Best Robo-Tek International Pool Cleaners

Where to start? Bulk and heavy compared to other products. Filters are very fiddly to replace. The foam rollers get hyper-dried out, turning them… Read more

into flotation devices. Before the machine will sink and do its job, you need to spend quite a while first "massaging" the rollers to get them to start soaking up water. Both drive belts snapped. The cord twists around itself in normal operation *very* quickly, and is very difficult to straighten out (hint - for goodness sake, buy a cordless model of whatever brand you get). The constantly twisted cord reduces the robot's operational range and at times threatens to pull the controller into the water. The connector housing where the cord goes into the body of the controller became loose very quickly, and with all the cord twisting, it eventually severed the electric wires completely, thus rendering the machine unusable. The carrier supplied by Robotek began rusting almost immediately. The climb function can't deal with curved steps, and would often get hung up at an awkward angle. The mapping function is poor, with the machine focussing on one half of the pool and largely ignoring the other half. The device can't handle leaves from palm trees and struggled with slightly larger leaves such as those from some magnolia trees nearby. At the end of the day, any labour time the device saves you is cancelled out by the the effort of managing this device and the fact I had to finish the job properly with the traditional pool vacuum/brush. Positives: the filter bags, though painful to install, picked up fine dirt and sand well, and are machine washable.

My Robo Plus has lasted a good five or six years. The caddy is a shocker - zero for ergonomics. I reckon a cheap removal trolley would be better.… Read more

Inside the control unit the wires between the power supply and the socket are incredibly light duty. At a guess they must be rated for five amps tops. As a result the joints between the wire and the lugs on the socket appear to have deteriorated, causing the socket and plug to become so hot that the plastic melted. You can easily check for this problem by feeling the socket where the robot plugs into the control unit. If its hot get an electronics repairer to replace the flimsy wites before the unit dies, or worse. The video shows the old plug and socket, and the more robust Narva plug and socket