Beatbot AquaSense 2 Extremely evaluation: A robotic pool cleaner like no different

Greatest Costs Right this moment: Beatbot AquaSense 2 Extremely

The feature-rich Beatbot AquaSense Professional has been a prime vendor within the robotic pool cleaner house since its launch, however Beatbot hasn’t been resting on its laurels. The all-new Beatbot AquaSense 2 Extremely reviewed right here is, to place it merely, extra, and in each dimension.

Is that this much more costly follow-up too a lot of a great factor? All of it is determined by how a lot you’re prepared to shell out to flee the tedium of cleansing your pool your self.

Specs

The AquaSense 2 Extremely borrows most of its design cues from the AquaSense Professional I reviewed in October 2024 (which remains to be out there for buy). It’s a cetacean-inspired design, with fats wheels, treads, and two spinning brushes in between. The Extremely can be a lot bigger and has a brand new, black colour scheme.

Weighing 29 kilos, it’s also decidedly heavier than the 24-pound Professional, particularly while you take it straight out of the pool, when the water-filled bot can hit 45 kilos. It’s larger, too, in just about each approach which (spoiler) makes maneuvering it out and in of the pool and onto its charging dock tough.

Christopher Null/Foundry

All that heft is available in service of some critical firepower (waterpower?), together with a boasted 27 sensors that embody ultrasonic, infrared, and AI-powered video to map the pool and actively hunt for particles. It’s the primary pool robotic that, following a regular full-floor sweep, scans for remaining leaves with a digital camera the way in which you or I’d with our eyes and a internet. Beatbot says the machine can acknowledge 12 forms of leaves by tree kind, with extra to return through over-the-air firmware updates.

A 13,400mAh battery powers the unit to as much as 6 hours of operating time on the pool flooring and 10 hours on its floor. A contact-based charging dock just like the one which shipped with the Professional is included, so that you don’t must bodily join a cable to prime up that battery.

Lastly, the Extremely has a dual-band (2.4- and 5GHz) Wi-Fi adapter onboard, so you may management it with Beatbot’s cell app. However that’s potential solely whereas the robotic is on prime of the water or out of the pool, as Wi-Fi indicators don’t journey far via water.

Set up and setup

Christopher Null/Foundry

Whereas most robotic pool cleaners require little or no setup past an preliminary charging, the Beatbot Extremely has slightly work for the consumer to do. The charging stand units up simply, with two legs that snap into place. The extra onerous work is organising the 2 aspect brushes. These are small horizontal wheels with rubber brushes positioned within the higher entrance corners of the robotic. They’re used primarily when it’s working as a floor skimmer and as bumpers for when the robotic hits the wall of the pool.

These wheels are naked out of the field, so it’s as much as the consumer to wrap the 2 rubber brush strips round them. That is achieved by stretching every strip across the wheel and affixing two loops on both finish of the strip to a protrusion on the wheel. This takes slightly trial and error and a few endurance, however I acquired it accomplished in a matter of minutes.

Christopher Null/Foundry

You’ll additionally discover a retrieval hook within the field (which you shouldn’t want) and a canopy for the robotic, which is useful for storage. That is the primary time I’ve seen this as a part of any robotic pool cleaner bundle.

The app units up rapidly over Wi-Fi, being a matter of two button presses on the robotic and strolling via some fundamental configuration steps within the app.

Utilizing the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Extremely

Very similar to the AquaSense Professional, the Extremely could be configured through buttons on the machine, through the cell app, or each. The onboard controls are extra fundamental, with 4 buttons for cleansing floor-only; flooring and partitions; flooring, partitions, and floor; or a customized mode configured within the app. To begin the robotic, simply energy it on, decide your mode, set it flat on the pool deck for just a few seconds, after which place it into the pool. It’s going to spin to scan the pool from the floor to get its bearings after which sink to the underside to start out its work.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The Extremely’s particular operation is determined by the mode you set, however if you happen to’re operating probably the most complete choice, the robotic will do a full sweep of the ground, clear the partitions, and skim the floor. After a full sweep of the ground, the robotic’s AI particles detection will get to work. This makes use of the front-mounted digital camera to actually look across the pool for leaves it might need missed. And it actually does that, scooting round randomly till it catches a glimpse of particles on digital camera, then it adjusts its course to roll over it, cease, then roll again and ahead once more to verify it acquired it.

The excellent news is that the Extremely is an distinctive cleaner. The unit specifies battery lifetime of 4.5 hours, though as famous above, I simply acquired 6 hours with it within the water, and my pool was fully freed from particles after simply 3 hours (I evaluated it with each natural and artificial take a look at materials). I additionally examined its AI detection mode by including further take a look at leaves after the 3-hour mark, scattering them across the pool to see if the robotic might discover them. Of the ten further take a look at leaves I added, the robotic picked up all however one earlier than its battery died—and I witnessed it simply miss choosing that leaf up when it veered a bit too far to at least one aspect of it.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Whereas the robotic is great on the ground, it’s not overly efficient on the floor, as was the case with the AquaSense Professional. The robotic’s design and its slim profile (in comparison with standalone skimmers) means floating particles was usually pushed out of the way in which by the bow wave of water in entrance of the robotic slightly than being sucked into its mouth.

The brand new aspect brushes on this mannequin are supposed to assist forestall particles from escaping to the edges, however they weren’t efficient at overcoming the facility of the wave the bot pushed in entrance of it. Actually, my testing of the skimmer function confirmed that it solely captured about 40 % of the take a look at particles, with the remaining being left behind or sinking to the underside of the pool. That was about the identical outcome I acquired with the AquaSense Professional.

The app permits you to fine-tune nearly every part about how the Extremely runs, specifying 0, 1, or 2 cleanings every of flooring, partitions, and floor (20 potential mixtures in all), or you may decide from a fast AI-only mode (a search-and-destroy as described above), a MultiZone Mode designed for swimming pools with a number of massive stepped areas, or an eco mode that cleans the ground each two days. Every of those are configurable within the app, after which selectable by urgent the customized mode button on the robotic’s management panel.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Each mode presents the choice to dispense a water clarifier through the cleansing course of, however I don’t use such a answer in my pool and didn’t take a look at it; clarifier answer just isn’t included with the machine.

Upon completion of a run, the Extremely returns to the floor and docks in opposition to the wall of the pool, the place it is going to float for about quarter-hour. In case you don’t retrieve it inside that window, the robotic will then float freely whereas remaining on the floor of the pool for simpler retrieval. (The Park button on the app will name it again to the wall, supplied there’s enough battery energy.) This waterline retrieval choice is likely one of the greatest options of each the Extremely and the Professional.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Particles is saved in a two-piece basket just like the one on the Professional. It’s comparatively straightforward to wash, although having to wash two totally different chambers provides a small quantity of problem to the method. The larger concern is the robotic’s practically 30-pound weight, which is significantly extra when it’s stuffed with water. This, mixed with its gargantuan measurement, means it’s tough to maneuver into and out of the pool, and I discovered it nearly unattainable to keep away from getting my decrease physique moist whereas retrieving it.

After every run, the Beatbot app pushes a cell notification after which logs the realm cleaned and the size of the run. Flooring-cleaning runs additionally embody a map of the pool that’s generated as a part of the log. The map isn’t all that helpful (and it’s in a unique orientation every time) nevertheless it does at the least provide you with some thought of the robotic’s stage of intelligence. For what it’s price, the map it generated largely appears like my precise pool.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Lastly, an on-demand distant management is included within the app, although this could solely be used when the robotic is on the floor, the place it’s in Wi-Fi vary. You would possibly discover this efficient when there are just a few wayward leaves you need to decide up and the robotic is already skimming; however given this robotic’s restricted debris-skimming skills, I discovered it simpler to attend for the leaves to sink or to simply seize a internet as a substitute.

Do you have to purchase the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Extremely?

With an MSRP of $3,550 ($2,779 at Amazon on the time of this evaluation), the Beatbot AquaSense 2 Extremely is well the costliest pool robotic I’ve examined. Luckily, Beatbot’s spectacular three-year whole-unit substitute guarantee takes a number of the danger out of a purchase order. However to be trustworthy, it’s most likely extra robotic than most swimming pools want. It’s positively greater than I want, and I’ve a pretty big pool to wash.

And whereas it’s straightforward to fixate on that expensive backside line, don’t underestimate this machine’s important weight and bulk. House owners of extra petite swimming pools would possibly discover the Extremely simply too massive to wrestle with—despite the fact that it is going to do an excellent job of protecting the pool glowing clear.

This evaluation is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the greatest robotic pool cleaners.