Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme assessment: This pool cleaner saved the twine

Value When Reviewed

$1,449

Finest Costs Immediately: Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme

$1429

$1449

I don’t typically take a look at corded pool robots. In truth, I hardly ever suggest them for a spread of causes, largely as a result of most individuals don’t like coping with cables. Nonetheless, corded robots can provide some distinctive benefits, and with the brand new Nautilus CC Supreme, Maytronics makes a stable case for the format. In some ways, it succeeds.

Corded pool cleaners aren’t the perfect choose for everybody, however for those who’re wavering between a battery-powered mannequin and a plug-in model, this underwater scrubber is price a glance.

Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme: Specs

The Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme, decked out in a blue and black coloration scheme, is fairly compact, although it’s not light-weight at 25 kilos. The blue energy twine, which is 50 toes lengthy, connects to a small management field that plugs into wall energy away from the pool. The management field has solely a single energy button on it (I’ll cowl its operation extra in a second).

Foundry / Christopher Null

What’s instantly noticeable in regards to the Nautilus’ design is its quirky deal with, which floats freely above the robotic as soon as it’s within the water. Maytronics gives obscure directions about this deal with being “locked diagonally” by the consumer. In apply, this implies angling the deal with inside the clips that connect it to the robotic. Adjusting this angle controls the pace at which waterline cleansing takes place.

Beneath the robotic you’ll discover six surprisingly strong spinning curler brushes, along with two treads on the edges of the system. These brushes sweep particles into two consumption ports after which into two separate particles filters.

The filters are designed as rectangular cages consisting of three items — a body and two screens — and every should be totally disassembled to wash out. Contained in the field you’ll additionally discover an ultra-fine filter equipment that can be utilized as an alternative of the preinstalled mesh filters if in case you have extraordinarily fine-grained filth or sand in your pool.

Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme: Set up and setup

Because the Nautilus has no battery and no have to be charged, there’s little to do by the use of setup apart from eradicating all of the protecting tape and plastic and plugging it in. Although it’s buried within the fast begin information, the unit additionally helps a cellular app. Be sure to obtain the one known as MyDolphinPlus, which is solely designed for Maytronics’ corded robots.

The robotic helps each Bluetooth and a couple of.4GHz Wi-Fi. You possibly can management the system by means of Bluetooth alone, however you’ll want the latter for firmware updates. One bonus of a corded robotic is that, as a result of the management field homes the radio as an alternative of the robotic, it’s capable of keep in touch with the community even when it’s underwater–not less than in concept.

One setup caveat: On day one, I flipped the robotic onto its again to take away tape from the underside of the robotic, and after I turned it again over, I found the chassis had gotten scuffed from the paint sealing my pool deck. If aesthetics are necessary to you, take care to place padding down when inverting the system on a tough floor, because it scratches simply.

Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme: Efficiency

At its easiest, the Nautilus might be dropped into the pool and launched with a press of the button on the management field, which can provoke a normal cleansing cycle. You’ll want the MyDolphinPlus app to do nearly all the things else, particularly if you wish to change the cleansing mode.

Quite a few modes can be found, together with flooring solely, partitions and waterline solely, common (flooring, partitions, and waterline), and “extremely clear” (which does the identical zones “additional rigorously”). All 4 of those modes might be configured to run for 1.5, 2.5, or 3.5 hours.

Foundry / Christopher Null

A scheduling system enables you to set the robotic to run robotically each one, two, or three days on the time of your selecting, or you may choose particular days of the week in superior mode. Observe that the app will point out it’s working a two hour cycle, however this appears to be a bug, and in actuality it should run utilizing the mode and the size of time you may have set on the cleansing mode web page.

A separate delay system can be used to provoke a one, two, or three hour delay earlier than a guide cycle run begins. I had no hassle with any of those modes — apart from common points getting the app to load in a well timed method or to attach with the robotic whether or not it was working or not. I additionally needed to force-quit and restart it a number of instances throughout about 10 days of testing.

Lastly, the app presents a guide management mode, which helps you to use your cellphone as a distant management to information the robotic across the pool. As a result of the app is so usually unresponsive, this guide management mode was not overly helpful. I discovered it nearly unimaginable to precisely information the Nautilus with out overshooting my mark. The MyDolphinPlus app doesn’t notify you when a cleansing cycle is full, so that you’ll should examine the app manually or visually examine whether or not the robotic remains to be on the transfer.

In my exams with natural particles and artificial leaves, I discovered the Nautilus to be a succesful cleaner. After about an hour of operation, on common, it had scooped up 90 p.c of the take a look at materials. After the longest run (three and a half hours), it often collected 95 p.c of the take a look at materials or extra, often forsaking a small patch of particles in a single nook close to the steps (at all times a hassle spot for robots to succeed in).

It’s right here the place the corded design proves its price. In circumstances like this, with particles left behind, I may simply run the robotic once more straight away. After one other 3.5 hours, I’d often discover that it had lastly collected the remaining leaves. (I’ll additionally add that I didn’t discover any distinction in cleansing high quality between the common mode and extremely clear modes.)

Foundry / Christopher Null

Cords do make it simpler to get a robotic out of the pool, as you may simply pull on the twine to haul within the robotic till it reaches the sting, after which you’ll be able to seize it on the floor. That’s useful, however I discovered the Nautilus fairly tough to retrieve as a result of deal with design.

The deal with is positioned above the robotic, so once you pull it from the water, the robotic creates a sort of suction impact that requires extra bodily exertion. It’s additionally harder to empty the water instantly into the pool due to this, leading to a wetter deck than normal.

Cleanup is absolutely the worst a part of the Nautilus expertise. Pop open two hatches, take away two separate filters, disassemble them, after which clear off all the things with a hose — six items in complete. The quantity of additional effort required to do all this may simply double the cleanup time required (in comparison with a single-basket design), and when it’s all mentioned and finished, you continue to should put all the things again collectively, which takes even longer. Coping with cleanup on this trend is an absolute chore that obviates half the purpose of getting a robotic within the first place.

The Nautilus doesn’t ship with a twine administration system (a caddy is out there individually for about $120), so when it’s not in use, it’s as much as you to determine maintain 50 toes of cable out of the best way. The cable additionally provides a considerable quantity of weight to the bundle. Between the cable and the management field, it’s about 41 kilos, making for a hefty and fairly unwieldy bunch of substances if you wish to stow the whole bundle someplace.

Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme: Conclusion

The Maytronics Dolphin Nautilus CC Supreme lists for $1,449 and usually sells for near that. I haven’t but seen it for lower than $1,380, which makes it a really expensive possibility for what is a reasonably no-frills cleaner. The corded design nonetheless isn’t for me, however that’s partially attributable to my aversion to cluttering up the pool deck, and I completely perceive if the posh of having the ability to run a number of cleansing cycles a day is a extra necessary consideration in your yard.

Professional tip: If the worth is just too steep, examine round for refurbished fashions, which might be had for below $700.