Aiper Scuba X1 overview: If seems to be may clear your pool

Aiper makes some glorious robotic pool cleanrs—equivalent to its stellar workhorse, the Seagull Professional—but it surely additionally has a couple of duds in its arsenal, together with the Seagull Plus and the Scuba S1. With its newest robotic, the Scuba X1, Aiper seems to be to deliver some higher-end options (together with good connectivity) to the lineup. With a avenue worth of $1,200, it’s one among Aiper’s costliest fashions–and it’s acquired the gold trim to show it.

Specs

The Aiper Scuba X1 doesn’t change the fundamental design that the majority of Aiper’s full-size robots have adopted for years: Evaluate its design to the aforementioned Seagull Professional, Seagull Plus, and Scuba S1. The 24-pound Scuba X1 runs on two treads that sandwich two front-mounted cylindrical brushes that do the heavy lifting; relatively, the heavy scrubbing. All black with the aforementioned gold accents, the design is glossy and orca-like. If nothing else it definitely seems to be the a part of a $1,000-plus pool robotic.

The unit features a 7800mAh battery that Aiper says ought to present a working time of three hours and helps a most pool dimension of two,150 sq. toes. A single onboard button enables you to energy up the robotic and select an working mode: “good mode” (flooring and partitions), ground solely, partitions solely, or waterline solely (the place the robotic strikes vertically alongside the pool wall to wash the tile).

An extra mode, “scheduled,” is just accessible within the Aiper app and instructions the robotic to run for 50 minutes, cleansing the ground solely, as soon as each 48 hours, till its battery dies. A big LED bar on the highest of the robotic signifies when it’s charging (pulsing pink, blue, or inexperienced, relying on cost degree), able to run (strong inexperienced), or completed working (strong pink), together with utilization for numerous error modes.

The unit is charged through a handy docking station that connects to wall energy and eliminates the necessity to manually plug the robotic in after every run. The dock is easy to snap collectively out of the field, with none instruments required.

The filter basket requires particular consideration due to its three-piece design. A conventional outer basket collects bigger particles, whereas a “MicroMesh ultra-fine filter” picks up smaller morsels of dust and sand. The MicroMesh filter is a bit of cloth that wraps round an inside filter field, which doesn’t do something besides maintain the MicroMesh in place. All three items are sandwiched collectively when put in; I’ll speak in regards to the effectiveness of this setup in a bit.

Efficiency

Christopher Null/Foundry

As with almost all robotic pool cleaners, the Scuba X1 is activated by putting it on flat floor, powering it up, choosing an working mode, and dropping it into the pool. In the usual good mode, it first cleans the partitions, then strikes to the ground, transferring comparatively methodically and slowly because it sweeps forwards and backwards. The unit does spend a protracted whereas idling on the pool ground every time it must make a flip, apparently making an attempt to determine its subsequent transfer, earlier than it will get going once more.

In my pool, I by no means acquired greater than 2.5 hours of working outing of the robotic, in comparison with the three hours Aiper specifies. The larger difficulty, nonetheless, is that the robotic missed fairly a bit of fabric throughout its runs in my pool. On common, it collected solely about 90 % of take a look at particles, whether or not natural or artificial, abandoning leaves on the underside of the pool. That’s fairly a poor displaying for a robotic on this worth vary, and arguably the unit’s greatest shortcoming.

Christopher Null/Foundry

A detailed second, nonetheless, is cleanup. Whereas the MicroMesh system is efficient at capturing fine-grained grime, it’s a huge ache to wash. First, the mesh filter should be indifferent from the inside filter field, which is a problem when it’s dry and an enormous trouble when it’s moist and soiled.

Disconnecting the varied clips and tabs that maintain the filter in place is a chore even earlier than you set about cleansing it. A hose doesn’t do the trick; I often wanted to make use of a scrub brush to get the filter largely free from particles, all of which meant a substantial quantity of effort and making fairly a large number in addition. I’ve by no means spent a lot time emptying a filter basket, which isn’t what I anticipate from gadget on this worth vary.

This overview is a part of TechHive’s in-depth protection of the most effective robotic pool cleaners.

Retrieving the bot after its cleansing mission can be a chore: Whereas the robotic can climb partitions, it could possibly’t pull itself out of the pool when quitting time comes, not like some opponents at this worth degree. The Scuba X1 was not less than profitable at docking itself close to the wall when full, however you’ll want to make use of the included hook and a pole to elevate it from the water.

Christopher Null/Foundry

Aiper’s app is for essentially the most half superfluous. After a fast and simple Bluetooth-based setup, you’ll discover that the app can’t actually do something besides select the working mode, which (apart from the scheduled mode) you are able to do through the only button on the unit. The only real extra characteristic is a primary log of operational exercise and working time, which is just of minimal use. As with most robots, the app received’t hook up with the gadget whereas the unit is within the water on account of interference points.

Do you have to purchase an Aiper Scuba X1?

If it had a worth of $500, the Aiper Scuba X1 could be an appropriate lower-cost pool robotic resolution, but it surely simply doesn’t do a adequate job cleansing to benefit shopping for it at its full worth of $1,200.

The effort concerned with cleansing the filter basket solely makes issues extra irritating, and the worth proposition even much less compelling.