My Dolphin: Now I'm getting rid of it

[CarlD]

I believe the Blue Pearl is Blue Diamond--maybe a cheaper model???

[poolbee]

The website is hoaky looking but it is the one the Blue Diamond people sent me to. They also make the poolbuster that so many of you are fond of. I don't know why they don't put it on their own website. They would sell a lot more that way.

[jabre]

CarlD, have you sent a link to this thread to Maytronics? I bought my unit based on the recommendations on this forum and have not used it because my plaster is still only one week old. It will be going back as a return if they don't demonstrate that they actively care about customer issues and can resolve them.

Good luck. That's too much money to spend to end up with a slow underwater RC toy. I really hope this is just an anomaly they can address. It takes too much time researching these pool accessory purchases!!

[cleancloths]

The website is hoaky looking but it is the one the Blue Diamond people sent me to. They also make the poolbuster that so many of you are fond of. I don't know why they don't put it on their own website. They would sell a lot more that way.

I agree about the website, but I spent a bit of time on the phone with them and they seem quite good. It is a smaller version of the Blue Diamond and is new this year. They made it to sell at a lower price point. What they did was put in a smaller motor so they claim it will take 3 hrs rather than 1hr to clean. Also there is not automatic shut off, so they say most people just install a $15 timer on it. It comes with a full 2 year warrantee and a 14 no question money back guarantee. Also it uses a better approach to cleaning in that it will make random turns while moving rather than just moving in straight lines till it hits something or hits the waterline at the top of the wall.

As for Carl's problem mine is doing the same sort of stuff after only one week, so it is going back. To spend over $1,000 for a semi-automatic toy is a mistake.

[brent.roberts]

I heard a lot of good things here about the Dolphin so I got one about 2 weeks ago. Initially it was in a rut about 10' long ... back and forth, like Carl's

I sent an email to the folks I bought it from ([poolsupplydeals.com). No response whatsoever.

So I diddled. I am impressed that this thing has abosolutely minimal intelligence and sensing capability. At first I thought putting in the length of the pool and telling it to climb walls woudl really do something. The cycle seems to be the same whether it is going across the width or the length.

I did find that
1) by moving the handles to the extreeme ends of the slots, not in the semi-circular cut outs that look like they are made for the handle ... made the unit hang at a different angle when it hit the surface and that caused it to travel along the waterline and cover different areas.
2) it will not work at all well with the cover on
3) it "seems" to wander around better with the cord entering the water at end of the pool rather than the side.
4)the amount of debris in the bag affects the flow through the unit that affects its ability to push itself agains a wall and climb.
5)on the long cycles it seemed to get in the rut more than on a 2 or 3 hour cycle, that I now start once in the morning and once in the evening.
6)it is not nearly as intelligent and programmable as the advertising would lead you to believe.
7)the yellow trim makes me think the dumb thing should be declared legally blonde.
8) depsite all the above, it is working well enough now that I have not vacuumed since I put it in and that's the only good news ... but that was, after all the purpose of the expense.

Lessons learned
1) I'll never order another item from poolsupplydeals.com regardless of price.
2) I will try another brand when this one dies.

Don't feel too bad Carl ... lots of folks said these were the greatest thing since sliced bread.
PS part of my business is building CNC machine tools with programmable interfaces, and other than the lenght of time this thing runs until it reverses,
I find it hard to beleive there is much of a program in there.

[cleancloths]

The folks that make the Dolphin need a good class action lawsuit against them for false advertising. First, there is no way the damn thing can "learn" your pool. I don't think it has any memory chips, but that is just an opinion. How could it learn anyway. If the water level changed slightly it would have to relearn. If you put it in the pool in a different place each time it would have no way of knowing where it was and would think it was a different pool.

Also, they claim in their ads and on their box that the unit includes a free extra filter bag. While maybe techincally true, it is not what you would expect rather a cheap paper disposable bag. This is pattently a case of gross disception if not outright lying. I would never buy another product made by that company and would suggest that others think twice. I just wish others bought it from a place that would take it back.

[brent.roberts]

Carl

I was watching my Dolphin tonight and turned off the wall climbing. It covered a much smaller area of the pool.

You've been watching yours a lot more than I've seen mine but it seems that the only real progress to new turn is when it hits the surface and craps along the waterline.

The amount of time it spends there seems to be tied to the size of the pool you tell it you have. I think it calculates the time to cross it and adds some for water level cleaning and crabbing along the edge to new territory.

If your unit will climb the walls to the surface, try going up one size on the set up mode and see what happens.

[CarlD]

I can try that but I think 40' IS the biggest size--I'll have to check the programming.

It would help an awful lot if the remote had a "re-learn" button that would wipe the memory and let it re-learn the pool.