Aquabot Turbo T Jet In-Ground Robotic Pool Cleaner in White

With so many things to maintain for a pool already, the last thing I want to do is to maintain an automatic pool cleaner. If I have to replace belts, tracks, booster pumps, and so on, then I might as well spend that time with an old fashioned pole vacuum instead. Before I bought this T-Jet I had a tough time deciding between the Polaris series, T-Jet, and the Turbo T2 model.I ended up buying the T-Jet because of the simplicity with so few moving parts that can break. I'm happy with the decision. The T-Jet cleans the pool crystal clear. But to get the best performance, first I had to make some adjustments to the setup out of the box. So here are some tips.The settings on the T-Jet when it first arrives are for impressing you with the speed in which the water jets propel it across the pool - to maximize the water flow but not maximizing the cleaning potential. The changes I made were the following: 1. snap on the intake extender so that the suction port is closer to the pool surface, 2. slide the internal tab to narrow the intake slightly for more suction power, and 3. add two of the foam squares to the inside for more neutral bouyancy.By increasing the bouyancy with the included foam pieces, the T-Jet more easily jets up the curve from deep to shallow. I also found that by increasing the lap time from 30s to 40-60s (max 90s) this gives it enough time to make the length of the pool (rather than just the width) before it reverses direction.I read one review where someone said their T-Jet flipped upside down sometimes. I don't understand that because what I observed is that even when I push it around with my hand it wants to stay upright, and the floating power cord keeps vertical tension on it to keep it oriented correctly. I think that must have been user error.Lately I just drop it in the pool once every few days and let it run all day long, or overnight. I was surprised how much dirt gets collected in the fine filter bag because the pool already looked clean but the filtering is really effective. I can run the main pump less so the DE filter doesn't have to work as much; I noticed that the PSI gauge doesn't increase as fast when I use the T-Jet. So it saves on electricity, since the T-Jet uses a fraction of the electricity as the main pump.The only negative I found (and this is pretty minor compared to all the positives) is that the cord tends to get twisted up if I leave it in the pool for several days in a row. I have to remove it anyway to rinse out the filter bag. Then I untwist the cord.I am happy that I bought this instead of the Turbo T2. I don't think the track models like the Turbo T2 can do anything better than this one, at least for my pool. I think those just have more moving parts to maintain.Update 1/9/2010: I found out why people report sometimes that it stops climbing the wall. Those user-replaceable foam buoyancy squares on the bottom plate soak up water and wear out over time. Just replace them or add some more, takes 10 minutes. When mine wouldn't climb the wall as high anymore I inserted some more styrofoam squares from a shipping box. Now it climbs all the way up again. With this pool cleaner it is important to maintain the neutral buoyancy.

I've been an Aquabot customer for decades. My prior robots had lasted 5 to 10 years. Out of the box, this robot had visible damage, with two different parts broken, but neither was material, so I glued them back together. As I purchased this robot in the fall, I didn't use it until June of the following year. It worked for a couple of months, but then stopped reversing itself. I didn't have time to send it in for repair until fall, so it was out of warranty. It spent around $100 to repair it, but again, didn't try using it again until the following June. I placed it in the water, and it had the same issue immediately. I sent it back for repair (immediately this time) and the repair company returned it to me within a week. Once again, I placed it in the water and it had the same issue!!! I sent it back and they called to tell me that the unit was 5 years old and the repair would be over $200. I'm waiting to get it back, but at this point, I can't recommend either this robot model, nor the repair company.

This is my second Aquabot in the Turbo T Jet family. The first, that died after 7 years of service (the motor seals started seeping oil...) was a Pool Rover Plus, a custom model made for Costco that combined the rubber tires, control box and larger motor from the Turbo T Jet with the less expensive chassis of the Pool Rover. Loved that machine. I live in CA, and used the cleaner 12-months a year, too, not just 3-4 months during a swim "season". It was in the pool once a week, probably 45-50 weeks a year, and ran no less than 2-3 hours each time, sometimes 8-10 hours when I'd just let it run while we were out. So that unit had 1000+ hours on it.The Turbo T Jet is a bit larger and noticeably heavier than the Pool Rover Plus. Construction appears better (though it is also 7 years newer in design), and it has some improvements in the way of additional small wheels on the bottom to prevent catching on drains, etc. The control box is updated and now has a sealed on/off switch. Unfortunately for me the cord connection has changed, so I can't use my old control box (which still works) as a backup. This is not a con for the Turbo T Jet, just something that affects someone upgrading.The performance of this type of cleaner depends on the contours of the bottom of the pool, and your expectations. My pool has smooth rounded transitions from the bottom to sides that the Turbo T Jet navigates easily. It climbs, reverses, randomly walks the bottom of the pool from shallow end to deep end with no problems. The filter catches everything from leaves to all sorts of tiny bits of dirt, seeds, burrs, duck poop, etc. It cleans the pool completely, polishing the water as it goes, whereas the main pool filter alone is incapable of doing the same sort of job because much of the dirt never makes it to the drain or skimmer.It won't be possible, without trying it, to know how it will work for you. Some pools have ladders or features that might cause the Turbo T Jet to hang or get caught -- though the Aquabot engineers have tried to anticipate many common situations. The same applies to all other types of cleaners, whether they be a creepy-crawly device or a full-on scrubbing automated cleaner. Your particular pool configuration could give issues, or it could work great, or it could work great after you figure out how to handle one or two problem areas of your pool design with regards to how the cleaner navigates it.Think of this Turbo T Jet as a self-contained, motorized pool vacuum. It does not scrub. It has two downward directed jets of water that will kick up loose dirt and direct it under the unit to the vacuum inlets. I don't need scrubbing and don't have problems with algae. I just need the bottom vacuumed, and I don't want to pull the debris through the main filter, which would then clog sooner and require more frequent backwashing and untimately cleaning. The Turbo T Jet reduces need for that. Even if it could not climb the walls due to sharp transitions from the bottom to sides, it would do 90% of what is needed, in my opinion, because it is a vacuum, not a wall/tile scrubber.The leaf bag also works great if the pool has been hit with lots of debris. The bag is more porous and won't slow down the cleaner as it fills with leaves. If the pool is in bad shape I'll use the leaf bag for 1-2 hours, then finish with the fine filter bag.I think the claimed run-time to clean a pool is optimistic. I've almost never used the 90-min clean cycle. I put the thing on "continuous" and let it run for hours. If the pool is dirty, I'll pay attention in the first 1-2 hours and empty/clean the filter bag, then put it in again and let it run until the pool is spotless.One downside of the Turbo T Jet vs my older Pool Rover Plus is the cord. The old unit has a rubberized cord from the control box to the cleaner that stayed flexible and was nearly impossible to kink in all its years of service. The new unit has a much stiffer plastic-sheathed cord that, while more rugged, has a "memory" of how it was wound up when stored. This memory appears impossible to eliminate, and the cord has a tendency to coil like a phone cord in the pool and can kink or tangle itself when the Turbo T Jet is run for long periods of time. The cleaner turns in circles the same direction all the time -- intentionally, as controlled by a plastic pin that restricts one of the pivoting wheels -- whereas my older unit had no pin restricting the wheels from turning either direction. Between the much stiffer cord and the cleaner turning in one direction all the time, cord kinking is something that has come up a couple of times when I've let the cleaner run for 3, 4, 5 hours. It never happened with the older unit and rubberized cord. I'm thinking of running the unit without the pin that controls the wheels and see if the more random motion reduces the occasional kinking. I'd love to swap the cords, but that appears to require surgery (and would void the warranty, obviously).Overall, I can't imagine how I'd maintain my pool without one of these things (affectionately called "Wall-E" by the family). I used to spend hours and hours manually cleaning out leaves after storms or windy days. Getting the fine layer of silt, duck poop, sand, etc from the bottom was impossible without connecting a vacuum to the main pool filter -- which then sucks everything into that filter and has it's own maintenance headaches. I will own one of these types of devices for as long as I own a pool. Completely changes the pool-ownership experience.