Pool Robot Brands Compared

Brands matter for exactly two reasons, and neither is the one the marketing leads with. The first is what their engineering prioritizes — because the priorities genuinely differ and they map onto different pools. The second is whether you can still buy a brush for it in five years, which nobody checks before buying and everybody discovers eventually.

Aiper: filtration and hands-off ownership

Aiper publishes 3-micron filtration on the Obsidian and Scuba X1 Pro Max — the finest figures on this site, and nothing from any other brand matches them. It ships wireless charging docks on two models, so the robot returns, recharges and runs again without being lifted out.

Its range is also the broadest here: a credible product at $130, $400, $550, $800, $1,050 and $1,600. And its third-party parts ecosystem is the best of any cordless brand — 8 Ah batteries at around $80, chargers at around $10, filters from $19.

Weakness: inconsistent spec disclosure. It publishes 3 micron on its flagships and no micron figure at all on the S1, S1 Pro, V3 or Seagull Pro. The full Aiper guide.

Beatbot: capacity and coverage breadth

Beatbot publishes 5-liter baskets on the Sora 10 and 30 and 9 liters on the iSkim skimmer — the largest capacities here. Capacity, not suction, is what determines how a machine handles leaf load: once a basket is full, flow collapses and the rest of the cycle collects nothing.

The Sora 70 and AquaSense 2 Ultra are the only cordless machines here that skim the water’s surface and clean floor, walls and waterline in one cycle. The Ultra goes further with debris detection — identifying where debris actually is rather than only tracking where it has been.

Weakness: the most expensive consumables in the category ($60-100 per genuine basket, each fitting one or two models), almost no published micron figures, and no third-party battery ecosystem at all. The full Beatbot guide.

Dolphin (Maytronics): service life

Maytronics does not compete on published specs. It competes on the thing that matters in year five: no battery, and a numbered stocked part for everything that wears. Brushes $23-30. Tracks $35. Ultra-fine filter cartridges about $26 for four. Power supply $130-210. Pump motor with impeller about $110.

A Dolphin that stops climbing walls is a $23 brush. One that stops picking up is a $110 motor. That is why owner reports routinely describe seven-to-ten-year lives, and why a $899 corded machine can be cheaper over a decade than two $500 cordless ones.

The $26 four-pack also makes a Dolphin the cheapest route to genuine fine filtration anywhere here — four cartridges lets you run two and wash two, which is the only practical way to use a fine filter.

Weakness: no surface skimming at any price, a cable that twists on freeform pools, a power supply to site, and waterline cleaning only on the expensive CC Supreme. The full Dolphin guide.

WYBOT: one standout spec, inconsistent elsewhere

The C2 publishes a 10-micron fine layer behind a 180-micron coarse layer at around $500 — the best fine filtration in that price band, and the staged design is the correct architecture because the coarse layer keeps the fine layer flowing.

WYBOT also offers the cheapest camera-navigated machines here, a brushless motor on the S2 Vision, and a developing parts ecosystem including a $69 replacement pack for the C1.

Weakness: it publishes a micron figure on the C2 and on essentially nothing else. The full WYBOT guide.

The three legacy names, honestly

Polaris is strongest where no robot can compete: its pressure-side cleaners bag acorns, cones and rigid twigs that jam every robot intake, and they keep debris out of your filter entirely. They need a booster pump, and they do not filter water. The Polaris guide.

Hayward makes well-built machines with unusually cheap filter cartridges (about $21 for four) and a real dealer network — priced above what their published specs justify. The SharkVac is $1,199 for floor-only coverage with no published rated pool area. Buy Hayward if your whole pad is Hayward and you want one service relationship. The Hayward guide.

Zodiac’s MX6 and MX8 are among the best suction cleaners made — maneuverable, durable, nothing electronic to fail, decade-plus lifespans. They do not filter water or clean walls, which is the category limit rather than a brand failing. The Zodiac guide.

The parts question, asked properly

Here is the comparison nobody runs before buying, and it is worth five minutes:

• Filter cost per year: Dolphin ~$26 for four. Hayward ~$21 for four. WYBOT $13-23. Aiper $20-60. Beatbot $60-100 for one. Side by side here.
• Replacement battery available? Aiper Scuba S1 yes (~$80). WYBOT C1 yes (~$69). Beatbot no. Newest Aiper and WYBOT models not yet. Dolphin, Polaris, Zodiac and Hayward — no battery at all. What exists, by model.
• Brushes and tracks: Maytronics publishes part numbers and every pool retailer stocks them. Most cordless brands sell no brushes. The brush page.

The combination almost nobody considers

A Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus (about $899) with a $26 four-pack of ultra-fine cartridges, plus a Beatbot iSkim solar skimmer (about $359). Roughly $1,285 for a ten-year corded machine with genuine fine filtration and continuous free surface cleaning with a 9-liter basket — against $2,299 for a single flagship that does both and will be battery-limited in four years.

For a tree-shaded pool it is the best value on this entire site, and no manufacturer will ever recommend it to you. The three-way makes the case.