Top positive review
46 people found this helpful
I felt a little guilty letting my pool guy go....
By Lisa Flores on Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2014
Taking over pool duties after going through several pool guys, I needed to make sure the pool didn't suffer. I read up stuff at http://www.troublefreepool.com/content/ Based on what I learned I bought a test kit AquaChek 551236 7-Way 100 Count Pool Water Test Strips on Amazon. I also bought a new leaf rake & metal pool brush. About $65 for all through Amazon. On the last service day my pool guy actually cleaned the pool & vacuumed it....I felt a little guilty but realized, how come when I am letting him go he decides to do the his job? It was my job now, every 2 days for about 10 minutes I would pool rake, clean the skimmer and after 3 weeks it looked good but I could tell it needed a vacuuming. I had already shopped around for a robot as I wanted to clean my pool without running my pump/filter/SWG. My brother had helped me a week prior to show me how to properly clean and replace a DE filter. Pool guy charged me $90 to clean the filter in April. Based on the sediment/dirt in the filter, he backwashed the filter. A few days later, I received the Dolphin Nautilus - the price had just dipped to $599. My pool guy was costing me $120 a month. In 6 months I am ahead even with supplies I had to buy! I have a 120v outdoor outlet with my pool equipment so plugging the power supply was easy. The cord is easy to manage with no tangles. The Nautilus is heavy - 4 jugs of milk heavy - it has recessed handles to lift (with your legs) and no problem moving it. The cartridge filter removal/assembly is easy to clean. How I operate the Nautilus. The night before, I rake and brush down the sides of the pool & steps (8 minutes). The material in the water settles overnight to the bottom. In the morning, I lower the robot in the pool & give it 2-3 minutes for the water to soften the roller material on the tracks. Meanwhile, connect the power supply and push ONE button. I watched it constantly as it made pass after pass. It never stopped and ran up the sides and sometimes got to the bottom step. The power consumption is minimal, nothing compared to running the pool pump! The robot acts as a filtration pump, helping mix chemicals if you added any, and cleaning & circulating the water where it's needed. When it's done, it just shuts off....I immediately noticed the water is clearer, the bottom very clean (not "spotless" but I darn close) and now the water sparkles! Gently retrieve the robot with the cord, as it comes to the surface grab the handles, tilt to the side as you take it out and set on its side. That solves the issue people mention of "the debris falls back into the pool". My thought is their pool has too much gunk. The robot filters are overloaded and yeah gunk falls back in the pool. If I had a really dirty pool, I would pull out the robot out after an hour & empty/clean the filters and put it back in the water. I pull out the filter cartridge and the gunk was significant. The Nautilus scrubbed and removed the gross dead algae, sticks, leaves, and other debris. From a labor saving point of view, it takes the sting out of doing the truly laborious work. The robot operates for 3-4 hours. Meanwhile I am free to complete other chores. How much time must I put in with the Nautilus? It takes me about 5 minutes to set up, 5 minutes to clean the filters, 10 minutes to put it all away. From a financial position, it makes sense to buy a pool robot if you do your own pool. Figure 12 months of reliable use (I expect more of course) and a pool guy would be an easy $100 a month - that's 1200 vs. $600 for the robot. Added benefits, less pump time (since I plan on cleaning my pool weekly). Mixing of chemicals is enhanced by the filtration action. The Nautilus is a 2nd pool filtration system. The pool has never looked better and most importantly, it will always looks better...no missing-in-action pool guys to worry about. As long as I have the Dolphin Nautilus, the pool will look great. Tips that work for me: +Using a 5 gallon bucket & spray hose to rinse out filters - makes very quick work. +Allow the Nautilus to drain on its side to remove water faster & access the filter cartridge. +Leave the cord stretched out in the sun before packing up makes coiling up easy. +Brush the pool sides & steps the night before to get the algae to the bottom for better cleaning. +Add clarifier the night before to collect algae in greater concentration and improve water appearance. UPDATE: 9/23/2014 The robot is working great, no issues. The robot has done its job keeping the pool clean. I've balanced the water better, & less gunk is collected now. Not one speck of algae - water sparkles! I was running the pump/filter/SWG for 8-9 hours. Now running 4 hours & Free Chlorine is in check, CYA in check & PH still runs on the high side (7.8) & I have to add acid 1x a week to keep at 7.5. All in all, with using the robot 1x a week, brushing 1x a week & sweeping & cleaning out skimmers almost every day, the pool is even less work than when I let my pool guy go. No regrets. ***** five stars
Top critical review
4 people found this helpful
Very cool towatch it run (seemingly random) around the pool
By Rice on Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2016
8mo UPDATE Removing two stars - now stating 'I hate it.' Dolphin promised a lot and it just doesn't deliver. 1) Even if I remember to every day drop the thing in the pool - the filters really don't capture much of the fine dust that settles on the bottom. If I start with a perfectly crystal clear pool - and turn the robot on - guaranteed the water will be 100% cloudy in an hour. What this machine mostly does is just blow the dust off the floor and into the water. This means that I have to run the filter whenever I run the robot - then run it overnight.. Essentially I'm running my filter 3 to 4x longer than normal by using the robot to keep a crystal pool. Also - it's just horrible on steps. When I first got it - it was able to climb all the steps except the last one. Now it doesn't even bother... Literally - it just totally ignores the steps every single time (i have two sets of steps - and both get ignored). (attaching photo). In conclusion - I still have to get out my pool vacuum and do the stairs by hand. I have to run the pool filter SO MUCH more than normal to deal with the dust the robot shoots up in the water - increasing my electric bill. All this thing really does is save me from having to sweep the bottom as much. BUT I have all the extra effort of taking it out / putting it in, cleaning it's filter etc. Which is frankly: gross. Also - honestly, I have to run the darn thing 3x to get it to clean the pool, once is never enough to cover the bottom. So annoying - wish I had gone with another brand. (original) My first robot. Exciting to unbox it, very little to learn / do before you drop it in the pool. Very cool to watch it run (seemingly random) around the pool. Disturbing when it breaks the water surface at makes monster sounds when you're alone in the house. Not perfect though. - Terrible at cleaning steps. I have two sets in my pool (one with 5 steps and the other with 8). It will clean the middle portion of a few of the smaller steps, and won't even touch the larger steps. - I haven't had a crystal clear pool since the day I plugged in this robot. A have a fine layer of cement dust that settles in the bottom of the pool (cement house) and really all this robot does is scrub the bottom and blow that same dust around the pool and make it cloudy. Even when I run the filter at the same time it still just blows up dust. Before the robot: I'd run the filter daily and add chlorine, and then sweep it once a week. Any dust that hit the pool would drop to bottom and so I'd always have a crystal clear pool. After robot: everyday that dust is pushed throughout the water and circulated - so everyone who comes over now doesn't want to go swimming cause they think the pool is 'dirty' (it's not - just cloudy). The filter system kind of sucks, it gets filled up easily and is just plastic, unless this is some kind of crazy new polymer - then this is the type of plastic that simply cracks over time. My housemaid cleans it and I have her baby it. If sweeping the pool was no fun - cleaning the pool filter is just as unfun. I bought this in part cause I thought it would remove the small particulate matter in the pool and help keep it crystal clear - also save on filter running costs. Instead I run my filter more than ever, and have a cloudy pool. Also - the power unit has four blue lights that show when it's on - after the robot is finished those lights should turn off and power down, but it appears to stay powered up. There should also be a scheduler mechanism on the unit. Just plugging it into a timer doesn't work since you have to physically go push the power button each and every time you want it to sweep. It could also use a handle to help haul it out of the pool. It's heavy. All things considered - if I knew what I know now, I would not buy it again. Edit: I gave it three stars, not a stellar review. However when I published it an Amazon rep went in and pulled a line out of my review to use as the title for the review "Very cool towatch it run..." - The line they chose gives a very different spin on my review. Notice they also ran two words together (not in my actual text 'towatch' - maybe an accident of the rep - or maybe a subtle bid to make my negative review look stupid. Either way - I don't think Amazon should pull out the most positive sentence in mostly negative review in a bid to make the product look better than it is to those readers that just scan the headlines. meh...
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