I have noticed these cordless robotic pool cleaners before, but have not paid much attention to them. Should I keep ignoring them, or could a cordless robotic pool cleaner actually clean a pool effectively before running out of battery power?
Introduction
A battery-powered robotic pool cleaner is not such a radical idea, seeing as cordless pool vacuum cleaners with rechargeable batteries have existed for many years. In fact, cordless pool cleaning robots seem to be a popular idea.
The main attraction of a cordless robotic pool cleaner is that it has neither a power supply unit nor any power cords. It goes without saying that it also does not require any pool hoses or booster pumps. Yet, is a cordless pool robot powerful enough to clean a swimming pool?
Briefly, it seems that they have enough battery power to clean a small above ground or inground swimming pool with a mostly flat floor for about 60 to 90 minutes before running out of battery power and filter capacity. In light of that, here are a few examples of cordless robotic pool cleaners.
Aiper Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaners
The Aiper brand seems to be one of the pioneers when it comes to cordless pool cleaning robots. You can read their story, as long as you can keep a straight face. Nevertheless, Aiper does have three cordless robotic pool cleaner models on the market. Let us take a look at their features to see if they have the power to clean a swimming pool.
Seagull 600
The Seagull 600 is the lightest and least powerful, but also cheapest, Aiper cordless robotic cleaner model. It kind of looks like a flying saucer, except for the handle on top. Will this unidentified pool object be able to abduct dirt and debris from a residential swimming pool?
The Seagull 600 is basically a 30-watt, cordless automatic pool cleaner with a rechargeable battery, dual-drive motors and a filter tray. The built-in, 2600mAh lithium battery can be recharged in about 4 hours. The maximum run time on a charged battery is 50 minutes.
The ideal pool size for the Seagull 600 is up to 538 square feet. This cordless pool cleaning robot can only clean the floor of a residential swimming pool, if it is completely flat. It lacks the power to climb.
It seems like the front and back wheels are adjustable. This influences the cleaning path that the robot takes across the pool floor.
The Seagull 600 has a suction intake that vacuums debris into the internal filter tray. You should probably clean the filter tray after every cleaning session, before recharging the robot’s battery.
What happens when the Seagull 600 runs out of battery power? Does it just slow down and stop in the middle of the pool, requiring you to jump into the pool to get it out? Fortunately, the Aiper people thought of this problem. It seems like the Seagull 600 has a self-parking ability, so it will park near a pool wall when its battery is running low. Although, some kind of hook on a pole would be helpful to fish it out of the pool.
Seagull 1000
At 50 watts, the Aiper Seagull 1000 is slightly more powerful when compared to the Seagull 600 model, even though they still have the same filter tray size. This extra power gives it the ability to climb a pool floor incline up to 15 degrees, and clean swimming pool sizes up to a 1076 square feet maximum. It has a 5000mAh battery that provides operational power for up to 90 minutes. The battery needs about 6 hours to recharge.
The Aiper Seagull 1000 has two large suction intakes and a single brush underneath its housing, so it both sweeps and vacuums dirt into its filter tray. It will park itself at the nearest pool wall when it has either finished cleaning or runs low on battery power. Unlike the Seagull 600, the 1000 model has a floating handle that floats on the surface. This makes it easy to pull the cordless pool robot out of the water.
Seagull 1500
The Seagull 1500 is the best Aiper robotic pool cleaner that you can buy. It has the largest battery of the three models, although it still has a maximum run time of only 90 minutes. The reason for this is that it has three motors and a four-wheel drive system that requires more energy to operate. The 8600mAh battery will take almost 8 hours to recharge.
The Aiper Seagull 1500 can clean the pool floor, wall and waterline of swimming pools up to 1614 square feet in size. It has a more complex cleaning system due to its four-wheel drive design, intelligent route planning technology and gyroscopic system. Even so, it can get stuck on steps or raised main drains.
To summarize, these Aiper cordless robotic pool cleaners have no cords or hoses that can get tangled up. Besides, no installation of fittings, booster pumps or GFCI outlets are necessary. If you really do not want to deal with cords or power supply units, and your pool has a flat bottom, then one of these Aiper cordless pool cleaning robots might be worth buying.
Paxcess Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaners
The Paxcess brand has their own story for why you should choose to use their products, which you can also read. Although, I just wanted a cordless robotic pool cleaner, not a lesson about the philosophy of household maintenance.
Paxcess HJ1103J
Paxcess does have a cordless automatic pool cleaner robot on the market: the HJ1103J. Hey, wait a minute: the Paxcess HJ1103J looks suspiciously similar to the Aiper Seagull 1000. What is going on here?
At face value, it looks like the Paxcess HJ1103J and the Seagull 1000 has the exact same design, except for a few tiny cosmetic differences. Now, let us check out the specifications to see if there are any differences.
To begin with, both the Paxcess HJ1103J and the Seagull 1000 has a 5000mAh rechargeable battery. Paxcess claims a 60-minute working time for their pool robot, while Aiper states a maximum of 90 minutes. So, these models have the same size battery.
The other features are probably the same, such as the motors, suction doors, bottom brush, 15-degree pool slope climbing, floating handle and pool wall self-parking when running out of battery power.
I think it is unnecessary to say more about the Paxcess HJ1103J, seeing as it is a carbon copy of the Aiper Seagull 1000. Although, I do not know which is the original and which is the imitation.
But wait, there is one more…
Paxcess HJ3172
Paxcess also sells a replica of the Aiper Seagull 1500, which has the model name HJ3172. Then again, I do not know which came first: the Seagull or the Paxcess. It seems like they are both based on some common design. Although, I do not see the HJ3172 model on the Paxcess website under their robotic pool cleaner collections.
Anyway, the Paxcess HJ3172 has a 8600mAh battery that powers it for up to 90 minutes. It can clean both the floor and the walls. Moreover, it will hit the wall when it detects a low battery, to make it easier to fish out of the pool. Look, you get the idea: it is the same robotic pool cleaner as the Aiper Seagull 1500, except for the name printed on the front.
Hayward Cordless Robotic Pool Cleaner
I was surprised to see that the Hayward brand has a cordless robotic pool cleaner called the AquaVac 250Li. I have never seen it before, probably because it is one of Hayward’s expert line products, meaning that it is only available through a local pool professional, and unavailable at online retailers. The overall design looks different, but it probably works along the same lines as the Aiper and Paxcess cordless pool cleaning robots.
The Hayward AquaVac 250Li must have a large battery, because it has a maximum cleaning time of 120 minutes. It also has a large filter canister for collecting the debris and dirt that it sucks up from the pool bottom. It is able to work in both above ground and inground swimming pools, as long as the pool bottom is flat (less than a 15-degree slope), less than 5 feet deep, and no more than 30 feet in diameter. The floating retrieval string makes it easy to reel in the robot when it has run out of battery power.
Conclusion
It is still early days for the cordless robotic pool cleaner market. In time, I expect that more companies will design and sell their own versions of a battery operated, I mean cordless electric, pool cleaning robot. Meanwhile, the models I mentioned above are the most important examples that you can look at.
I do not know which is the best cordless robotic pool cleaner, but I would probably choose the Aiper Seagull 1500. It can climb walls, it has a large top-loading filter basket, and it can clean larger inground pool sizes up to 1614 square feet. The downside is that it costs a lot more than the smaller cordless robotic pool vacuums (click here for current pricing on Amazon).
At the end of the day, cordless pool cleaning robots might never replace the corded robotic pool cleaners, such as the Dolphin Nautilus series, that are so popular, yet it is an interesting development that I cannot ignore anymore.