pool by hand though now and when I do it's just the stairs. Highly recommend if you have a power source near your pool and don't mind pulling it in and out
Bregxit
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AG
Switched from the Polaris 280 or whatever it was to a Dolphin Z5 and love it. Toss it in and hit run. Pull it out the next day and hose out the filters. Total time for me is about 5 minutes and it works 1000x better than the old Polaris did.
moore42
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AG
Went from a Polaris to a Dolphin M500. I put the dolphin in the pool about 6 months ago. It runs on a cleaning program every day. I have only taken it out of the pool to clean the filters and when we are swimming.

Will never go back. It cleans so much better than the tired old Polaris.
Burn-It
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AG
Changed to Tigershark several years ago & will never go back to a polaris.
AKA 13-0
nai06
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AG
moore42 said:

Went from a Polaris to a Dolphin M500. I put the dolphin in the pool about 6 months ago. It runs on a cleaning program every day. I have only taken it out of the pool to clean the filters and when we are swimming.

Will never go back. It cleans so much better than the tired old Polaris.
Man that might be a little too much for me to spend. Looks really nice though
Bottlerocket
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AG
I have a dolphin nautilus and I love it. Going on two years with no issues. It can be an annoyance to put in and take out (although it take minutes to put in and 5-10 to take out and hose off the filters). But I like that it keeps everything contained instead of sending it to the filter like a Polaris
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Potcake
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AG
Thanks for replies. She bought the Dolphin Nautilus CC+.
jimbo457
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We've had a dolphin for almost six years. It stays in the pool just about year round and has never given me a single problem with it, I don't know how anyone can have a pool without one.
Counterpoint
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AG
Bottlerocket said:

I have a dolphin nautilus and I love it. Going on two years with no issues. It can be an annoyance to put in and take out (although it take minutes to put in and 5-10 to take out and hose off the filters). But I like that it keeps everything contained instead of sending it to the filter like a Polaris


My Polaris sends it to a bag on the Polaris itself. Is mine super old or something (it came with the house)?
Potcake
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AG
Our current Polaris has a bag as well. It also came with pool when we built 6 years ago. Anything that goes to our pump screening basket comes from bypassing skimmers.
JDCAG (NOT Colin)
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AG
Pressure side vacuums (with booster pumps) will have the mesh bag, but there are some suction side cleaners that will send what they pull up to the filter.
BudAg97
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AG
Another +1 for the Dolphin Nautilus. Replaced the old Polaris last year, and now I kick myself for not doing it sooner.
Candiru
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AG
How do you pick from the 48 Dolphin choices?
JDCAG (NOT Colin)
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AG
We have the Dolphin Active 20 and I have been pleased with it so far (about 3 months).

Our old school Polaris w/ booster pump went out about a year ago (booster pump failed). We ended up replacing our old pump & DE filter with a variable speed pump and cartridge filter and just had them sell us the robot at the same time rather than deal with getting another booster pump or trying a suction side cleaner.

Dolphin storage bin is SO much easier to clean. Takes much less time and don't end up with stuff that just won't come out of the mesh, or a nasty velcro strip or a gummed up zipper.
I like that I can run the dolphin regardless of what the pump is doing.
I like that the dolphin actually cleans rather than just vacuums - anxious to see how it holds up once the swim season gets here (we're replastering in a few weeks so I haven't been keeping the pool super clean this spring)....

Only 2 downsides about the Dolphin are that you have a line running from the unit to the pool and - and this may be fixable - the bright blue light seems to flash all the time when the thing is plugged in and "active" even if it isn't going to run for another day and at night it can be surprisingly bright.

lespaul
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AG
A couple years ago, my Polaris pressure side vacuum (PSV) crapped the bed. It was shocking how expensive they are to replace (I realize the volume is low, but goodness gracious).

The pool place had a huge sale so I spent a bit more and purchased a Polaris P825 robot. I love it. Way better than the pressure side vacuum.

It came with a dolly and I keep it next to the pool with a nice looking grill cover I got to keep it hidden/dry.

I throw it in the pool, plug it in and hit run. when its done, I pull it out.

What I like:

* much more trustworthy than the PSV which was always broken and needed adjusting (bag would kink etc)
* Climbs/cleans walls
* No pump is needed (saves electricity I think but the big benefit is no pump replacement)
* I think it cleans better (the basket for waster is much bigger than the mesh bag)
* With the PSV, it would only work if the main pool pump was also on. I like that I can throw the robot on any time (day or night).

Will never go back to PSV. My advice is bite the bitter apple and pony up for a robot.
Counterpoint
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AG
Candiru said:

How do you pick from the 48 Dolphin choices?
This! What is it about the Nautilus that most everyone prefers over all the others? The comparison tool on their website didn't recommend the Nautilus to me (it chose the M500).

nai06
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AG
So I just bit the bullet and bought a dolphin premier. The main reason I went with it was the different filters, large leafbag, and weekly scheduling. It is amazing how well it cleans the pool. Its even pulling algae out of the water in addition to sand, dirt, and whatever else has found its way into my pool.
Counterpoint
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AG
I got the Nautilus CC+, and it's awesome. I have a question though. The instructions say something to the effect of "use the fine filters to get the smaller particles and the other filters to get the big stuff. Most of the time you'll want to use the big filters"

My question is, what is the harm in using the fine particle filters all the time if they're just as effective at getting leaves and things, but also get the tiny stuff? Wouldn't you rather get more cleaning power each time?

Potcake
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AG
I didn't realize there were two different sizes. We apparently use the fine exclusively.
nai06
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AG
Counterpoint said:

I got the Nautilus CC+, and it's awesome. I have a question though. The instructions say something to the effect of "use the fine filters to get the smaller particles and the other filters to get the big stuff. Most of the time you'll want to use the big filters"

My question is, what is the harm in using the fine particle filters all the time if they're just as effective at getting leaves and things, but also get the tiny stuff? Wouldn't you rather get more cleaning power each time?


In my experience If you have a lot of large stuff the fine filters the catch basin fills more quickly. It seems like the inlet gets blocked. But that could just be me. I typically use the medium set of mesh filters. The leaf bag on mine can also hold a lot more material.
agchino
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AG
The Dolphin models are largely copies of each other with the colors and model numbers changed for different retail outlets (amazon versus pool store versus installer).

The S200, Active 20 and Triton are all the exact same robot, just different colors. Then you add features to get the 300, 300+, etc.

There is a long thread about them over at www.troublefreepool.com and that is the series most people are happy with that balances price and features.

Long story short, you can get the s200 series from Marina Pool and spa in Denver for about $700 with 2 day shipping and a free filter upgrade if you call them on the phone (they can't advertise that price on the web).

We bought a house with a Polaris 280 that had all the hoses leaking, and i was looking at $150 in hoses for a sweeper i wasn't sure was even working, $700 for booster pump and higher performance sweeper, or $700 for a robotic one that would clean the tiles, run on a schedule and filter better on a 2 hour cycle.

I've been happy so far, and the pool is spotless after it runs.
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