Water Tech Blaster Pool Max Reviewed

[MattW]

LOL! Well, now that the mod has posted links, I will mention the one I got: Pool Blaster Max HD. I think it was $160 on Amazon, and I've had it for 2 weeks now. To be honest, I can't see me ever getting the hose out again. It works like a charm.

The one I saw in Hammacher Schlemmer was $269, but I can't see what the difference is between that one and the one I got.

[PoolDoc]

Yeah. HS is known, I think, for elaborate 'high-tone' graphic, and also for very high margins.

[Watermom]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing the information about these products.

[mshumack]

Also HS gives you a warranty for life (regradless of manufacturer's warranty). I tested it recently when my wife's iRobot broke after 4 or 5 years of faithful service. No questions asked - just send it back for a replacement.
But as to the PoolBuster - I have hesitated to buy one because I keep reading that the housing is not waterproof (as it should be) and after a year the motor goes bad and/or the battery goes bad from water intrusion. And repalcement of those costs as much as a new cleaner.
Hopefully the manufactuer will pay attention to these complaints and improve in this area.

[MattW]

Also HS gives you a warranty for life (regradless of manufacturer's warranty). I tested it recently when my wife's iRobot broke after 4 or 5 years of faithful service. No questions asked - just send it back for a replacement.
But as to the PoolBuster - I have hesitated to buy one because I keep reading that the housing is not waterproof (as it should be) and after a year the motor goes bad and/or the battery goes bad from water intrusion. And repalcement of those costs as much as a new cleaner.
Hopefully the manufactuer will pay attention to these complaints and improve in this area.

I did wonder how well these things are waterproofed, and also about the stress the little motor must be under the whole time it's running. However, because of the ease of vacuuming my pool with it (as well as not having to constantly clean the large filter), I figure that even if I have to buy a new one each year, $150 is worth it.

[Watermom]

Matt and RedWingT,
Please remember to come back to this thread in a year and give us an update on how the product is working. Maybe bookmark it so you'll be able to find it again.

[MattW]

Well, I know a year hasn't gone by, but it's been over 2 months now and, I have to say, I love this thing. I haven't used my hose vacuum once.

To answer the waterproofing question: it seems to be waterproofed very well. It's a pretty clever design, although I have to say the first time I used it I was a little apprehensive about plunging a piece of electrical equipment into a pool of water!!

As I say, I love it, but here are a few tips that I've discovered:
1) The filter bag is small. VERY small (which makes sense, bearing in mind the size of the device). It takes about a minute to empty the bag and re-fit it, and I recommend that you do so before (or after) every vacuuming session. Starting with a clean bag can help performance (especially if you've vacuumed up a decent amount of fine particulate matter) and it also allows you to unclog anything inside.
2) The manual says to recharge the vacuum after every single use for 8 hours. I've found you don't need to do it this often, but it IS important to maintain a decent charge on the vacuum or you'll find yourself just pushing dirt around the pool (I discovered this by experience!!). I've found that you can use the device for about 30 mins on a full charge (not necessarily in one go - perhaps 3 ten-minute sessions), and then it really benefits from a charge of at least 4-5 hours.
3) Leaves - forget it. Any leaf larger than, say, a quarter (or 10 pence piece to you fellow Brits), the hole in the bottom of the vacuum just isn't large enough to suck the leaf through. It's probably a good thing, too, as it wouldn't take many leaves to fill up the bag. I simply skim them off the bottom with the net once I've finished vacuuming.
4) The first few times I used it, when I lifted it out of the water at the end of my session, and held it over the pool to allow the water to fall back from the vacuum while I turned it off. DON'T DO THIS! I wasn't paying attention the first few times, but I eventually noticed that you get some previously-vacuumed matter fall back into the pool. It seems that the vacuum only operates under water - once it is in air, there's no suction so all of your dirt falls back into the pool!! I now move the whole thing away from the water, put up with the fact that I lose a few litres of water, and turn it off.

I'm very happy with this purchase. Even if the thing breaks every 6 months (and I'm not saying it will), it's worth the $150 to buy a new one each time, in my opinion.

On a similar topic - I have just returned from Home Depot, and noticed that in their pool section they now have a vacuum system that you plug your garden hose into. It has its own bag and, apparently the water pressure from the hose creates a vacuum, and it sucks up the dirt into its own filter bag. It doesn't use the pool filter. I've never used it, I have no idea how much water it gets through, or how effective it is, but it's only $25 in case anybody wants to try a cheaper non-pool-filter vacuum.

Cheers,
Matt.

[Racker]

Hi. I got the Pool Blaster Max in August of this year after seeing it on display at Leslie's pool store (although they were selling it for over 200 dollars, whereas I picked it up on Amazon for about $140 or $150). It worked very well for me during the swimming season for daily pool cleaning.

I have a large in-ground that's surrounded by vegetation too, so pulling out the vacuum every other day wasn't fun, to say the least. Getting large leaves with it was easy, and on most days I could clean the entire 40x20 pool without cleaning the filter bag, or only cleaning it once. Of course, I cleaned out the filter bag thoroughly after every use so it was always empty when I started cleaning everyday (it strikes me as a bit odd that some people wouldn't preform such easy maintenance on a fairly expensive product, all you have to do is knock the leaves out and spritz it with the hose for a few seconds). I also charged it after every use, but that said I had no trouble with the PB Max losing charge during clean up. To be fair to the people who don't clean their filter bags though, I did accidentally leave it on the charger overnight a couple of times (the manual says not to charge it in excess of 12 hours, if I remember correctly), though as far as I can tell this didn't have any negative effect on it.

Larger jobs are a bit much for the Max, though. After big storms, and during the very end of the season when lots of leaves were falling, the jobs became too much for the Pool Blaster and I still needed to pull the vacuum out. I also still used the vac every couple of weeks to get out larger particles, like sand and dirt, that the blaster wasn't so great at picking up. I didn't have any algae issues between when I got the Max and the end of the season, but I don't think it would be much help cleaning up a major algae problem (like a bad spring opening, for instance). But, hey, I guess if you have an extra pole to attach it to you could get a buddy to man it while you take on the vacuum; every little bit would help in that situation I guess!

So, sorry if I've been a little long-winded, but I saw this thread and figured I should weigh in since I have a Max and had a good experience with it. It seems like an expensive tool at first glance but I'd say it's worth it, especially if your pool has a lot of vegetation around it like mine does and you find yourself pulling out the vacuum more than you'd like. Plus, it's pretty cheap compared to an aquabot, and easier to use (at least compared to the last aquabot I had to deal with, which was from the early 90's).

Oh, and many of the negative reviews at Amazon seem to be saying that the Max would poop out in it's second season on the job. I've only had it for part of one so I can't comment on that. However I am keeping it's box indoors, not in the pool shed with the other supplies.

[dansdad]

I got the catfish because its rechargeable. I was really skeptical but I had 2 loose 1 " tiles on my steps and it sucked them up!!!!! I'm tired of my MX8 breaking down and needing new expensive parts. I don't know of another better vacuum cleaner. If you do please let me know. I guess I will clean manually. I can count on me! because I have to clean it

[PoolDoc]

@Racker: I don't know of any competitors. The other units I looked at had REALLY bad reviews.

What broke? Did it just stop running?

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@DansDad: What's an "MX8"? Are you saying your Catfish broke? Because of the tile?


I think I can ask Water Tech to take a look at this thread, if I can get more specific info.