When it comes to taking care of your pool, you have a lot of options. Many people use pool cleaners in order to help make things easier on their pool filtration system.
There are a variety of different kind of pool cleaners, but it is widely recognized that robotic pool cleaners are the most convenient as well as most efficient. While they can often present more of an up-front cost, robotic cleaners are known to save time, energy and money over time.
Yet, even if you decide that a robotic pool cleaner is going to work best for you, there are still many different models to choose from. Naturally, you're going to want the one that is most likely to do a complete job with as little hassle as possible.
In order to help you with that decision, this article is going to lay out some information on a couple of well-known robotic pool cleaners in order to help you in making a decision about which is more likely to suit your needs.
Dolphin and Hayward TigerShark Robotic Pool Cleaners are two of the best manufacturers of these products you will come across. For this article we compare two of the most popular models of Dolphin vs Tiger Shark Robotic Pool Cleaners:
- Dolphin Neptune Plus Robotic In-Ground Swimming Pool Cleaner
- Hayward RC9550GR TigerShark Automatic Robotic Pool Cleaner
Details
This cleaner is made to be long-lasting and provide an excellent performance. It has self-programmed cleaning patterns that allows it to match whatever your pool may need. This cleaner washes the walls, floors, and waterlines of your pool to keep it spotless.
This cleaner works well in vinyl, tile, concrete, and fiberglass pools and is able to get pools up to 50’ in length spotless in under 2.5 hours. It comes with 60’ of swivel cable, 4 net filter inserts, 4 cartridge filler inserts and a caddy cart. That's a lot of extra goods for the price!
Pros
This cleaner gets the job done quickly and thoroughly. You won't have to worry about leaving it while it works. You'll be likely to come back to a sparkling-clean swimming pool.
Just a few button pushes and you're good to go; you won't have to worry about the technology being confusing or difficult to understand.
This cleaner has very little difficulty when it comes to climbing the walls of your pool. It will certainly handle the task of getting every inch perfectly clean in no time.
Cons
There aren't many cons for this particular model, but it is important to keep in mind that every model is going to have positive and negative aspects. Certain things like whether or not a cleaner uses a filter bag can go either way.
If you have the opportunity, make sure to check out an example of the model in a store so that you can determine for yourself if it looks like a purchase that is going to be worth your money. Also make sure you are well-versed on the details of the warranty for any model you buy—just in case any problems should happen to pop up.
Hayward RC9950GR TigerShark Automatic Robotic Pool Cleaner
Details
We've previously looked at the TigerShark RC9950CUB Series models in this article and found them to be great performers. The RC9950GR TigerShark is built with a 24-volt motor, which is made to use less energy and at a lower cost.
It has an onboard pump so that it can exert a lot of vacuum power and a patented filter cartridge system that you can easily clean just by taking it out of the cleaner and rinsing it off with a garden hose. It's great for pools up to 20' x 40' and has a 3-hour complete cleaning cycle during which it cleans the floors, walls, corners and waterlines of your pool.
Pros
The cord on this cleaner is going to be long enough to make sure it's able to safely clean without accidentally unplugging the cord or causing any other issues. If for some reason it still isn't quite long enough for your needs, adding an extension cord is an option.
The filters on this cleaner are very easy to take out and put back in. All you need to do to clean it is run it under a hose until all the dirt and debris is out, and then pop it back in and the cleaner will be ready to get back to work!
This cleaner makes short work of what might otherwise be a long task. That's what makes robotic cleaners great for larger pools. While cleaning the pool manually would be less expensive, it would take up a lot of time and physical effort.
Cons
While the filter is easy to clean, it does hold less than a lot of the filter bags that other cleaners use. That means you may have to clean it more often, which can become a hassle during the cleanup after a storm.
This cleaner can sometimes have a little trouble with corners, so it's important to keep an eye on it and make sure it's hitting all the spots. It shouldn't be too much of a problem, but it's always good to check.
Conclusion
Overall, these are both great cleaners that are likely to provide a lot for you and your pool. Both are more than capable of getting the job done.
The differences lie in how much you're willing to pay, and whether or not you mind having a smaller filter that can easily be re-used versus a larger filter bag. If you have the option of checking out these cleaners in a store, it's always good to be able to see and handle a product prior to buying it, otherwise there are articles like this one to help provide information on what is available.
In any case, with just a little bit of research, you'll be sure to purchase a cleaner that best suits your needs, as well as the needs of your pool. Before you know it, your pool will be sparkling clean and there will be a lot less strain put on the main filtration system in your pool, making it even easier to make your pool a place people want to be.