Zodiac FX18
VerifiedMPN: FX1831 reviews
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This is my first robotic pool cleaner and I purchased it on the recommendation of someone who already had one and loved it. Not sure if it is an old model but couldn't find a new one in stock so brought an ex demo that still came with the 2 year warranty. Have used it 4 times now and I am impressed, a great little machine. My pool doesn't get… Read more
overly dirty but it can get a lot of small leaves in there, due to surrounding hedges if it is windy, which is what happened this weekend. There were small leaves all over the pool so was keen to see whether the robot would get them all and am pleased to say it did. I do have a ledge along one side of the pool and although the robot does climb up it, it is not sophisticated enough to move along in a straight line and clean the whole ledge so I just sweep this first. It does climb the walls and does the first two steps of the pool but not the top one as the water is too shallow. Was a bit concerned as the model I purchased was not designed for tiles and although most of the pool is pebblecrete, I do have a few rows of tiles at the water line but it still gets up that high and cleans them. I would definitely recommend it and it sure beats cleaning the pool manually which is what I have been doing for the last 3 years.
This is my first electric robot cleaner, and I’m fairly impressed by it, so easy to use and clean. Plonk it in the pool and let it do its thing, floor and walls. Definitely happy so far. Show details
Been pretty good, but stopped working (flashes twice) I did some troubleshooting/ cleaned it and left it for a week. I then logged a warranty claim. And realised that I logged saying flashed 3 times and that it needed a picture of my FX18 - it was late and I couldn’t turn the light on to take a picture. So cancelled the warranty claim that… Read more
evening. Went to log the warranty claim today and it says my warranty expired (it was only 2 days earlier I logged the warranty) I’ll call tomorrow. Hopefully to get this resolved (under warranty) - I had to wait a few weeks in any event for it to arrive at my place so the run time has definitely been less than 2 years and there’s a prior record of me logging the initial warranty claim. I’ll give 5 stars if this can be resolved under warranty - first time contacting them for support.
UPDATE: although I was a day out of Warranty, they serviced it and it functions well again.
After doing a lot of research on the internet, my wife and I decided to purchase the Zodiac FX18 unit. Stronger suction than battery powered units, the fact that you never have to charge it and that it will never run out of power were our main considerations when purchasing this unit. It does a great job cleaning our pool, navigating the steps of our pool with ease. The unit is light and very easy to use. Highly recommend. Show details · 1
Zodiac FX18 Robotic Pool Cleaner – Brilliant little pool cleaner, very easy to use and does a great job. I would suggest purchasers also buy the finer mesh basket (which I did) which picks up finer dust etc. I do a run through with the stock basket first, which gets all leaves/sand etc, then another with the finer mesh basket. Show details · 1
Very happy with this cleaner & Pool & Spa Warehouse – We have had a few different pool cleaners over the years, that we've had a pool & Zodiac has always been an excellent brand. The Zodiac FX 18 is very easy to use, light & picks up the sand & fine dirt we seem to get in our pool. It also get the leaves, small twigs etc. Pool & Spa Warehouse is very easy to deal with & deliveries are always very swift, & always arrive very well packed. Show details · 1
Zodiac a great pool cleaner – my order was processed in a quick manor and received late Thi due to Australia post. The cleaner is now working and cleaned up a dirty pool in a fast manor My last one a zodiac lasted for 6 years and work hard a great unit Show reply
Works well – Have owned it for just on 12 months, and it's had moderate usage (maybe used it once or twice a week, total around 50 times or so). It does well picking up both small and coarse debris off the pool floor, medium and smaller size leaves are picked up, however large leaves it can't seem to get. It also picks up sand well. It gets around most of… Read more · 2
the pool, except doesn't do well on steps, and up and down the sides with the rubber cleaners spinning. With its motor-driven rubber tracks and water jet from the top/rear it never gets stuck.
It does get around the steps in a limited way but doesn't really clean them effectively since it falls off them and also has limited effectiveness on the in-pool bench area. So I usually have to manually clean leaves off the steps and bench.
A cleaning cycle is around 2.5 hours, once finished you can empty out the debris basket and I'm usually surprised by the amount of stuff in it, from a seemingly clean pool.
The instructions do not recommend getting in the pool when it is being used due to electric shock risk even though it uses a transformer/control unit which should be away from the pool and which drops the 240v AC current to 30v DC for the cleaner.
The instructions also recommend that the unit is immediately removed from the pool and hosed off with fresh water when finished and not left in the pool as the pool chlorine will attack and degrade the plastic, which probably explains the deterioration of the plastic of my earlier creepy crawly cleaner.
You can also buy another debris catcher basket which has finer mesh (100 micron) than the original (200 micron) to get even finer debris which I really wanted, but the price seems unreasonable ($110). I paid $1000 after a $200 discount.
Go the Zodiac FX18 – Very happy with both the product (fast efficient, quiet) and the customer service and delivery (Fast, friendly, informative and above all, competitively priced) Show details · 1
Broken 6 months past warranty – The robot had minimal use as I have a very clean pool. Used 20 times. Always washed and kept safe. It broke down out of warranty and fluidra won't look at it . No goodwill here obviously. One look at it would show it looks in perfect nic. I'd avoid zodiac. $1100 up in smoke. Show details
Personal life saver – This is the second Zodiac Cleaner I have had as I was so impressed with the first. Only reason needed replacement was slight overuse on my behalf and not adhering strictly to instructions by leaving cleaner for long terms in the pool. Saving in time and effort in pool equipment essential for me as an 80 year old pensioner, obviating the need for arduous pool cleaning requirements experiences previously. A Godsend. Show details
Great Robotic Pool Cleaner – Great robotic pool cleaner. Does walls and pool floor with good coverage. Easy to clean after use. Show details
Great value robot pool cleaner – Great pool cleaner, easy to use, easy to maintain. Picks up leaves and dirt very well in an average pool size Show details
Find out how Zodiac FX18 compares to other Robotic Pool Cleaners
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Excellent product – Goods arrived as described. Great communication before and after sale. Easy to setup and does a fantastic clean. Highly recommended. Show details
Fantastic product – Great communication,great product and value for money. Pool vac was delivered fast. Show details
Great Cleaner – This is a great product so easy to use and picks up dust and sand that blows in as we live we on the coast don’t have any problem with large debris such as sticks or twigs Show details
Robot spends too much swimming instead of cleaning – I have a 5 m pool and originally used filter vacuum system so I can only compare this robot to that and not any other robot brands. I figured the robot would whiz around and clean the pool in 5-10min. However after 1 hour, about 90% clean. The robots spends so much time trying to climb the walls that it is rarely touching the ground - and it… Read more
needs to touch the ground to clean the leaves etc. It is fun seeing it climb the stairs and ledge but after 1 hour only about 10% of that area is cleaned. It hindsight I should have chosen a robot that doesn't climb the walls. Also if I followed instructions I would need to wait another half hour before the robot climbs up the wall that I can reach it to pull it out. Is it dangerous to leave the robot running in air (I do not know what to do first - turn off the robot or pull out of water - is it a 2 man job to do it correctly?). Can you enter the pool to pull it out? Also the manufacturer says that you can only use it up to 3 times in a week. Need more info - is the 3 times a week equal 3 hrs a week or if you use it less you can use it more regularly? I never realised I got so many leaves in the before because the vacuum system cleans daily. Having said that I can't see me having the time to do the robot daily. Also I bought an additional more stringent filter for the robot and now they are mixed up that I don't know which is which. Would be good to have a label on them.
Advantages of robot over filter vacuum system: 1. Doesn't get clogged up. 2. Quicker. 3. Your pool filter is cleaner and needs less cleaning 4. The pool water level can drop further 5. Pool looks better without a permanent cleaner it in.
Disadvantages 1. More times in the week that the pool is dirty 2. More labour intensive at the wrong time. You clean the pool filter when you have time. This robot system needs your attention as soon as the pool is clean (often an hour after you inserted the robot), which may not be a convenient time to clean robot filter and rinse down robot. 3. You need to watch the robot for half an hour after it is cleaned to correctly pull out the robot 4. much more expensive than vacuum 5. Hassle need to plug in each clean (difficult for us to reach power point) 6. Come back from a holiday and your house welcomes you with a dirty pool
Breaks down as soon as it gets past warranty – The robot does its job well. However we had it for 18 months, used it once to twice a month. And then it would not work again. It was a nightmare to actually find the people that service these devices. Even the people suggested by zodiac did not service. Once we got one that looked at it we have been told that the motor is burned and it will cost 720$ to fix. Very costly for an average of 30 uses!! Show details
FX18 cleaner – first impressions cleaner works well, climbs wall and gets busy on the floor. Built well and easy clean of filter basket setup. Show details
So easy to use and does a fantastic job! – Super simple set up. It got straight to work and does a really thorough job Show details
Excellent vinyl pool cleaner – Excellent pool cleaner. Does a great job in my vinyl pool. It was easy to set up and use. Highly recommend.
Good value but build quality questionable – Cheap pool robot cleaner. Did a really good job on my pool that was 7m x 4m including a 5m step. When it was working it always did a great job cleaning. Efficient and climbs the walls with ease. The build quality is questionable. The canister requires you to lift the yellow handle and after cleaning, the nooks & crannies and cheap plastic don't… Read more
always quite fit in. I broke the left side handle pretty early on, and looks like the pool guy has broken a little hook on the right side now so the lid doesn't stay on.
The machine with the start/stop also seems to have some faults after 1 year 9 months. The button seems to have slipt under the cover.
$1k - I guess you pay for what you get. I need to buy another robot cleaner as it's not working anymore.
Find out how Zodiac FX18 compares to other Robotic Pool Cleaners
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Set and forget - great little unit !!! – For years have been using a combination of hand vacuum and suction vacuums connected to the pool filtration . This is my first robotic pool cleaner . The fx18 is light , uncomplicated and simple to use . My fibreglass pool has never looked cleaner . The wall and waterline function is great and the finer dust and dirt particles ( I purchased as… Read more
well the micron filter ) are collected easily . Takes about 3 minutes to setup , 3 minutes to pack away and clean up and works independently of my pool filtration system . Wish I’d got one years ago ! So glad I went with the Pool and Spa Warehouse too as I ordered online and received the product within 3 days and I live in North Qld !!!
Pool n Spar Warehouse were offering such a great price I went with them – Pool n Spar Warehouse were offering such a great price I went with them. Service was outstanding and item arrived within just a few days. As for the unit, it’s exactly as described and easy setup. I got the wall climbing one and it does exactly that. Pool is looking great. The unit is silent and turns itself off after 2.5 hours. Wish I had bought one instead of the old suction unit I bought last time. Show details
Great product – Easy to setup & use ... 2 mins to setup & 2 hours to get the job done ... it does a great job of cleaning the pool & scrubbing the surface, much better than manual vacuuming ... Show details
Works great, highly recommended – I have a small 6.5m x 2.5m fiberglass pool with a ledge all the way around it and wanted an inexpensive pool robot to keep it clean. The Zodiac FX18 is perfect and has no problems navigating past the ledge to clean the water line. It cleans the pool better than I could do with the vacuum in no time. It doesn't get all the dirt off of the ledge… Read more
but that is to be expected and easily resolved by giving the ledge a very quick brush with a pool brush before throwing the robot in. I highly recommend the Zodiac FX18 and couldn't be happier with the value for money and its effectiveness.
Finally something that works – I recently purchased my Zodiac FX18 from Pool and Spa Supplies and could not be happier. Our new robot moves along the pool and collects the small rocks, leaves and dirt from the bottom, it also climbs the walls to clean. So much easier and a lot less manual labour. So happy. Show details · 1
Great little robot – After a lot of review reading I decided on the FX18. I am glad I did, cleaned my rather dirty pool easily and thoroughly. Even parts of palm fronds and plenty of leaves and dirt on the bottom. It hadn't been cleaned for weeks and this little cleaner took care of it easily. Show details · 1
Awesome little machine. Works hard easy to clean – Light and easy to use and clean. Well worth the money..Works hard every clean.. I have had the larger version previously and it worked well. But this little one has been a amazing little machine. Very happy with purchase.. Show details · 1
wont last – broke after 2 years and 2 months. Zodiac have some sort of goodwill clause but being 2 months out of waranty and already been repaired twice before for the same exact problem didnt qualify. Show details
Does what its supposed to do – Read all the reviews of robotic cleaners and just got confused with prices, problems etc. So bought the one we could afford and are really pleased, easy to use does what its supposed to do. Cleans the floor , walls AND the steps of our fibreglass pool, dirt, gumleaves, etc no problem. Glad we didnt spend double the price or more Show reply
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