We at GadgetGuy have one thing in common: we are not pool owners. This has been slightly problematic, since one of the current big tech categories is robotic pool cleaners. Never fear, my best friend Bernard has been maintaining his pool for more than 20 years. So, I took the iGarden Pool Cleaner K Pro series robot pool cleaner to his place to see how it compared to cleaning the pool manually.
Bernard’s pool is relatively small: 30,000 litres, pebblecrete, saltwater chlorinated, with a spa at the end. There are quite a lot of mature deciduous trees surrounding the pool, so there is pretty constant leaf litter to be cleaned up regularly.
In the iGarden K Pro box, you will find the cleaner, a retrieval hook and the charging power cable. There are three models in the Pro range: the Pro 100 with 10 hours of battery life, the Pro 120 with 12 hours and the Pro 150 with 15 hours.
From the beginning, the quick start guide was simple but comprehensive enough to get you started straight up, getting the cleaner into action. The iGarden app is easily accessed using the QR code on this guide, and it’s pretty basic, which is good. Really, you want an uncomplicated, effective pool cleaner control, and the K Pro fits this criterion.
The cleaning timeframe options in the app, which control the K series, are great and really easy to set up, so when a light cleanup is needed, it’s quick.
The supplied hook, which attaches to the end of your existing cleaning pole, is really functional, simple, convenient, and effective at retrieving the K Pro from the pool. It took a couple of goes to figure out the logical place to hook on, but that was more about Bernard’s novice status than the design.
iGarden Pool Cleaner K Pro compared to other pool cleaners
Most of his previous cleaners over the years have been driven by the suction from a hose connected to the filter system; inevitably, these have not worked very well once the pressure drops, especially as the filter basket fills with leaf litter. The setup and inconvenience of the hoses and packing up were a bit of a pain. The K Pro avoids all this hassle. It doesn’t really need charging very often, and it’s convenient being able to simply turn it on, pop it in the pool, and away it goes.
The pool cleaners Bernard has had over the years have been pretty ineffective at cleaning the pool walls. Hence, you still need to regularly sweep them down, especially on the pebblecrete surface, which seems to provide ideal nooks and crannies for algae to grow. While the K Pro is a little heavier than we expected, which means it’s probably not suitable for the little ones to handle (not that we recommend children should), its ability to cling to walls and clean all the way to the surface is pretty impressive.
One key issue in cleaning a pool surrounded by mature trees is the constant accumulation of leaf litter. Previous cleaners he has owned have struggled with this, but the K Pro has overall done a great job in keeping the bottom of the pool free from leaf litter and buds from the surrounding trees.
The only issue has been the unique problem of possums eating the plums on the plum tree and dropping the seeds into the pool, some of which were too large to fit through the opening to the filter basket on the K Series. The filter basket, while clearly not as large as the filter basket on the pool, has been fine for a pool that collects a lot of leaf litter. The robot’s filter basket is really easy to remove and attach, and simple to clean out with the hose.
Bernard used the ‘Turbo’ mode a few times, and it has been really effective in getting around the pool. Having such a small pool, it probably isn’t necessary, but you can see how, in a much larger pool, this would be really valuable.
Initially, he was a bit cautious about the charging plug area, but it is well designed with deeply separated sockets and an easy-to-use plug insert. Charging has been convenient, and one charge has lasted a few days of cleaning.
The bright red fluorescent colour makes it easy to see where the cleaner is in the pool, and the overall design is smart for a cleaning robot.
Previously, Bernard spent a couple of hours a week cleaning the pool. The K Pro has pretty much eliminated that burden and provides a sparkling clean pool with minimal effort. In time, the product would pay for itself in as little as six months.
The iGarden Pool Cleaner K Pro series is launching in Australia soon. For now, it’s available to order overseas at a US$1,699 starting price. We’ll update the local pricing once it’s confirmed.
The post How does a robot pool cleaner compare to manual cleaning? appeared first on GadgetGuy.
0 (mga) komento:
Mag-post ng isang Komento