I am in the market for a robotic pool cleaner (inground 40x20 pebble pool w/sun shelf). Looking at a Dolphin (or Maytronics) or similar that plugs into a standard 110 outlet w/ ~50' cord. Budget is below $1K.
Does anyone have a recommendation on brand and features? How often do you run it? Keep it in your pool or store it somewhere? If so, where do you store it? Use an app to 'steer' it? Recommend a cart?

Currently have a pressure side cleaner (Polaris) but my booster pump case cracked during the freeze and parts are backordered to infinity at the moment.
Thanks!

Neighbor has a dolphin and works great. Good analogy for the polaris.

I have a Pentair Warrior, which is a rebranded Dolphin s200. It's been great at picking up debris of the floors and scrubbing the walls and water line tile. I ordered it from Marina Pool and Spa (303-985-0077) back in December 2019. They carry many of the Dolphin/Maytonics products. If you call, ask for Margaret. She is their pool robot expert and can make sure you get the best robot for your pool, and she can send you their current pricing for the various robot models they carry.

I'm doing a pool build now and am torn between the vacs and the robot.

What requires less human interaction? I feel like the vac can just stay in and do what it needs to do all the time, whereas the robot has to manually be put in and there is no swimming while it is working (electric shock risk).

tweekac said:

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I have a Pentair Warrior, which is a rebranded Dolphin s200. It's been great at picking up debris of the floors and scrubbing the walls and water line tile. I ordered it from Marina Pool and Spa (303-985-0077) back in December 2019. They carry many of the Dolphin/Maytonics products. If you call, ask for Margaret. She is their pool robot expert and can make sure you get the best robot for your pool, and she can send you their current pricing for the various robot models they carry.

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Exactly what this person said. I ordered one last year too from them. Works great. Free shipping to I believe.

Greeze06 said:

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I'm doing a pool build now and am torn between the vacs and the robot.

What requires less human interaction? I feel like the vac can just stay in and do what it needs to do all the time, whereas the robot has to manually be put in and there is no swimming while it is working (electric shock risk).

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We keep ours (robot) in all the time. We take it out when we swim. I figured with the vacuum, I would be cleaning the big filter more often which I think is more of a hassle

I keep ours in all the time and only take out to clean the basket, which the s200 has a large basket that I've never come close to filling. I think with any cleaner you will want to pull them out when you are planning to swim to avoid getting tangled in cords/hoses. Also, most robots can be programmed to run at various frequency and times of the week, and don't require running a pump to have the robot clean.

We also traded our Polaris for a Dolphin CC+. One less pump to run and we just put it in on an as needed basis.

Dolphin.

Cheaper than a pump + polaris cleaner.

Minimal to zero risk of electrical shock while it's in the pool unless something becomes damaged... and it should be plugged into a GFCI.

Dolphin from Marina Pool and Spa. You have to call them to get their lowest price on an s200 or s300 or equivalent. I leave the dolphin in most weeks,take it out when the kids are swimming just so they don't kick it.

It runs off DC voltage so it's safe for the pool,the AC to DC power supply you'll need to plug into a GFCI plug for additional safety factor.

I routinely have to wash mud out of mine,that is how good the filter and cleaning are on it. You don't get that with the mesh bag polaris type.

Agchino posted what I was going to say.

I have the dolphin Nautilis CC plus and it has been going strong for four years. I prefer that over vacuums because vacuums just put it all into your filter which requires you to clean your cartridges or backwash a lot more often. I also think robots clean better I use my robot almost every day and I've had no issues with it except to replace the cartridge filters.

It is a little more hassle than a vacuum because you have to pull it up and clean the cartridges, but I've gotten very efficient at it and it takes just a few minutes

They say not to use it with an extension cord but you can; many companies say that because they don't want cheap Chinese non-UL extension cords frying control boards.

I got mine on Amazon four years ago but other posters introduced me to Marina Pool and spa and I have bought stuff from them recently with no issues. I'd recommend going with Marina pool and spa because it's probably easier to deal with them, as an actual store owner if you have any issues

I have a dolphin premier and it's the best thing I have done for my pool. Mine has the leaf bag, mesh screens, and cartridge filter options. The cartridge filter will actually pick up mud and algae out of the water. It's super easy to use. The only thing I would caution is leaving the control unit in the rain. Its usually fine, but I had a particularly bad storm and it shorted out. The bright side is that I called matronics and the express shipped a replacement unit to me at no charge. It cleans so much better than my old polaris, doesn't make any noise, scrubs the pool walls, and uses less energy.

It's a no brainer in my opinion.

changed from pump polaris to electric Dolphin Premier Robotic Pool Cleaner

love it
leave it in the pool when not swimming

got it "like new" off amazon for ~900

While not a robot, we switched to the Polaris Quattro Sport and its similar to a robot in terms of functionality and works really well.

Dolphin Oasis Z5i. Much better than Polaris . However , I'd clean out dead frogs before you run it . I leave it in the pool . So easy to clean

Everyone seems to prefer the cleaners that require an electric plug in. What's the best cleaner that uses the water pump built into the pool? I don't like the idea of leaving an electric cord out running to the pool area all the time, primarily due to the tripping hazard, and I also don't like the idea of putting the cleaner up after every use. Suggestions?

For your knowledge, first time pool owner here, pool got plastered about 2 weeks ago so I know nothing!

Have Pentair Warrior 920 robot and just leave it in the pool except when we swim. Works great and easy to take care of.

The idea of sucking crap up and pushing more into my cartridge filters, which are time consuming to clean, sounds awful.

OasisMan said:

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changed from pump polaris to electric Dolphin Premier Robotic Pool Cleaner

love it
leave it in the pool when not swimming

got it "like new" off amazon for ~900

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What did you not like about the pump Polaris?

You are talking about two very different things and each have their pros and cons. The cleaner attach led directly to a pool inlet is a pressure side or vacuum side cleaner. These stay in the pool and don't require any electricity but everything it vacuums up ends up in your filter requiring increased back washing or cartridge cleaning depending on your set up. The consensus seems to be, and I agree, at these don't clean as well as robots.

Robots require the electrical plug-in. The downside to these is taking them in and out and cleaning its self-contained filters. I've had a dolphin nauitlus CC plus going on for four years and I love that thing. It really does not take long to get in or out of the pool and clean it out. I also leave it in the pool most of the time and just take out the electric control board and put it in the garage. I think it does a better job cleaning than the vacuum or pressure side cleaners

That isnt completely true about pressure side cleaners. I love the polaris Quattro sport and it does not send debris back through the main filter. Mine has a 2 filter system and i clean it every so often the same as a robot.

Let me see if I have this right:

- electric robots clean the pool better, primarily get the small dirt particles better
- electric robots are supposed to be removed daily but no one seems to do that
- some but not all of the water pressure robot vacuums send all of the stuff they remove from the pool to your main filter

Does one type use more electricity than the other?

How frequently do you really need to clean your pool with these things? I'm sure there is a degree of personal preference as well as situational variance for how dirty ones pool gets, but surely there is a general rule here. Like if you only get in on the weekends, is there any reason to clean the pool Monday through Thursday?

I'm no pool expert. Only owned one for 2.5 years and it came with the house so I'm sure I've f'd up more than once with maintenance.

Last May we ditched the standard Polaris for a Dolphin. The performance is night and day. It's amazing how much debris the Dolphin picks up. We run it 3-4 times a week. More often if we've had storms. It's worth every penny.

Polaris pump vacuums run off of a totally separate pool pump, which takes more energy/electricity to run than the 120V outlet you plug the robot into.

I think you'll find more people going from a pump based vacuum to electric robots 10:1, the technology is getting to the point where some robots map your pool for maximum efficiency and cleaning.

I have no reference but kudos to our Jandy equipment during the storm. We never lost power(which was awesome) and the pump ran 24/7 for days. Electric bill was $85.

Anyone have experience with the Pentair racer LS?

We have a suction side pool cleaner.

The pool was built for the setup.

We bought the house about 1.5 years ago and the cleaner had to be at least 8 years old if not older. I just replaced all the internal guts for under $100 and the thing is zipping around better than ever before. I may eventually get a robot cleaner but for now $100 vs $1000 is an easy decision.

The issues for me on robotic cleaner is mainly the darn power cord being strung across my patio and concerns someone trips on it while playing in the afternoon.

The issue for me on my current suction side cleaner is it doesnt get walls and removing it from the pool before people come over can be a llttle tough w/ all the hose.

I was basically in the same situation, except we had an unboosted return side polaris. The hoses were all cracked and leaking, and would have cost me $200 to piece back together, plus I probably would need to rebuild the drive train on the polaris itself.

Looking at the recommended pentair racer and polaris units, I would have had to install a booster pump to drive those. The cost for the booster and new pressure side cleaner was a couple hundered more than the $700 I spent on the Dolphin robot, so just on pure cost alone it made sense to move to the robot, not even adding in labor for installing the booster.

I've only had one instance where the cable for the robot was a problem, and that was when my daughters drove their barbie jeep over it and got it caught in the wheel. They had to bulldoze over some flowers in the flower bed in order to get to the robot cable in the first place, so they got a lecture all around.

We do have a mesh pool fence around the pool, so that may mitigate some foot traffic over the cord, but it has never bothered me. There is also probably 60 feet of DC cable to the power converter, then you get another 6 feet of cable for the wall plug, so you have some freedom to route it out of the way.

Pulling the robot out of the water is probably the same or maybe easier than the polaris, as the cable is less bulky than the polaris hose.

Robotic Comparison Chart

Of these which ones would yall get?

They are all the exact same cleaner except the s60, which just looks like a bigger motor version. They just change the colors and the badging. The only differences are going to be the inclusion of the caddy, which is probably $100-$150 by itself, and the wifi/bluetooth.

Wifi/bluetooth is a so/so feature. Only time it really is nice is when the weather is crappy, you don't have to go outside to turn on the robot, if you didn't have it already on the timer. It was also nice to help troubleshoot an error code one time. The manual drive on the app is super l****, so it is not real useful if you are trying to spot clean.

They threw in the rough/fine filter combo for free on mine so you can barter your way to whatever filter you want. Also if you call them on the phone you may be able to get a lower price than they will put on the internet.

Based on the recommendations in this thread (thanks!), I bought a Dolphin Nautilis CC plus that arrived today. It did a great job picking up the small stuff on the bottom of the pool that was missed by skimming and by the pool guy. Cleaning its filters is WAY easier than cleaning out my big filter unit. We'll see how it holds up over time, but I think I'm really gonna like this thing.

From this thread I bought the Pentair Warrior SE for $699. It is night and day better than my old Polaris vacuum style setup.

We could not get the pollen off the walls and floor and this would run 8 hours a day every day for about 2 weeks.

We ran the robot 3 times at 2 hours each and the floor was completely cleaned and the walls were about 40% clear. I brushed the walls and over the past 2 weeks we have have crystal clear water and floors and walls.

If anyone is on the fence, I'm telling you this is one tool I wish I bought sooner.

ForeverAg said:

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From this thread I bought the Pentair Warrior SE for $699. It is night and day better than my old Polaris vacuum style setup.

We could not get the pollen off the walls and floor and this would run 8 hours a day every day for about 2 weeks.

We ran the robot 3 times at 2 hours each and the floor was completely cleaned and the walls were about 40% clear. I brushed the walls and over the past 2 weeks we have have crystal clear water and floors and walls.

If anyone is on the fence, I'm telling you this is one tool I wish I bought sooner.

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I am looking at replacing my robot.
It's a pentair Kreepy Krauly legend. It sucks. It constantly gets caught. I constantly have to replace parts. It runs a lot.

I have a 1 hp pump.

A: should I get one that runs on the pump?

B: should I get one with the cord.

C: can you guys link what you bought, (electric or pump) and how much?

Ebay has a dolphin listed (refurbished for like 550$).

I have a Dolphin after having several different iRobot cleaners.

The Dolphin is great; we typically run it a couple of cycles several times a week during the summer; for example, on a Friday when we know people are coming to swim that weekend. When we're in the pool, I typically unplug it and place the unit itself on one of our pool benches (under water) just so people don't step on it.

In the fall, I take it out and store it for the winter.

It does a great job of keeping the water clean as well as the sides of the pool. And it's been much more durable than the iRobot products.

Because of this thread and after watching tons of youtube videos I ordered a Dolphin pool cleaner. Thanks for the recommendation.