Aquamoto Skimbot 2021 Robotic Solar Powered Pool Cleaner for Swimming Pools, Bluetooth App Enabled

My primary need has been waterline cleaning, where nothing else has been able to effectively keep light plant debris from sticking to my tile. The skimbot actually does a good job of this! It uses a process of reversing its front skimmer paddlewheel to backsplash water onto the tile, and then re-approaches the wall with the wheel spinning the standard direction again to suck in the dislodged debris. My only challenge here is that the clearance of that paddlewheel to the frame around it is so tight that small twigs can get lodged in there, causing the paddle to stop. It then makes a loud noise (and isn't effectively working anymore) until you manually clear it. Frankly, should this condition occur, I'd rather it stop trying to run (and hopefully it's not damaging the motors) and send an alert (which would be much easier if they installed wifi on it).Another improvement would be adding optical sensors, or logic with the above/below-water IR sensors, that could see it's not up against a wall but still not moving forwards (like when it runs into the bottom-cleaner's feed line on the surface). And like others, I'm having an issue where the skimbot can run up and beach itself on that feedline where it comes up to the surface from the wall outlet and where it goes under the surface down to the cleaner. I'm going to attempt to resolve this with a "blocker" on feedline and will update this review with pictures if it's successful.But overall, I've been happy with its performance, and it does generally work around 80% of the time sucking up the surface junk and cleaning the waterline though with some maintenance/monitoring needed or it can get stuck or jammed.And I'm encouraged that the makers are able to update and upgrade the firmware so bugs and better operating logic can be introduced. Lastly, get the Squaretrade warranty, and for about 10% extra you have essentially several years of almost risk-free operation. Anything failing, like a battery can be repaired, and worst case, SQ will refund your money...

I ordered the instapark betta first and it worked great but then broke down in a few weeks. Based on the reviews, that seems to be the case with many buyers of the betta. I then purchased this unit and it’s been working well for the month or so that I have had it. The areas where it could improve are 1. More space to suck in leaves( it has a narrow opening) 2. Increase the Bluetooth range or add wifi 3. It does not self charge well if you have parts of your pool shaded. I take it out of the pool every 2-3 days and let it charge for a few hours. Overall this is the best robot skimmer on the market but not perfect.

It does what it says, it skims the surface of your pool and collects bugs/leaves/debris. You can just set it and forget it. The solar/battery works great and powers it for continuous use. It does struggle to get stuff at the very edge of the pool, but with a little circulation the debris there eventually moves into the path of the device. While it doesn't get 100% of the debris out of the surface, it's a good supplement and does trap a lot.

Infrared sensors plus control the unit from the smart phone are nice features. However, the unit collected much less small pieces and debris than my previous skimmer. Problems I saw:_ The skimbot cannot really drive along the pool wall. It rather keeps crossing the entire pool and turns around at the walls. That is nice to look at, but the debris usually accumulates in one corner of the pool (thanks to the breeze). Tried all the settings, but could not get it to perform._ The on / off button at the unit is too sensitive. And it is at the front top of the skimbot. Whenever it crosses underneath the water coming from the (elevated) spa, it turns off. And then just floats around until I turn it on again. This can be fixed by disabling the on / off button. But then you can only turn it on or off with the phone._ The mesh to collect the debris is too coarse. It does collect leaves, but not much else._ The battery is too small, too weak. The unit does not run continuously but shuts down for breaks on a regular basis. Bigger battery would be better. And we have a lot of sun in summer in Southern California._ When I emptied the skimbot in the evenings and compared the skimbots work to my manual skimming, then i'd say 20% did the skimbot but 80% I had to take out using the manual skimmer._ Before the first 30 days were over, I returned the skimbot. Told them nothing is broken, only I'm not satisfied with it. Pool Zoom confirmed they tested the unit and found no damage. Then kept a restocking fee of 50%. I find that a bit steep. Just be aware of that before you submit your order.

It came with no instruction manual, and we are still learning how to use it. The app is also a little hard to figure out. The problem we are running into is that if the product isn't charged to 25%, it will not connect to the app.We've only had it a short time, but it's easily saved us a few hours of scooping out leaves. I wish we knew such a product existed before now.Edit 4/21: Bumped to 5 stars. We put "Gator" our skimbot away in October, but when we put him back in the pool 2 weeks ago, he wouldn't charge. The app kept saying night time, waiting for the sun despite it being the middle of the day. Why 5 ⭐? I contacted customer service, and we troubleshooted. We could not get Gator to work, so they sent out a brand new one a week later. This one compared to the other is 1000X improved. I've never seen it go down to less than 75% charged. And the Bluetooth capability now works from inside my house. Previously, I had to practically be on top of it outside. The new one also came with an instruction manual.

This cleaner is total junk, the remote control is bluetooth and has a distance of about 10 foot, if your lucky, as for controlling it, you have none.totally useless junk.... I would like to tell you it cleans but sadly it doesn't even do that.It's nothing but a gimmick, Amazon actually should take it off their platform, its embarrassing to them.A lot of money wasted and not happy about it...