iGarden Pool Cleaner K60 overview: An underwater marathoner

It is a overview of two pool robots, one which is essentially the most distinctive cleansing system I’ve examined up to now, and one which’s maddeningly irritating and overly advanced. You’ve most likely already discovered the twist: Sure, they’re similar system, the iGarden Pool Cleaner K60.

Specs

To begin issues off, simply take a look at the factor: With its jet-black chassis and orange-trimmed wheels, the machine seems extra like a sports activities automotive than a glorified leaf sweeper. Regardless of the evocative look, it nonetheless strikes about courtesy of huge wheels and treads that abut a pair of spinning scrubber. It’s a reasonably basic, commonplace design.

Its largest promoting level is beneath the hood: A reasonably beefy 7500mAh battery powers the 30-pound robotic to an epic working time of as much as 6 hours, based on iGarden. (My testing achieved an excellent higher most working time of about 6.5 hours.) That’s so lengthy that iGarden says it has a Guinness World Report for robotic pool cleansing longevity – although a fast search doesn’t fairly bear that out, with Guinness noting a prototype robotic from the identical producer hit the 40-hour mark in 2023.

Regardless of although, 6 hours is mightily spectacular, and what’s much more notable is that the robotic achieved a feat that no different has completed in my years of testing these gadgets: It cleaned up 100% of the fabric in my first artificial leaf take a look at, abandoning completely no particles—even on steps, which few robots ever handle to wash correctly.

Even the perfect pool robots have a tendency to depart behind just a few scraps throughout their run, however the iGarden scooped up every little thing on its inaugural run, a monumental first. (Subsequent runs did depart behind two or three tidbits, although that’s nonetheless spectacular.)

Efficiency

Christopher Null/Foundry

So, what’s the catch? Nicely, there are fairly just a few, beginning with the truth that the iGarden K60 actually wants these six hours to do all that work. The unit could be set to function for shorter cleansing occasions (60-, 90-, or 120 minutes), and even the 120-minute mode wasn’t efficient at choosing up greater than about 70 % of my take a look at particles, leaving giant elements of the pool untouched. Even a second 120-minute run didn’t decide up what was left behind, and it was solely once I set the robotic to run on its undisturbed, run-until-the-battery-dies schedule that I used to be in a position to obtain that 100% pickup efficiency.

That presents customers with a quandary: Would you somewhat have a robotic that picks up about 95 % of particles in two hours, or one which will get 100% in six hours? I believe it’s a good compromise to pick the previous, as nobody needs to drop a robotic within the pool within the morning, just for it to not end till the top of the day—particularly if you happen to’re planning on swimming that day.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The K60 can also be marred by a wildly advanced interface, each on its chassis and in its half-baked cell app. The app’s management panel is a touchscreen festooned with icons, lots of that are troublesome to parse. A clock icon appears self-explanatory, however you’ll want to know what the three lights subsequent to that icon imply to make use of it correctly. One mild equals a one-hour cleansing time, two lights is 90 minutes, and three lights is 2 hours. No lights means it runs till the battery dies.

An “AI timer” has an identical three-light system, equivalent to auto-cleaning cycle of each 24-, 48-, or 72 hours, presuming you allow the robotic within the pool after every run. Further controls are constructed for cleansing mode (floor-only or ground/wall/waterline) and “turbo mode” (which accelerates the robotic significantly). Alas, none of that is intuitive, and even after every week of use I discovered myself referring to the handbook to refresh my reminiscence about what icon was what.

Even turning the robotic on is hard. First, you’ll discover a knob on the underside of the robotic that should be turned as a form of grasp energy change. Then the facility icon on the touchscreen should be held down for 3 seconds till it begins flashing. At this level you possibly can change your working choices by way of the opposite buttons, after which it’s essential to push the facility button once more.

Wait too lengthy on any step and the robotic will fall asleep and also you’ll want to begin over. Once I tried to run the robotic on its inaugural run, I needed to fish it out of the water with a hook twice as a result of I’d messed one thing up. Irritating.

The iGarden app

Christopher Null/Foundry

iGarden’s cell app is in some way no higher. Whereas it recreates many of the {hardware} expertise, it lacks something in the best way of extras—together with a battery monitor or a log of operations. I additionally discovered that my choices within the app didn’t all the time transition to the robotic, requiring me to double-check the management panel earlier than every run.

I encountered different problematic, if less-severe points as properly. The iGarden’s filter basket is giant however surprisingly designed, with a number of chambers and a comparatively small entry hatch that collectively make it troublesome to wash out. You’ll cost the unit by way of an ordinary plug-in cable, and the charging port is roofed by way of a thick rubber gasket when it’s within the pool. The issue is that this gasket isn’t 100% waterproof, and every time I ran the robotic, water received into the charging port, which in flip necessitated trying to empty it by putting the robotic at an angle with the port dealing with down, typically in a single day.

Even the hook offered to retrieve the robotic is non-standard in measurement. Retreival is doable with a extra typical hook, however not as straightforward appropriately. And for that matter, a robotic this costly ought to have the ability to dock on the waterline when it’s completed working.

Christopher Null/Foundry

The maybe optimistically named turbo mode helps the robotic get its job completed barely sooner, nevertheless it’s additionally rather less efficient. It runs out of battery life after 5 hours whereas amassing a bit much less particles. An even bigger challenge is that whereas in turbo mode, the robotic twice beached itself on a excessive step, unable to get again to deeper water with out a push. It’s unclear if that is an anomaly of turbo mode or simply dangerous luck throughout these take a look at runs.

Must you purchase the iGarden Pool Cleaner K60?

The iGarden K60 is billed at a heady $1,498 MSRP, nevertheless it’s at the moment on deep low cost (with a coupon) if bought immediately from the producer. You also needs to bear in mind that this robotic is listed on Amazon because the mannequin GT60. We checked with the producer and verified that the G60 and the K60 are the identical product. Lastly, the iGarden mannequin K40 and K20 are basically the identical robotic, however they provide 4- and a pair of.5-hour most working occasions respectively.

With the low cost utilized, the K60’s discounted worth places it inside hanging distance of some midrange robots, a worth that deserves consideration. Whereas it’s an distinctive cleaner (given sufficient time within the water), its quite a few quirks and foibles imply it’s finally an train in compromise that may require some severe considering to justify shopping for.